Date: Wednesday 30 June 2004
Subj: Kyrgyzstan: Authorities consider countering Christian mission.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
In January 2004 Forum 18 (F18), which monitors religious freedom in Communist and former Soviet states, published the results of its survey on religious freedom in Kyrgyzstan. F18 reported, "Both registered and unregistered religious communities appear to function freely, despite a 1996 presidential decree requiring religious communities to register. ...However, due to Muslim anger at conversions from Islam to Christianity, Forum 18 has been told by some that an official campaign against Christian proselytism may soon be launched." One diplomat confided to F18 that authorities might soon launch a campaign against "proselytism" out of fear that the conversion of Muslims to Christianity may lead to social tensions and even conflict. (Link 1)
An article that appeared on IslamOnline (IOL) on 26 June 2004 entitled "Proselytization Eats Away at Muslim Majority in Kyrgyzstan" indicates that this threat may soon become a reality. (Link 2)
IOL correspondent Damir Ahmad reports that according to Russian media, "Five percent of the majority Muslim population in Kyrgyzstan have converted to Christianity due to the spreading missionary work in the former Soviet republic."
According to Omurzak Mamayusupov, the director of Kyrgyzstan’s religious affairs committee, "The percentage of Muslims declined from 84 percent of the total population in 2001 to 79.3 percent in 2004. In terms of figures, he added, some 100,000 Muslims, of the country’s five million population, have converted to Christianity."
Mamayusupov complains about the "full swing" missionary activity that includes the distribution of literature, books and videos, the building of churches, the establishment of Christian mission organizations, and the way missionaries "entice Muslim people away from their religion".
IOL reports, "Mamayusupov warned that such organizations endanger the national security and run the risk of triggering an ethnic conflict. 'We must nip this phenomenon in the bud to head off an ethnic conflict in Kyrgyzstan,' he said."
Mamayusupov claims that while Russian Orthodox and Muslims have lived peacefully for many years, the Catholic and Protestant missions "might ignite a religious war".
According to IOL, Mamayusupov said that the Kyrgyzstan government is therefore considering the option of establishing a religious police department to counter Christian missionary work.
Mamayusupov’s language is alarmist and offensive. He appears content to take the easy road and blame social tensions on the peaceful victims of persecution rather than on the perpetrators who would unjustly deny them their basic and constitutional right to freedom of religion.
Kyrgyzstan has some 3,000 mosques, 2,000 of which have been built since the year 2000. Some 40 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s Muslims are Wahhabi. According to the US State Department Report on International Religious Freedom 2003, there are some 1,000 missionaries in Kyrgyzstan. Around 800 of them are Christians, primarily from Sth Korea, Germany and USA, while the others are Muslims from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. (Link 3)
HOSTILITY
One of the most extreme cases of grassroots persecution against converts occurred in the village of Kurkol in Djalalabad Oblast in January 2001. The local Muslim Religious Board complained that some 130 Muslims had recently converted to Christianity. More than one thousand locals convened a meeting and demanded that four ethnic Uzbeks, all recent converts to Christianity, leave the village.
That incident was pre-war on terror. If Islamic anti-Western, anti-Christian sentiment, solidarity and identification are rising in Kyrgyzstan as much as they are rising everywhere else across the Muslim world, then we can expect social tensions to be increasing and the government to come under increasing pressure to counter Christianity.
It is to be hoped that the secular and reform-minded government of President Askar Akayev will reject attempts to curtail Kyrgyzstan’s religious liberty.
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) F18News 7 January 2004
KYRGYZSTAN: Religious freedom survey, January 2004
By Igor Rotar, Central Asia Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=222
2) Proselytization Eats Away At Muslim Majority In Kyrgyzstan
By Damir Ahmad, IOL Correspondent
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2004-06/26/article04.shtml
3) US Department of State IRF report 2003: Kyrgyzstan.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/27209.htm
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Kenya: Watching Mungiki
Date: Thursday 24 June 2004
Subj: Kenya: Watching Mungiki
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
THE VIOLENCE OF MUNGIKI
On Tuesday 8 June, the head of Simon Ndabi Kamore was found wrapped in green plastic on the pavement near the bus stop "where he had been preaching his new found religion three days ago on Sunday". His body has not yet been found. (Numerous grisly rumours abound as to what has happened to his torso.)
Simon Ndabi Kamore, a former member of the outlawed Mungiki sect, had denounced the sect after converting to Christianity and paid the ultimate price.
The East African Standard reports, "The murder comes in the wake of a recent revelation that fanatical Mungiki adherents have in the recent past been attacking and killing any sect member who dares to reconvert to another religion or disassociates himself with the outlawed outfit." (Link 1)
Earlier this year police placed Mungiki defectors on a 24-hour guard following the brutal murder of three members and the kidnapping of several who had openly denounced the sect. The killings have included those of Pastor James Irungu Njenga and his wife Florence, who were shot dead in March 2004 at their home in the Kiamaiko slum in Nairobi, in front of their children.
Most Mungiki members have a Christian background. Multitudes have been recruited from amongst young, nominal, disillusioned or dissatisfied church members. Some Mungiki members recently have left the sect and recommitted their lives to Jesus Christ. Last year Mungiki leaders gave defectors an ultimatum: return to the sect by January 2004 or be killed. At least 18 people have been murdered since the deadline expired, allegedly by a highly skilled Mungiki hit squad.
Since its rise in the late 1990s the Mungiki sect has left a trail of arson, murder, forced oathing, forced circumcision, extortion and terror in its wake. Most recently, on Monday evening 14 June, Mungiki sect members rampaged through Mlango Kubwa, Pangani, slashing people with machetes, allegedly in retribution against residents who had complained to the police that Mungiki sect members were extorting "protection money" by force. Mungiki sect members dragged 13-year-old Evelyn Mumbua from her home while her mother was at church. They took her into the street, slit her throat and threatened to kill anyone who attempted to assist her. Evelyn Mumbua bled to death. (Link 2)
THE APPEAL OF MUNGIKI
The Mungiki sect has some 2 million members. It is able to attract such numbers because it appeals to tribalism, is anti-West, and calls people back to traditional African tribal religions at a time when these things are all very popular. These elements attract especially those who are poor and feeling frustrated and hopeless due to their socio-economic situation, or confused by social change.
The Kikuyu is the largest tribe in Kenya, numbering around 6.8 million. Mungiki is a Kikuyu sect whose most fundamental aim is to unite the Kikuyu, revive the spirit of the Mau Mau independence fighters who fought the British in the 1950s, and liberate Kenyans from all Western influence and oppression. Because the ultimate aim is to have the Kikuyu dominating Kenya's politics and economy, there are Kikuyu politicians, civil servants and police who secretly support the sect.
While it is essentially political, Mungiki poses as a traditional religious group. The sect members take oaths, perform strange and secret rituals, pray facing Mt Kenya (which is, they believe, the home of their god Ngai), and take snuff during their worship ritual as their form of "holy communion".
The Mungiki maintain that their god has called them to liberate people oppressed by Western ideologies. The main war fronts for the Mungiki on their road to liberation are Western culture and Christianity. They promote the traditional Kikuyu way of life and take a hardline stand against all Western ideologies and culture. They assault women they claim are dressed inappropriately, stripping them naked in public, and they violently promote female genital mutilation. They aggressively reject Christianity as a cultural manifestation of Western civilisation that has perpetuated neo-colonialism, i.e. indirect domination of the developing world by the First World through economic imperialism.
Their strident anti-West, anti-Christian stance has enabled a loose Mungiki Muslim alliance. In September 2000 thirteen leaders of the sect converted to Islam without denouncing any of their own Mungiki beliefs. This was doubtless a strategy of the Mungiki leaders to harness the support of Kenya's Muslims in their fight against Christianity and Western influence, and to make any attack on Mungiki an attack on Islam. During the September 2000 initiation of the 13 converting Mungiki leaders, Sheikh Shee, Chairman of Kenya's Council of Imams, in his sermon at the Sakina mosque in Mombasa called upon the government to stop harassing Mungiki followers. The Council of Imams said that Mungiki had become part and parcel of the Muslim community. However, other Muslim leaders have subsequently denounced the Mungiki on account of their criminality.
