Date: Friday 5 November 2004
Subj: Liberia: Provocateurs threaten religious harmony.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
On Thursday evening, 28 October 04, an incident in Paynesville, an eastern suburb of Monrovia, Liberia, triggered violence that escalated rapidly and spread to several Monrovia suburbs. Order was only restored through the "robust" peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and Liberian National Police, as well as a government-imposed 24-hour, indefinite curfew. Rioters were warned that anyone found with a weapon would be regarded as an extreme threat and dealt with accordingly. UN peacekeepers were given permission to use "maximum force" against anyone found attempting to disturb the peace. On Saturday the curfew was amended to 4pm-7am. By Monday 1 November relative calm had been restored.
While any threat to Liberian peace is tragic, the most serious aspect of this incident is the religious nature of the violence. It is critical to note however, that the religious violence appears not to have been instigated by people with religious zeal or purpose. Rather, it appears that those who profit from conflict, those who thrive on war, and those who would stop at nothing to disrupt the disarmament process (due for completion on Sunday 31 October), either took advantage of a relatively minor situation to whip up unrest, or strategically planned and then created that situation and orchestrated the unrest for their own purposes. It is emerging now that it is these criminals who set fire to both mosques and churches. Those seeking conflict clearly believe that the best way to return the country to war is to incite religious violence.
While the authorities have been firm and effective in dealing with the crisis, the incident has doubtless raised religious tensions and in particular, Islamic zeal. (Muslims are a minority in Liberia.) Evangelical elements in the Liberian Church and the interim government of Gyude Bryant will need our prayers and support, that the nation's journey towards disarmament, reconciliation and peace may not be hijacked.
----------------------------------------------
HOW THE VIOLENCE UNFOLDED
The trigger for the unrest was a land dispute in Monrovia's eastern suburb of Paynesville at around 5p.m. on Thursday evening 28 October. The Inter Regional Information Network (IRIN) (from the UN's office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs) reports: "Residents in Paynesville said the trouble began when a group of former fighters of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group beat up a man who objected to them building a house on his land. These men were from the Mandingo ethnic group. The injured man's family and neighbours subsequently set up a manhunt for all Mandingos in the area that led to the burning of the mosque." (Link 1)
The former LURD fighters who provoked this incident are Mandingos – the main ethnic group associated with LURD. There is deep resentment and mistrust of Mandingos in Liberia due to the appalling atrocities committed in recent years by LURD. The Mandingo are historically and predominantly Muslim. The victim was not Mandingo and was not Muslim. While his family and neighbours sought revenge by attacking local Mandingos, it is not to be assumed that these particular rioters are responsible for the burning of the local mosque.
According to IRIN, "Muslim crowds subsequently burned down three churches and on Friday morning, Christian youths armed with sticks, knives and broken bottles burned down the Muslim Congress High School in central Monrovia, the only Islamic high school in the city. They also tried unsuccessfully [due to the intervention of Nigerian peacekeepers – EK] to burn down the two main mosques in central Monrovia."
Religious violence also erupted in Kakata, a town 50 km northeast of Monrovia, in Liberia's second city Buchanan, 120 km southeast of Liberia, and Ganta, on the northern frontier with Guinea. According to Reuters, some of the Muslim youths were armed with AK-47 rifles.
Reporters from the Monrovian newspaper, The Analyst, attempted to drive into Paynesvilles late on Thursday night (28 Oct) in order to find the cause of the violence. They describe the Paynesville region as "a no go zone with the northern entry route to the city cut off effectively by marauding bands of angry youths brandishing sticks and other crude weapons and vowing to kill anyone believed to be supporting their enemies". At one point, the Nigerian peacekeepers ahead of them are surrounded by "a large group of the thugs, believed to be Muslim youths chanting, 'Allah Akbar' meaning God is Great. They chanted the same slogans at UNMIL, saying 'Y'all think we are stupid? We will die tonight. Eh, they burnt our mosque? We will burn all the churches too'." (Link 2)
The youths then attacked the vehicle belonging to The Analyst reporters, smashing its windows. Eventually the reporters fled for their lives, noting that many building were in flames.
The National Muslim Council of Liberia condemned the violence as "barbaric and unacceptable". The Council also noted however, "An attack on the Mandingos would be inimical to peace in the country because such attack could be interpreted as an attack on all Muslims in the country, adding that Mandingos in Liberia are not just 'co-terminal to Muslims, but also inseparable, particularly as Mandingos are one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Community of Liberia'." (Link 3)
According to The News, Monrovia, at least two people were reportedly hacked to death on Sunday (31 Oct) while en route for church services in the Jacob Town, Paynesville and Doe community areas where much of the rioting occurred.
CASUALTIES AND ARRESTS
The casualty figure stands at 16 people dead and 208 injured, of whom 47 are critical (UNMIL 1 Nov). UNMIL also reports that some 250 males have been arrested. Interestingly, around 200 of these are reported to be "non English-speaking foreigners".
Witnesses told IRIN that UN peacekeepers arrested some 80 people from the home of Philip Kamara, a former senior commander within LURD, and confiscated rifles and petrol bombs.
UNMIL spokesman James Boynton comments: "There are factions of LURD that, we believe, don't want to see an end to DDRR." (DDRR - Demobilization, Disarmament Rehabilitation and Reintegration.)
Liberia's Head of State, Interim Chairman Gyude Bryant, believes the violence was planned and orchestrated. Several individuals, arrested in connection to the riots, have already been charged with orchestrating "Terroristic Threats".
PROVOCATEURS THREATEN RELIGIOUS HARMONY
The editorial in The Analyst on 1 November comments, "Those involved in the plot against the Liberian people seemed determined to project themselves as the patriarchs and heralds of religious renaissance in Liberia when the fact, and their true intention, is that they want to protect their shady deeds and ill-gotten wealth. 'What we're seeing is the death throes of the [old] regime,' UN envoy Jacques Klein told the BBC. 'In the old days they used tribal differences which don't seem to be working now so now they've hit on religious differences'." (Link 4)
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) LIBERIA: Religious riots erupt in Monrovia, curfew imposed
MONROVIA, 29 Oct 2004 (IRIN)
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=43935
2) Churches, Mosques in Flames!
The Analyst (Monrovia), 1 November 2004
http://allafrica.com/stories/200411010963.html
3) Muslim Council Condemns Violence
The Analyst (Monrovia), 1 November 2004
By Bill K. Jarkloh
http://allafrica.com/stories/200411010962.html
4) An Unmistakable Telltale Sign
The Analyst (Monrovia)
EDITORIAL, 1 November 2004
http://allafrica.com/stories/200411010960.html
Friday, November 5, 2004
Friday, October 29, 2004
China: Debating religious liberty.
Date: Friday 29 October 2004
Subj: China: Debating religious liberty.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------
CHINA: DEBATING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
----------------------------------
China's repressive religion policy is simply not working. Not only is China's repressive control of religion ineffective, it is difficult and expensive to administer and becoming internationally embarrassing due to its human rights abuses.
But a debate on religious liberty is stirring in China. At a recent two-day conference on the topic of religion and law held in Beijing, a senior Religious Affairs Bureau official told the conference that Beijing was in the process of revamping its religion policy and that a "comprehensive law on religion" was being considered that would result in religous groups having more autonomy. His speech was followed by another senior Religious Affairs Bureau official who indicated that officials are divided over the issue and social cohesion needed to be consided above religious rights. The debate coming out of Beijing will be very interesting to follow.
-----------------------------------------
INCREASING CHURCH AUTONOMY AND LIMITING STATE AUTHORITY
Recent reports in the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post (SCMP) indicate that Chinese authorities are reassessing the way they handle religion. In an article entitled 'Religious Groups Get More Room To Move', by Nailene Chou Wiest in Beijing (SCMP 20 October), Zhang Xunmou, the director of the Religious Affairs Bureau's policy and legal department, told the recent Beijing conference on religion and law that China is in the process of revamping its religious policy. He said the aim is to move from control by diktat to the rule of law in order to curb arbitrary interference by the state and give religious groups more autonomy. Officials would have limits on their power and would be obliged to follow set rules when dealing with religious groups. Officials abusing their power would face legal action.
Mr Zhang described this as "a paradigm shift", noting that limiting state authority over religion was a revolutionary concept in Chinese history, as China has long had secular institutions for regulating religious affairs and conferring legitimacy on religious groups. Interestingly, Zhang also commented that Beijing is working on reducing administrative costs and drafting rules on taxing religious groups.
Mr Zhang claimed that the government does not have a problem with religion per se, but only with foreign interference. The SCMP explains, "In the 19th century, Christian churches were seen as collaborating with Western powers to challenge the Chinese state and Mr Zhang said historical grievances still coloured policies on religion, as expressed in the 'Three Self' principles – self-administration, self-support and self-propagation. However, he said these principles were a reaction to the power of the foreign churches in China and were not directed against religion itself."
It must be noted that those churches most faithful in observing the Three Self principles are in reality the house churches, which are, generally speaking, truly indigenous, self-administrating, self-supporting and self-propagating Chinese churches. These house churches are however, illegal by virtue of their being outside the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), which is (ironically) financially assisted, administered and controlled by the Communist authorities, and generally reflect Western traditions.
AsiaNews sources in Hong Kong comment: "A comprehensive law on religions is something positive but only if the government recognizes religious freedom as an innate human right, not – as is the case now – as something conceded by the state. To safeguard this right, the government should do away with the Patriotic Associations which are a political element in the body of religions. Alternatively, they should put the Patriotic Associations under the authority of bishops and other religious leaders, not – as is currently the case – over them." (Link 1)
In a subsequent report entitled, "'Stability the Key' to new rules on religion" (SCMP 23 October), Nailene Chou Wiest reports that Ji Wenyuan , vice-director of the Religious Affairs Bureau in Beijing, also spoke at the Beijing conference on religion and law. Ji Wenyuan lowered expectations with his warning that China's "special circumstances" must be taken into account. Mr Ji said that when considering China's religion policy, priority must be given to social stability. "A religion must be accepted not only by its own congregation, which follows its teachings, but also by non-believers who can live with it," he said. Mr Ji expressed his belief that Western-style religion laws would prove unworkable in China because China's circumstances were different.
AsiaNews comments: "Given the growing social unrest in Chinese society, the government is concerned that religious communities might become rallying points for opposition forces. This fear explains the growing crackdown and arrest of underground religious leaders and the tightening control over official religious groups." (Link 2) Maybe this social unrest and fear of opposition is what Ji Wenyuan was refering to when he appealed for consideration to be given to China's "special circumstances".
Ji Wenyuan's words indicate that there is division in the Religious Affairs Bureau on the issue of granting religious groups greater autonomy. For Zhang Xunmou, granting religious groups more autonomy would solve many problems and possibly even open some opportunitues. For Ji Wenyuan, the compromise may prove to be something along the lines of Vietnam's new religion law which grants full religious freedom to everyone but makes it a criminal offense to undermine social harmony or unity – putting the church at the mercy of the local community, dependent on local tolerance. China and Vietnam are alike in that they have both basically rejected Communist ideology and passionately embraced market capitalism whilst retaining a totalitarian dictatorial one party rule state in the midst of a people crying for increased freedoms and government accountability.
HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE
On 26 October, the German Evangelical News Agency "idea" published an interview with Bishop Wolfgang Huber of Berlin, whom "idea" describes as one of Germany's most significant Protestant leaders and Church representatives. Bishop Huber has called for an intensified human rights dialogue with China, saying talks should not only focus on economic liberties but should include fundamental rights of the individual such as religious liberty.
The "idea" release of 26 October explains, "In Huber's view it is unrealistic to assume that economic liberalization in China will automatically be followed by an improvement in the human rights situation. 'Unfortunately I can well imagine that a very capitalist economy and an authoritarian state socialism will continue to coexist for rather a long time,' said Huber." (This is exactly the point made by the Reverend Nguyen Hong Quang of Vietnam in his article "How is it possible?" which can be found on the WEA RLC website.)
On Monday 25 October, Colin Powell received an agreement from Beijing that they would resume a human rights dialogue with Washington.
Links
1) Beijing promises more freedom for religions
AsiaNews 20 Oct 2004
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1730
2) For China’s government stability comes before religious freedom
AsiaNews 25 Oct 2004
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1756
Subj: China: Debating religious liberty.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------
CHINA: DEBATING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
----------------------------------
China's repressive religion policy is simply not working. Not only is China's repressive control of religion ineffective, it is difficult and expensive to administer and becoming internationally embarrassing due to its human rights abuses.
But a debate on religious liberty is stirring in China. At a recent two-day conference on the topic of religion and law held in Beijing, a senior Religious Affairs Bureau official told the conference that Beijing was in the process of revamping its religion policy and that a "comprehensive law on religion" was being considered that would result in religous groups having more autonomy. His speech was followed by another senior Religious Affairs Bureau official who indicated that officials are divided over the issue and social cohesion needed to be consided above religious rights. The debate coming out of Beijing will be very interesting to follow.
-----------------------------------------
INCREASING CHURCH AUTONOMY AND LIMITING STATE AUTHORITY
Recent reports in the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post (SCMP) indicate that Chinese authorities are reassessing the way they handle religion. In an article entitled 'Religious Groups Get More Room To Move', by Nailene Chou Wiest in Beijing (SCMP 20 October), Zhang Xunmou, the director of the Religious Affairs Bureau's policy and legal department, told the recent Beijing conference on religion and law that China is in the process of revamping its religious policy. He said the aim is to move from control by diktat to the rule of law in order to curb arbitrary interference by the state and give religious groups more autonomy. Officials would have limits on their power and would be obliged to follow set rules when dealing with religious groups. Officials abusing their power would face legal action.
Mr Zhang described this as "a paradigm shift", noting that limiting state authority over religion was a revolutionary concept in Chinese history, as China has long had secular institutions for regulating religious affairs and conferring legitimacy on religious groups. Interestingly, Zhang also commented that Beijing is working on reducing administrative costs and drafting rules on taxing religious groups.
Mr Zhang claimed that the government does not have a problem with religion per se, but only with foreign interference. The SCMP explains, "In the 19th century, Christian churches were seen as collaborating with Western powers to challenge the Chinese state and Mr Zhang said historical grievances still coloured policies on religion, as expressed in the 'Three Self' principles – self-administration, self-support and self-propagation. However, he said these principles were a reaction to the power of the foreign churches in China and were not directed against religion itself."
It must be noted that those churches most faithful in observing the Three Self principles are in reality the house churches, which are, generally speaking, truly indigenous, self-administrating, self-supporting and self-propagating Chinese churches. These house churches are however, illegal by virtue of their being outside the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), which is (ironically) financially assisted, administered and controlled by the Communist authorities, and generally reflect Western traditions.
AsiaNews sources in Hong Kong comment: "A comprehensive law on religions is something positive but only if the government recognizes religious freedom as an innate human right, not – as is the case now – as something conceded by the state. To safeguard this right, the government should do away with the Patriotic Associations which are a political element in the body of religions. Alternatively, they should put the Patriotic Associations under the authority of bishops and other religious leaders, not – as is currently the case – over them." (Link 1)
In a subsequent report entitled, "'Stability the Key' to new rules on religion" (SCMP 23 October), Nailene Chou Wiest reports that Ji Wenyuan , vice-director of the Religious Affairs Bureau in Beijing, also spoke at the Beijing conference on religion and law. Ji Wenyuan lowered expectations with his warning that China's "special circumstances" must be taken into account. Mr Ji said that when considering China's religion policy, priority must be given to social stability. "A religion must be accepted not only by its own congregation, which follows its teachings, but also by non-believers who can live with it," he said. Mr Ji expressed his belief that Western-style religion laws would prove unworkable in China because China's circumstances were different.
