The phenomenon of Wahhabism must have extraordinary stamina because it succeeded — after circling around the Islamic world since its initial appearance on the Arabian Peninsula in the middle of the 18th century — in reaching the Balkans and the remote and devastated village of Gornja Maoca in Bosnia at the beginning of the 21st century.

World media have given much attention to an event that took place in this village on the dawn of Feb. 2, 2010. More than 600 Bosnian police conducted a raid on the village, arresting seven people suspected by prosecutors of threatening the country’s “territorial integrity, constitutional order and provoking inter-ethnic and religious hatred.” Prosecutors said the police operation, in which European Union police also took part, was the largest since the end of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For the Bosnian public, the very name of the village and the outward semblance of the seven detained men — huge beards and shortened trousers — was enough to know that the target of the operation was people belonging to Wahhabism, one of most exclusive and radical branches of Islam. Although widely known as Wahhabis, named after their founder Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab (1703-1792), they call themselves Salafis — or descendants of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions and the first three generations of Muslims (salaf). Before last century’s inflow of extremist Egyptian Salafis to Saudi Arabia, they also called themselves muwahhidun.

It is well known how Abd-al-Wahhab, trying to introduce his rigid theory of purification of Islam from all thoughts but the Quran and Hadith, and destroying most sites, monuments and graves from early Islam, made a political pact with the Saudi clan from Najd. He and his followers challenged Ottoman pluralistic religious rule and tolerance, trying two times to establish their own state. They not only opposed other religions, but also taught that Sunni Islam was corrupted by Shiite Islam and other innovations. When Napoleon was conquering Egypt, they were destroying the holy Shiite city of Karbala. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and fully supported by the British, the Saudi sheiks finally succeeded in forming the modern state of Saudi Arabia, introducing strict Wahhabi Islam as the country’s religion. Using the wealth from newly discovered oil, and their capacity as the custodians of Mecca and Medina, Saudi-sponsored organizations began spreading Wahhabism throughout the Muslim world.

I will leave aside the wider assumptions about how that amalgamation — of the rigid theological sectarianism and tribal mentality with the interests of exploiters and consumers of the enormous oil wealth — has played a historical role in preventing the meeting and interaction between Islamic spiritual, scientific and cultural achievements from previous centuries and the political, scientific and cultural advancements of contemporary Western civilization. I will, however, ask what has become of the Balkans in general and Bosnia in particular as a result of such efforts.

When news about the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina started to spread throughout the world in 1992, hundreds of volunteers came from Russia and other Christian Orthodox countries to support the Serb aggressors, and hundreds more from Muslim countries came to fight together with their Muslim brothers, who were exposed to ethnic cleansing and slaughter. Only some of the Muslim volunteers were followers of Wahhabism. Most of those volunteers were young radical Arabs who had gained experience in the war in Afghanistan against the Russians. They formed a special unit called “Mujahideen,” which was mainly affiliated with the Bosnian Muslim army. Driven by religious hatred and fanaticism, some of them committed war crimes against Serb civilians and prisoners of war. Others were supported by Western intelligence agencies. While on a visit with Turkish President Süleyman Demirel to Zenica in the middle of the war — he was not allowed to visit the besieged Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo — I was told by a Bosnian police officer that he saw two mujahideen soldiers with British passports who were easily allowed by Croatian authorities to enter Bosnia. They all, however, whether followers of Wahhabism or not, did more harm to Bosnia than good, as will continue to be the case over the next 15 years.

Due to the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, and especially US pressure on the Bosniak leadership, the majority of around 1,000 mujahideen soldiers left the country after the war. A part of them, Wahhabis in particular, obtained Bosnian citizenship by marrying Bosnian Muslim women, covering them in a three-layered black hijab and excluding them completely from public life.

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Hajrudin Somun is the former Ambassador to Turkey of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s long medical sojourn in Saudi Arabia ended early this morning when two planes landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja. While the first plane, an air ambulance, landed at 1.47am, a second one, the presidential aircraft, landed at 1.54am. As soon as the first plane landed, the small convoy of cars already waiting at the Presidential Lounge drove to the tarmac and came to a stop near it. There were about five cars, one of which was a Ford ambulance recently acquired by the State House.

Soon after the two planes landed, Daily Trust learnt that a large group of security agents and Foreign Ministry protocol officials who moved towards them were chased away by presidential bodyguards. Only a handful of bodyguards and the planes’ crew members were allowed near the planes as the president alighted, so it was not clear whether he walked into the waiting cars or was helped into them. The scene was also dark, but the ambulance was seen moving towards the parked planes.

Yar’adua had been away from the country for 90 days. He had earlier departed Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 9pm Nigerian time [11pm local Saudi time] last night in a convoy of three different aircraft.

Yar’adua had been out of the country since November 23, last year when he left for Jeddah to treat an ailment later described as pericarditis, or inflammation of the heart’s linings. The president also has a long history of kidney disease. Two weeks ago, when Yar’adua failed to transmit a letter of medical vacation, the National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution recognising Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President. He is expected to relinquish the role today with Yar’adua’s return.

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Niger Republic was thrown into fresh turmoil yesterday as the military ousted President Mamadou Tandja.

Armed soldiers stormed the presidential palace and held hostage Tandja and his ministers holding a meeting.

A Niger military official later last night announced on the nation’s three television channels that the country’s constitution had been suspended.

The order, read by Col. Goukoye Abdul Karimou, was attributed to the Superior Council for the Restoration of Democracy, which also suspended all institutions and called on the nation for calm and on the international community for support, said Ousman Tudou, a journalist for Radio Afini.

According to CNN, Tudou said President Tandja and his ministers were being held in a military camp.

No curfew had been ordered and people were in the streets at 11 p.m., around the time of the announcement, he said.

Dana Palade, a spokeswoman for the non-governmental organization World Vision, also told CNN from the capital city of Niamey that the official made the announcement on Doumial Tele Sahel and RTT.

Reports earlier monitored on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said soldiers captured Tandja while he was chairing his weekly cabinet meeting.

AFP later reported an official as saying Tandja was possibly being held at a military barracks about 20km (13 miles) west of Niamey.
The Niger President had caused unease in the West African country following his failure to organise elections when his tenure elapsed.

Tandja also dissolved the parliament and awarded himself some powers to rule by decree contrary to the country’s constitution.
Soldiers took over the presidential palace while he was chairing a meeting with ministers.
Guards made frantic efforts to secure the President to no avail.

Military music continued to be aired on radio and television stations sending signals that a coup has taken place in the country but no announcement had been made by the plotters as at press time.

Sources in N’Djamena, the capital of Niger, said sounds of gunfire scared away residents near the palace and the whole country has been left in suspense as government officials have not been bold enough to disclose developments.
In the meantime, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has reacted to the developments in that country.

“The Chairman of ECOWAS has reiterated the call of the February 16 2010, Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government to continue to facilitate the mediation effort of Nigeria in close collaboration with African Union,” his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Ima Niboro said in a statement.

Jonathan continued: “To that effect, the Chairman of ECOWAS is in consultation with the Chairman, AU Mediation Committee, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, and General Abdusalami Abubakar, the ECOWAS mediator, with  a view to the speedy resumption of the Inter-Nigerien Dialogue.”

The Acting President was made ECOWAS chair a few days ago following the failing health condition of the former chair, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who is in Saudi Arabia receiving treatment.

Tandja was elected in democratic elections held in 1999 after a long period of coups. But he refused to step aside last December after two terms as stipulated in the constitution. He launched into a controversial constitution review and acquired unlimited terms and power.

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Government officials and aid workers are gearing up to carry out humanitarian needs’ assessments in previously inaccessible areas, thanks to an 11 February truce between Yemen’s army and Houthi rebels in the northern province of Saada which appears to be holding.

“Once security conditions allow it, a comprehensive needs’ assessment will be carried out in all war-affected districts,” Pratibha Mehta, the UN resident coordinator in Yemen, told IRIN.

“This [the ceasefire] will enable humanitarian assistance to reach civilian populations who have been cut off from services since the outbreak of the sixth round of fighting in August 2009,” she said.

Aid workers and local government officials are keen to make the most of the calm, but the track record of such ceasefires is not good, and helping the 250,000 internally displaced persons [IDPs] – scattered in several camps or staying with relatives – is difficult.

According to Saada Governor Taha Hajer, the ceasefire would help the government reconstruct Saada and allow IDPs to return to their homes. “We should put the tragic past [six months of fighting] behind us.”

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President Ali Abdullah Saleh chaired on Thursday the meeting of the Parliament-Shura committee in charge of overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire conditions that the Houthi rebels accepted on Monday.

The committee was briefed on Saleh’s decision on halting the military operations in the northwest region read: based on the decision of the Supreme Defense Council issued on Monday that came after the letter of the rebel leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi in which he announced their acceptance to the conditions and the mechanism to implement them, we decided to stop the military operations in the region as of 12:00 am tonight.

The ceasefire comes to prevent bloodshed and bring peace into the region and it is conditional upon the commitment of the insurgents to implementing the conditions on the ground, the decision said.

The conditions were:
- Houthi commitment to ceasefire, eliminating landmines and leaving positions and hideouts.
- Rebel withdrawal from all districts in Saada and stopping interference in the local government’s duties.
- Returning looted Yemeni and Saudi military and public equipment and properties.
- releasing Yemeni and Saudi captives.
- Obeying the law and constitution.
- Pledging not to attack Saudi lands.

Al-Houthi also agreed on the mechanism to implement the conditions.

The meeting also dealt with the responsibilities of the committee and other committees that would be responsible for bringing peace into the region and dealing with the post-war consequences and reporting on the ravaged areas to rebuild them.

Read more here.

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In Bolivia we have a case truly emblematic of the times we live in. It seems beyond doubt that this poor nation of central South America is very rich in lithium, a metal that presently is reputed to be the best for the production of batteries. Today, batteries are ubiquitous, but will become extremely vital if and when they become the sole source of power for cars. One advantage of lithium is that it is the lightest (or the second lightest) among metals. Bolivia’s salt flats hide vast deposits of said ore, which elsewhere on earth does exist, but not in as concentrated an area as the four-thousand sq mile area in Southern Bolivia. Somebody has remarked that this country is the Saudi Arabia of lithium.

Presumably, Bolivian experts have long been aware of their resource, but in the past did not possess the money and the know-how to mine and process the raw lithium carbonate. Recently, the La Paz government of President Evo Morales has built a pilot plant on the edge of Salar de Uyùni, near the border with Chile, not far from the Potosì area. Potosì’s mines were so rich as to provide Spain fabulous loads of silver.

In the past two centuries, Bolivia has been lacking both a colonial master and a national economy advanced enough to develop lithium (and, of course, batteries only emerged in the 20th century). A number of car manufacturers, including Toyota, seem to have failed in securing rights on the mineral. President Morales looks firm in his mission to create a state lithium industry advanced enough to supply the world’s batteries. By the way, the government of Colombia too appears to be doing well in the projects to develop its abundant minerals.

It’s conceivable that other deserts or dry, salty areas of the world, namely in Africa, hold minerals of some value. Several reasons explain why the latter have not been exploited, even discovered. Technological trends come first. Regarding Bolivia, before well into the twenties of past century batteries were not in demand, so lithium was neglected. Still, factors such as poverty and backwardness were even more decisive. So, undeveloped countries must either empower aggressive rulers who can learn from President Morales, or forget nationalistic rhetoric of sovereignty, in order to attract foreign investment.

What is really mandatory is that natural resources are processed locally, with the highest possible labor content. Mechanization and automation are not imperative where wages  (to be absolutely raised) are very low. The grave misdeed of past colonialism was mining and taking away commodities, so subjected populations got almost no benefit. Even more important is denying local politicians or chieftains the possibility of stealing the wealth created by development. This problem is enormous- this is why in many former colonies’ victories on poverty are not compatible with national sovereignty. Part of the latter must be dislodged by humanitarian neocolonialism, the very opposite of historic colonialism.

The Cuban Interests Section in Washington said that the Cuban government is cooperating in the international fight against terrorism and rejected the fact that the United States includes the country on its list of states that sponsor terrorism.

Cuba, spokesman Alberto Gonzalez told Efe, “has complied, is complying and will comply with the internationally recognized security measures for these cases.”

Gonzalez insisted that Cuba, in any case, “does not recognize any moral authority of the U.S. government to certify its inclusion and that of the Cubans on this type of list.”

After the failed Christmas Day attack on a flight over Detroit, the United States increased security checks on international passengers, in particular those arriving from Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, whose governments Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism.

It is also subjecting to greater scrutiny in airports those passengers from “countries of interest,” including Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

Spokesman Gonzalez said that Cuba “has a perfectly clean service record in this area. Cuban territory has never been used to organize, finance or execute terrorist acts against the United States of America or any other state.”

Along those lines, he said that the inclusion of Cuba on the black list has a political character because the government in Washington “cannot cite a single terrorist act or intention that has come from Cuban territory.”

On the contrary, he continued, Cuba has been “the victim of violence and terrorism” by people such as Luis Posada Carriles, who is accused by Havana of the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.

Posada is currently living in the United States and Washington has ignored a Venezuelan request for his extradition in the airliner bombing, though he does face lesser charges in the United States for perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to immigration authorities about his past activities.

Read more here.

At least 30 suspected al-Qaeda fighters have been killed in a dawn air raid by Yemeni forces in the eastern Yemeni province of Shabwa.

Among those thought to have been killed in the raid early on Thursday was Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim preacher, who according to a Yemeni security official was linked to a man who killed 13 people at a US army base in Texas.

“Anwar al-Awlaki is suspected to be dead [in the air raid],” the unnamed Yemeni official was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.

According to US officials, al-Awlaki had contacts to Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a US soldier, who shot dead 13 people at the Fort Hood army base in the US state of Texas.

Thursday’s raid supposedly struck at a meeting of al-Qaeda operatives in Wadi Rafadh, a remote mountainous region lies about 650km east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Alongside al-Awlaki, several senior members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula – a group formed of al-Qaeda fighters in Yemen and Saudi Arabia – were also thought to have been killed in the raid.

But there was confusion over the number of casualties.

“Local sources have said that the casualties from this strike was seven people only,” Mohammed al-Qadhi, a correspondent in Yemen for Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper, told Al Jazeera.

“All of those are from al-Qaeda, according to local sources, but the government reports say there are more than 30 [dead].”

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Image by Ammar Abd Rabbo via Flickr

When the Prophet Mohammed performed the Haj in the final years of his life, the white-robed Muslims who accompanied him to the holy city of Mecca numbered no more than 1,000.

For hundreds of years afterwards the number of pilgrims remained small.

The journey across thousands of kilometres of African and Asian savannah and desert was arduous, and those who made the decision to complete the fifth pillar of Islam travelled sometimes for years to reach their destination.

These days, with the advent of cheap and quick air travel, the Haj has become accessible to pilgrims from 178 countries and with them have come modern problems associated with overcrowding. The Haj is now facing a new kind of threat from the swine flu pandemic.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is bracing itself for the arrival of millions of Muslims at its ultra-modern Haj terminal in King Abdul Aziz Airport near Jeddah, which can process 5,000 pilgrims an hour.

In the past, the challenges were to modernise the facilities and holy sites to cope with ever-increasing numbers of pilgrims and prevent deadly stampedes among the dense crowds or fires in the packed campsites.

But this year’s efforts will focus on preventing the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, which has killed 6,250 people around the world, including at least 62 in the kingdom.

The Saudi government is distributing millions of pamphlets, translated into more than a dozen languages, which give health and hygiene advice. Facemasks and hand sanitisers are being distributed in kits.

At the same time, 15 medical teams will accompany pilgrims as they complete their rites, and more than 150 hospitals and clinics in Mecca, Medina and Mina are on standby to treat those who fall ill.

There are 1.5 million doses of the vaccine available in the kingdom and a 100-bed isolation centre has been opened at the airport in Jeddah.

The Saudi authorities have advised the elderly, pregnant or very young to avoid the Haj because their immune systems are the most vulnerable to the influenza virus. But Saudi authorities have also said they would not prevent anyone from entering the kingdom.

Read more here.

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The five-year-old sporadic conflict between the Al-Houthi Shia rebels and the Yemeni government this week entered a new stage with neighbouring Saudi Arabia becoming directly involved in the fight against the rebels, says Al Ahram.

Saudi Arabia says it will continue to support the Yemeni government in the latter’s attempts to finish off the rebels, who attacked and occupied Saudi territory on 5 November.

“We are not going to stop the bombing until the rebels retreat tens of kilometres inside border,” Saudi Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khaled Bin Sultan told reporters on Tuesday.

The Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned Saudi Arabia of dire consequences if it continues war against the Al-Houthi rebels. “We strongly warn the regional countries to be careful, to be vigilant,” he told reporters.

In response, Saudi forces killed and injured dozens of the rebels and arrested more than 250 of them in the fiercest battles seen since the beginning of the current round of the conflict in August 2009.

However, while Saudi forces drove back the rebels and regained Saudi territory in four days of fighting, particularly the strategic 2,000-metre-high Jabal Al-Dukhan in the Jaizan area in the south of the country, military officials say they need more time to comb border areas and cleanse them of the rebels.

On Tuesday, the Saudi naval forces imposed a blockade on the Red Sea coast to tighten the noose on the rebels and prevent any possible support to them. The Saudi officials said they ordered their warships to search any suspected ships sailing near the harbour of Midi.

Amid these developments, there have been internal and external fears that the current conflict may turn into a regional one.

According to Ali Saif Hassan, chairman of the Political Development Forum, a local NGO, the Al-Houthi rebels have created new justifications for regional intervention by attacking Saudi territories.

Read more here.