TAKING MUNGIKI SERIOUSLY - WHERE TO GO?
While the Mungiki sect is both political and religious, it recruits primarily amongst unemployed, bored, poor, disaffected youths. These disillusioned, frustrated youths delight in criminality and regard Christianity with contempt. They are frustrated by and angry about their poverty and hopelessness. They believe, or at least hope, that salvation from their plight is possible through emulating their Mau Mau liberator heroes, casting off the last vestiges of Western imperialism for complete liberation and empowerment.
It is for these very reasons that Mungiki must be taken seriously. The issues of unemployment, poverty, hopelessness and lack of identity - issues at the root of Mungiki rebellion, issues aiding recruitment - must be taken seriously. The issue of unscrupulous politicians using depressed, disillusioned, disaffected and desperate youths for political advantage also must be taken seriously. With 2 million members, supporters in high places, and big promises of solidarity, liberation and empowerment, Mungiki must be regarded as a serious threat.
Mungiki has all the ingredients needed to create an enduring and expanding problem. It is a politico-religious sect created for the purpose of solidarity and empowerment at the expense of others. Similar movements in the history of world religion have proved extremely successful and very threatening.
The Church in Kenya needs our prayers that it may be part of the solution, or it may just find itself facing a growing and increasingly hostile and militant enemy.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Mungiki defector beheaded
Standard Correspondent. 9 June 2004
http://www.eastandard.net/headlines/news09060409.htm
2) Mungiki kill girl in attack
By Evelyn Kwamboka and Noel Wandera. 16 June 2004
http://www.eastandard.net/headlines/news16060402.htm
Subj: Kenya: Watching Mungiki
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
THE VIOLENCE OF MUNGIKI
On Tuesday 8 June, the head of Simon Ndabi Kamore was found wrapped in green plastic on the pavement near the bus stop "where he had been preaching his new found religion three days ago on Sunday". His body has not yet been found. (Numerous grisly rumours abound as to what has happened to his torso.)
Simon Ndabi Kamore, a former member of the outlawed Mungiki sect, had denounced the sect after converting to Christianity and paid the ultimate price.
The East African Standard reports, "The murder comes in the wake of a recent revelation that fanatical Mungiki adherents have in the recent past been attacking and killing any sect member who dares to reconvert to another religion or disassociates himself with the outlawed outfit." (Link 1)
Earlier this year police placed Mungiki defectors on a 24-hour guard following the brutal murder of three members and the kidnapping of several who had openly denounced the sect. The killings have included those of Pastor James Irungu Njenga and his wife Florence, who were shot dead in March 2004 at their home in the Kiamaiko slum in Nairobi, in front of their children.
Most Mungiki members have a Christian background. Multitudes have been recruited from amongst young, nominal, disillusioned or dissatisfied church members. Some Mungiki members recently have left the sect and recommitted their lives to Jesus Christ. Last year Mungiki leaders gave defectors an ultimatum: return to the sect by January 2004 or be killed. At least 18 people have been murdered since the deadline expired, allegedly by a highly skilled Mungiki hit squad.
Since its rise in the late 1990s the Mungiki sect has left a trail of arson, murder, forced oathing, forced circumcision, extortion and terror in its wake. Most recently, on Monday evening 14 June, Mungiki sect members rampaged through Mlango Kubwa, Pangani, slashing people with machetes, allegedly in retribution against residents who had complained to the police that Mungiki sect members were extorting "protection money" by force. Mungiki sect members dragged 13-year-old Evelyn Mumbua from her home while her mother was at church. They took her into the street, slit her throat and threatened to kill anyone who attempted to assist her. Evelyn Mumbua bled to death. (Link 2)
THE APPEAL OF MUNGIKI
The Mungiki sect has some 2 million members. It is able to attract such numbers because it appeals to tribalism, is anti-West, and calls people back to traditional African tribal religions at a time when these things are all very popular. These elements attract especially those who are poor and feeling frustrated and hopeless due to their socio-economic situation, or confused by social change.
The Kikuyu is the largest tribe in Kenya, numbering around 6.8 million. Mungiki is a Kikuyu sect whose most fundamental aim is to unite the Kikuyu, revive the spirit of the Mau Mau independence fighters who fought the British in the 1950s, and liberate Kenyans from all Western influence and oppression. Because the ultimate aim is to have the Kikuyu dominating Kenya's politics and economy, there are Kikuyu politicians, civil servants and police who secretly support the sect.
While it is essentially political, Mungiki poses as a traditional religious group. The sect members take oaths, perform strange and secret rituals, pray facing Mt Kenya (which is, they believe, the home of their god Ngai), and take snuff during their worship ritual as their form of "holy communion".
The Mungiki maintain that their god has called them to liberate people oppressed by Western ideologies. The main war fronts for the Mungiki on their road to liberation are Western culture and Christianity. They promote the traditional Kikuyu way of life and take a hardline stand against all Western ideologies and culture. They assault women they claim are dressed inappropriately, stripping them naked in public, and they violently promote female genital mutilation. They aggressively reject Christianity as a cultural manifestation of Western civilisation that has perpetuated neo-colonialism, i.e. indirect domination of the developing world by the First World through economic imperialism.
Their strident anti-West, anti-Christian stance has enabled a loose Mungiki Muslim alliance. In September 2000 thirteen leaders of the sect converted to Islam without denouncing any of their own Mungiki beliefs. This was doubtless a strategy of the Mungiki leaders to harness the support of Kenya's Muslims in their fight against Christianity and Western influence, and to make any attack on Mungiki an attack on Islam. During the September 2000 initiation of the 13 converting Mungiki leaders, Sheikh Shee, Chairman of Kenya's Council of Imams, in his sermon at the Sakina mosque in Mombasa called upon the government to stop harassing Mungiki followers. The Council of Imams said that Mungiki had become part and parcel of the Muslim community. However, other Muslim leaders have subsequently denounced the Mungiki on account of their criminality.
TAKING MUNGIKI SERIOUSLY - WHERE TO GO?
While the Mungiki sect is both political and religious, it recruits primarily amongst unemployed, bored, poor, disaffected youths. These disillusioned, frustrated youths delight in criminality and regard Christianity with contempt. They are frustrated by and angry about their poverty and hopelessness. They believe, or at least hope, that salvation from their plight is possible through emulating their Mau Mau liberator heroes, casting off the last vestiges of Western imperialism for complete liberation and empowerment.
It is for these very reasons that Mungiki must be taken seriously. The issues of unemployment, poverty, hopelessness and lack of identity - issues at the root of Mungiki rebellion, issues aiding recruitment - must be taken seriously. The issue of unscrupulous politicians using depressed, disillusioned, disaffected and desperate youths for political advantage also must be taken seriously. With 2 million members, supporters in high places, and big promises of solidarity, liberation and empowerment, Mungiki must be regarded as a serious threat.
Mungiki has all the ingredients needed to create an enduring and expanding problem. It is a politico-religious sect created for the purpose of solidarity and empowerment at the expense of others. Similar movements in the history of world religion have proved extremely successful and very threatening.
The Church in Kenya needs our prayers that it may be part of the solution, or it may just find itself facing a growing and increasingly hostile and militant enemy.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Mungiki defector beheaded
Standard Correspondent. 9 June 2004
http://www.eastandard.net/headlines/news09060409.htm
2) Mungiki kill girl in attack
By Evelyn Kwamboka and Noel Wandera. 16 June 2004
http://www.eastandard.net/headlines/news16060402.htm
Friday, June 11, 2004
Cote d'Ivoire: "We want all of Ivory Coast" (rebels)
Date: Friday 11 June 2004
Subj: Cote d'Ivoire: "We want all of Ivory Coast" (rebels).
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
This posting covers three issues:
In his address, Imam Fofana alleges that foreign Islamists have infiltrated and profoundly influence Cote d'Ivoire. He also alleges that an Islamic political party offered to pay the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire a large sum of money to launch a disinformation campaign from their mosques, denigrating the nation and all non-Muslims, presumably with the intention of preparing the ground for religious conflict.
