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Radical Islamâs Move on Africa
EFL:
Many students from Pakistanâs madrassas, or radical Islamist schools, are leaving to avoid arrest in a government crackdown on Islamic extremism. Some are going to Saudi Arabia, but hundreds are heading to more surprising shores â to Africa. Last month Mohammad Jamil, a spokesman for the Federation of Madrassas, said, "About 500 have already moved to South Africa. . . . Others are planning to pack their bags."
| Had the same report, without as much detail, a month ago, from an AP story in Wash. Times. Guess the Post decided to run with it... |
Islamic extremists in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania have turned to terrorism, and non-Islamic dictators, such as deposed Liberian strongman Charles Taylor, have developed economic links with al Qaeda. But more alarming is the spread of rigid forms of Islam, which are historically rare south of the Sahara and which are creating division, chaos and violence in both East and West Africa.
As if they donât have enough of these already.
| It's the happy hunting ground of Islam, chock full of tribal societies, some of which consider ignorance and brutality to be virtues... |
Islamists in Kenya are pushing to expand Islamic law, or sharia, to include sentences of amputation in certain crimes, as well as stoning in cases of adultery, practices already in place in Nigeria. The chairman of Kenyaâs Council of Imams and Preachers, Ali Shee, has warned that Muslims in the coastal and northeastern provinces will break away if sharia is not expanded.
| That's a usual pattern. Once they're ensconced, they need their own state if they can't have all of yours... |
Tanzania is experiencing a similar push for Islamic law. Saudi Arabia is funding new mosques there, and fundamentalists have bombed bars and beaten women they thought inadequately covered. Mohammed Madi, a fundamentalist activist, told Time magazine last month, "We get our funds from Yemen and Saudi Arabia. . . . Officially the money is used to buy medicine, but in reality the money is given to us to support our work and buy guns."
Tap, tap, nope, suprise meter doesnât even twitch.
Mine quivered, but only at the honesty of the admission...
Note, also, that he says they're getting their dough from both Soddy Arabia and Yemen. Yemen's a poor country, where the gummint's trying to bring the Bad Guys under control, apparently sincerely. Perhaps they should have a closer look at where that money pipleline is — whether it's a religious charity or whether it's one of their import-export companies, perhaps one involving members of the bin Laden or an allied family... |
Before President Bushâs visit this year to usually quiet Malawi, government security forces, assisted by Americans, arrested five suspected Muslim militants (two Turks, one Saudi, one Kenyan and a Sudanese) and flew them out of the country. In response, Muslim mobs rioted in Mangoci, burned six churches and attacked local priests. In Zambia this summer, police raided an Islamic school and found 280 students confined in cages, where they were forced to study military tactics and Arabic.
We heard about this, they were mostly children.
Similar patterns are evident in West Africa. The civil war in Ivory Coast has complex roots, but like other conflicts spanning religious divides, such as in Serbia or Chechnya, it has taken on a fanatic coloration. Muslim rebels have been sporting T-shirts adorned with Osama bin Ladenâs face superimposed over a map of the country. Extreme Islamic law continues to spread and provoke violence in Nigeria, a country bin Laden has singled out as "ready for liberation." Meanwhile, Senegal, Gambia, Niger, Mauritania, Chad and even historically democratic Mali are also experiencing Islamist unrest, with riots and, in some cases, coup attempts. This Islamization is being pushed by Sudan and Saudi Arabia, which are trying to replace local variants with their own restrictive systems.
As they say, follow the money.
But as this newspaper has reported, Libyaâs Muammar Gaddafi is also a major player. While he has provided financial support to thugs of Christian background, such as Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Charles Taylor, his goal, announced before 15,000 people in Benin in 2000, is to "make Islam triumphant in Africa."
He is an African, after all. He says so all the time.
The Bush administration is sending Special Forces personnel and upgrading anti-terrorism work in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania. But it is also thawing relations with Gaddafi, complimenting Sudan for "good cooperation" on terrorism and treating Saudi Arabia as an ally.
Well, I donât think our position on Gaddafi has changed that much, and Iâll bet with Saudi that thereâs a lot going on behind the scenes.
| I think that at this point our relations with Muammar could actually become more friendly â he's said publicly he's gone out of the terrorism business (unless he can plausibly deny it, of course), and he's realized that he was backing the wrong horse in his glory days. He's still trying to figure how to make Libya into a capitalist country and still retain his revolutionary credentials. We could turn him, and I think Bush-Powell-Rice is smart enough to do so â if they want to. Muammar's already got strained relations with the Soddies, and it would tickle his vanity to be used as a counterweight to them, keeping in mind that he'd be counting the while on feathering his own nest. |
Instead, the United States should demand that Tripoli, Khartoum and Riyadh cease their export of radicalism to Africa.
Agreed.
It should also encourage democratic development through the Millennium Challenge funds. If, as President Bush has said, "America is committed to the success of Africa" and has a "long-term commitment" to developing democracy there, it needs to counter the threat to democracy posed by the spread of extremist forms of Islam.
Other than building a fence around it, I donât know what the hell to do about Africa. Stopping the Saudi money would be a good place to start.
Posted by: Steve 2003-10-16 |
