Jihad Moving to Africa

In a conference on Africa in Washington DC , in February 2007., Moshe Terdman Presented the Following paper:
Factors Facilitating the Rise of
Radical Islamism and Terrorism
in Sub-Saharan Africa

On February 12, 2007, a new article was circulated in the Jihadi forums, which sketched very clearly the new direction of the strategy of al-Qaeda or global Jihad, in Africa . The article in Arabic, titled "Al-Qaeda Organization and the African Continent: Past, Present and Future", provides us with an analysis of Africa 's importance for global Jihad.

This same article was published in June 2006 by a virtual magazine of supporters of global Jihad – Sada al-Jihad (Echo of Jihad) – and was circulated in the Jihadi forums. That article in Arabic, titled "Al-Qaeda is Moving to Africa ", was written by Abu Azzam al-Ansari.

read the rest from The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies

Why We don't Understand Jihad

World views are so opposite that they cannot communicate with each other.

If your world view is that religion serves the purpose of helping us behave better, then you can tolerate it as long as a people's religion helps people behave better. Should religion make them behave worse, then you must help them develop better behavior in spite of their religion. This is the worldview of a secularist.

If your world view is that your purpose and objective is to connect with God, then your behavior toward others is of second or even third concern. It is the objective of the religious Muslim who knows and literally believes their Quran to bring the entire globe under submission - to their God. This is the world view of the religious Muslim.

Western Secularists will try and discuss peace with the Middle Easter Secularists. They are free to compromise since both see their holy scriptures as a guideline, not a rule. Their will be much discussion, and this will bear no fruit.
Because secularist of neither Mid-East nor West can persuade the
fundamentalists to give up their purpose.

This lack of understanding will results in secularists continuing their roles as unwitting pawns used by both sides to provide temporary breaks in the fighting to rearm and resupply.

Most of the world cannot process & interpret what they see, because it is such a long cycle of events.

Secularists cannot conceive of a world where relationship with God precedes relationship with man...

Therefore, they will not get it; they cannot get it. This has been war, is war, and will be war. The Jihadists are prepared to fight until they die or set up an Global Islamic State, and local Islamic states in all countries on earth.
In their collective mind, they have never stopped pursuing this goal. They have just been rearming and reequipping for the last 80 years.

Do Secularists have the passion to fight a defensive war of attrition? To Help Jihadis Die, to win or ....come to know Jesus? Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, the Jesus Christ is Lord.

Congo sells Uranium - to Iran?

The head of Congo’s atomic energy commission, Fortunat Lumu, and an aide were arrested, “accused of having illicitly sold a quantity of uranium,” Attorney General Tshimanga Mukendi said.

He refused to give the amount of uranium or the reported buyer. In August the government denied a report in The Sunday Times of London that a uranium shipment left its territory in 2005 for Iran. Officials declined to say if the arrests and the report in The Times were related

The two arrested were trying to create fictitious companies to sell uranium, Bonane said, adding they were in the process of selling off the radioactive materials when they were detained.
Bonane declined to give further details, saying investigations were continuing.

read more from the Houston Chronicle

Shiites trying to Convert Sunnis - Another Front of the Islamic Civil War

While the media focuses on the aggressive Iranian expansion in the whole Middle East, another insidious campaign is being orchestrated by Iran to control the region. Proselytizing is the new name of the game.

And since, through this Iranian-sponsored operation, Sunnis have been converting to Shiism in significant numbers, Sunni states are starting to react. That could well open a new front in the Sunni-Shiite war.

Of all Sunni countries, Saudi Arabia is the one feeling the most threatened by this new wave of Shiite proselytizing. “If it’s not to export the revolution like in the time of the Khomeini regime, Shiism exportation, as we see it today is still unacceptable” noted Saudi Social Affairs Minister Abdel Mohsen al Hakas.

Read the rest from the Counter Terrorism Blog

Saudi Jihad Financers Dance but Don't' Die

We continue to search for Funding Mechanisms and networks for Global Jihad.

“Since June [2004], intermittent reports have suggested Riyadh was on the verge of taking firm action against terror financiers among the Saudi elite. After a series of unexplained delays, a U.S. delegation visiting the Saudi capital in December finally secured Saudi agreement to shut the offices of the al Haramain Foundation in Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Pakistan, and take action against senior al Haramain officials in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, the Saudis were expected to announce criminal proceedings against the foundation's recently fired director of 13 years, Sheikh Aqel al Aqel, who according to well-informed sources was caught transporting millions of dollars out of the country via couriers. This week, when the much anticipated press conference was finally held, the closure of a few more al Haramain branches proved anticlimactic in the glaring absence of any action against al Aqel or any of the other prominent Saudis bankrolling terror.”

read the rest from The Counter Terrorism blog

Account 98 used by Diverse Jihad groups

Account 98 systems, have been used to fund Jihad activities in the past. They system could also be used to fund activites to radicalize existing Muslim groups in "Pre-Jihad" Countries such as Kenya, Malawi, CAR, Democtratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Southern Nigeria. CHAD is already under Jihad attack.

