Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Is there a hidden hand in the Mombasa riots?


In lurid scenes reminiscent of James Bond 007 films, Kenya's second largest city and a renowned tourist magnet was a hell of fire and brimstone, up in flames on Monday.
Angry youths armed with missiles scattered helter-skelter in the tiny island and beyond as they fought hide and seek running battles with riot police.
Soon after unidentified gunmen killed a Kenyan Muslim cleric who was accused of supporting Somali militant group Al Shabaab, things fell apart and Kenya's usually tranquil port city of Mombasa turned to be a hell of temporary insanity.
A volcano of ugly and deadly riots erupted and things were no longer at ease for a while at the country's main coastal port city, widely renowned as a leading popular tourist destination.

Reports say that a government van was burnt after cleric, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, was shot by unknown attackers. A number of people were killed.
Thousands of angry protesters gathered following Mohammed's killing, blocking off streets around the mosque where he had often preached, setting fire to vehicles and chanting slogans in his support. 
As police dispersed protesters using teargas, what worried many across the country is that the riots had a spine-chilling twist; churches were being targeted. 
Mombasa fire fighters were seen extinguishing fire at Majengo's Salvation Army Church lit by riotous youth. A PAG Church was petrol-bombed as two more churches were looted by rioters.

There is no doubt that the killing of the cleric should be condemned by all peace loving Kenyans, of all faiths and ethnicity, backgrounds and culture. There is no debate at all that the cleric's killers must be hunted down and brought to book with speed and agility.
More than meets the eye
At the same time, a number of suspect issues must be investigated for it appears there may be more than meets the eye. For instance, was the violence pre-planned and pre-meditated? How come that churches, in different places, were burnt or targeted so swiftly at the same time?
Was there prior hate-preaching on religious grounds in certain places of worship in Mombasa? If so, could the hate-preaching be a bigger octopus with its head in Somalia but its tentacles in Mombasa?
Could the militant Islamist group, Al Shabaab, be playing a role in the scenario behind the scenes, through the preachers of hate in Mombasa or elsewhere? Could the Al Shabaab have set a bait to ignite religious violence, as they have reportedly done in the past? Are there any other organizations in Mombasa that may be involved?
The most widely seen motive is incitement to spark religious hatred and violence. Why would churches be burnt? And for heaven's sake, how would churches be related to crime? Why would churches be vandalised, burnt and looted?
Churches are places of worship and peace, not crime busters or law enforcing organs. By burning churches, are the rioters blaming the Christians for the death of their cleric?
Could it be that these attacks were meant to instigate religious tension by placing the blame for the shooting on Christians?
It is notable and highly commendable that the targeted Christian lot not retaliated, but has instead elected to pray for the unreasonable youth rioters and for peace to prevail throughout the country.

What the inciters fail to understand is that Christians and Muslims in Kenya have lived in harmony for centuries. This co-existence has been maintained by not retaliating violence but rather simply praying and remaining calm.
The message churchgoers are sending is loud, clear and taller than the Tower of Babel. No matter how many times the church-attackers try, they will not succeed in causing religious hatred and intolerance in Kenya.
Separate religion from crime
Religious violence is on the rise in the country.  It is, therefore, imperative that the authorities address the situation with the urgency it deserves before it reaches a point of no return.
For we all remember the grenades that were hurled at worshippers in churches and the Garissa shootings of that occurred not so long ago.

It is time to separate religion from crime. We must stop religious incitement and blame games.
A religion of peace
Islam is a religion of love and peace; it is a symbol of civilization. Islamic heritage is replete with rich culture, history of science, mathematics and rich patterns of social fabric.
Its for this reason that we can not forget the words of Prof El-Busaidy who, during this year's Idd-ul-Fitr, challenged Muslims to be symbols of peace and urged them to cultivate a good working relationship with other faiths.

“The word Islam means peace and, therefore, we should be symbolising peace in whatever we do in our lives. The country is headed towards a General Election and we have a responsibility to pray for peace and stability,” Prof El-Busaidy said.

The professor could not have said it better.  Acts of burning, looting and vandalizing places of worship can jeopardize the peace of any nation in the world. Such attacks can spark off a time bomb for religious intolerance, hate, violence or even religious war.
History is replete with examples of governments that have collapsed because of denying the public their freedom of religious expression. Persecution of people just because of their adherence to a particular religion has never ended in success or triumph for monarchs and barbarians in the past. These individuals have instead earned themselves infamy and insults in the annals of recorded accounts of civilizations.

Religious tolerance cannot come without peace and there can be no peace without freedom. In addition to its’ incorporation in the UN Charter of Human Rights, religious freedom is one of the main clauses in our constitution.
While religious intolerance is very much there in some parts of the globe, it is disheartening to see vandalism and looting in a church in Kenya. This violence where people come together to pray for peace and peace to all mankind is particularly appalling.

The open condemnation of the attacks by Muslim clerics is a commendable gesture. It is equally praiseworthy that Christian clergy and their folk who came out openly to urge Christians not to retaliate but instead pray for peace. The real Muslim is not involved in this attacks, it is the Islamic militant and the fundamentalist.

Islamic Zealotry
Which leads us to yet another sad facet of religious intolerance: Islamic fanaticism, zealotry, bigotry and militancy. All these raise their gargantuan heads and resort to a wave of unbridled violence as evidenced in the suicide bombings carried in Kenya's Nairobi in 1998, Mombasa's Kikambala in 2002 and a wave of grenade attacks and recent bombings.  Sadly, these militant hard-cores come in the worst form of barbarism simply called Al Qaeda affiliated militants. The militants are hardened fanatics that care less about human life; they kill both innocent Christians and Muslims alike.

Religious intolerance is increasing in momentum in many parts of the world. Even though the governments of some of those countries may be doing their very best to curb and curtail the octopus of hatred, the problem of religious intolerance is bred mainly by Islamic fundamentalists. All this incitement is deplorable and condemnable. All this is unjust and against the sanctity of life and living of mankind. For life and faith are both sacred.

It is also imperative to point out here that peace, religious freedom and religious tolerance are one of the main fundamental rights of each and every human. Therefore, until and unless these rights are safeguarded and guaranteed, there can be no real freedom of mankind, freedom of thought and expression, civil equality and peace which are the hallmarks of civil liberty, egalitarianism and civilization. There can be no real base or a solid foothold for true democracy in any country including Kenya.

However, the fact that our society is multi-religious is ignored in our national discourse right when we begin to attack each other on religious circles. This shoots religious tolerance right in the foot.

Man and woman were created as equals by the Creator we call God the Almighty. They are different in physical and mental characteristics and form but equal in rights and rank.
The government and the peace loving people of all faiths in Kenya must join hands to defeat the menace of seething religious incitement, because it breeds intolerance and violence.
People of all faiths must come together to fight any form of religious fanaticism, zealotry, bigotry, militancy  and the rising crest of waves fanning hate against the inalienable human right of religious freedom and religious tolerance.
In a civilized society, inciting of hatred of people for no other reason other than their ethnic or religious identification should not be tolerated. Let religious tolerance be the hallmark of civilization.
Peter Nguli
England, UK




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