-------------------------------------------------------------
PRIEST STABBED TO DEATH IN GOHITAFLA
At around 4am on Monday 7 June, unidentified gunmen entered the town of Gohitafla, a frontline town in divided Cote d'Ivoire (CI) that lies on the south end of the demilitarized "zone of confidence" policed by French peacekeepers.
The group of around 30 gunmen entered the farming village of Gohitafla from the rebel-held north only hours after President Gbagbo had flown out of CI for a 9-day visit to the USA. Suspicion abounds that the rebel forces had attempted to re-ignite hostilities in President Gbagbo's absence, and in his native region.
Djedje Augustin, reporting for http://www.ivoirealites.net , writes that the gunmen were members of Guillaume Soro's rebel forces, although the rebels deny that they were responsible for the attack. Reuters reports that seven were killed and 14 wounded in battles between the rebels, the National Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (FANCI) and the French peacekeepers, and two civilians were stabbed to death.
Augustin spoke to sources on the scene who believed that the toll was probably much higher. They believe 11 civilians were murdered and report that there was considerable property damage as well. Augustin's on-site sources also revealed that the Catholic Church in Gohitafla was targeted and the priest stabbed to death.
DETERIORATION OF THE NORTH
The situation in the north has deteriorated drastically since the 19 September 2002 coup that plunged the nation into civil conflict and left the north in the hands of the Muslim rebels.
The BBC reports, "Bouake is everything one might expect of a rebel stronghold. Men with Kalashnikovs are everywhere, strolling through the market or showily flexing their muscles from the outboard of a passing jeep. Few have complete uniforms. Many have replaced missing boots with hi-tech trainers; whatever else, the rebels seem to be winning the fashion war.
"Most wear T-shirts in honour of their commander or company - thus a group wearing Cheetah tops can be followed by a procession of "Che Guevaras", and even a gaggle of "Osama Bin Ladens". One company seems to employ only bearded soldiers. All are heavily armed..." (Link 1)
According to the BBC, most civil servants, including teachers, fled south to Abidjan after the September 2002 coup. According to UNICEF, "80 percent of the doctors, nurses and midwives in northern Cote d'Ivoire have fled since the country plunged into civil war in September 2002. Drugs and equipment have been looted from hospitals and health centres and the system for monitoring the outbreak of epidemics has been paralysed." (Link 2)
The rebels remain committed to their original objective - the capture of all of Cote d'Ivoire. The BBC article notes, after one rebel commander recently spoke of secession, rebel leader Guillaume Soro responded by explaining that secession was not an option he was considering. "'Why should we content ourselves with Bouake?' he told an excited crowd in Bouake's football stadium. 'We want all of Ivory Coast!'" (Link 1)
---------------------------------------
A MUSLIM LEADER SPEAKS
---------------------------------------
El Hadj Harrissou Fofana is one of Cote d'Ivoire's most prominent Muslim leaders. He is the president of Al Coran and spokesman for the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire, comprising 15 Imams and 15 Muezzins. On 29 May, Imam Fofana addressed a huge youth gathering in Abidjan. (Link 3)
Imam Fofana expressed the concern that the nation's peace, historic tolerance, and religious freedom are being threatened by outside Islamist forces and corrupt politicians advancing their own personal political agendas.
Reporting on behalf of the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire, Imam Fofana said that, over the course of some time, foreign Muslims have come to occupy 85 percent of the senior positions in mosques as Imams and Muezzins, while Ivorian Muslims have been marginalised.
The problem with this, according to Imam Fofana, is that these Muslims have come to be leaders and teachers of Muslims in Cote d'Ivoire (CI), yet they do not understand CI history or culture, its republican institutions, its Constitution, or its electoral code. He also accuses the foreign Muslims of teaching a "blurred" Islam, and charges that politicians and the Islamic organisations in CI have been complicit in supporting the elevation of foreign Muslims into positions of leadership. He says that no one should be surprised therefore that Cote d'Ivoire has changed so much over the past decade.
Imam Fofana called for the preaching of foreign Imams to be monitored and for the rebels to be disarmed.
Imam Fofana also alleged that members of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), Dr Ouattara's party, recently offered the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire 60 million FCFA (USD $110,323.00) to run a campaign of disinformation from their mosques, denigrating both the country and its non-Muslim population.
(Rally of Republicans spokesman Mr Cissé Ibrahim Bacongo, denounced the claims as lies and propaganda. Link 4)
According to Imam Fofana, the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire refused "the money of the corrupt politicians", saying that they would prefer freedom and independence in poverty, to opulence with slavery and destruction. He says the concern must be for peace, for love between Ivorians and foreigners, love between religious communities, and respect for each other and the beliefs of each community.
Imam Fofana appealed to the gathering not to give up, but rather resist the provocations of foreign Islamists and corrupt politicians, and help change the direction of the nation back to the
path of freedom, peace and prosperity.
These words confirm the analysis that at the core of the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire is a battle for the very soul of Cote d'Ivoire - a nation that has historically had a Muslim minority (roughly one third Muslim and one third Christian), secular government and complete religious freedom.
Links
1) Life on hold in rebel-held Bouake
By James Copnall. BBC, Bouake, Ivory Coast. 11 May 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3700889.stm
2) Cote D Ivoire: EU Re-Equips 25 Health Centres, Mainly in the
North. UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Yamoussoukro, 4 June 2004.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406040751.htmlv
3) Harrissou Fofana: "Il faut ivoiriser les fonctions d'imam et de
muezzin en Cote d'Ivoire."
Notre Voie. 3 June 2004
http://www.eburneanews.net/eb.asp?action=lire&id=8912
4) Accuses par Harrissou Fofanal le RDR et le CNI repondent a l'imam
imposteur. By Ferdinand Yao
Le Patriote (Abidjan) 2 Juin 2004
http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200406020388.html
Subj: Cote d'Ivoire: "We want all of Ivory Coast" (rebels).
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
This posting covers three issues:
- the targeted stabbing murder of a priest in the rebel attack on Gohitafla at 4am on 7 June 2004,
- the decline in living standards in northern Cote d'Ivoire under rebel control,
- the address by Imam El Hadj Harrissou Fofana, one of Cote d'Ivoire's most prominent Muslim leaders, before a gathering in Abidjan on 29 May 2004.
In his address, Imam Fofana alleges that foreign Islamists have infiltrated and profoundly influence Cote d'Ivoire. He also alleges that an Islamic political party offered to pay the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire a large sum of money to launch a disinformation campaign from their mosques, denigrating the nation and all non-Muslims, presumably with the intention of preparing the ground for religious conflict.
-------------------------------------------------------------
PRIEST STABBED TO DEATH IN GOHITAFLA
At around 4am on Monday 7 June, unidentified gunmen entered the town of Gohitafla, a frontline town in divided Cote d'Ivoire (CI) that lies on the south end of the demilitarized "zone of confidence" policed by French peacekeepers.
The group of around 30 gunmen entered the farming village of Gohitafla from the rebel-held north only hours after President Gbagbo had flown out of CI for a 9-day visit to the USA. Suspicion abounds that the rebel forces had attempted to re-ignite hostilities in President Gbagbo's absence, and in his native region.
Djedje Augustin, reporting for http://www.ivoirealites.net , writes that the gunmen were members of Guillaume Soro's rebel forces, although the rebels deny that they were responsible for the attack. Reuters reports that seven were killed and 14 wounded in battles between the rebels, the National Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (FANCI) and the French peacekeepers, and two civilians were stabbed to death.
Augustin spoke to sources on the scene who believed that the toll was probably much higher. They believe 11 civilians were murdered and report that there was considerable property damage as well. Augustin's on-site sources also revealed that the Catholic Church in Gohitafla was targeted and the priest stabbed to death.
DETERIORATION OF THE NORTH
The situation in the north has deteriorated drastically since the 19 September 2002 coup that plunged the nation into civil conflict and left the north in the hands of the Muslim rebels.
The BBC reports, "Bouake is everything one might expect of a rebel stronghold. Men with Kalashnikovs are everywhere, strolling through the market or showily flexing their muscles from the outboard of a passing jeep. Few have complete uniforms. Many have replaced missing boots with hi-tech trainers; whatever else, the rebels seem to be winning the fashion war.
"Most wear T-shirts in honour of their commander or company - thus a group wearing Cheetah tops can be followed by a procession of "Che Guevaras", and even a gaggle of "Osama Bin Ladens". One company seems to employ only bearded soldiers. All are heavily armed..." (Link 1)
According to the BBC, most civil servants, including teachers, fled south to Abidjan after the September 2002 coup. According to UNICEF, "80 percent of the doctors, nurses and midwives in northern Cote d'Ivoire have fled since the country plunged into civil war in September 2002. Drugs and equipment have been looted from hospitals and health centres and the system for monitoring the outbreak of epidemics has been paralysed." (Link 2)
The rebels remain committed to their original objective - the capture of all of Cote d'Ivoire. The BBC article notes, after one rebel commander recently spoke of secession, rebel leader Guillaume Soro responded by explaining that secession was not an option he was considering. "'Why should we content ourselves with Bouake?' he told an excited crowd in Bouake's football stadium. 'We want all of Ivory Coast!'" (Link 1)
---------------------------------------
A MUSLIM LEADER SPEAKS
---------------------------------------
El Hadj Harrissou Fofana is one of Cote d'Ivoire's most prominent Muslim leaders. He is the president of Al Coran and spokesman for the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire, comprising 15 Imams and 15 Muezzins. On 29 May, Imam Fofana addressed a huge youth gathering in Abidjan. (Link 3)
Imam Fofana expressed the concern that the nation's peace, historic tolerance, and religious freedom are being threatened by outside Islamist forces and corrupt politicians advancing their own personal political agendas.
Reporting on behalf of the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire, Imam Fofana said that, over the course of some time, foreign Muslims have come to occupy 85 percent of the senior positions in mosques as Imams and Muezzins, while Ivorian Muslims have been marginalised.
The problem with this, according to Imam Fofana, is that these Muslims have come to be leaders and teachers of Muslims in Cote d'Ivoire (CI), yet they do not understand CI history or culture, its republican institutions, its Constitution, or its electoral code. He also accuses the foreign Muslims of teaching a "blurred" Islam, and charges that politicians and the Islamic organisations in CI have been complicit in supporting the elevation of foreign Muslims into positions of leadership. He says that no one should be surprised therefore that Cote d'Ivoire has changed so much over the past decade.
Imam Fofana called for the preaching of foreign Imams to be monitored and for the rebels to be disarmed.
Imam Fofana also alleged that members of the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), Dr Ouattara's party, recently offered the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire 60 million FCFA (USD $110,323.00) to run a campaign of disinformation from their mosques, denigrating both the country and its non-Muslim population.
(Rally of Republicans spokesman Mr Cissé Ibrahim Bacongo, denounced the claims as lies and propaganda. Link 4)
According to Imam Fofana, the National Council of Imams and Muezzins of Cote d'Ivoire refused "the money of the corrupt politicians", saying that they would prefer freedom and independence in poverty, to opulence with slavery and destruction. He says the concern must be for peace, for love between Ivorians and foreigners, love between religious communities, and respect for each other and the beliefs of each community.
Imam Fofana appealed to the gathering not to give up, but rather resist the provocations of foreign Islamists and corrupt politicians, and help change the direction of the nation back to the
path of freedom, peace and prosperity.
These words confirm the analysis that at the core of the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire is a battle for the very soul of Cote d'Ivoire - a nation that has historically had a Muslim minority (roughly one third Muslim and one third Christian), secular government and complete religious freedom.
Links
1) Life on hold in rebel-held Bouake
By James Copnall. BBC, Bouake, Ivory Coast. 11 May 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3700889.stm
2) Cote D Ivoire: EU Re-Equips 25 Health Centres, Mainly in the
North. UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Yamoussoukro, 4 June 2004.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406040751.htmlv
3) Harrissou Fofana: "Il faut ivoiriser les fonctions d'imam et de
muezzin en Cote d'Ivoire."
Notre Voie. 3 June 2004
http://www.eburneanews.net/eb.asp?action=lire&id=8912
4) Accuses par Harrissou Fofanal le RDR et le CNI repondent a l'imam
imposteur. By Ferdinand Yao
Le Patriote (Abidjan) 2 Juin 2004
http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200406020388.html