German Prez warned of assassination plot

German President Johannes Rau cancelled a planned visit to Djibouti on Wednesday after German security services said there was a plot to kill him, his office said in a statement. The statement said the security services had received information that an Islamist group planned to assassinate Rau during a visit to the Horn of Africa state to meet German troops stationed there.

8216;8216;In the judgement of the services responsible, there was a considerable and concrete personal risk to the President,8217;8217; the Rau8217;s office said. But Djibouti8217;s Communications Minister Rifki Abdulkader Bamakhrama told Reuters he was not aware of any plot against Rau, who had also been due to meet his Djibouti counterpart. 8216;8216;There is no plot against any President from any country 8230; There is no risk signalled by our security service,8217;8217; he said, insisting that his country was stable.

8216;8216;I have just heard that. The Germans are afraid of an attack and of course are free to decide.8217;8217; A spokesman for a US-led anti-terror task force based in Djibouti, Major Mitchell Edgar, was similarly surprised by the German statement. 8216;8216;That8217;s news to us,8217;8217; he said of the allegations.

Rau had been due to visit Djibouti at the end of an eight-day visit to Africa which had already taken him to Nigeria and Tanzania. He is now due to return to Berlin from the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam, his office said. Rau, who has held the largely ceremonial office of German head of state since 1999, is expected to be succeeded by the IMF head, Horst Koehler this year. 8212;Reuters