I believe that this is how groups became radicalized in Kenya. Radical Muslim groups were largely in the North and Coastal areas. Now there are radical groups very active in Nirobi itself.
A Christian oprhange was recently bulldozed to the ground by An Islamic group that bought the and the orphange was squatting on....where are funds comming from? I believe account 98.

History of Account 98

In 2001, Account 98 was cited in an official Saudigovernment report which extensively detailed

• Saudi financial support to Palestinians, including families of suicide bombers.
• Arab League is also involved in supporting these accounts, which allows the Saudigovernment to pay between 10,000 -20,000 Saudi Riyals to the families of martyrs
• At thetime of the report that 986 families had receivedfunds from the account.
• The funds from Account 98 were passed from Saudi Arabia's IslamicDevelopment Bank directly to the account of the Unified Treasury of the National PalestinianAuthority.

the rest

Let's note here the funding flow - if this system is still in operation, what Banks would be being used in Africa?

• in Somalia?
• in Sudan?
• in Northern Nigeria?
• In Kenya?
• In CAR?
• In Democratic Republic of Congo?

Account 98 and Global Jihad

Account 98 is an account that existed at one time that as a common account in all Saudi banks worldwide that was used, first to fund the Palentinian intifada and Jihad in general.

• It is my belief that accout 98 still exists. (check out this 2005 US Senate hearing video)
• Further I believe the account, or similar structures, are being used to fund Globa Jihad.
• Specifcially, We will be looing at account 98 and Africa

Further,

"An account at an HSBC subsidiary (the Saudi- British Bank) will be charged with being used to collect and pass funds to organizations which then used the money to help suicide bombers and their families. This is the Account 98 scandal.

read the rest from Household - HSBC Watch

Stay Tuned

-Shimron

The Picture of a Terrorist Training Camp

the Public Broadcasting Company conducted an internview with Saba Khodada, who trained at an Iraqi terrorist Training Camp in 2001. In the interview he discussuess the presence of Iraqi and non-Iraqi terrorists in training. click here fore more . Though this is 5 years old, It serves to post it now when some in the US are trying to claim that The Iraqi Al-Quida connection was a myth.

Terror Figures in West Africa

Failed States: terror training Camps

How many states are at serious risk of state failure? The World Bank has identified about 30 “low-income countries under stress,” whereas Britain’s Department for International Development has named 46 “fragile” states of concern. A report commissioned by the CIA has put the number of failing states at about 20.
Read the complete article

These states have vast parts of their countires which the cannot or will not control. It is in these places that the Jihdists train and hide.

Three elements can be said to characterize the phenomenon of the “failed State” from the political and legal point of view.

Firstly, there is the geographical and territorial aspect, namely the fact that “failed States” are essentially associated with internal and endogenous problems, even though these may incidentally have cross-border impacts. The situation confronting us then is one of an implosion rather than an explosion of the structures of power and authority, the disintegration and destructuring of States rather than their dismemberment.
Secondly, there is the political aspect, namely the internal collapse of law and order. The emphasis here is on the total or near total breakdown of structures guaranteeing law and order [2] rather than the kind of fragmentation of State authority seen in civil wars, where clearly identified military or paramilitary rebels fight either to strengthen their own position within the State or to break away from it. [3]
Thirdly, there is the functional aspect, namely the absence of bodies capable, on the one hand, of representing the State at the international level and, on the other, of being influenced by the outside world. Either no institution exists which has the authority to negotiate, represent and enforce or, if one does, it is wholly unreliable, typically acting as “statesman by day and bandit by night”.
See the remaining article by Daniel Thürer.


These are the places where terrorist training camps are happening today:

• The Pashtoon regions in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• South Lebanon: ( Hezbollah )
• Remote Parts of Mali
• Southern Somalia
• Southern Sudan
• Eritria info

Why is this relevant to evangelical Christian Intercessors? Find out where these states are, and if you are supporting someone in Prayer who is going to or near one, Knowiung what is going on there from research will help diect you prayer.

