Jihad and Democracy in Libya-NYT
Links forged whilst fighting in the jihad in Afghanistan against the Russians in the 1990's are still influential in the developing struggle between extremist jihad and democracy in North Africa today.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Jihad-and-Democ...
An article in the New York Times highlights the situation in Darnah in Libya which has been a centre
of guerrilla resistance since the Ottoman Empire.One of the ex jhadi's Abdul-Hakim al-Hasadi is now a local politican having taken up arms against Gaddafi in the 1980's and studied with the Taliban in Afghanistan.He now
advocates democracy and not violence.
The other protaganist Sufian bin Qumu fought in Afghanistan as Ossama Bin Ladin's truck driver and spend years in Guantanamo Bay prison. He favours strict Islam as enforced by the Taliban and runs a local islamist militia with a black flag. The article is optimistic that peaceful democracy will win through and convince those like Sufian bin Qumu to join them .
However the the article says that the development of democracy is imperiled by lawlessness in Libya,civil war in Syria and the attempt by the Generals in Egypt to prevent the democratic process and the victory of an Islamist presidential candidate from taking place, thus discrediting the process in the eyes of islamists in the region.
Darnah the article says has more jihadis who fought against the Americans than any other any other town its size. The article ends on an optimistic note, saying that whilst disagreements persist between islamists and more extremist jihadis they are talking to each other and violence at least in Darnah is subsiding.
In another article on Mali Jeune Afrique(JA) notes that Mokhtar Belmokhtar head of AQMI in Algeria stayed in Libya for several months in 2011 and that he has close contacts with Abdelhakim Belhadj former head of the Islamic Combat Group of Libya (CIGL) who is now an aspring politician having run the militias in Tripoli.They fought side by side in Afghanistan and have many contacts in Pakistan JA says.
of guerrilla resistance since the Ottoman Empire.One of the ex jhadi's Abdul-Hakim al-Hasadi is now a local politican having taken up arms against Gaddafi in the 1980's and studied with the Taliban in Afghanistan.He now
advocates democracy and not violence.
The other protaganist Sufian bin Qumu fought in Afghanistan as Ossama Bin Ladin's truck driver and spend years in Guantanamo Bay prison. He favours strict Islam as enforced by the Taliban and runs a local islamist militia with a black flag. The article is optimistic that peaceful democracy will win through and convince those like Sufian bin Qumu to join them .
However the the article says that the development of democracy is imperiled by lawlessness in Libya,civil war in Syria and the attempt by the Generals in Egypt to prevent the democratic process and the victory of an Islamist presidential candidate from taking place, thus discrediting the process in the eyes of islamists in the region.
Darnah the article says has more jihadis who fought against the Americans than any other any other town its size. The article ends on an optimistic note, saying that whilst disagreements persist between islamists and more extremist jihadis they are talking to each other and violence at least in Darnah is subsiding.
In another article on Mali Jeune Afrique(JA) notes that Mokhtar Belmokhtar head of AQMI in Algeria stayed in Libya for several months in 2011 and that he has close contacts with Abdelhakim Belhadj former head of the Islamic Combat Group of Libya (CIGL) who is now an aspring politician having run the militias in Tripoli.They fought side by side in Afghanistan and have many contacts in Pakistan JA says.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Jihad-and-Democ...