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| Africa Horn |
| Jihadi primer on Sudan, Darfur distributed online |
| 2006-05-16 |
| Chatter amongst members of the jihadist Internet community continues to relate to the call of Usama bin Laden, Emir of al-Qaeda, which was part of his speech aired by al-Jazeera on April 23, 2006, urging for mujahideen preparations for jihad in Sudan, particularly in Darfur. Recently a member of a password-protected jihadist forum distributed a document titled: “The Road to Sudan (Darfur),” that elaborates on bin Laden’s call and the viability for jihad on Sudanese land and Muslim African countries. The author places quotations of bin Laden throughout the text, as he notes his speech is not for mere “consumption and propaganda.” Rather, he believes it an important piece of al-Qaeda ideology which perhaps may spread out of the Sudanese epicenter to its Muslim neighboring countries. The author states: “We can say that the foreign interference in Sudan, whatever it is, will create an appealing chance to all who belong to al-Qaeda’s ideology to fight those whom they see as unbelievers, Crusaders and Zionists. The areas surrounding Sudan, Arab and African, owing to its geographical position, will make it easy for the flow of Arab and African fighters to go to Sudan.” To support jihad in Sudan, the author illustrates a brief history of mujahideen fighting in Africa, outlining the growth of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) in Algeria, operations it conducts, and spread to neighboring Mauritania. He also points of a existence of sleeper jihad cells in several areas in the Horn of Africa that are waiting to become active, believing that for this reason American intends to create a task force of eleven African countries to combat terrorism. Dovetailing this American presence in Africa with the incitement of “more Islamic feelings” it causes, the author argues that a confluence of rancor towards the U.S. and the difficulty in controlling African borders presents a “good place for the members and operations of al-Qaeda and its training and mobilizing in new members”. The author concludes by juxtaposing the current jihad in Iraq with that proposed in Sudan: “there will be a fierce battle between al-Qaeda supporters and any foreign forces which interfere in Darfur. Maybe we are in front of a new experiment for the outside interfering which will be more than the experiment in Iraq. This will be a failure of an organized war and illogical war on terrorism, whose danger has increased more than before.” |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |