By Elizabeth Kendal
Human Rights Watch reports on the extreme violence unleashed in the rebel seizure of Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic. "On March 23, the Seleka won a fierce battle against soldiers of the South African Defence Force, who were in the country under an arrangement between former President François Bozizé and President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, and were able to enter Bangui unhindered. Seleka troops immediately looted and pillaged the capital. One of the first targets was the Bangui Cathedral, where Seleka rebels entered the church, fired in the air, and robbed the worshipers. . .
"Seleka members used violence against civilians during the looting [of Bangui]. A man who was shot in the throat and survived told Human Rights Watch: 'A Seleka fighter said, "Come give us the money" . . . I said that I had no money…he aimed his [gun] at me and shot once. The bullet hit me right above my head on the right side. I thought to myself, "I am dead, this is it." He shot me again and the bullet hit me on my left shoulder and came out my throat. . . "
Despite the fact that the HRW report contains 3,242 words, a word search for "Muslim" yields zero results and a word search for "Islam" yields zero results while a word search for "Arabic" yields three results, each occurring in the testimony of a female victim.
Quote:
"The day after they captured Bangui, I was in my house, where I live with my younger sister … when many Seleka fighters entered the quarter. I am 33-years-old and my sister is 23. She was 8 months pregnant when they raped us on March 25. They were shooting in the air in front of our house. Two armed men entered the house, threatened us, and forced us to get undressed and lay down on the ground….They both raped us, one after the other. They were shouting bad words in Sango and in Arabic. One of them was shouting the Arabic word charmouta (prostitute in Arabic) while raping me. Then, they left the house. Our neighbor took us to the community hospital, where my sister lost her baby the day after."
Central African Republic: Rampant Abuses After Coup
New Government Should Rein in Ex-Rebel Forces
HRW, 10 May 2013
It is really quite remarkable that the HWR report fails to mention that while Central African Republic (CAR) is French-speaking and 76 percent Christian (Operation World, 2010) the rebels who have seized power in an orgy of violence are Arabic-speaking Muslims.
Similarly, while a report from International Crisis Group (ICG) provides excellent background to the crisis it fails to mention that the rebels are Muslim and the victims are not. While the ICG report contains 1,379 words, a word search for "Muslim" yields zero results; a word search for "Islam" yields zero results; and a word search for "Arabic" yields zero results.
Failure Has Many Fathers: The Coup in Central African Republic
27 March 2013 by ICG Africa Program Staff
By Thibaud Lesueur and Thierry Vircoulon
The truth that can't be uttered
The rebels, who claim to be liberating CAR from the dictator Bozize, hail from Vakaga district: a poor, remote north-east region of CAR at the borders with Chad and Sudan. Vakaga is the only part of the CAR where Arabic is the lingua franca and Islam the dominant religion.
Despite their poverty, the rebels entered Bangui wearing brand new military uniforms, driving brand new pickups and brandishing brand new weapons. Amongst their number were janjaweed from Darfur, Sudan, and jihadis from Mali and Northern Nigeria.
Church leaders report targeted attacks and religious extremism
In a FIDES press release, church leaders denounce 'a rebellion characterised by religious extremism'. They describe a systematic and 'planned desecration and destruction of religious Christian buildings, and in particular the Catholic and Protestant churches'. They lament that the church is paying a heavy price, with churches destroyed and 'priests and religious women' attacked.
In a courageous letter to the new self-proclaimed president -- rebel leader Michel Djotodia -- Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga catalogues Seleka's crimes: 'threats, terror, and psychological torture . . . rape of young girls and women, some of whom have committed suicide [and] recruitment of child soldiers'. Observing that Seleka consists 'largely of foreign Muslims and some from the nation', the prelate notes that 'the Muslim population was largely spared looting', and asks, 'What are the real intentions of this movement against our Christian institutions?' According to one missionary's blog, hospitals and charities have all be looted. 'Rebels do not save anybody or anything,' she writes, 'except for mosques and Muslim traders, who buy the stolen property from them.'
Where are the French troops that liberated Mali?
As Seleka advanced towards Bangui, CAR President François Bozizé appealed to France (the colonial power) and the US for help -- but to no avail. While French troops were already in the country, they would not be ordered to defend Bangui. Desperate for aid, Bozizé appealed to South African president Jacob Zuma, who did send troops. But on 23 March, after fierce fighting, Seleka defeated the South African National Defence Force paving the way for the rebels to enter Bangui on Sunday 24 March unhindered. The 500-plus French troops that are in Bangui have reportedly been securing the airport and supporting the new regime.
CAR civilians not protected
Antoine Roger Lokongo writes (18 April 2013): "The regional peacekeeping force, known as the Mission for the Consolidation of Peace in Central African Republic (Micopax), which is European Union-funded, was tasked to protect civilians and secure territory in CAR since 2008. However, they did not stop the Seleka offensive on Bangui nor did they engage the rebels militarily."
Lokongo quotes ICG's Thierry Vircoulon who described Micopax's apparent absence during the violent invasion and looting of Bangui "as 'disturbing', in fact suggesting that 'perhaps they had instructions . . . not to do anything'." In fact the ICG report notes: "At the request of the Seleka, the French army and the MICOPAX already patrol the streets of the capital . . ."
See also: Looking for answers after CAR coup d'etat
Al-Jazeera 25 March 2013
The whole truth might be even more unpalatable
As noted in Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 210 (14 May 2013), "The questions arising out of this crisis are enormous and ugly. Who is funding and equipping Seleka and with what aim? Why did France -- which intervened in Ivory Coast (to aid Islamic rebels) and Mali (to fight Islamic rebels) not intervene in CAR? Why is the US refusing to send aid? Why did the EU-funded Micopax not do what it is paid to do (protect CAR civilians)?
"In early 2011, Ivory Coast's president Laurent Gbagbo -- who believed in advancing African rather than Western interests -- found himself the victim of regime change at the hands of Islamic forces backed by Western powers pursuing Western 'interests'. Could the same be happening in CAR?"
[See: Ivory Coast: where Islamic and Western interests converge. By Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 7 April 2011.]
"President Bozizé had recently signed oil concessions over to Chinese and South African companies. Soon after proclaiming himself president, rebel leader Michel Djotodia promised to 'sort out' CAR's mining and oil contracts. If these contracts are handed to Western powers, then we might have most of our answers."
See: Central African Republic coup leader says will review resource deals
By Ange Aboa and Paul-Marin Ngoupana
BANGUI | Fri Mar 29, 2013
Excerpt:
"In a bid to tap the country's under-exploited mineral wealth, [former president] Bozize had awarded China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) rights to explore for oil at Boromata, in the country's northeast near the border with Chad.
"South Africa's DIG oil is also prospecting in the southeast of the country, near the town of Carnot."
When Djotadia was asked about these licences he is reported to have replied: "'I will ask the relevant ministers to see whether things were done badly, to try to sort them out'.
"Although Central African Republic has deposits of gold, diamonds, oil and uranium, these remain largely untapped, and the coup-prone nation is one of the poorest on Earth. 'We will rely on the European Union to help us develop this country,' Djotodia said. . .
"Djotodia's comments appeared to mark a change of tack from his predecessor Bozize's close ties to South Africa, with which he had signed a fresh bilateral Defense agreement in January."
As far as the Centre for Global Research is concerned: "The coup by Seleka forces has placed the CAR at the center of a struggle for influence between the United States, France, South Africa and China": i.e. US-NATO vs BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa)
Indeed, analysts note that the coup took place immediately prior to the BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa (SA).
Official Statement by President Jacob Zuma, 25 March 2013
[More on the developing US-NATO vs BRICS struggle
The Brics are building a challenge to western economic supremacy
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, united by rejection of the neoliberal model, plan to create their own institutions
By Radhika Desai, The Guardian, 2 April 2013]
Nigerian ambassador to CAR, Prince Roland Ola Omowa, was in Nigeria to deliver a special message from the ousted Bozize to President Goodluck Jonathan as the coup unfolded. He told the Nigerian Guardian that colonial interests in the country have meant that it is constantly watched over and while the discovery of oil and the entrance of China as a player in the CAR economy have not gone down well with entrenched interests.
Meanwhile . . .
Seleka has seized control of CAR's extensive diamond industry. . .
AND
massacred elephants in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park.
Furthermore, the rebels are saying that they will not put down their weapons until they are guaranteed salaries. Seleka Lieutenant Ali Alkanto has warned of violent clashes should the new government not pay the rebels.
And according to the Nigerian Guardian, the number of people who have fled from the Central Africa Republic since December 2012 has now risen to 37,000 while another 173,000 people have become internally displaced.
------------------------------------------
Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah speaks to Christians today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012)
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Monday, May 13, 2013
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Ivory Coast: racial and religious hatred empowered and unleashed
The legacy of French and NATO intervention in Ivory Coast -- where the West intervened on behalf of Islamists in order to advance their own economic interests -- is that Ivory Coast 's predominantly Christian southern tribes must now live with serious insecurity in an increasingly militarised yet lawless state where Muslim soldiers may abuse them at will and with impunity. This is racial and religious hatred empowered and unleashed.
------------------------
Brief background
Ivory Coast held elections in December 2010, despite the fact that pre-conditions had not been met. For starters, northern-Muslim rebel forces loyal to Muslim presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara refused to disarm; a fact that meant the electoral process in the north could hardly be free and fair. (How ironic that Bafétigué Ouattera (Côte d’Ivoire) has just been elected as a Vice-Chair of the UN's Disarmament Commission.)
After the Constitutional Council investigated all reported irregularities (as mandated by the constitution) it ruled that the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo -- a southerner and observant Christian -- was the victor. However, before it could even announce its ruling, pro-Ouattara elements pre-empted the constitutional council's decision and broadcast via French TV from Ouattara's headquarters that Ouattara had won the election. The illegal announcement was met favourably in the West as a Ouattara presidency would serve French and US economic interests.
Confident of Western backing, Ouattara then moved to seize power through military violence. Up against the mighty army of the Ivorian secular State, the pro-Ouattara ethnic and Islamic rebels were the weaker force. The violent coup d'état coup was only successful due to NATO air-strikes and military assistance from France.
Having seized power through violence and with foreign assistance, it is no surprise to learn that Ouattara's hold on power is dependent on violence and terror.
For further background and analysis on Ivory Coast: see Religious Liberty Monitoring.
Death in Abidjan
On Monday 6 August, gunmen -- presumed to be Gbagbo loyalists -- killed six soldiers in a pre-dawn attack on the Akouédo military base in Abidjan. A day earlier, gunmen attacked a police station in Yopougon neighbourhood, on the other side of Abidjan, killing four soldiers. Gbagbo's political party, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), issued a statement condemning "with the utmost vigour this wave of deadly violence", while also calling on the government to capture the attackers.
Response
In response, President Alassane Ouattara ordered the Republican Forces (FRCI: the new Ivorian Army, incorporating the former Forces Nouvelles rebels) to "fight without mercy" those attempting to create a feeling of insecurity in Ivory Coast. Consequently, there has been a surge in appalling human rights abuses targeting "perceived Gbagbo loyalists": i.e. predominantly Christian southerners, mostly ethnic Bété, Guéré, Ebrié, Oubi and Adioukrou. The abuses involve mass arrests, extortion and extreme violence, including torture.
See: Ivory Coast: Ex-detainees describe torture by military following roundup after attacks
By Robbie Corey-Boulet, The Associated Press, 4 October 2012
Excerpts:
The soldiers lined up the detainees in a row on the grass in the middle of the night and beat them with sticks. Other times, soldiers struck the prisoners with belts and rifles so hard the welts lasted for weeks.
Cedric Bao, a 33-year-old who was held for two weeks in August on suspicion of hiding weapons, said soldiers also attached wires to detainees and administered electrical shocks as they writhed on the ground.
"When that happened, the wires would produce a lot of noise, and the lights would flicker, and it would smell like burning. We could hear the people shouting," Bao said. "I was always praying to God not to be brought downstairs."
. . . While torture allegations have been documented at multiple military facilities, the U.N. officials said that some of the worst came from detainees at the San Pedro camp, including credible reports of electrical shocks.
Few detainees in the city had spoken up about their experiences at the camp because of threats they received before being released, said Serges Dagbo, San Pedro representative for the Ivorian Human Rights League.
But in recent interviews with The Associated Press, four former detainees described harsh conditions marked by cramped quarters, minimal food and the frequent use of violence to extract confessions. . .
-------------
On 19 November, Human Rights Watch released a report exposing the gross human rights abuses being committed by the Republican Forces (FRCI), including: arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, extortion, inhuman treatment and torture.
See: Ivory Coast military accused of torture during 'reprisal' crackdown
Hope of reconciliation after civil war fades amid claims of inhuman treatment of perceived Gbagbo loyalists
By David Smith, Africa correspondent, The Guardian, 19 Nov 2012.
Excerpts:
In August, members of the government's Republican Forces carried out mass arrests of perceived Gbagbo supporters almost daily in the Abidjan neighbourhood of Yopougon, Human Rights Watch said. "Without arrest warrants or individualised evidence, soldiers arbitrarily arrested young men in their homes, at neighbourhood restaurants, at bars, in taxis and buses, as they walked home from church, and at traditional community celebrations.
"Soldiers often arrived in neighbourhoods in military cargo trucks and forced 20 or more perceived pro-Gbagbo youth to board. Hundreds of young men appear to have been rounded up and detained, largely on the basis of their ethnicity and place of residence. Those arrested were often brought to military camps, which are not lawful detention sites for civilians under Ivorian law."
. . . In August and September, the commander in charge of one detainment camp was Ousmane Coulibaly, better known as "Bin Laden", Human Rights Watch said. In a previous report on the post-election violence, it had named him as one of the Republican Forces commanders whose soldiers committed acts of torture and dozens of summary executions during the final [France and NATO-backed] battle for Abidjan in April and May 2011.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT
A Long Way from Reconciliation
Abusive Military Crackdown in Response to Security Threats in Côte d’Ivoire
19 November 2012 (79 pages)
Excerpts:
Human Rights Watch interviewed eight former detainees at the [Adjamé] military police camp, five of whom provided detailed evidence suggesting that they had been victims of torture. . . with the purpose of demanding answers to questions about the location of guns or alleged suspects, or in order to pressure the detainee to sign a confession of involvement in an attack against state security. (p25)
They also described seeing other detainees come back to the cell with bruised faces, severe swelling, and open wounds. Detainees at the military police camp also described suffering grossly inadequate detention conditions, including severe overcrowding, near complete denial of food and water, and humiliating practices like being placed in a room filled with excrement. (p26)
The former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch were all young men from ethnic groups perceived to support Laurent Gbagbo. They described their detention rooms as being full with people from the same ethnic groups, including the Bété, Guéré, Ebrié, Oubi, and Adioukrou. . . many young men were picked up during mass arrests in areas with a concentration of perceived Gbagbo supporters. (p26)
In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, severe physical pain appeared to be inflicted by state agents, namely military personnel, in order to pressure people into a confession or to divulge information about the location of weapons. Torture did not appear to be systematic, as other detainees described only minimal physical abuse. However, the cases documented by Human Rights Watch raise concerns about the total number of potential victims. (p29)
In addition, Human Rights Watch received credible information about recent cases of torture against detainees held in a Republican Forces military base in San Pedro, a town in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire about 350 kilometers from Abidjan. On October 4, the Associated Press reported [see above] that soldiers at the San Pedro military camp had subjected at least four civilian detainees to electric shock, finding that “long wires were attached to their feet, midsections and necks before electrical shocks were administered.” (p34)
Human Rights Watch describes the crackdown as "unlike any since the end of the post-election crisis". (p37)
A diplomat from a key partner to Côte d’Ivoire told Human Rights Watch that there were deep concerns about how Ivorian authorities had framed the issue: “The language they use is very concerning: ‘eradication,’ ‘terrorism,’ ‘clean the country up’. (p 37)
Youths rounded up en masse in Yopougon report being separated according to their ethnic group. On a daily basis, masses of youths belonging to southern (normally pro-Gbagbo) tribes were trucked to the BAE (Brigade anti-émeute, or anti-riot unit) police camp where they were punished mercilessly and extorted. (see page 39)
A Ouattara supporter who lives near the BAE camp told Human Rights Watch, “You wouldn’t believe the things we see there each day. [There are] always youth being trucked in, being beaten. They don’t even hide [the abuses]; it’s often in plain view. [The FRCI there] aren’t afraid of any consequences.” An Ivorian civil society leader agreed: “[The soldiers implicated in abuses] are at ease. They don’t fear anything, and that’s the most dangerous thing: the complete impunity.” (p 40-41)
Human Rights Watch interviewed Yopougon residents who were arrested in their homes, while eating at a maquis, with friends at a bar, when walking home from church, when in a taxi or a bus, and when attending a funeral. (p 41)
Nearly all of those interviewed described the widespread commission of criminal acts by members of the FRCI in Yopougon. These crimes were perpetrated first during the process of neighborhood sweeps and mass arrests, when soldiers stole cash and valuables such as cell phones, computers, and jewelry from people’s homes and off people being arrested; and second, by demanding money in order to secure a detainee’s release. The mass arrests appear to have been a financial boon for members of the Republican Forces based at the BAE camp, and a crippling hardship to those who were swept up because of their age and perceived political affiliation. (p 46)
Since the end of the post-election crisis, the Republican Forces and armed “volunteers” [including dozos: see here and here] loyal to them have unlawfully taken over many functions that the police and gendarmes are legally mandated to do . . . (p 56)
Several victims of arbitrary arrest or detention told Human Rights Watch that police officers or gendarmes tried to intervene on their behalf and stop abuses. . . A youth arrested while walking home from a church function on August 25 described how police kept him from being detained and upbraided soldiers who had stolen dozens of cell phones from those arrested (p 57) "God thankfully made that there was a police officer nearby," he said (p 58)
The HRW report also notes that after being arbitrarily arrested and beaten senseless for a week, men are then extorted, forced to pay in order to be released rather than killed. Towards the end of the report there are testimonies from women who testify to being arbitrarily arrested and then told that their male relatives will released if they (the women) have sex with the soldiers.
---------------------
In an unrelated article, Associated Press reports on the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center's findings, that continuing conflicts over land have caused at least another 24,000 Ivorians to become displaced so far this year (i.e. by Nov 2012).
[for an example, see Ivory Coast: Thousands displaced in renewed terror
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 172, Wed 15 Aug 2012]
That figure is in addition to the 40,000 to 80,000 who remain displaced from the March-April 2011 hostilities.
According to the report, "armed men have prevented displaced persons from accessing their land, sometimes imposing 'arbitrary taxes on those wishing to return'."
Are these "arbitrary taxes" simple criminal extortion, or jizya (Islamic, sacralised extortion of the dhimmi, as mandated by the Qur'an in Sura 9:29)? And why is it being allowed? The fact is, lawless Ivory Coast is awash with illegal weapons.
On 5 Dec, UN Watch issued a statement entitled, Despite Military Atrocities, Ivory Coast Elected as UN Disarmament Commission Vice-Chair, in which it called for the move to be reversed.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Ivory Coast: Darkness & terror; Freemasonry link; Watching Ghana.
Darkness and terror
Below are a few youtube clips that reveal something of the nature of the pro-Ouattara forces that have seized control of Ivory Coast.
1) This footage dates back to 2002. It shows pro-Ouattara, northern New Forces rebels at their base in Bouake. Though they had failed to capture all of Ivory Coast, they celebrate their seizure of the north with the ritual slaughter of an Ivorian constable, in the presence of French troops.
Sources report that when the rebels were confronted with this footage, they acknowledged that the constable was indeed ritually slaughtered. However they claimed to have later used their occult powers to resuscitate him.
2) This excellent, highly informative site has been set up to provide information on Ivory Coast's Presidential Conflict.
In the CBN film clip dated 8 April 2011, Gary Lane interviews missions Pastor Ted Jensen. This film clip contains truly horrific footage of civilians (allegedly members of predominantly Christian tribes that support Laurent Gbagbo) being kicked and shoved into a fiery mass grave where they can be seen burning to death.
UPDATE/CORRECTION: it is been pointed out that while pro-Gbagbo supporters have been burned alive in Ivory Coast, this footage is not from Ivory Coast March-April 2011. While people can be heard crying 'Allahu Akhbar' in the background, the footage is also on the internet as witch-burning in Kisii Nyamataro, Kenya, 2009.
In the CNN film clip dated 14 April 2011, Laurent Gbagbo's step daughter, US-based lawyer Marie-Antoinette Singleton, defends Gbagbo, explains the election fraud and talks about the terror gripping native and non-Muslim Ivorians.
The speeches and press conferences by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, are excellent value.
The Freemasonry link
The following article -- written to explain why so many francophone African presidents are supporting neo-colonial France vis-a-vis African nationalist Laurent Gbagbo -- exposes the role Freemasonry plays in the perpetuation of exploitative and criminal neo-colonialism in Africa.
According to the author, "It is impossible to understand how Françafrique works without reference to the Masons."
West African Leaders On The Square Against Gbagbo
By Dr. Gary K. Busch, for ocnus.net 5 Jan 2011
Busch writes: "The French Masons represent the elite of French business and politics. [. . .] Freemason lodges maintain a formidable, covert influence within the French judicial and police structures. [. . .]
"Just as in France, Freemasonry is ubiquitous at the very top in many African states. Denis Sassou Nguesso, the Congolese president, is Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Congo Brazzaville linked to the National Grand Lodge of France; President Mamadou Tanja of Niger; Chad's Idriss Deby and Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic are among at least twelve African presidents linked to the Masons. In November 2009 Ali Bongo, the new Gabonese President was ordained as the grand master of the Grand Lodge of Gabon (GLB) and the Grand Equatorial Rite, the two predominant Freemason orders in Gabon.
"In Congo-Brazzaville, both the current president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and the former president, Pascal Lissouba, are freemasons, although they belong to different chapters of the order. Mr Lissouba is an initiate of the Grand Orient of France while Mr Sassou Nguesso belongs to a Senegalese lodge affiliated to the French Grand National Lodge. Most of these African presidents, but not exclusively, are francophone: Paul Biya, president of Cameroon , Blaise Campaore, president of Burkina Faso; Robert Guei, former head of Cote d'Ivoire; John Kuffuor, former president of Ghana, to name but a few. There are scores more at Cabinet level and who are staffing African regional organisations and banks.
"The Masons have always provided the leaders and the staff of French colonialism. . ."
Busch protests the Colonial Pact by which means France maintains control over the economies of the African states. "It took possession of their foreign currency reserves; it controlled the strategic raw materials of the country; it stationed troops in the country with the right of free passage; it demanded that all military equipment be acquired from France; it took over the training of the police and army; it required that French businesses be allowed to maintain monopoly enterprises in key areas (water, electricity, ports, transport, energy, etc.). France not only set limits on the imports of a range of items from outside the franc zone but also set minimum quantities of imports from France. These treaties are still in force and operational."
According to Busch, this immoral, exploitative Colonial Pact endures because, "Unlike in ordinary democracies, the French version of democracy is a special case. By tradition in France, foreign affairs are the French president's private domain. The foreign affairs minister only applies his policies. France is the only Western country where foreign policy is not a debating topic in the national legislative bodies. The sovereignty of the French people does not count for anything even if it has elected the president directly. The Parliament has no checking powers and is quietly relegated to domestic matters."
Watching Ghana
While both President Ouattara and Prime Minister Soro have cleared Ghana of providing military aid to pro-Gbagbo forces during the conflict, PM Soro is now accusing Ghana of providing refuge to pro-Gbagbo subversives.
However, Ghana President John Evans Atta Mills "has assured the international community that Ghana will not allow any group of persons who have wicked intentions to use the country as a base to cause mayhem in Cote d'Ivoire".
See: Ghana can't be used to destabilize Cote d'Ivoire - Mills
Ghanaweb 17 May 2011
Soro's New Forces warn Ghana
The Statesman, 18/05/2011
"In spite of assurances this week from President JEA Mills to the outgoing pro-Gbagbo Ivorian ambassador to Ghana, Emmanuel Auguste Ackah, that Ghana 'will not tolerate any group of persons to use Ghana as a base to create trouble for our neighbours,' les Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (the New Forces), the main military force in the Republican Forces which led the recent military action to overthrow Laurent Gbagbo has accused Ghana of hosting pro-Gbagbo men who are allegedly planning to destabilize Cote d'Ivoire.
"President Mills' denial of rebel activities in Ghana was in direct response to a report in pro-Ouattara newspaper, Le Patriote, last week. But, this subsequent accusation from the feared New Forces raises serious regional security issues for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire."
[NOTE: Guillaume Soro is Ivory Coast's Prime Minister, Defence Minister and head of the Republican Forces army which overthrew Gbagbo. He also controls the "feared" New Forces rebel coalition that fought against the south in the 2002 Civil War. The New Forces have recently been incorporated into the Republican Forces under Soro's command.]
According to Soro, pro-Gbagbo forces sheltering in Ghana are preparing a counter-coup. While daring them to imagine themselves overthrowing Pres. Ouattara, he warns that should any attempt be made to destabilise Ouattara's government they will meet "their worst nightmare", adding that it would also be "suicidal for any nation that supports this path".
"The New Forces warn that Ghana would 'inevitably get its fingers burnt,' if it continues to fail to act against the alleged subversive activities."
Below are a few youtube clips that reveal something of the nature of the pro-Ouattara forces that have seized control of Ivory Coast.
1) This footage dates back to 2002. It shows pro-Ouattara, northern New Forces rebels at their base in Bouake. Though they had failed to capture all of Ivory Coast, they celebrate their seizure of the north with the ritual slaughter of an Ivorian constable, in the presence of French troops.
Sources report that when the rebels were confronted with this footage, they acknowledged that the constable was indeed ritually slaughtered. However they claimed to have later used their occult powers to resuscitate him.
2) This excellent, highly informative site has been set up to provide information on Ivory Coast's Presidential Conflict.
In the CBN film clip dated 8 April 2011, Gary Lane interviews missions Pastor Ted Jensen. This film clip contains truly horrific footage of civilians (allegedly members of predominantly Christian tribes that support Laurent Gbagbo) being kicked and shoved into a fiery mass grave where they can be seen burning to death.
UPDATE/CORRECTION: it is been pointed out that while pro-Gbagbo supporters have been burned alive in Ivory Coast, this footage is not from Ivory Coast March-April 2011. While people can be heard crying 'Allahu Akhbar' in the background, the footage is also on the internet as witch-burning in Kisii Nyamataro, Kenya, 2009.
In the CNN film clip dated 14 April 2011, Laurent Gbagbo's step daughter, US-based lawyer Marie-Antoinette Singleton, defends Gbagbo, explains the election fraud and talks about the terror gripping native and non-Muslim Ivorians.
The speeches and press conferences by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, are excellent value.
The Freemasonry link
The following article -- written to explain why so many francophone African presidents are supporting neo-colonial France vis-a-vis African nationalist Laurent Gbagbo -- exposes the role Freemasonry plays in the perpetuation of exploitative and criminal neo-colonialism in Africa.
According to the author, "It is impossible to understand how Françafrique works without reference to the Masons."
West African Leaders On The Square Against Gbagbo
By Dr. Gary K. Busch, for ocnus.net 5 Jan 2011
Busch writes: "The French Masons represent the elite of French business and politics. [. . .] Freemason lodges maintain a formidable, covert influence within the French judicial and police structures. [. . .]
"Just as in France, Freemasonry is ubiquitous at the very top in many African states. Denis Sassou Nguesso, the Congolese president, is Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Congo Brazzaville linked to the National Grand Lodge of France; President Mamadou Tanja of Niger; Chad's Idriss Deby and Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic are among at least twelve African presidents linked to the Masons. In November 2009 Ali Bongo, the new Gabonese President was ordained as the grand master of the Grand Lodge of Gabon (GLB) and the Grand Equatorial Rite, the two predominant Freemason orders in Gabon.
"In Congo-Brazzaville, both the current president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and the former president, Pascal Lissouba, are freemasons, although they belong to different chapters of the order. Mr Lissouba is an initiate of the Grand Orient of France while Mr Sassou Nguesso belongs to a Senegalese lodge affiliated to the French Grand National Lodge. Most of these African presidents, but not exclusively, are francophone: Paul Biya, president of Cameroon , Blaise Campaore, president of Burkina Faso; Robert Guei, former head of Cote d'Ivoire; John Kuffuor, former president of Ghana, to name but a few. There are scores more at Cabinet level and who are staffing African regional organisations and banks.
"The Masons have always provided the leaders and the staff of French colonialism. . ."
Busch protests the Colonial Pact by which means France maintains control over the economies of the African states. "It took possession of their foreign currency reserves; it controlled the strategic raw materials of the country; it stationed troops in the country with the right of free passage; it demanded that all military equipment be acquired from France; it took over the training of the police and army; it required that French businesses be allowed to maintain monopoly enterprises in key areas (water, electricity, ports, transport, energy, etc.). France not only set limits on the imports of a range of items from outside the franc zone but also set minimum quantities of imports from France. These treaties are still in force and operational."
According to Busch, this immoral, exploitative Colonial Pact endures because, "Unlike in ordinary democracies, the French version of democracy is a special case. By tradition in France, foreign affairs are the French president's private domain. The foreign affairs minister only applies his policies. France is the only Western country where foreign policy is not a debating topic in the national legislative bodies. The sovereignty of the French people does not count for anything even if it has elected the president directly. The Parliament has no checking powers and is quietly relegated to domestic matters."
Watching Ghana
While both President Ouattara and Prime Minister Soro have cleared Ghana of providing military aid to pro-Gbagbo forces during the conflict, PM Soro is now accusing Ghana of providing refuge to pro-Gbagbo subversives.
However, Ghana President John Evans Atta Mills "has assured the international community that Ghana will not allow any group of persons who have wicked intentions to use the country as a base to cause mayhem in Cote d'Ivoire".
See: Ghana can't be used to destabilize Cote d'Ivoire - Mills
Ghanaweb 17 May 2011
Soro's New Forces warn Ghana
The Statesman, 18/05/2011
"In spite of assurances this week from President JEA Mills to the outgoing pro-Gbagbo Ivorian ambassador to Ghana, Emmanuel Auguste Ackah, that Ghana 'will not tolerate any group of persons to use Ghana as a base to create trouble for our neighbours,' les Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (the New Forces), the main military force in the Republican Forces which led the recent military action to overthrow Laurent Gbagbo has accused Ghana of hosting pro-Gbagbo men who are allegedly planning to destabilize Cote d'Ivoire.
"President Mills' denial of rebel activities in Ghana was in direct response to a report in pro-Ouattara newspaper, Le Patriote, last week. But, this subsequent accusation from the feared New Forces raises serious regional security issues for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire."
[NOTE: Guillaume Soro is Ivory Coast's Prime Minister, Defence Minister and head of the Republican Forces army which overthrew Gbagbo. He also controls the "feared" New Forces rebel coalition that fought against the south in the 2002 Civil War. The New Forces have recently been incorporated into the Republican Forces under Soro's command.]
According to Soro, pro-Gbagbo forces sheltering in Ghana are preparing a counter-coup. While daring them to imagine themselves overthrowing Pres. Ouattara, he warns that should any attempt be made to destabilise Ouattara's government they will meet "their worst nightmare", adding that it would also be "suicidal for any nation that supports this path".
"The New Forces warn that Ghana would 'inevitably get its fingers burnt,' if it continues to fail to act against the alleged subversive activities."
Thursday, April 7, 2011
IVORY COAST: where Islamic and Western interests converge
By Elizabeth Kendal
Ivory Coast is an ethnic-religious fault-line nation. The north is predominantly agrarian and Muslim, while the south, which is more urbanised, industrial and administrative, is predominantly Christian and animist.
Decades of mass Muslim immigration helped make Ivory Coast prosperous, as workers flooded in from neighbouring poor Muslim states to work in Ivorian industries, in particular cocoa. But rapid population expansion eventually resulted in land stress, while subsequent economic downturn resulted in rising unemployment.
It was into this tense climate that presidential aspirant Alassane Ouattara, an ambitious former Prime Minister and Northern Muslim, came playing the race and religion cards for political gain. While his ploy has won him popular backing amongst Ivory Coast's Muslims and immigrants, it has fuelled tensions and aggravated divisions -- as racial-religious politics always does.
Ouattara has campaigned for the naturalisation of all immigrants; something that would give Ivory Coast -- which is politically secular and officially 30 percent Muslim -- an instant Muslim majority. All objections to this scenario -- objections that generally arise from native, secular and non-Muslim Ivorians -- are met with cries of "'Islamophobia", "xenophobia" and "racism".
Precisely because he is a Muslim who is prepared to play the immigrants-and-Muslims-as-victims card for political gain, Ouattara has the backing of most (but not all) African states. Islamic states support him as he advances an Islamic agenda. Meanwhile, to those regimes in poor African states desperate to maintain the inflow of remittances from Ivory Coast, Ouattara represents maintenance of the status quo.
More importantly, precisely because he is prepared to sell-out Ivory Coast's sovereignty and her immense agricultural (coffee, cocoa) and mineral (diamonds, oil) wealth in exchange for power, Ouattara has the backing of resource-hungry Western powers, in particular the neo-colonialist hegemon: France.
In this regard, the international media does largely misunderstand the situation in Ivory Coast. For the high stakes in Ivory Coast relate not only to race ('Ivorite' vs 'immigrant') and religion (Christian vs Muslim), but also to Ivorian independence vs French neo-colonialism.
To this end, Alassane Ouattara is essentially France's man in Ivory Coast. He is France's guarantee that their exploitative monopoly and neo-colonialist hegemony over Ivorian amenities -- including water and telecommunications and banks -- will remain. The colonial pact brokered in the 1960s mandates that 65 percent of the foreign currency reserves of former French colonies in Africa go into the French Treasury, while a further 20 percent of reserves go to cover "financial liabilities". Did you ever wonder why Francophone Africa was so poor? And while this is revenue that France clearly cannot afford to lose, it is revenue that Francophone Africa obviously cannot afford to give.
Source: SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME: CFA franc
The Frontier Telegraph, 29 Jan 2008
It is this poverty-perpetuating French neo-colonialism that staunch nationalist Laurent Gbagbo has been fighting for decades. This is why France particularly is so keen to see regime change in Ivory Coast.
And France is not alone. Since 9/11 the US has been keen to lessen its dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf. Present tensions in the Middle East have only deepened that resolve. Consequently, the US is actively seeking to increase its control over the oil reserves in the Gulf of Guinea. Oil from the Gulf of Guinea is not only of a higher quality than that of the Persian Gulf, it is also (or at least it portends to be) more secure.
In late 2010 the Atlantic Council, the preeminent pro-NATO think tank co-released a report entitled "Advancing U.S., African, and Global Interests: Security and Stability in the West African Maritime Domain." It proceeds from the fact that "The Gulf of Guinea is at the brink of becoming a greater supplier of energy to the United States than the Persian Gulf and is therefore of far higher strategic importance than has historically been the case."
See: Militarization Of Energy Policy: U.S. AFRICOM And Gulf Of Guinea
by Rick Rozoff, 8 January 2011
To this end, it is important to note that Ivory Coast, on the Gulf of Guinea, is one of only five African states (a group that includes Libya) not subordinated to US Africom. Africom is essentially US "boots-on-the-ground" in Africa. It is military cooperation on humanitarian projects, or as Horace Campbell, professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University puts it, Africom is "fundamentally a front for US military contractors like Dyncorp, MPRI and KBR operating in Africa".
Source: There's no business like war business
By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times online, 30 March 2011
Sustaining and advancing neo-colonialism against nationalist forces.
At the end Cold War, NATO lost its reason for existence. And so it was that the "humanitarian intervention" was born.
A "humanitarian intervention" invariably involves entering an asymmetrical civil conflict on the side of the weaker force, allegedly for the purpose of saving lives. This however, rarely achieves the desired humanitarian result. Rather "humanitarian interventions" normally culminate in frozen conflicts; or in the empowering of forces that could never have achieved power in their own right, and therefore will never be able to sustain power in their own strength, and therefore will require the assistance of a "stabilisation force" or of "peacekeepers" -- in other words, "boots-on-the-ground" (what some might call an occupation).
It is little wonder that sceptics view the "humanitarian intervention" as little more than opportunistic neo-imperialism or neo-colonialism. NATO's humanitarian interventions in Yugoslavia and Kosovo (at the expense of many hundreds of thousands of displaced Serbs), and Russia's humanitarian interventions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia (at the expense of the some 200,000 displaced Georgians) are classic examples. France's "humanitarian intervention" in Ivory Coast is destined to go down in history as yet another appalling example of outright neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism, this time at the expense of native, secular and non-Muslim Ivorians.
The following reports make good background reading:
Cote d'Ivoire: Tearing Apart.
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC
Thursday 17 October 2002
Cote d'Ivoire: The Foreign Muscle Behind the Rebellion.
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC
Tuesday 5 November 2002
IVORY COAST: Christians anxious as war threatens.
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC
WEA Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin - No. 298 - Wed 17 Nov 2004
From this point -- Nov 2004, after France's violent and destructive "humanitarian"/military intervention to prevent President Gbagbo from reunifying the state -- the conflict in Ivory Coast was essentially frozen.
In democracy we trust
The West insisted that Ivory Coast could be reconciled, reunified and essentially saved by means of democratic elections, such is their faith in "democracy" and the inherent goodness of man. In reality however, Ivory Coast's divisions are so profound and the stakes are so high that, unless genuine reconciliation occurred first, elections could only trigger conflict.
See: IVORY COAST: on the brink of war.
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 085
By Elizabeth Kendal. Wed 08 Dec 2010
Ivory Coast (IC) went to the polls on 28 Nov 2010, despite the fact that the northern rebels, in violation of all agreements, had not disarmed.
In Ivory Coast, as in most democracies, an electoral commission manages the mechanics of an election while a constitutional council or court investigates complaints before proclaiming the definitive result. On 2 Dec 2010, Ivory Coast's electoral commission (which is dominated by Ouattara supporters by a margin of 20-2) illegally pre-empted the constitutional council's decision and broadcast via French TV from Ouattara's headquarters that Ouattara had won the election. When Ivory Coast's Constitutional Council, which had been investigating irregularities, announced on 3 Dec 2010 that Gbagbo was the winner, a political stalemate ensued.
Source: STATEMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IVORY COAST
BASIC FACTS SURROUNDING THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE NOVEMBER 28 ELECTIONS
20 DECEMBER 2010
Despite the fact that this was a political problem that warranted a political solution, Alassane Ouattara, bolstered by the support of the "international community", moved to seize power by force.
Virtually all of Ivory Coast's state institutions, including the army, are loyal to President Gbagbo, as is at least half the registered population (concentrated in the south). As such, Abidjan will not yield willingly.
In fact this would be a totally asymmetrical conflict were it not for foreign interference. The rebels would never be able to seize or retain power without Western support. Fortunately for them, in Ivory Coast, Islamic and Western 'interests' converge once again.
In fact France is so keen to see regime change in IC that it has sent attack helicopters against the Presidential Palace and Ivorian military barracks -- in the name of "humanitarianism" of course -- and this despite that fact that these facilities not only house whole families, but they also abut residential areas.
While UN and French helicopters were attacking Ivorian positions in Abidjan, northern militias allied to Alassane Ouattara were pressing south. Some 800 were massacred last week in the south-western town of Duekoue when it came under attack from northern militias. Subsequently, UN peacekeepers found themselves guarding tens of thousands of civilians seeking refuge in a Duekoue church.
While for Ouattara this is primarily about personal power and personal wealth, for many of those allied to him, this conflict is nothing short of Islamic jihad.
VALE
In 1913 William Wade Harris of Liberia crossed into Ivory Coast preaching the power of Christ over spirits. Dressed in white and carrying a cross, a Bible and a bowl, he baptised around 120,000 and, according to Dr Elizabeth Isichei (1995), 'permanently rewrote the religious geography of the Ivory Coast'.
But permanence can never be assumed. That which is good must be treasured and preserved. What Harris achieved, greed and mass Muslim immigration have undone. Once the most free, safe and prosperous country in all West Africa, Ivory Coast may never recover. Religious liberty and Christian security, once a given, will be tenuous now.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
IVORY COAST : CHRISTIANS ANXIOUS AS WAR THREATENS
WEA Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin - No. 298 - Wed 17 Nov 2004
-------------------------------------------------
IVORY COAST : CHRISTIANS ANXIOUS AS WAR THREATENS
-------------------------------------------------
By Elizabeth Kendal
When mostly Muslim rebels (backed with foreign funds and arms) seized control of northern Ivory Coast (IC) in 2002, Christians, southerners and government supporters fled south for their lives. As those fleeing included most of northern IC's doctors, nurses, professionals, administrators and school teachers, living conditions in the north have deteriorated markedly under rebel control. Of great concern are reports from MSF (Doctors without Borders) and the UN that AIDS has increased markedly in the north of IC as desperate girls prostitute themselves to survive. Having abandoned the government of national unity, the rebels declared in mid October their refusal to negotiate further or disarm.
On 4 November, President Laurent Gbagbo launched a surprise air raid on rebel strongholds in the north, attempting to defeat them militarily and re-unify the country. When nine French peacekeepers in rebel territory were killed in an IC air raid on 6 November, France immediately responded by destroying the two IC helicopter gunships used in the raid. France then struck pre-emptively to 'neutralise' IC air power, destroying all IC's air force planes and the airport tarmac. When French tanks then headed for the Presidential Palace, government supporters streamed into the streets and created a human shield around it. Some government supporters furiously attacked French interests. Whilst no non-African died in the protests, French soldiers killed up to 100 and wounded some 1,000 protesting government supporters.
Though France, the former colonial power in IC, is acting as peacekeeper and peace mediator, it is not neutral. Intelligence agencies have long believed that France would like to see or even engineer a coup in IC. President Gbagbo is opposed to the pro-France policies of IC, believing they are not in IC's best interests. Gbagbo's rival, A D Ouattara, the president of the RDR party to which the rebels are aligned, implemented many pro-France initiatives when he was IC Prime Minister. France would benefit economically if Ouattara were back in power. What we have today is a still uncertain future, with a three-way stand off between the IC, France and the rebels.
IC has a huge population of immigrants from Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, its poorer northern Islamic neighbours. The possibility of the rebels' aims succeeding causes IC's Christians great anxiety, as all these migrants would be naturalised, making IC instantly a Muslim majority nation. Then, by the strength of their votes, the constitution could be amended and A D Ouattara
elected president. (Presently he is barred from the presidency due to issues of nationality.) If that happens, IC will never be the same again, but will become a reflection of its northern Islamic neighbours. This scenario does not sit well with Ivorians – Muslim, Christian and traditional religionists – who regard their liberty as precious.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:
* God to expose the plots and schemes of corrupt, self-serving
politicians who would destabilise a free and prosperous nation
in pure self-interest.
* great wisdom for all IC leaders, especially President Gbagbo
who is a Christian; may he draw close to God in this crisis, and
emerge more dependent on God than ever before. 'Some nations
boast of their armies and weapons, but we boast in the Lord our
God.' (Psalm 20:7 NLT) 'The horses are prepared for battle, but
the victory belongs to the Lord.' (Proverbs 21:31 NLT)
* Christians in Ivory Coast to be drawn to pray, and may they
receive wisdom, courage and radiant power from the Holy Spirit
for visible Christ-likeness in the midst of a society filled
with hostility, fear, anger and confusion. 'Godliness helps
people all through life, while the evil are destroyed by their
wickedness.' (Proverbs 13:6)
* God to be preparing the Church in Ivory Coast to be an
instrument of grace, reconciliation and healing.
* Almighty God to rescue Ivory Coast, and for justice and liberty
to prevail across the whole nation.
-------------------------------------------------
IVORY COAST : CHRISTIANS ANXIOUS AS WAR THREATENS
-------------------------------------------------
By Elizabeth Kendal
When mostly Muslim rebels (backed with foreign funds and arms) seized control of northern Ivory Coast (IC) in 2002, Christians, southerners and government supporters fled south for their lives. As those fleeing included most of northern IC's doctors, nurses, professionals, administrators and school teachers, living conditions in the north have deteriorated markedly under rebel control. Of great concern are reports from MSF (Doctors without Borders) and the UN that AIDS has increased markedly in the north of IC as desperate girls prostitute themselves to survive. Having abandoned the government of national unity, the rebels declared in mid October their refusal to negotiate further or disarm.
On 4 November, President Laurent Gbagbo launched a surprise air raid on rebel strongholds in the north, attempting to defeat them militarily and re-unify the country. When nine French peacekeepers in rebel territory were killed in an IC air raid on 6 November, France immediately responded by destroying the two IC helicopter gunships used in the raid. France then struck pre-emptively to 'neutralise' IC air power, destroying all IC's air force planes and the airport tarmac. When French tanks then headed for the Presidential Palace, government supporters streamed into the streets and created a human shield around it. Some government supporters furiously attacked French interests. Whilst no non-African died in the protests, French soldiers killed up to 100 and wounded some 1,000 protesting government supporters.
Though France, the former colonial power in IC, is acting as peacekeeper and peace mediator, it is not neutral. Intelligence agencies have long believed that France would like to see or even engineer a coup in IC. President Gbagbo is opposed to the pro-France policies of IC, believing they are not in IC's best interests. Gbagbo's rival, A D Ouattara, the president of the RDR party to which the rebels are aligned, implemented many pro-France initiatives when he was IC Prime Minister. France would benefit economically if Ouattara were back in power. What we have today is a still uncertain future, with a three-way stand off between the IC, France and the rebels.
IC has a huge population of immigrants from Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, its poorer northern Islamic neighbours. The possibility of the rebels' aims succeeding causes IC's Christians great anxiety, as all these migrants would be naturalised, making IC instantly a Muslim majority nation. Then, by the strength of their votes, the constitution could be amended and A D Ouattara
elected president. (Presently he is barred from the presidency due to issues of nationality.) If that happens, IC will never be the same again, but will become a reflection of its northern Islamic neighbours. This scenario does not sit well with Ivorians – Muslim, Christian and traditional religionists – who regard their liberty as precious.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:
* God to expose the plots and schemes of corrupt, self-serving
politicians who would destabilise a free and prosperous nation
in pure self-interest.
* great wisdom for all IC leaders, especially President Gbagbo
who is a Christian; may he draw close to God in this crisis, and
emerge more dependent on God than ever before. 'Some nations
boast of their armies and weapons, but we boast in the Lord our
God.' (Psalm 20:7 NLT) 'The horses are prepared for battle, but
the victory belongs to the Lord.' (Proverbs 21:31 NLT)
* Christians in Ivory Coast to be drawn to pray, and may they
receive wisdom, courage and radiant power from the Holy Spirit
for visible Christ-likeness in the midst of a society filled
with hostility, fear, anger and confusion. 'Godliness helps
people all through life, while the evil are destroyed by their
wickedness.' (Proverbs 13:6)
* God to be preparing the Church in Ivory Coast to be an
instrument of grace, reconciliation and healing.
* Almighty God to rescue Ivory Coast, and for justice and liberty
to prevail across the whole nation.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Anti-Semitism in the EU, and the EU response to it.
Date: Wednesday 14 April 2004
Subj: Anti-Semitism in the EU, and the EU response to it.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
------------------------------------
ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE EU
- and the EU response to it.
------------------------------------
The European Union (EU) still appears unwilling to acknowledge the findings of its own reports. Last year the EU-sponsored report into anti-Semitism in the EU was shelved, citing data collection irregularities, after it reported that the majority of anti-Semitic attacks were being perpetrated by Muslim youths. A new report was commissioned. However this produced the same conclusion that Muslim youths are increasingly responsible for anti-Semitic violence in the EU.
This year the language was softened and the issue of the identity of the perpetrators was either avoided or smoothly glossed over. The report states, "It is not any more the extreme right that is mainly responsible for hostility towards Jewish individuals and property. Varying proportions of victims of hostility classified perpetrators to be 'young Muslims', 'people of North African origin', and 'immigrants'". Yet this finding is written-off with a reminder that this is merely the victims' "perception" and cannot be verified, certainly not on official records. (Executive Summary, page 25; Conclusions, page 319.)
The EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) released to the media a 22-page summary that actually presented a contradictory finding. Hence media across the world have reported that the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts in the EU are primarily "young, disaffected white Europeans" - the opposite of the actual finding of the report. This false reporting is deeply troubling.
Anti-Semitic attitudes and attacks are escalating at an alarming rate, while those who disseminate anti-Semitism and fuel or perpetrate anti-Semitic acts are being protected with a cloak of invisibility. This must end, because impunity equals permission, and if anti-Semitic attacks are permitted to escalate at this rate then the future looks truly horrifying - like something we vowed we would never let happen again.
----------------------------------
BLATANT FALSE REPORTING
The EU-commissioned report entitled "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003", by the EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) was released in late March 2004. (Link 1)
The 22-page summary released to the media states, ". there has been an increase in antisemitic incidents in five EU countries, (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK). These incidents ranged from hate mail to arson. In some other countries there has been little evidence of increase in antisemitism. Although it is not easy to generalise, the largest group of the perpetrators of antisemitic activities appears to be young, disaffected white Europeans. A further source of antisemitism in some countries was young Muslims of North African or Asian extraction. Traditionally antisemitic groups on the extreme right played a part in stirring opinion."
Generally speaking, the world's media took this and ran with it, seemingly ignorant of the fact that it contradicted both reality and the EUMC report itself.
The BBC reported (Wednesday 31 March 2004) "Attacks against Jews in Europe have sharply increased, says a report by a European anti-racism watchdog. The study singles out Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, where it says the rise in anti-Semitism has been of particular concern. Other countries, including Ireland and Portugal, showed little sign of any rise in attacks, the report says.
"It identifies 'young, disaffected white Europeans' as the key culprits followed by North African or Asian Muslims."
On 1 April, The Hindu published an article entitled, "White males blamed for attacks on EU Jews." It stated: "Brussels, April 1. (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE): Attacks on Jews have increased in five EU countries in the last two years with white males rather than Muslims being blamed for many of them, according to a report published yesterday.
"The study by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) contrasted with the controversial findings of research carried out in Berlin last year, which said young Arabs and Muslims were mainly responsible for rising anti-semitism."
JEWISH GROUPS OUTRAGED
Jonathan Fisk commented on 1 April, "A long-awaited report on European anti-Semitism confirms that it is a growing problem across the continent - but dances around the politically sensitive question of who is responsible. The 344-page report by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, or EUMC, details a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and England. Physical assaults are absent or rare in Greece, Austria, Italy and Spain, the report found, but anti-Semitic discourse is virulent there as well.
"Those findings are unlikely to surprise observers who have watched a rash of anti-Semitic outbursts spread across Europe since the Palestinian intifada began in September 2000.
"More surprising was the almost passing reference made to the perpetrators. Newer actors such as immigrant Muslim youth are mentioned in the report, but an EUMC press release accompanying the report sought to highlight the role of more traditional sources of anti-Semitism, such as far-right groups and skinheads." (Link 2)
Regarding the contradictory statements made in the media summary, Jonathan Fisk quotes Elan Steinberg, executive vice president of the World Jewish Congress as protesting, "After the scandal of the previous report, the EUMC has compiled an impressive quantitative analysis that shows an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. But they studiously avoid going into the causes of the anti-Semitism; you're almost left with the impression that it occurred from outer space. It's an intellectual whitewash and an instance of moral cowardice."
Fisk also quotes Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the European Jewish Congress, "It's contradictory that the EUMC puts an emphasis on 'white, right-wing perpetrators,' whereas the report reveals that the majority of attacks in most countries are committed by young Muslims of North African origin. How can we effectively fight anti-Semitism when we refuse to identify the true perpetrators?"
ARAB ANTI-SEMITISM
A brilliant Special Report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) entitled "What is Arab Antisemitism?" draws this conclusion: "Arab antisemitism must be closely monitored and its many manifestations translated and exposed, in the hope that exposure will lead to international protests and diplomatic pressure on the states guilty of propagating it."
This MEMRI report is highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand contemporary Arab anti-Semitism.
MEMRI "What Is Arab Antisemitism?"
By Menahem Milson, 27 February 2004
Another excellent summary and analysis is by the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity (ISIC - an arm of the Barnabas Fund). ISIC Briefing 12 November 2003
"Mahathir Mohamad and Muslim Antisemitism."
-------------------------------------------
After all the Country Reports, Part 2 of the EUMC "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003" report focuses on "Evaluation of National EUMC-RAXEN Data on Antisemitism". The Conclusions are detailed from pages 318-326.
THE EUMC RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS AND ISSUES
On page 319 we read, "There is evidence to support the view that there is a link between the number of reported antisemitic incidents and the political situation in the Middle East." This is of course a simple observation.
On page 323 however, we read, "Another topical issue with regard to contemporary antisemitism is the influence of the crisis in the Middle East on both attitudes towards Jews and hostile acts directed against Jews."
This statement comes without qualification or explanation and is therefore contemptible. Such an unqualified statement subtly implies, or yields to the propaganda, that "the crisis in the Middle East" is responsible for anti-Semitic attitudes and hostility and may even therefore ultimately justify them.
It is well known that the situation in the Middle East is regularly used as an excuse for anti-Semitic attitudes and actions. However it should be noted that we are not seeing evidence that Palestinian and Arab Islamist terrorism against Israeli civilians in the Middle East is producing hateful, aggressive, violent and destructive Jews in the EU (and we don't expect to). So to blame "the crisis in the Middle East" is quite unfair and misdirected. As far as the Middle East goes, it is anti-Semitism that is an obstacle to peace, not the other way around.
Likewise, we read in the Executive Summary, "What should not be considered as antisemitic and therefore does not have to be monitored under the heading 'antisemitism' is hostility towards Israel as 'Israel' i.e. as a country that is criticised for its concrete policies."
This is a very delicate area. It is often said that Jews worldwide are hostages to Israeli policies (which are by implication bad). I fear however that the real situation is that Israel is hostage to pervasive and widespread anti-Semitism.
It is this anti-Semitism that denies Israel the right to exist and defend herself. It is this anti-Semitism that will, without making any demands on any Arab leaders, make Israel the Middle East's, and even the world's scapegoat. Through this anti-Semitism Israel is demonised and contempt for her is then used to justify the expression of anti-Semitic attitudes and acts.
Some criticisms of Israeli government policies (standing out as they do against a background of silence regarding Arab policies) are rational and reasonable - most however, are not. They are pure anti-Semitism dressed up in political garb.
------------------------
Serious questions were raised on page 323 under the main heading,
"Proposals for Data Collection and Research".
The report states that there are two separate manifestations of anti-Semitism:
1) "ideological and symbolic antisemitism as represented in political and media discourses, literature and public attitudes towards Jews";
2) "concrete incidents directed against individual Jews or Jewish organisations".
The reports then questions whether these two manifestations are connected or related. The report states that the issue needing to be addressed is "how far these two strands are dependant or independent from each other".
The report then acknowledges that the EUMC report has not examined "the motivations of the perpetrators and the relationship between their acts and antisemitic attitudes and ideology".
The EUMC should certainly be encouraged to examine the ideology and motivations of the perpetrators. They should do this through independent research and analysis, not by seeking statements from Islamic and Arab propagandists. This may however result in another report that will be shelved for its lack of political correctness.
The EUMC might like to start by examining the educational materials used in Islamic schools in the EU, especially Saudi-funded schools, and Saudi-produced and disseminated Islamic educational materials.
The EUMC might also like to examine the virulent anti-Semitism being disseminated through Arab broadcasting and Arab Internet sites (for example, Link 3) including those of Arab Embassies (most of which have links to the Saudi government's Islamic Affairs Department).
Examination should be made of the rabid anti-Semitism preached from many mosques, especially Saudi-funded, Saudi-established mosques through out the EU.
If the EUMC does conduct such research, they might find that a poisonous anti-Semitism is infesting Europe's airwaves, Muslim communities, Islamic schools and media, creating and feeding antisemitic hate and directly and indirectly provoking antisemitic acts.
Antisemitism is a serious issue that requires a serious response. All must have equality before the law.
---------------------
Finally, here is an interesting article on immigration, demographics, the radicalisation of Europe's Muslims and the short-sighted attempts by European leaders to appease them. These things do help explain the rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic acts in the EU, especially in states with higher levels of Arab Muslim immigration.
--------------------
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003"
by the EU Monitoring Centre (EUMC) for Xenophobia and Racism.
http://eumc.eu.int/eumc/index.php
2) Report notes rise in anti-Semitism, but blurs question of
responsibility
by Jonathan Fisk, JTA, 12 April 2004
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/lateststories/?disp_feature=5P8lNz.var
3) Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
"Former Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee Head Sets Out the Jews' 20 Bad
Traits As Described in the Qur'an" - for an on-line chat room on 22
March 2004.
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD69104
Subj: Anti-Semitism in the EU, and the EU response to it.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
------------------------------------
ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE EU
- and the EU response to it.
------------------------------------
The European Union (EU) still appears unwilling to acknowledge the findings of its own reports. Last year the EU-sponsored report into anti-Semitism in the EU was shelved, citing data collection irregularities, after it reported that the majority of anti-Semitic attacks were being perpetrated by Muslim youths. A new report was commissioned. However this produced the same conclusion that Muslim youths are increasingly responsible for anti-Semitic violence in the EU.
This year the language was softened and the issue of the identity of the perpetrators was either avoided or smoothly glossed over. The report states, "It is not any more the extreme right that is mainly responsible for hostility towards Jewish individuals and property. Varying proportions of victims of hostility classified perpetrators to be 'young Muslims', 'people of North African origin', and 'immigrants'". Yet this finding is written-off with a reminder that this is merely the victims' "perception" and cannot be verified, certainly not on official records. (Executive Summary, page 25; Conclusions, page 319.)
The EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) released to the media a 22-page summary that actually presented a contradictory finding. Hence media across the world have reported that the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts in the EU are primarily "young, disaffected white Europeans" - the opposite of the actual finding of the report. This false reporting is deeply troubling.
Anti-Semitic attitudes and attacks are escalating at an alarming rate, while those who disseminate anti-Semitism and fuel or perpetrate anti-Semitic acts are being protected with a cloak of invisibility. This must end, because impunity equals permission, and if anti-Semitic attacks are permitted to escalate at this rate then the future looks truly horrifying - like something we vowed we would never let happen again.
----------------------------------
BLATANT FALSE REPORTING
The EU-commissioned report entitled "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003", by the EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) was released in late March 2004. (Link 1)
The 22-page summary released to the media states, ". there has been an increase in antisemitic incidents in five EU countries, (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK). These incidents ranged from hate mail to arson. In some other countries there has been little evidence of increase in antisemitism. Although it is not easy to generalise, the largest group of the perpetrators of antisemitic activities appears to be young, disaffected white Europeans. A further source of antisemitism in some countries was young Muslims of North African or Asian extraction. Traditionally antisemitic groups on the extreme right played a part in stirring opinion."
Generally speaking, the world's media took this and ran with it, seemingly ignorant of the fact that it contradicted both reality and the EUMC report itself.
The BBC reported (Wednesday 31 March 2004) "Attacks against Jews in Europe have sharply increased, says a report by a European anti-racism watchdog. The study singles out Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, where it says the rise in anti-Semitism has been of particular concern. Other countries, including Ireland and Portugal, showed little sign of any rise in attacks, the report says.
"It identifies 'young, disaffected white Europeans' as the key culprits followed by North African or Asian Muslims."
On 1 April, The Hindu published an article entitled, "White males blamed for attacks on EU Jews." It stated: "Brussels, April 1. (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE): Attacks on Jews have increased in five EU countries in the last two years with white males rather than Muslims being blamed for many of them, according to a report published yesterday.
"The study by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) contrasted with the controversial findings of research carried out in Berlin last year, which said young Arabs and Muslims were mainly responsible for rising anti-semitism."
JEWISH GROUPS OUTRAGED
Jonathan Fisk commented on 1 April, "A long-awaited report on European anti-Semitism confirms that it is a growing problem across the continent - but dances around the politically sensitive question of who is responsible. The 344-page report by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, or EUMC, details a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and England. Physical assaults are absent or rare in Greece, Austria, Italy and Spain, the report found, but anti-Semitic discourse is virulent there as well.
"Those findings are unlikely to surprise observers who have watched a rash of anti-Semitic outbursts spread across Europe since the Palestinian intifada began in September 2000.
"More surprising was the almost passing reference made to the perpetrators. Newer actors such as immigrant Muslim youth are mentioned in the report, but an EUMC press release accompanying the report sought to highlight the role of more traditional sources of anti-Semitism, such as far-right groups and skinheads." (Link 2)
Regarding the contradictory statements made in the media summary, Jonathan Fisk quotes Elan Steinberg, executive vice president of the World Jewish Congress as protesting, "After the scandal of the previous report, the EUMC has compiled an impressive quantitative analysis that shows an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. But they studiously avoid going into the causes of the anti-Semitism; you're almost left with the impression that it occurred from outer space. It's an intellectual whitewash and an instance of moral cowardice."
Fisk also quotes Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the European Jewish Congress, "It's contradictory that the EUMC puts an emphasis on 'white, right-wing perpetrators,' whereas the report reveals that the majority of attacks in most countries are committed by young Muslims of North African origin. How can we effectively fight anti-Semitism when we refuse to identify the true perpetrators?"
ARAB ANTI-SEMITISM
A brilliant Special Report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) entitled "What is Arab Antisemitism?" draws this conclusion: "Arab antisemitism must be closely monitored and its many manifestations translated and exposed, in the hope that exposure will lead to international protests and diplomatic pressure on the states guilty of propagating it."
This MEMRI report is highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand contemporary Arab anti-Semitism.
MEMRI "What Is Arab Antisemitism?"
By Menahem Milson, 27 February 2004
Another excellent summary and analysis is by the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity (ISIC - an arm of the Barnabas Fund). ISIC Briefing 12 November 2003
"Mahathir Mohamad and Muslim Antisemitism."
-------------------------------------------
After all the Country Reports, Part 2 of the EUMC "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003" report focuses on "Evaluation of National EUMC-RAXEN Data on Antisemitism". The Conclusions are detailed from pages 318-326.
THE EUMC RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS AND ISSUES
On page 319 we read, "There is evidence to support the view that there is a link between the number of reported antisemitic incidents and the political situation in the Middle East." This is of course a simple observation.
On page 323 however, we read, "Another topical issue with regard to contemporary antisemitism is the influence of the crisis in the Middle East on both attitudes towards Jews and hostile acts directed against Jews."
This statement comes without qualification or explanation and is therefore contemptible. Such an unqualified statement subtly implies, or yields to the propaganda, that "the crisis in the Middle East" is responsible for anti-Semitic attitudes and hostility and may even therefore ultimately justify them.
It is well known that the situation in the Middle East is regularly used as an excuse for anti-Semitic attitudes and actions. However it should be noted that we are not seeing evidence that Palestinian and Arab Islamist terrorism against Israeli civilians in the Middle East is producing hateful, aggressive, violent and destructive Jews in the EU (and we don't expect to). So to blame "the crisis in the Middle East" is quite unfair and misdirected. As far as the Middle East goes, it is anti-Semitism that is an obstacle to peace, not the other way around.
Likewise, we read in the Executive Summary, "What should not be considered as antisemitic and therefore does not have to be monitored under the heading 'antisemitism' is hostility towards Israel as 'Israel' i.e. as a country that is criticised for its concrete policies."
This is a very delicate area. It is often said that Jews worldwide are hostages to Israeli policies (which are by implication bad). I fear however that the real situation is that Israel is hostage to pervasive and widespread anti-Semitism.
It is this anti-Semitism that denies Israel the right to exist and defend herself. It is this anti-Semitism that will, without making any demands on any Arab leaders, make Israel the Middle East's, and even the world's scapegoat. Through this anti-Semitism Israel is demonised and contempt for her is then used to justify the expression of anti-Semitic attitudes and acts.
Some criticisms of Israeli government policies (standing out as they do against a background of silence regarding Arab policies) are rational and reasonable - most however, are not. They are pure anti-Semitism dressed up in political garb.
------------------------
Serious questions were raised on page 323 under the main heading,
"Proposals for Data Collection and Research".
The report states that there are two separate manifestations of anti-Semitism:
1) "ideological and symbolic antisemitism as represented in political and media discourses, literature and public attitudes towards Jews";
2) "concrete incidents directed against individual Jews or Jewish organisations".
The reports then questions whether these two manifestations are connected or related. The report states that the issue needing to be addressed is "how far these two strands are dependant or independent from each other".
The report then acknowledges that the EUMC report has not examined "the motivations of the perpetrators and the relationship between their acts and antisemitic attitudes and ideology".
The EUMC should certainly be encouraged to examine the ideology and motivations of the perpetrators. They should do this through independent research and analysis, not by seeking statements from Islamic and Arab propagandists. This may however result in another report that will be shelved for its lack of political correctness.
The EUMC might like to start by examining the educational materials used in Islamic schools in the EU, especially Saudi-funded schools, and Saudi-produced and disseminated Islamic educational materials.
The EUMC might also like to examine the virulent anti-Semitism being disseminated through Arab broadcasting and Arab Internet sites (for example, Link 3) including those of Arab Embassies (most of which have links to the Saudi government's Islamic Affairs Department).
Examination should be made of the rabid anti-Semitism preached from many mosques, especially Saudi-funded, Saudi-established mosques through out the EU.
If the EUMC does conduct such research, they might find that a poisonous anti-Semitism is infesting Europe's airwaves, Muslim communities, Islamic schools and media, creating and feeding antisemitic hate and directly and indirectly provoking antisemitic acts.
Antisemitism is a serious issue that requires a serious response. All must have equality before the law.
---------------------
Finally, here is an interesting article on immigration, demographics, the radicalisation of Europe's Muslims and the short-sighted attempts by European leaders to appease them. These things do help explain the rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic acts in the EU, especially in states with higher levels of Arab Muslim immigration.
--------------------
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003"
by the EU Monitoring Centre (EUMC) for Xenophobia and Racism.
http://eumc.eu.int/eumc/index.php
2) Report notes rise in anti-Semitism, but blurs question of
responsibility
by Jonathan Fisk, JTA, 12 April 2004
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/lateststories/?disp_feature=5P8lNz.var
3) Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
"Former Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee Head Sets Out the Jews' 20 Bad
Traits As Described in the Qur'an" - for an on-line chat room on 22
March 2004.
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD69104
Friday, January 31, 2003
Cote d'Ivoire: Peace accord "opens Pandora's box".
Date: Friday 31 January 2003
Subj: Cote d'Ivoire: Peace accord "opens Pandora's box".
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty E-mail Conference
By Elizabeth Kendal
The details of the Cote d'Ivoire peace deal brokered in Marcoussis on the outskirts of Paris, France, beggar belief. One wonders how anyone could ever have considered it workable.
The peace deal amounts to little more than a humiliating surrender being negotiated by foreign powers and forced upon the democratically elected President of Cote d'Ivoire and the army that has loyally defended him. Five leading Ivorian political parties, as well as traditional chiefs, have joined the army in rejecting the deal. They want a government of national unity, they want peace and reconciliation, but they refuse to share power with rebel militias that have taken up arms against the nation. They want to re-negotiate, something the rebels refuse to consider.
There is more than peace at stake. What is at stake here is the integrity of an ethnically and religiously mixed nation that has upheld complete religious freedom for all its citizens and has been the base of much West African Christian mission. Both Islam and Christianity have grown phenomenally.
Something else at stake is the stability of West Africa. If a reward of power is handed to foreign and network sponsored Muslim rebel militias in Cote d'Ivoire, then what is to prevent similar foreign and network sponsored Muslim rebels uprising in other ethnically / religiously mixed nations such as Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria - pushing the religious fault-line all the way south to the coast?
As influential loyalist youth leader Ble Goude said, "France has disappointed us. They gave power to people who took up arms against Ivory Coast. They have opened Pandora's box."
----------------------------------------
PEACE DEAL INVOKES RELIGIOUS FIGHTING.
A French-brokered peace accord was signed on 25 January 2003 in Marcoussis on the outskirts of Paris France, that was supposed to end the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire. The result however, has not been peace. While Muslim rebel militias and their supporters in the north and west of Cote d'Ivoire celebrated, Christians, government supporters and all who respect political due process fell into despair. Some government supporters rioted against French interests in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
Eventually on 28 January, Christian / Muslim fighting broke out in Abobo and Agboville. The fighting in Agboville, 80 km north of coastal Abidjan, left 15 dead, more than 40 wounded, churches and mosques razed.
CONTENTIOUS AND UNWORKABLE
At the December 2002 peace talks in Lome, Togo, ECOWAS Co-ordinator, President Eyadema insisted that, "the search for a political settlement should involve, exclusively, the Ivorian major political parties." As the main rebel group, the MPCI, is a rebel militia without a political wing, it was suggested that if the rebels wanted to be given a political voice then they should form or transform the MPCI into a political party. At that point the rebels walked out of the talks.
Under the terms of the French-brokered 25 January Paris agreement, the foreign and network sponsored Muslim rebels who staged the coup and ignited the conflict that has split the nation and left hundreds dead and up to one million displaced, would be legitimised and rewarded with the interior and defence portfolios in a government of national unity. The rebels would therefore have control of the army that has been loyal to democratically elected President Gbagbo. (For details of the peace deal - see link 1)
"CONSTITUTIONAL COUP"
According to the BBC (22 Jan 2003) Cote d'Ivoire Parliamentary speaker Mamadou Koulibaly, walked out of the Paris peace talks on Monday 20 January accusing the French mediator, Pierre Mazeaud, of "trying to stage a constitutional coup" by trying to do something that "the rebels have failed to achieve militarily". It is important to note that Koulibaly is a northern Muslim.
FOREIGN INTERESTS
It must not be forgotten that France has financial interests in a change of government in Cote d'Ivoire. When Alassane Ouattara was Prime Minister, he permitted Cote d'Ivoire's public services to be freely placed in French hands. France has since run a monopoly on Cote d'Ivoire's water, electricity and telecommunications. President Gbagbo is not in favour of renewing those contracts in 2004. France is looking for a leadership in Cote d'Ivoire that will serve French interests, and that is not Gbagbo. As noted by Ivory Coast's first lady, Simone Gbagbo, "France wants him to fall." (Link 2)
As part of the peace deal, Seydou Elimane Diarra has been appointed (chosen by French president Jacques Chirac) to lead a government of national unity. Diarra, a northern Muslim, has worked closely with Gbagbo on national reconciliation in the past. (Profile - link 3)
The China Daily reported from Abidjan (28 Jan), "France further displayed who was boss on = Saturday by announcing Diarra's nomination itself and not letting Gbagbo, who was in Paris for a French-sponsored summit of African leaders on his country's crisis, do the honours. Sources said a meeting between Gbagbo and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac on Saturday (25 Jan) saw the latter take a firm line with the underlying message that Gbagbo had no choice but to accept the treaty." (Link 4)
Reuters reported (28 Jan), "Adding to doubts over the deal from another quarter, former President Henri Konan Bedie of the still strong Democratic Party said government posts were apportioned out during a corridor meeting in Paris by Chirac, his foreign minister, U.N. Secretary-General Koffi Annan and Gabon's President Omar Bongo. 'The Ivorian political parties never got to say a word,' Bedie told Le Parisien."
(Note - Gabon's President El Hadj Omar Bongo was formerly known as President Albert-Bernard Bongo until, under the influence of Libya's Colonel Gadhafi, he converted to Islam and changed his name in 1973. - EK)
SEEKING A JUST PEACE
The army immediately rejected the French-brokered peace deal. By 29 January, the Associated Press was reporting that President Gbagbo's own political party and some members of his Cabinet had joined the outcry. (Link 2)
"'The decision is an act of national humiliation for the president and the national armed forces of Ivory Coast, and we hereby declare that it is null and void,' Interior Minister Paul Yao N'dre said late Tuesday (28 Jan).
"N'dre spoke in Togo, saying he had been sent there by Gbagbo to ask that fellow West African leaders 'help find a lasting, equitable, African solution to the crisis.'
"Gbagbo's governing party joined three other parties in saying the division of ministries was forced on Ivory Coast at the Paris talks. In a statement, the four parties said France, the United Nations and others should help renegotiate a deal that is 'fair and just.'
By 30 January Cote d'Ivoire's leading traditional chiefs had also rejected the deal to give power to the rebels. France is pressuring Gbagbo to uphold the deal and the rebels (MPCI), who say they refuse to re-negotiate, have defiantly heaped scorn on the armed forces, saying they were "not worthy of leading the destinies of the defence and security forces of the new Ivorian nation." (Link 5).
President Gbagbo will address the nation soon - possibly Saturday evening.
Links
1) "Ivory Coast peace plan" BBC 24 January 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2691129.stm
2) "French Flee Ivory Coast as Deal Falters" By Austin Merrill
Associated Press Writer 29 Jan 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62134-2003Jan29.html
3) Profile: Seydou Elimane Diarra. BBC 25 Jan 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2694499.stm
4)"France goes into bat for Cote d'Ivoire"
China Daily. Agency via Xinhua 28 Jan 2003
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2003-01-28/103070.html
5) "Ivory Coast president defers key address as peace deal cracks
up" AFP 30 January 2003
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030129/1/36y4r.html
Subj: Cote d'Ivoire: Peace accord "opens Pandora's box".
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty E-mail Conference
By Elizabeth Kendal
The details of the Cote d'Ivoire peace deal brokered in Marcoussis on the outskirts of Paris, France, beggar belief. One wonders how anyone could ever have considered it workable.
The peace deal amounts to little more than a humiliating surrender being negotiated by foreign powers and forced upon the democratically elected President of Cote d'Ivoire and the army that has loyally defended him. Five leading Ivorian political parties, as well as traditional chiefs, have joined the army in rejecting the deal. They want a government of national unity, they want peace and reconciliation, but they refuse to share power with rebel militias that have taken up arms against the nation. They want to re-negotiate, something the rebels refuse to consider.
There is more than peace at stake. What is at stake here is the integrity of an ethnically and religiously mixed nation that has upheld complete religious freedom for all its citizens and has been the base of much West African Christian mission. Both Islam and Christianity have grown phenomenally.
Something else at stake is the stability of West Africa. If a reward of power is handed to foreign and network sponsored Muslim rebel militias in Cote d'Ivoire, then what is to prevent similar foreign and network sponsored Muslim rebels uprising in other ethnically / religiously mixed nations such as Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria - pushing the religious fault-line all the way south to the coast?
As influential loyalist youth leader Ble Goude said, "France has disappointed us. They gave power to people who took up arms against Ivory Coast. They have opened Pandora's box."
----------------------------------------
PEACE DEAL INVOKES RELIGIOUS FIGHTING.
A French-brokered peace accord was signed on 25 January 2003 in Marcoussis on the outskirts of Paris France, that was supposed to end the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire. The result however, has not been peace. While Muslim rebel militias and their supporters in the north and west of Cote d'Ivoire celebrated, Christians, government supporters and all who respect political due process fell into despair. Some government supporters rioted against French interests in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
Eventually on 28 January, Christian / Muslim fighting broke out in Abobo and Agboville. The fighting in Agboville, 80 km north of coastal Abidjan, left 15 dead, more than 40 wounded, churches and mosques razed.
CONTENTIOUS AND UNWORKABLE
At the December 2002 peace talks in Lome, Togo, ECOWAS Co-ordinator, President Eyadema insisted that, "the search for a political settlement should involve, exclusively, the Ivorian major political parties." As the main rebel group, the MPCI, is a rebel militia without a political wing, it was suggested that if the rebels wanted to be given a political voice then they should form or transform the MPCI into a political party. At that point the rebels walked out of the talks.
Under the terms of the French-brokered 25 January Paris agreement, the foreign and network sponsored Muslim rebels who staged the coup and ignited the conflict that has split the nation and left hundreds dead and up to one million displaced, would be legitimised and rewarded with the interior and defence portfolios in a government of national unity. The rebels would therefore have control of the army that has been loyal to democratically elected President Gbagbo. (For details of the peace deal - see link 1)
"CONSTITUTIONAL COUP"
According to the BBC (22 Jan 2003) Cote d'Ivoire Parliamentary speaker Mamadou Koulibaly, walked out of the Paris peace talks on Monday 20 January accusing the French mediator, Pierre Mazeaud, of "trying to stage a constitutional coup" by trying to do something that "the rebels have failed to achieve militarily". It is important to note that Koulibaly is a northern Muslim.
FOREIGN INTERESTS
It must not be forgotten that France has financial interests in a change of government in Cote d'Ivoire. When Alassane Ouattara was Prime Minister, he permitted Cote d'Ivoire's public services to be freely placed in French hands. France has since run a monopoly on Cote d'Ivoire's water, electricity and telecommunications. President Gbagbo is not in favour of renewing those contracts in 2004. France is looking for a leadership in Cote d'Ivoire that will serve French interests, and that is not Gbagbo. As noted by Ivory Coast's first lady, Simone Gbagbo, "France wants him to fall." (Link 2)
As part of the peace deal, Seydou Elimane Diarra has been appointed (chosen by French president Jacques Chirac) to lead a government of national unity. Diarra, a northern Muslim, has worked closely with Gbagbo on national reconciliation in the past. (Profile - link 3)
The China Daily reported from Abidjan (28 Jan), "France further displayed who was boss on = Saturday by announcing Diarra's nomination itself and not letting Gbagbo, who was in Paris for a French-sponsored summit of African leaders on his country's crisis, do the honours. Sources said a meeting between Gbagbo and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac on Saturday (25 Jan) saw the latter take a firm line with the underlying message that Gbagbo had no choice but to accept the treaty." (Link 4)
Reuters reported (28 Jan), "Adding to doubts over the deal from another quarter, former President Henri Konan Bedie of the still strong Democratic Party said government posts were apportioned out during a corridor meeting in Paris by Chirac, his foreign minister, U.N. Secretary-General Koffi Annan and Gabon's President Omar Bongo. 'The Ivorian political parties never got to say a word,' Bedie told Le Parisien."
(Note - Gabon's President El Hadj Omar Bongo was formerly known as President Albert-Bernard Bongo until, under the influence of Libya's Colonel Gadhafi, he converted to Islam and changed his name in 1973. - EK)
SEEKING A JUST PEACE
The army immediately rejected the French-brokered peace deal. By 29 January, the Associated Press was reporting that President Gbagbo's own political party and some members of his Cabinet had joined the outcry. (Link 2)
"'The decision is an act of national humiliation for the president and the national armed forces of Ivory Coast, and we hereby declare that it is null and void,' Interior Minister Paul Yao N'dre said late Tuesday (28 Jan).
"N'dre spoke in Togo, saying he had been sent there by Gbagbo to ask that fellow West African leaders 'help find a lasting, equitable, African solution to the crisis.'
"Gbagbo's governing party joined three other parties in saying the division of ministries was forced on Ivory Coast at the Paris talks. In a statement, the four parties said France, the United Nations and others should help renegotiate a deal that is 'fair and just.'
By 30 January Cote d'Ivoire's leading traditional chiefs had also rejected the deal to give power to the rebels. France is pressuring Gbagbo to uphold the deal and the rebels (MPCI), who say they refuse to re-negotiate, have defiantly heaped scorn on the armed forces, saying they were "not worthy of leading the destinies of the defence and security forces of the new Ivorian nation." (Link 5).
President Gbagbo will address the nation soon - possibly Saturday evening.
Links
1) "Ivory Coast peace plan" BBC 24 January 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2691129.stm
2) "French Flee Ivory Coast as Deal Falters" By Austin Merrill
Associated Press Writer 29 Jan 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62134-2003Jan29.html
3) Profile: Seydou Elimane Diarra. BBC 25 Jan 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2694499.stm
4)"France goes into bat for Cote d'Ivoire"
China Daily. Agency via Xinhua 28 Jan 2003
http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2003-01-28/103070.html
5) "Ivory Coast president defers key address as peace deal cracks
up" AFP 30 January 2003
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030129/1/36y4r.html
Tuesday, November 5, 2002
Cote d'Ivoire: The Foreign Muscle Behind the Rebellion.
Date: Tuesday 5 November 2002
Subj: Cote d'Ivoire: The Foreign Muscle Behind the Rebellion.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty E-mail Conference
By Elizabeth Kendal
A tense peace presently hangs over Cote d'Ivoire (CI) as a truce now moves into its 18th day. Meanwhile in Lome, the capital city of Togo, representatives of the CI government of President Gbagbo wait to see if the rebels will return to the negotiating table. There was a break in talks over the weekend to enable the rebels' political representative, Guillaume Soro, to return to Cote d'Ivoire in order to report to his group about the meetings.
Peace talks were set to resume in Lome yesterday, Monday 4 November at midday, however, the rebels did not show up. Talks were postponed and should recommence today (Tuesday 5 November). The prospects certainly look grim as the primary rebel demand is the resignation of President Gbagbo and fresh elections and this is not an option the government will consider.
Most analysts now believe the uprising must be either state-sponsored or network-sponsored. It appears that Christianity in Cote d'Ivoire is not up against a few disgruntled or aggrieved local Muslims, but a monstrous, wealthy, powerful and deadly serious foe.
---------------------------------------------------
REBELS DEFIANT
On Sunday 3 November, Reuters reported, "In the rebels' northern stronghold of Bouake, thousands of supporters marched in the center of the city to hear their chief political representative, Guillaume Soro, report on the outcome of three days of talks last week.
"A Reuters correspondent said Soro told the crowd the small steps taken by negotiators in those sessions were not enough. 'If our political demands are not met at the negotiations, we are ready to resume the war,' Soro said to loud cheers. '"We will never accept disarmament,' Soro said at the Bouake rally. 'We took up arms to demand the departure of Gbagbo. If not for that, we would not have started fighting.'
"Mohamed ibn Chambas, the top official of the Economic Community of West African States bloc (ECOWAS) which is mediating in the conflict, said he was 'very surprised' by Soro's statements about the necessity for Gbagbo to leave. 'That's not what he (Soro) was saying during the negotiations last week,' Chambas told Reuters in Lome." (Link 1)
FOREIGN MUSCLE
It is widely believed now, that foreign muscle is driving the rebellion. This is tragic because the ultimate losers will be all citizens of Cote d'Ivoire who have lived in relative peace and who could no doubt have solved their problems through dialogue and democratic means. War can only mean massive loss off of life, destabilization, and vulnerability to exploitation.
Most analysts believe that the uprising must be either state-sponsored or network-sponsored, as the funds involved are way beyond any purely local group. France is implicated as compliant,
neighbouring Burkina Faso is implicated as aggressive; al Qaeda is implicated and is even alleged to have established militant cells in Cote d'Ivoire. More recently, Libya's Colonel Moammar Gadhafi is implicated. It is alleged by independent French media that Gadhafi is either directly or indirectly funding and /or arming the rebels.
There is most surely a drive from the wider Islamist umma to claim Cote d'Ivoire for Islam. This should come as no surprise in this post-Sept 11 age, where an embrace of militant Islam is often more of an anti-West protest statement that a religious conviction. One only needs to look at the post-October 2001 election results in nations with a Muslim majority, such as Bangladesh, Bahrain, Pakistan, Turkey and the state elections in Malaysia, to see how the "War on Terror" (labelled in the Islamic world as the "War on Islam" has been used to draw many many "folk", "moderate" and "secular" Muslims into the radical camp. The "War on Terror" has been like petrol on the flames of the Islamic renewal and militant Islamist movements.
The radicalisation of many of Cote d'Ivoire's Muslims however, goes back further than October 2001 and is far subtler. Due to the fact that they learn in Arabic, graduates of CI's Quranic schools have not been able to qualify for University entrance into Cote d'Ivoire Universities. Graduates of CI's Quranic schools therefore have in recent decades, travelled to Cairo, Egypt and Medina, Saudi Arabia to study. They have gradually and quietly replaced much of Cote d'Ivoire's folk or "moderate" Islam with educated, Orthodox, Quranic Islam.
This has been a very subtle and quiet movement that is only now manifesting itself in a way that seriously and immediately threatens the future of the nation. It has taken many foreign (but not Ivorian) observers by surprise.
Reuters and AFP photographers are now photographing rebels and northern Muslims sporting T-shirts with a picture of Osama bin Laden's face over a map of Cote d'Ivoire. It has also been established that the rebels have access to a seemingly limitless supply of sophisticated arms, including armoured vehicles. It is alleged that large quantities of arms and ammunitions were brought into northern Cote d'Ivoire, through compliant neighbours and stored in mosques and homes many months in advance in preparation for this uprising. Rebel leader Guillaume Soro, has even boasted that the rebels and their supporters could fight the government for two years
without a supply problem.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS
It appears that Christianity in Cote d'Ivoire is not up against a few disgruntled or aggrieved local Muslims, but a monstrous, wealthy, powerful and deadly serious foe. What happens in Cote d'Ivoire will most certainly have implications for many other African nations. For Cote d'Ivoire is not unlike many other nations in Africa, with a large Christian population, non-Muslim government, growing Church, freedom of religion -- yet made vulnerable through economic crisis or ethnic tensions, to the exploitation and infiltration of men with ambitious visions (like Colonel Gadhafi) or nations with religious designs (like Saudi Arabia) or organisations with political purpose (like al Qaeda). If Cote d'Ivoire goes down, it could set a precedent for much of "Christian" Africa, which is equally as unstable.
Links
1) Reuters "Ivory Coast rebels in no mood for compromise" 4 November 2002
http://www.asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1672204
ALSO
CNN "Scepticism mars Ivory Coast talks," Monday, 4 November 2002
http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/11/04/ivorycoast.talks.reut/index.html
Reuters "Ivory Coast rebels threaten peace-talks pullout" 5 November2002
http://www.asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1677332
Subj: Cote d'Ivoire: The Foreign Muscle Behind the Rebellion.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty E-mail Conference
By Elizabeth Kendal
A tense peace presently hangs over Cote d'Ivoire (CI) as a truce now moves into its 18th day. Meanwhile in Lome, the capital city of Togo, representatives of the CI government of President Gbagbo wait to see if the rebels will return to the negotiating table. There was a break in talks over the weekend to enable the rebels' political representative, Guillaume Soro, to return to Cote d'Ivoire in order to report to his group about the meetings.
Peace talks were set to resume in Lome yesterday, Monday 4 November at midday, however, the rebels did not show up. Talks were postponed and should recommence today (Tuesday 5 November). The prospects certainly look grim as the primary rebel demand is the resignation of President Gbagbo and fresh elections and this is not an option the government will consider.
Most analysts now believe the uprising must be either state-sponsored or network-sponsored. It appears that Christianity in Cote d'Ivoire is not up against a few disgruntled or aggrieved local Muslims, but a monstrous, wealthy, powerful and deadly serious foe.
---------------------------------------------------
REBELS DEFIANT
On Sunday 3 November, Reuters reported, "In the rebels' northern stronghold of Bouake, thousands of supporters marched in the center of the city to hear their chief political representative, Guillaume Soro, report on the outcome of three days of talks last week.
"A Reuters correspondent said Soro told the crowd the small steps taken by negotiators in those sessions were not enough. 'If our political demands are not met at the negotiations, we are ready to resume the war,' Soro said to loud cheers. '"We will never accept disarmament,' Soro said at the Bouake rally. 'We took up arms to demand the departure of Gbagbo. If not for that, we would not have started fighting.'
"Mohamed ibn Chambas, the top official of the Economic Community of West African States bloc (ECOWAS) which is mediating in the conflict, said he was 'very surprised' by Soro's statements about the necessity for Gbagbo to leave. 'That's not what he (Soro) was saying during the negotiations last week,' Chambas told Reuters in Lome." (Link 1)
FOREIGN MUSCLE
It is widely believed now, that foreign muscle is driving the rebellion. This is tragic because the ultimate losers will be all citizens of Cote d'Ivoire who have lived in relative peace and who could no doubt have solved their problems through dialogue and democratic means. War can only mean massive loss off of life, destabilization, and vulnerability to exploitation.
Most analysts believe that the uprising must be either state-sponsored or network-sponsored, as the funds involved are way beyond any purely local group. France is implicated as compliant,
neighbouring Burkina Faso is implicated as aggressive; al Qaeda is implicated and is even alleged to have established militant cells in Cote d'Ivoire. More recently, Libya's Colonel Moammar Gadhafi is implicated. It is alleged by independent French media that Gadhafi is either directly or indirectly funding and /or arming the rebels.
There is most surely a drive from the wider Islamist umma to claim Cote d'Ivoire for Islam. This should come as no surprise in this post-Sept 11 age, where an embrace of militant Islam is often more of an anti-West protest statement that a religious conviction. One only needs to look at the post-October 2001 election results in nations with a Muslim majority, such as Bangladesh, Bahrain, Pakistan, Turkey and the state elections in Malaysia, to see how the "War on Terror" (labelled in the Islamic world as the "War on Islam" has been used to draw many many "folk", "moderate" and "secular" Muslims into the radical camp. The "War on Terror" has been like petrol on the flames of the Islamic renewal and militant Islamist movements.
The radicalisation of many of Cote d'Ivoire's Muslims however, goes back further than October 2001 and is far subtler. Due to the fact that they learn in Arabic, graduates of CI's Quranic schools have not been able to qualify for University entrance into Cote d'Ivoire Universities. Graduates of CI's Quranic schools therefore have in recent decades, travelled to Cairo, Egypt and Medina, Saudi Arabia to study. They have gradually and quietly replaced much of Cote d'Ivoire's folk or "moderate" Islam with educated, Orthodox, Quranic Islam.
This has been a very subtle and quiet movement that is only now manifesting itself in a way that seriously and immediately threatens the future of the nation. It has taken many foreign (but not Ivorian) observers by surprise.
Reuters and AFP photographers are now photographing rebels and northern Muslims sporting T-shirts with a picture of Osama bin Laden's face over a map of Cote d'Ivoire. It has also been established that the rebels have access to a seemingly limitless supply of sophisticated arms, including armoured vehicles. It is alleged that large quantities of arms and ammunitions were brought into northern Cote d'Ivoire, through compliant neighbours and stored in mosques and homes many months in advance in preparation for this uprising. Rebel leader Guillaume Soro, has even boasted that the rebels and their supporters could fight the government for two years
without a supply problem.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS
It appears that Christianity in Cote d'Ivoire is not up against a few disgruntled or aggrieved local Muslims, but a monstrous, wealthy, powerful and deadly serious foe. What happens in Cote d'Ivoire will most certainly have implications for many other African nations. For Cote d'Ivoire is not unlike many other nations in Africa, with a large Christian population, non-Muslim government, growing Church, freedom of religion -- yet made vulnerable through economic crisis or ethnic tensions, to the exploitation and infiltration of men with ambitious visions (like Colonel Gadhafi) or nations with religious designs (like Saudi Arabia) or organisations with political purpose (like al Qaeda). If Cote d'Ivoire goes down, it could set a precedent for much of "Christian" Africa, which is equally as unstable.
Links
1) Reuters "Ivory Coast rebels in no mood for compromise" 4 November 2002
http://www.asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1672204
ALSO
CNN "Scepticism mars Ivory Coast talks," Monday, 4 November 2002
http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/11/04/ivorycoast.talks.reut/index.html
Reuters "Ivory Coast rebels threaten peace-talks pullout" 5 November2002
http://www.asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1677332
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Europe: Escalating Anti-Semitism
Date: Tuesday 23 July 2002
Subj: Europe: Escalating Anti-Semitism
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty E-mail Conference
From: Elizabeth Kendal, Conference Moderator
There has been a shocking surge of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe since the Palestinian uprising erupted in September 2000. Anti-Semitic violence escalated further in early April 2002, corresponding with the Israeli offensive in the West Bank.
Although violence against Jews has been reported from the Ukraine to the UK, France has been the most severely hit, with some 360 anti-Semitic attacks in the first few weeks of April 2002 alone (BBC - see link below) - everything from graffiti and abuse to the firebombing of synagogues. Recent events in the UK and Italy show that the disease is continuing to spread and will not be extinguished without a decisive strategy.
-------------------------------
On 19 July, the New York Times (NYT) reported the desecration of the Jewish section of the historic Verano cemetery in Italy. In all, thirty-four graves were desecrated and one coffin was partly ripped open. According to Frank Bruni's article entitled, "Nearly 40 Jewish Graves Are Desecrated in a Rome Cemetery", it was " a chilling scene that marked the arrival in Italy of a wave of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe."
Tullia Zevi, the former president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, is quoted in the NYT article as saying, "I think it's a very complex phenomenon. Is it the old anti-Semitism which has been nurtured for centuries and reached its tragic climax in the concentration camps, or is it something that has a kind of link with the Middle East situation? Whatever the case, our civilization is somehow unable to prevent or counteract this violence." Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lamented, "Italy has a deep-rooted tradition of civility, but not even Rome is immune from the barbarity of anti-Semitism."
An Associated Press article entitled "Culprits Desecrate Jewish Tombstones", AP 18 July 2002, quoted Italian Deputy Premier Gianfranco Fini as saying that the desecration "unfortunately shows that our society isn't immune from the risk of new and odious forms of anti-Semitism.'" The new anti-Semitism, he said, is "often masked by a violent criminalisation of Israel." A spokesman for Milan's Jewish community, Yasha Reibman, was also quoted as saying, "in Italy and in Europe, a new, political anti-Semitism is growing, which uses as an alibi all that's happening in Israel."
On Thursday night 11 July, vandals broke into a synagogue in Swansea, South-western Britain. Mike Whine of the Community Security Trust, which oversees security in Jewish communities, told the Associated Press, "There was a big sign saying 'T4,' which we believe is a reference to the Nazi euthanasia program in the concentration camps. Excrement was left, and there was a failed attempt to set fire to the place." According to the Associated Press report, a swastika was daubed in green paint on the rabbi's lectern, an ancient scroll was destroyed and the prayer shawls had been hurled to the floor.
The European governments have been quick to denounce anti-Semitism. On Sunday 21 July, France's Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, pledged to catch and punish anyone found complicit it anti-Semitic attacks, saying an attack on France's Jewish community is an attack on France.
Not since the end of World War II has Europe seen such aggressive anti-Semitism. The situation is complicated, with the perpetrators coming from various reaches of society - from the political far-right neo-Nazis / anti-immigrant skinheads, and from Muslim immigrants, mostly Arabs from North Africa.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC http://www.wjc.org.il ) charge that while the majority of violent anti-Semitic attacks in Europe have been perpetrated by Muslims, it is Europe's social and intellectual elites that have made Jews and the Jewish state the targets of an intense campaign of public vilification and demonising. The WJC insist that these elites have helped create the present climate where anti-Semitism (cloaked of course behind a self-righteous indignation over Israeli policy) is somehow acceptable and even justifiable. (WJC: see link below)
But surely violence and vilification against Jews is not justifiable on the grounds of Israeli aggression in the West Bank, just as violence against Arab Muslim immigrants could not be justified on the grounds of Palestinian Muslim aggression in Israel.
Once again Europe is facing a moral testing and the way this issue of rising anti-Semitism is handled will certainly direct the future of the continent that some 50 years ago said, "Never again!"
- Elizabeth Kendal
BBC: "Jews warn of rising anti-Semitism" - 23 April 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1946851.stm
The Word Jewish Congress, Policy Dispatches, number 77 - April 2002
"The 'New Antisemitism': A haunting reawakening of anti-Jewish
violence stirs memories of the Holocaust".
http://www.wjc.org.il/publications/policy_dispatches/pub_dis77.html
Subj: Europe: Escalating Anti-Semitism
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty E-mail Conference
From: Elizabeth Kendal, Conference Moderator
There has been a shocking surge of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe since the Palestinian uprising erupted in September 2000. Anti-Semitic violence escalated further in early April 2002, corresponding with the Israeli offensive in the West Bank.
Although violence against Jews has been reported from the Ukraine to the UK, France has been the most severely hit, with some 360 anti-Semitic attacks in the first few weeks of April 2002 alone (BBC - see link below) - everything from graffiti and abuse to the firebombing of synagogues. Recent events in the UK and Italy show that the disease is continuing to spread and will not be extinguished without a decisive strategy.
-------------------------------
On 19 July, the New York Times (NYT) reported the desecration of the Jewish section of the historic Verano cemetery in Italy. In all, thirty-four graves were desecrated and one coffin was partly ripped open. According to Frank Bruni's article entitled, "Nearly 40 Jewish Graves Are Desecrated in a Rome Cemetery", it was " a chilling scene that marked the arrival in Italy of a wave of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe."
Tullia Zevi, the former president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, is quoted in the NYT article as saying, "I think it's a very complex phenomenon. Is it the old anti-Semitism which has been nurtured for centuries and reached its tragic climax in the concentration camps, or is it something that has a kind of link with the Middle East situation? Whatever the case, our civilization is somehow unable to prevent or counteract this violence." Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lamented, "Italy has a deep-rooted tradition of civility, but not even Rome is immune from the barbarity of anti-Semitism."
An Associated Press article entitled "Culprits Desecrate Jewish Tombstones", AP 18 July 2002, quoted Italian Deputy Premier Gianfranco Fini as saying that the desecration "unfortunately shows that our society isn't immune from the risk of new and odious forms of anti-Semitism.'" The new anti-Semitism, he said, is "often masked by a violent criminalisation of Israel." A spokesman for Milan's Jewish community, Yasha Reibman, was also quoted as saying, "in Italy and in Europe, a new, political anti-Semitism is growing, which uses as an alibi all that's happening in Israel."
On Thursday night 11 July, vandals broke into a synagogue in Swansea, South-western Britain. Mike Whine of the Community Security Trust, which oversees security in Jewish communities, told the Associated Press, "There was a big sign saying 'T4,' which we believe is a reference to the Nazi euthanasia program in the concentration camps. Excrement was left, and there was a failed attempt to set fire to the place." According to the Associated Press report, a swastika was daubed in green paint on the rabbi's lectern, an ancient scroll was destroyed and the prayer shawls had been hurled to the floor.
The European governments have been quick to denounce anti-Semitism. On Sunday 21 July, France's Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, pledged to catch and punish anyone found complicit it anti-Semitic attacks, saying an attack on France's Jewish community is an attack on France.
Not since the end of World War II has Europe seen such aggressive anti-Semitism. The situation is complicated, with the perpetrators coming from various reaches of society - from the political far-right neo-Nazis / anti-immigrant skinheads, and from Muslim immigrants, mostly Arabs from North Africa.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC http://www.wjc.org.il ) charge that while the majority of violent anti-Semitic attacks in Europe have been perpetrated by Muslims, it is Europe's social and intellectual elites that have made Jews and the Jewish state the targets of an intense campaign of public vilification and demonising. The WJC insist that these elites have helped create the present climate where anti-Semitism (cloaked of course behind a self-righteous indignation over Israeli policy) is somehow acceptable and even justifiable. (WJC: see link below)
But surely violence and vilification against Jews is not justifiable on the grounds of Israeli aggression in the West Bank, just as violence against Arab Muslim immigrants could not be justified on the grounds of Palestinian Muslim aggression in Israel.
Once again Europe is facing a moral testing and the way this issue of rising anti-Semitism is handled will certainly direct the future of the continent that some 50 years ago said, "Never again!"
- Elizabeth Kendal
BBC: "Jews warn of rising anti-Semitism" - 23 April 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1946851.stm
The Word Jewish Congress, Policy Dispatches, number 77 - April 2002
"The 'New Antisemitism': A haunting reawakening of anti-Jewish
violence stirs memories of the Holocaust".
http://www.wjc.org.il/publications/policy_dispatches/pub_dis77.html