AsiaNews comments: "Given the growing social unrest in Chinese society, the government is concerned that religious communities might become rallying points for opposition forces. This fear explains the growing crackdown and arrest of underground religious leaders and the tightening control over official religious groups." (Link 2) Maybe this social unrest and fear of opposition is what Ji Wenyuan was refering to when he appealed for consideration to be given to China's "special circumstances".
Ji Wenyuan's words indicate that there is division in the Religious Affairs Bureau on the issue of granting religious groups greater autonomy. For Zhang Xunmou, granting religious groups more autonomy would solve many problems and possibly even open some opportunitues. For Ji Wenyuan, the compromise may prove to be something along the lines of Vietnam's new religion law which grants full religious freedom to everyone but makes it a criminal offense to undermine social harmony or unity – putting the church at the mercy of the local community, dependent on local tolerance. China and Vietnam are alike in that they have both basically rejected Communist ideology and passionately embraced market capitalism whilst retaining a totalitarian dictatorial one party rule state in the midst of a people crying for increased freedoms and government accountability.
HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE
On 26 October, the German Evangelical News Agency "idea" published an interview with Bishop Wolfgang Huber of Berlin, whom "idea" describes as one of Germany's most significant Protestant leaders and Church representatives. Bishop Huber has called for an intensified human rights dialogue with China, saying talks should not only focus on economic liberties but should include fundamental rights of the individual such as religious liberty.
The "idea" release of 26 October explains, "In Huber's view it is unrealistic to assume that economic liberalization in China will automatically be followed by an improvement in the human rights situation. 'Unfortunately I can well imagine that a very capitalist economy and an authoritarian state socialism will continue to coexist for rather a long time,' said Huber." (This is exactly the point made by the Reverend Nguyen Hong Quang of Vietnam in his article "How is it possible?" which can be found on the WEA RLC website.)
On Monday 25 October, Colin Powell received an agreement from Beijing that they would resume a human rights dialogue with Washington.
Links
1) Beijing promises more freedom for religions
AsiaNews 20 Oct 2004
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1730
2) For China’s government stability comes before religious freedom
AsiaNews 25 Oct 2004
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1756
Thursday, August 5, 2004
Cameroon: Foreign Islamists infiltrate to incite hate.
Date: Thursday 5 August 2004
Subj: Cameroon: Foreign Islamists infiltrate to incite hate.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Foreign Islamists have infiltrated the northern provinces of Cameroon and are attempting to incite the local Muslims against the local Christians.
The great African ethnic/religious fault line that runs from the Sierra Leone/Liberia border in the West through to Asmara, Eritrea in the East, through central Cote d'Ivoire, central Nigeria and central Sudan, also runs through northern Cameroon. Cameroon shares its porous western border with Nigeria which has experienced a dramatic rise in religious violence over recent years, since the northern states adopted Sharia (Islamic) Law. Garoua, the capital of North Province, Cameroon, is only some 500 kilometers due east of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria which suffered serious religious violence in September 2001 and again in 2004 and is now under emergency rule.
On 3 August 2004, Inter Press Service (IPS) (Johannesburg) ran an article entitled "Cameroon: Religious Tensions On the Rise in the North", written by By Sylvestre Tetchiada, reporting from the capital, Yaounde. (Link 1)
Garga Aoudou, a community activist with a Dutch development organisation told IPS that Garoua has been "literally inundated with fliers inciting Muslims towards a hatred of Christians". Aoudou continues, "Religious fanatics exhort Muslims to increase the number of marriages between young Muslim men and Christian girls in order to convert them to Islam, to refuse to rent houses or sell land to Christians - or to get them to move by raising the rent."
This is confirmed by Yves Steven, the Bishop of Maroua (capital of the Extreme North province)and of the town of Makolo. Bishop Steven told IPS, "Several Christian families have come to me to complain. They were subjected to physical violence. Some of them were forcibly evicted from their homes with bats and at knifepoint before they could collect their property."
Lele Lafrique, the Chief of Police in the North province is quoted as saying, "Now more than ever, an extremist current threatens the national unity for which we paid so dearly." Lafrique fears the situation may yet get worse. "We're calling upon...all Cameroonians not to fall prey to those seeking to create the chaos we've so often witnessed in neighboring countries".
According to the IPS report, local Muslim leaders who are keen to preserve the peaceful co-existence are equally concerned about "outside agitators" inciting violence against Christians. IPS reports: "In response to these developments, government has created a special joint task force to conduct raids against those suspected of encouraging religious extremism. Provincial governors also met towards the end of last month to discuss the situation."
Mbonji Edjenguele, an anthropologist at the University of Yaounde, told IPS, "We're on our guard because of what's happening right now in the north. We're not immune to the sociopolitical events currently taking place beyond our borders, which continue to be porous."
Edjenguele says that due to lack of education and high rates of illiteracy in the north, "prophets of doom from neighboring countries or elsewhere are able recruit followers to spread their disastrous ideas".
- Elizabeth Kendal
Link
1) Culture-Cameroon: Religious Tensions On the Rise in the North
By Sylvestre Tetchiada in Yaounde, 3 Aug 2004
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
Subj: Cameroon: Foreign Islamists infiltrate to incite hate.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
Foreign Islamists have infiltrated the northern provinces of Cameroon and are attempting to incite the local Muslims against the local Christians.
The great African ethnic/religious fault line that runs from the Sierra Leone/Liberia border in the West through to Asmara, Eritrea in the East, through central Cote d'Ivoire, central Nigeria and central Sudan, also runs through northern Cameroon. Cameroon shares its porous western border with Nigeria which has experienced a dramatic rise in religious violence over recent years, since the northern states adopted Sharia (Islamic) Law. Garoua, the capital of North Province, Cameroon, is only some 500 kilometers due east of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria which suffered serious religious violence in September 2001 and again in 2004 and is now under emergency rule.
On 3 August 2004, Inter Press Service (IPS) (Johannesburg) ran an article entitled "Cameroon: Religious Tensions On the Rise in the North", written by By Sylvestre Tetchiada, reporting from the capital, Yaounde. (Link 1)
Garga Aoudou, a community activist with a Dutch development organisation told IPS that Garoua has been "literally inundated with fliers inciting Muslims towards a hatred of Christians". Aoudou continues, "Religious fanatics exhort Muslims to increase the number of marriages between young Muslim men and Christian girls in order to convert them to Islam, to refuse to rent houses or sell land to Christians - or to get them to move by raising the rent."
This is confirmed by Yves Steven, the Bishop of Maroua (capital of the Extreme North province)and of the town of Makolo. Bishop Steven told IPS, "Several Christian families have come to me to complain. They were subjected to physical violence. Some of them were forcibly evicted from their homes with bats and at knifepoint before they could collect their property."
Lele Lafrique, the Chief of Police in the North province is quoted as saying, "Now more than ever, an extremist current threatens the national unity for which we paid so dearly." Lafrique fears the situation may yet get worse. "We're calling upon...all Cameroonians not to fall prey to those seeking to create the chaos we've so often witnessed in neighboring countries".
According to the IPS report, local Muslim leaders who are keen to preserve the peaceful co-existence are equally concerned about "outside agitators" inciting violence against Christians. IPS reports: "In response to these developments, government has created a special joint task force to conduct raids against those suspected of encouraging religious extremism. Provincial governors also met towards the end of last month to discuss the situation."
Mbonji Edjenguele, an anthropologist at the University of Yaounde, told IPS, "We're on our guard because of what's happening right now in the north. We're not immune to the sociopolitical events currently taking place beyond our borders, which continue to be porous."
Edjenguele says that due to lack of education and high rates of illiteracy in the north, "prophets of doom from neighboring countries or elsewhere are able recruit followers to spread their disastrous ideas".
- Elizabeth Kendal
Link
1) Culture-Cameroon: Religious Tensions On the Rise in the North
By Sylvestre Tetchiada in Yaounde, 3 Aug 2004
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)