Sheikh Muhammad Ali, head of the Palestinian Cleric's Association gave an interview on Hezbollah TV on August 19th 2005. He said the following:

Any land, any piece of land, over which flies the banner of 'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger,' and which at a certain point belonged to the Muslims – as far as we are concerned, plundering and occupying such land is forbidden, and it is the duty of all Muslims to do what they can to liberate this land, wherever it may be...
...When a piece of Muslim land is occupied, the duty of liberating it falls, first of all, upon the local residents, as decreed by the religious rulers. It is, first of all, the duty of the local residents...
...They [local Muslims] are the spearhead of the liberation effort. But when they are too few, or they cannot – it is the duty of the next in line to liberate this land...
...if they are unable to do it either, it becomes the duty of all Muslims to do what they can to liberate it. According to the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, not only when an entire homeland is occupied, but when 'even an inch of Muslim land is occupied, Jihad is a personal duty, a religious obligation incumbent upon everyone. A wife must go, even without her husband's permission, and a slave must go – if there are slaves – without his master's permission.' They must liberate this land – and this is when only an inch is occupied, let alone when it is Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa that are occupied."
See full article

What is Jihad to Evangelical Christians?

"As this suggests, jihad is "holy war." Or, more precisely: It means the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims at the expense of territories ruled by non-Muslims.
The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power (faith, of course, often follows the flag). Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe.
Jihad did have two variant meanings through the centuries, one more radical, one less so. The first holds that Muslims who interpret their faith differently are infidels and therefore legitimate targets of jihad. (This is why Algerians, Egyptians and Afghans have found themselves, like Americans and Israelis, so often the victims of jihadist aggression.) The second meaning, associated with mystics, rejects the legal definition of jihad as armed conflict and tells Muslims to withdraw from the worldly concerns to achieve spiritual depth."

Click here for the full article by Daniel Pipes.

The next question foir consideration

What does it mean for evangelical Christians? It means that Jihad has many forms all connected in progressively more militaristic terms,

1. It means that a moral Muslim cannot interact with any believer that furthers the Christian faith. It would oppose the principle of Jihad.
2. Though some forms of Islam would tolerate Christians, it would exact a tax over them, and they would remian subject to Sharia law.
3. There is a sophsiticated system of mandetory tithe collection called Zakat that is especially active among the Shia. This funds, among other things, the humanitrian efforts aimed at winning herts and minds. (See earlier post Hezollah in Liberia)
4. We must pray that The Holy Spirit will go before us, and understand I I Samuel 17:47-

"all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands."

5. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnel, but are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, for the casting down of every high thing that exalts itself against the knoweldge of God.

6. Be aware of groups and individuals that are operating in your area, pray for the safety of those who interact with them, pray for favor in their eyes, that "Christ may be seen in me" That Christ would reveal himself to them in his own way and time, and ask God to be allowed to participate, if possible.

Hezbollah in Liberia

Hezbollah, a multi-national jihadist organization based in Lebanon, and on the terror watch list, has been active in Liberia for years. Though the country is predeominatly Christian, it is recovering from 15 years of civil war. In this failed state environment, Lebanese business leaders in Liberia, who control the sea-p0rts have been supporting Hezbollah in the following ways:

• Blood diamonds used to fuel the Liberian civil war were transported through established Hezbollah diamond dealers.
• Large donations were given to Hezbollah by Lebonese business leaders in Liberia and other West African Countries: one of the sources says:

"On an annual or semi-annual basis Hezbollah notifies businesses in West Africa, stretching from Mali to Cameroon, of the amount of the contribution that each is expected to make, based on fairly precise knowledge of the revenues that each business is expected to generate. This alone indicates a high level of Hezbollah penetration and interest in this revenue stream. At least once a year senior Hezbollah operatives travel through the region collecting the “donations” to be returned to Beirut. The donations are often in cash, as the Lebanese community businesses often do most of their business in cash and seek to avoid financial scrutiny by avoiding the formal banking system. Because the Lebanese Shi’ite community regularly charters aircraft to fly from different West African capitals directly to Beirut, and the flights undergo a minimum of scrutiny, flying money by courier is an easy and accessible way to move the cash.

For a glimpse of how much money Hezbollah raises in the region, consider one case. On Dec. 25, 2003, a charter flight UTA 141, scheduled to fly from Cotonou, Benin, in West Africa to Beirut, crashed on takeoff, killing all the passengers. On board were senior Hezbollah members, carrying $2 million in contributions to the organization from across the region.[6] Arab press reports said the money represented the “regular contributions the party receives from wealthy Lebanese nationals in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Benin and other African states.” A senior Hezbollah official was immediately dispatched to Benin to console the “sons of the Lebanese community.”[7]

-click here for the complete Douglas Farah Article

• Another Liberian source recently reported that there is regular trafic through the Monrovia, Liberia airport that never goes through customs
• There are at least three other areas under study: The Port authority, The training and arming of LURD , and several key Liberian-American citizens orchestrating the Radiclization of Liberian Muslims.

-more to follow

The Key for Intercessors: Pray that this corruption will be fully exposed, and that the extorcion of West African Merchants to fund terrorism will be result in governments taking action to stop the terror.

