Ruling On Muslim Charities Averts A Major Strike

By Judith Achieng', IPS, 18 September 1998

NAIROBI Sep 18 (IPS) - Kenyan Muslims have called off a nationwide strike to protest last week's banning of five Islamic non-governmental organizations (ngos) for allegedly supporting terrorism.

The strike, which was planned for Friday, was called off on Thursday following a decision by Kenya's high court to reinstate the agencies.

The court ordered the authorities to give the charities 21 days to file a full appeal against a government order closing them down.

The Muslims said the decision to de-register the ngos was aimed at suppressing Islamic activities in the East African country. "We are surprised when Muslim ngos come to assist and improve the social and economic status of Muslims, the government de-registers them," Abdulgafur Busaiddy, head of Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims (SUPKEM) said in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

"This testifies that the marginalisation of Muslims is not accidental, but deliberate," he added.

The five organisations were de-registered on Sep 8 by the NGO Coordinating Board, a government body which overseas aid groups.

According to the NGO Coordinating Board's Director, John Etemesi, the organisations "had been found to e working against the interests of Kenyans in terms of security".

The offices of one of them, Mercy Relief International, were raided by a team of Kenyan police and US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents a few days after the Aug. 7 bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The other four -- the Al-Haramain Foundation, Help African People, the Islamic Relief Organisation and Ibrahim Bin Abdul Aziz Al Ibrahim Foundation -- have not been raided by the law enforcement officers.

Raided were also a number of mosques and Muslim homes both in Nairobi and in the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in connection with the blasts.

More than 250 people were killed and 5,000 others injured in the two East African cities by the bomb blasts, which were blamed on Islamic terrorists linked to the dissident Saudi millionaire, Osama Bin Laden.

"The de-registered organisations were recently involved in activities and matters that are not in the interest of state security," Etemesi said.

Kenyan authorities suspect that materials used for the building of the bombs, each weighing at least 800 kilogrammes, were smuggled into East Africa disguised as relief aid with the help of some Islamic relief agencies.

Muslim leaders have condemned the raids and the harassment of their community in Kenya. "Recently, Kenyan Muslims have been subjected to provocative, discriminatory, vindictive, anti-Muslim and anti-Islam actions," said Busaiddy.

A number of Muslim ministers in President Daniel arap Moi's cabinet have also threatened to resign, unless the government stops "harassing Muslims". "It is not what the ngos have done.

It is how Muslims are being treated that we protest," cabinet minister Hussein Maalim said.

Before Thursday's ruling, more than 100 employees of the de- registered ngos demonstrated in Nairobi. They said more than 2000 workers whose livelihoods depended on the ngos were rendered jobless as a result of the ban, and that thousands who depended on the charities were also suffering. "It must be pointed out that the closures have had an adverse effect on many Kenyans who depended on the ngos," said Yahya Mohamed, who spoke on behalf of the workers.

He said "thousands of orphans, widows, poor children unable to continue their education and those unable to get free medical services are out there languishing."

"We appeal to all Kenyans to come out and condemn this inhuman act and religious discrimination by the government," he said.

The Muslims have been supported by Christian leaders, lawyers, opposition politicians and other ngos. "It is a cardinal rule by law that one should not be condemned before being heard in defense," Kenya's outspoken legislator, Paul Muite, said.

The National Council of NGOs, the umbrella body of Kenya's 984 ngos, also condemned the decision. "There is a procedure to be followed even if the NGOs are guilty, one of them includes consulting with us. But the government did not follow the laid down rules, we heard the news on the radio," said Berewa Jommo, a member of the council.

But the government insists that the de-registrations had nothing sinister in them, but were a normal part of its security procedures. "We do not want to put a religious tag on this issue, it is unfair to say that only Islamic agencies have been affected," said Marsden Madoka, in charge of security affairs in president Moi's office.

Thursday's ruling also stopped the department of immigration's notice to four directors of the affected Islamic ngos to leave the country within seven days. "We call on the principal immigration Officer to immediately re-instate their work permits until final decisions are made by the high court," said Busaidy.

Muslims make up about 10 percent of Kenya's 30 million population.

---