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This second weekend of September 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Tuesday September 11, 2001 against the United States by radical Islamists Al-Qaeda.
For those who have forgotten, Osama bin Laden, a Saudi and last driver of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was based, briefly, in the largely Islamic African country of Sudan before leaving in 1996, and moved to then settled in the Islamic fundamentalist country of Afghanistan. Its main operational base, according to unclassified records and security analyzes of the September 11 attacks, was in Afghanistan, then under Taliban rule.
I have written a lot on this issue, over the years, so I will refer to some of my ideas, a brief historical contextualization and a contemporary juxtaposition. Especially, with the facts of the exponential escalation of radical jihadist movements and the violence and terror that we see almost every other day across Nigeria and the Sahelian belt of Africa.
First, 20 years ago, on September 11, in New York and near Pennsylvania, nearly three thousand Americans, Africans and other nationalities suffered death from the direct consequences of September 11 terrorism. Most of them being the breadwinners of their families. These gratuitous terrors and massive tours of murder and mayhem have not only affected Americans, but people in nearly 20 countries. Prior to that, on August 7, 1998, the United States Embassy in Kenya, a country in East Africa, was bombed, resulting in the deaths of 207 Kenyans, 12 American citizens and more than 4,000 wounded. Less than a minute after this sad event, a small terrorist explosion rocked the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, killing 11 Africans.
Second, the murderous domestic excesses of these harbingers of death and purveyors of fanaticism within parts of the African continent, such as Boko Haram, ISWAP, the shepherds with AK-47, etc. in Nigeria, seriously threaten these countries. Therefore, it is a fact beyond all media coverage that the current government of President Muhammadu Buhari – like his predecessor President Goodluck Jonathan – appears incapable of securing / protecting the lives and property of Nigerians, including members of the its armed forces and police, realistically! The al-Shabab in East Africa remain an existential threat.
Third, it should be a vital national duty that African governments take a more decisive and unrestrained approach to quelling the terrorist camps and networks that lurk under the veneer of religiosity and a concoction of bloody and assorted fanaticisms.
It’s very interesting and ironic that somehow these radicals turn against those who initially supposedly gave them support or cover when they started attacking other groups.
Fourth, these troublemakers and death dealers have caused the deaths of at least 10 million Africans since the end of colonialism in the early 1960s.
Fifth, my research and analyzes of threats on the front line of previous and recent outbursts of fanaticism and religious violence show that some of the most feared and violent groups in Nigeria, Chad, Tanzania-Zanzibar, parts of the world North Africa and the Maghreb region are said to have been funded by Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan and other “sisterly Islamic countries and agencies”.
Twenty years ago, Jos, one of Nigeria’s central cities with a mixed population of Christians and Muslims and a large Euro-American population, saw 700 people killed, thousands maimed and homes burned, in a matter of days. in September 2001.
Sixth, Africa and its governments should position their actions and policies around the paradigm that terrorism in the 21st (and indeed in the 20th century) is a problem of national importance. It affects the flow of economic investments, weighing on the measure for or against international capital, and even the value and security of domestic / internal businesses.
My point? Gifting or handing out children’s gloves or looking the other way believing the terrorist machines will slack off is wishful thinking. The United States must also weigh its own policies and actions – which do not excuse but can open a window for some lunatics to engage in their unhealthy pursuits of murderous fanaticism.
Seventh, in this quest to make the world relatively safer, it is important to note the views of John L. Esposito, a distinguished professor of religion and international affairs and director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the University. from Georgetown, Washington DC and the author of several books on Islam, including “The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? who said that: “While some governments and experts identify Islamic fundamentalism as a major threat to the stability of their societies and to world politics, others stress the importance of distinguishing between genuine populist movements. who are willing to participate in the system and the refusals who seek to overthrow governments by violent revolution. ”
Eighth, I congratulate former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, a member of the Murid Islamic sect whose wife is a French Christian, as an excellent reflection that the problem in Africa cannot be that all Muslims seek conflict or are terrorists. No. Such reductionism is not only foolish but untenable.
I was in Senegal on a mission concerning the visit of former President Bill Clinton in April 1998 to parts of Africa, and I am aware of the fact that, although the Senegalese population is 90% Muslim, Islamic fundamentalism is not common.
Wade challenged the continent 19 years ago to go “beyond verbal declarations, African countries should engage in direct action in the global struggle.” Note that the keyword is “direct actions”. Translation: rid your neighborhood and your countries of any support or cover for terrorists and fanatics.
Ninth, I hope we will accept the interdependence of our global security and our individual security. Such an interconnectedness of human security was evident, strong and eloquent in the position of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere and Canadian Jews and Caritas and Haiti’s position to save Igbo children like me from the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967 -1970) for oil, violent fanaticism, genocide and what I deliberately call “mechanized fanaticism” in my upcoming 2021 book titled “MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity” MLKMandelaAchebe.com
Tenth, Africans and Americans should unmask and end radical politico-religious hatred. In doing so, we are acting not only in America’s current best interest, but also in the strategic and development interests of the African continent. Although these “armies of God” are sophisticated, the failure of some of the leaders of these countries, Christians and Muslims, has made volunteer henchmen very poor, uneducated and discouraged in religious conflict and fodder for machines. terrorists.
Unfortunately, we never seem to learn the lessons of history.
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Dr. Nwangwu is the founder and publisher of USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned American newspaper published on the Internet
He was an adviser on African affairs to the former mayor of Houston, Lee Brown. @ Chido247
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