Islamic NGOs in Africa

....The power and influence of Islamic NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) have grown significantly in the last 25-50 years. These organizations are often a cover for the radicalization of local Islamic tribes, the expansion of multi-national jihadist influence, and outside oposition to local evangelical Christian activites.

...It may be that the battle for the hearts and minds of the lost world will be played out on earth between active multi-national Evangelical Christain and Islamic NGOS...

•In the fourteen centuries since the introduction of Islam, Muslims have played important roles in Africa's development.
•Muslims were important in the process of state-building, in creating commercial networks between parts of the continent, in introducing literacy (which saw Muslim become scribes in charge of state records), as well as in exchanges of inter-state diplomacy within Africa and beyond.

•The fall of the Ottoman empire, which ended with the Turkish abolition of the Caliphate in 1927, showed the postpoponment of mutli-national Islamic evaglelism.

• Africa was then controlled by European Colonial Rule
  •African countries began to gain their indend\ance after 1945
  •A wave of Islamic schools came to Post colonial Africa in the 1930s and 40s when europe was waring with each other
  •These were schools simple, often rural schools
  •These were focused on alternatives to corruption and the establishment of Islamic moral principles
  •Relationship evangalism seemd to be their primary evangalist method
• Post Ottoman activities
  •45-60s were characterised by Soviet-US politics and the establishment of local muslim groups and some tribal conversions
  •1960s-1970s were characterised by the transformation of community-based organisations and urban associations into “modern” urban charity and local voluntary development organisations.
• The Dawah or school movement
  •The Dawah Movement may be categorized into two; the first group belongs to
  –those who conduct the propagation of Islam to non-Muslims
  –those who target Muslims, particularly the ‘lapsed’ Muslims.
  •The two groups differ much in their objectives and activities.
  •They share a common aim and that is to propagate Islam.
• Islamic Response to Colonialsim
  The emergence of Islamic NGOs...dates back to the colonial period, and to a large extent it is a reaction against Christian missionary activities and their capacity to combine religious and educational, as well as health and social activities.
• The Scope of Islamic NGOS expand
  •African Islamic NGOs are active in:
  –Development
  –Education
  –Women,
  –Child care
  –Community health
  –Environment
  – Water
  –Sanitation
  –Shelter
  –legal assistance
  –Advocacy networking,
  –Relief, famine and food distribution
• Islamic NGOS proliferate
  •By the 1970s-1980s African NGOs began to expand rapidly under the influence of foreign NGOs,
  •To a large extent, this was a result of recurrent droughts and civil wars, in Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sudan, Somalia and Uganda.
  
• Islamic NGOS Gain Influence in Africa
  •Afro-Arab dialogue was augmented by the newly founded power of the Islamic World, particularly the oil-rich Arab countries
  •There was an increase in the acceptance of foreign NGOs by some African states which began to value their contributions to public services
  •An expansion of foreign NGO activities, particularly in relief and rehabilitation in war-torn countries,
• 
  •There emerged African NGOs independent of the state, with permission to operate in the state
  •There organisational structures were similar to foreign NGOs
  •Increasing co-operation and dialogue among and within foreign and African Islamic NGOs.
• Islamic volunteerism expands
  •The range of activities in which Islamic NGOs are engaged illustrates that they are either responding to the African crisis or taking advantage of it.
  •The politics and economics of Islamic voluntarism are expanding.
  •Islamic humanitarianism gives Islamic NGOs a peculiar role relative to their secular counterparts
• Radical Islam is now acting with multi-national Purpose
  •in 1990, the National Islamic Front government in the Sudan initiated two new policy directives aimed at supporting the work of national Islamic NGOs in Africa:
  –Al-Tamkin :
  •Empowerment of Muslim minorities in regions that are dominantly Christian or animist
  
  –Al-Takaful :
  •(Social solidarity fund) whereby part of zakat is distributed amongst Islamic NGOs which in turn redistribute alms amongst the Muslim poor
• The Zakat: an Islamic Distsinction
  
  •In the absence of an Islamic state, Islamic NGOs and voluntary groups undertake the role of the state by claiming zakat and by distributing among the poor, albeit in a modern NGO setting.
  •In many states with a majority population of Muslims zakat has been distributed through an elaborate voluntary system, rather than having been accumulated in bait al mal (Islamic state treasury).
  •The totality of Islamic ethics, law, politics and economics come together in a completely modern form of caring Muslim communities.
  
• Conclusions
  •NGOs are diverse and range from the politically militant to the truly benevolent.
  •Islamic NGOs have acquired the organisational capacity and structure of modern secular NGOs
  •They claim a religious role inspired by the intimate association between religion, politics and economic welfare in puritan Islam
  
• Much more information is available here.