Islamic radicalism grows in Nigeria

NY Times, November 1, 2001

FORCE OF ISLAM     

Rising Muslim Power in Africa Causes Unrest in Nigeria and Elsewhere

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

The anger on both sides exploded on Sept. 7, as Muslims prepared for Friday
prayers. Although versions differ, everyone agrees the violence began at a
mosque. As the faithful gathered inside and spilled outside onto the
surrounding streets, a young Christian woman tried to go up one of the
streets. "She said she must pass," recalled Musa Abdullahi, 42, who was
praying on the street at the time. "The young guard told her she could not
pass while we were praying. I begged him to let her pass. She went to pass,
but he stopped her. She shouted, `I must pass!' "

What happened next is in dispute. Muslims say Christians suddenly attacked
them with bows and arrows and rocks — a planned offensive. Christians say
Muslims began attacking them on the streets and burned down two churches.

The riots went on for days, and were reportedly inflamed by the Sept. 11
attacks in America. At least 500 died, though a Western diplomat in Abuja
said the real figure might be as high as 2,000.

The riots in Jos, meanwhile, were reverberating elsewhere in the country,
especially here in Kano, where many of the Muslim Hausas, outnumbered in
Jos, had fled. 

Kano, even in the best of times, is a city with an undercurrent of despair.
Hundreds of children beg on the streets or sell fuel in jerrycans on the
highways; grotesquely crippled men crawl on streets strewn with mounds of
garbage. In a near-feudal hierarchy, men who have become rich by siphoning
profits from Nigeria's oil wealth live in huge compounds. Despite more than
two years of civilian rule, the average Kano resident's condition is
getting worse. In this context, the rise of Shariah has proved seductive.

Given the general social tensions, the trouble in Jos and the start of the
American military campaign in Afghanistan, Kano found itself on a knife
edge. When the Nigerian government announced its support of the attacks on
Afghanistan, Muslims organized a protest on Oct. 19.

In explaining why Muslim youths then attacked Christians, Abdulkarim
Daiyabu, 56, the chairman of Izala, a prominent Muslim organization here,
said, "The young men were encouraged by hunger and the belief that Islam
was being degraded." For some, it seems, Osama bin Laden has become a
symbol and leader of the world's dispossessed.

During the Persian Gulf war, residents here protested against the United
States and put up posters of Saddam Hussein. But in the last decade, the
sanctions on Iraq and a perception of United States bias in favor of
Israel, have hardened opinions against America, residents here said.

Foreign diplomats in Nigeria say they have noticed the change in attitude,
though they say it should not be overstated. "These are extremely
impoverished people living on Islam, air and three months of rain a year,"
one Western diplomat said. "There has been an accretion of anger building
up over the years."

On one of the 75-cent tapes widely circulating here, a popular young
Islamic preacher, Yahaya Farouk Chedi, was introduced as the "commander."
Mr. Chedi is heard joking that even though he is called the "commander," he
has no gun. If he had a gun, he said, he would have started using it
already. According to Mr. Chedi's speech on the tape, America is the great
enemy of Islam and he summons Muslims to fight it. He describes the Sept.
11 attacks as the "work of God," causing his listeners to cheer. May God
increase the attacks on America, he says. "Amen," the boys respond. "Amen."

Full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/01/international/africa/01ISLA.html

Louis Proyect
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