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President Barak Obama told the South African Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday that terrorist groups devalue the lives of Africans.
"What you've seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organizations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself," said Obama.
The comments appear to be geared to Somali terrorist group Al Shabaab, who have taken credit for a sting of attacks that killed 74 people during the 2010 World Cup.
"They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains," Obama said.
An administration official added in an emailed response to reporters that "actions of al Qaeda and the groups that it has inspired show a willingness to sacrifice innocent African life to reach their targets."
U.S intelligence reports that Al-Qaeda intentionally recruits Africans for suicide bombings and "is racist against black members from West Africa because they are only used in lower level operations."
The official added, "In short, al Qaeda is a racist organization that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life."
He said African terrorist groups believe that “any efforts to modernize, any efforts to provide basic human rights, any efforts to democratize are somehow anti-Islam."
The president made such statements despite his newly adopted policy to divorce references to Islam in relation to terrorism and the violence carried out by extreme terrorist organizations.
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