Uganda Archbishop Responds to Welby on Anti-gay Laws

BBC: The head of the Anglican Church in Uganda has given a critical response to a letter from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York warning that gays and lesbians should not be victimised.

Their letter was sent to all presiding archbishops of the Anglican Communion.

It was also sent to the presidents of Uganda and Nigeria, which have recently introduced anti-gay legislation.

Archbishop Stanley Ntagali responded that "homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture".

He said he hoped the Church of England would "step back from the path" it had set itself on "so the Church of Uganda will be able to maintain communion with our own Mother Church".

In the letter, Archbishops Justin Welby and John Sentamu said they were responding to questions asked about the Church of England's attitude to laws penalising "people with same-sex attraction".

Homosexuals were loved and valued by God and deserved the "best pastoral care and friendship", they said. » | Friday, January 31, 2014

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Archbishops Criticise Nigerian and Ugandan Anti-gay Laws

Archbishop Welby is on a five-day tour of four African countries

BBC: The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to the presidents of Nigeria and Uganda, after being asked about laws there penalising gay people.

The letter said homosexual people were loved and valued by God and should not be victimised or diminished.

Nigeria and Uganda have both passed legislation targeting people with same-sex attraction.

The letter is also addressed to all primates (heads of national Churches) in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Archbishops Justin Welby of Canterbury and John Sentamu of York said the letter was a result of "questions about the Church of England's attitude to new legislation in several countries that penalises people with same-sex attraction".

The letter comes as Archbishop Welby starts a five-day tour of four African countries. » | Thursday, January 30, 2014

Toto: Africa

What Did Westgate Mean to Kenyans?

Boko Horror: Islamists Storm Dorm, Shoot Sleeping Students in Nigeria

Dozens of students have been shot dead by Islamist militants in Nigeria - who stormed a dormitory early on Sunday morning and started killing people. The gunmen are believed to be from the terrorist sect Boko Haram - that recently stepped up its attacks on civilians. This latest incident showing the scale of terror engulfing Africa, comes shortly after the deadly shopping mall attack in Kenya. Ayo Johnson, founder of the Viewpoint Africa website, explained why the continent has become a hub for terrorist cells.

Viewpoint Africa »

Nigeria Attack: Students Shot Dead As They Slept

BBC: Suspected Islamist gunmen have attacked a college in north-eastern Nigeria, killing up to 50 students.

The students were shot dead as they slept in their dormitory at the College of Agriculture in Yobe state.

North-eastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency amid an Islamist insurgency by the Boko Haram group.

Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow Nigeria's government to create an Islamic state, and has launched a number of attacks on schools. » | Sunday, September 29, 2013

Kenya Government Says All Hostages Freed

Kenyan special forces say there are no more hostages as they have seized control of most of Westgate mall on the fourth day of fighting.

Bill O'Reilly: 'We Live In a Cowardly World and the Terrorists Know It'

Bill O'Reilly reacted to the terrorist attack in Kenya by railing against the global cowardice to confront Islamic terrorism for what it really is: a "growing industry" out to kill the infidels that do not share their religious ideology. O'Reilly declared they would "launch another 9/11″ if they could, and after citing multiple instances of Islamic terrorism, he said, "What is the Muslim world doing about it? Nothing!"

He found it astonishing that the "most aggressive country fighting the jihad is France," crediting them for at least "understand[ing] the danger from fanatical Muslims."

O'Reilly concluded, "We live in a cowardly world and the terrorists know it."

Shocking Attack in Kenya: Why You Should Pay Attention

Former Ambassador John Price on why American's should be concerned about attack in Nairobi

Inside Story: Al-Shabab: A War of Vengeance?

As the Somali group claims responsibility for a brutal attack in Kenya, we examine the regional implications.

In the Name of Islam

FRONTPAGE MAG: Denial is the first stage of coming to terms with the unthinkable.

In Westgate, a Kenyan mall oriented toward expats, terrorists separated Muslims from non-Muslims before killing them. The Muslims were allowed to go free if they could recite a Muslim prayer.

During the attack, Al Shabaab’s Arabic Twitter account quoted the Koran, “Plant firmly our feet and give us victory over (Al-Kafireen) the disbelieving people.” (Koran 2:250). The Kuffar, the non-Muslims of Westgate, included small children.

“I don’t understand why you would shoot a five-year-old child,” one of the survivors said. But the five-year-old was not a Muslim.

Moments like these put the Clash of Civilizations into bloody context. This isn’t abstract politics. It’s not about economics, the environment or foreign policy. It’s about a worldview in which a five-year-old who can’t recite the Islamic confession of faith deserves to be killed.

The crime is not being a Muslim. » | Daniel Greenfield | Monday, September 23, 2013

UK PM Says Terror Attack Carried Out for Islam Has Nothing to Do with Islam

FRONTPAGE MAG: In other news, despite never having even visited the UK, I am announcing that Prime Minister David Cameron has nothing to do with the UK.

Also, despite not even being Christian, I would like to say that Cameron has nothing to do with the Church of England. Because that is apparently how things work in his universe.

Prime Minister David Cameron today condemned as “absolutely sickening” and “despicable” a terror attack on a shopping centre in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in which at least 59 people, including three British nationals, were killed.

“These appalling terrorist attacks that take place where the perpetrators claim they do it in the name of a religion – they don’t,” Cameron said.

He called it “an absolutely sickening and despicable attack of appalling brutality”.

“They do it in the name of terror, violence and extremism and their warped view of the world. They don’t represent Islam or Muslims in Britain or anywhere else in the world.”

Clearly they represent quite a few Muslims. Al-Shabaab has supporters in Somali diaspora communities around the world. One such community in Kenya was likely the source of at least some of the attackers.

Furthermore there are plenty of British Muslims in Al-Shabaab. Read on and comment » | Daniel Greenfield | Sunday, September 22, 2013

Gunmen Storm Nairobi Mall in Deadly Attack

Army moves to regain control of upscale shopping centre in Kenya's capital where at least 22 people have been killed.

Obama Urges Gay Rights in Africa during Trip to Senegal
BBC: US President Barack Obama has called on African governments to give gay people equal rights by decriminalising homosexual acts.

Mr Obama made the comments in Senegal after meeting President Macky Sall on the first leg of his African tour.

Mr Sall said Senegal was a "very tolerant" country but it was "not ready to decriminalise homosexuality".

Homosexual acts are still a crime in 38 African countries, where most people hold conservative religious views.

In 2011, the US and UK hinted that they could withdraw aid from countries which did not respect gay rights. (+ video) » | Thursday, June 27, 2013

New Dark Age Alert! Islamists' Hold Over Mali Threatens Europe, Diplomat Warns

THE GUARDIAN: Al-Qaida-linked insurgents using their control over north of country to recruit, arm and train growing numbers of fighters

Islamist groups are using their hold over key urban areas of Mali to recruit, arm and train growing numbers of fighters and could pose a threat to Europe within two years, government and security sources believe.

The al-Qaida-linked rebels have taken exclusive control of the north, having pushed out secular Tuareg separatists.

"If Islamists continue to control vast areas of Mali where they can do what they like, then this will pose a direct threat to Europe," a senior western diplomat in the capital, Bamako, said.

"You cannot forget how close this region is to Europe. They are currently recruiting people in northern Mali, offering them money, training and weapons. If this continues, it is a matter of time before it affects Europe directly."

Northern Mali has been under insurgent control since the government was toppled in a military coup in March. Tuareg rebels – who are demanding an independent state of "Azawad" in the Sahara – initially joined forces with groups backed by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) including Ansar Dine, Mujao and Nigerian terrorist organisation Boko Haram.

But the alliance broke down recently with fighting breaking out between different factions. On Thursday, Islamists consolidated their control of the region, driving Tuareg rebels from their last stronghold in the town of Ansogo, leaving the entire northern section of Mali, including Gao – the main base of the Malian army – in Islamist hands. » | Afua Hirsch in Bamako | Friday, July 13, 2012

Al-Qaeda Free to Tighten Its Grip on Africa
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ayman al-Zawahiri's terror network is exploiting political unrest in Mali and throughout the region

Just when we think we have one network of al-Qaeda terrorists on the run, up pops another one to take its place and resume the relentless campaign of terror against the West and its allies.

The forthcoming withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan is based on the assumption that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, the original casus belli for military intervention, has been dismantled and no longer threatens our security. It is, of course, entirely feasible that the remnants of the organisation currently being run by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who replaced bin Laden as al-Qaeda’s leader in May 2011, might be able to regroup once Nato’s Afghan mission is over, especially if, as seems likely, no political settlement with the Taliban is forthcoming by the time our troops pack up and return home at the end of 2014.

But, in the meantime, rather than waiting for events to turn in its favour in Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda brand is busily extending its franchise to other parts of the Muslim world where weak or dysfunctional governments allow it the space and opportunity to pursue its nefarious designs. » | Con Coughlin | Thursday, July 12, 2012

Al-Qaeda in Syria »

Mali Government Rejects Azawad Council
Two armed groups in northern Mali are joining forces to create a governing body, the Transitional Council for the Islamic State of Azawad, for the newly independent state. Tuareg fighters and the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine say they will jointly rule their territory. The UN says more than 300,000 have been displaced by the crisis in Mali. Mereana Hond reports, and Nick Clark interviews Abdel Fatau Musah, director of political affairs for ECOWAS.

Related »

Islamists Declare North Mali an Independent State Governed by Sharia

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Mali moved a step closer to being broken in two on Sunday when al-Qaeda-linked Islamists and Tuareg rebels declared the nation's north an independent country to be ruled according to sharia law.

The announcement, from Ansar Dine and the Tuareg MNLA group, came as the country's interim president remained in a Paris hotel recovering from an assault in his private office last week.

Diplomats and Mali's neighbours fear that the country, once a beacon for democratic stability in West Africa, is poised to plunge further into crisis following a coup two months ago.

The "declaration of independence" for the northern half of Mali, Africa's sixth-largest country, came late on Saturday.

Timbuktu, the history trading centre and seat of Tuareg learning, now lies in the disputed territory, to be known as Azawad, which is almost the size of France. » | Mike Pflanz, West Africa Correspondent | Sunday, May 27, 2012

Lien en relation avec l’article »

Islamists Strengthen Grip Over North Mali
FOX NEWS: BAMAKO, Mali – In one town in northern Mali a man has been whipped for drinking alcohol. In another, pictures of unveiled women have been torn down. In a third, traditional music is no longer heard in the streets.

While government soldiers were fighting each other this week for control of the capital in Mali's southwest corner, Islamist fighters were asserting control over the Texas-sized northern half of the country. The Islamists, some of whom are foreigners, are imposing strict religious law, setting up a possible showdown with Tuareg nationalist rebels who say they want a secular state and who seized northern Mali in March alongside the Islamists.

In the fabled city of Timbuktu, whose winding alleyways lined with mud homes fill with sand blown in from the Sahara, pictures of unveiled women have either been torn down or covered over with black paint, according to El Hadj Baba Haidara, a member of the Malian parliament for the city. The Islamists have also cut the signal for national TV broadcasts to the city because they consider the women not properly covered and don't approve of the music the station plays, Haidara said.

"No one came come here and tell us how to practice Islam," Haidara said. "Timbuktu has been Islamic since the 12th century and we have our own way of doing things."

Down the road from one of Timbuktu's mosques, whose wooden doors are decorated with metal crescents and stars, Islamists have made their base at a bank. A sign at the entrance says "Islamic Police" in Arabic and French. Residents have been given a phone number to report serious crimes and other emergencies, but widescale patrols haven't been deployed to enforce Shariah, at least not yet. But punishments are being meted out.

On Monday in Gao, one of the three biggest cities in north Mali, two men caught smoking hashish were given 30 lashes in front of the police station, according to Hama Dada Toure, a teacher in Gao. One man who had allegedly beaten his pregnant wife was given 10 lashes and ordered to pay her.

Toure said a flexible tree branch is used in the whippings, the blows delivered with less than full force. The Islamists make the person being punished say "Allahu Akbar. La illah illa-Allah" — meaning "God is great. There is no God but God" — each time the branch strikes them. » | Associated Press | Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Another sharia story »

Bashir Calls South Sudan Leaders 'Insects'
Speaking at a party rally in Khartoum, Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has called the government of South Sudan a movement of "insects". Bashir's statement came as Sudan insisted it would reclaim the oil rich Heglig region after South Sudanese soldiers took over the oil field in the disputed territory along the two nations' border. The leaders of South Sudan have vowed to fight to keep control of Heglig and the oil facility within it, which they say has always been part of their land. Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports.