Islamist says West wants to Christianize people in Darfur

By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writer

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sep 3, 2004 (AP) — A prominent Islamic scholar on Friday described Western relief efforts in Darfur as attempts to “Christianize” people in the conflict-torn western region of Sudan.

Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian cleric with a large following in the Islamic world, also accused the West of plotting to control Sudan, like it has done in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, by raising the specter of Islamic terrorism.

Al-Qaradawi, who lives in Qatar, arrived in Sudan late Thursday to meet government officials and rebels involved in the 19-month Darfur conflict, which has killed an estimated 30,000 and driven more than 1 million from their homes.

“Sudan has become involved in a plot against the Islamic nation, which is the same plot woven against the nation in Afghanistan, in Iraq (and) in Palestine,” al-Qaradawi claimed during a Friday mosque sermon in Khartoum broadcast on state-run TV.

“If Osama bin Laden had not existed they would have created (someone like) him to find any excuse to infiltrate this nation and control it. ”

The cleric also accused the Bush administration of “seeking to create a new domesticated Islam that knows not to say no.”

The United Nations has demanded Sudan to more to rein in Arab militias, called the Janjaweed, blamed for driving African villagers from their homes during a scorched earth policy in Darfur. Sudan rejects claims that it backs the militias and has sought credit for its efforts to improve security in some parts of Darfur.

While the United States is advocating a get-tough approach with Sudan, other United Nations Security Council members, including France, are leaning toward giving Sudan more time to comply.

Despite wanting Sudan to let more foreign military forces enter Darfur to help end the crisis, the United Nations has credited Sudanese authorities with providing greater access to humanitarian relief agencies trying to assist 1.2 million displaced people in Darfur and another 200,000 refugees in neighboring Chad.

Al-Qaradawi criticized such aid efforts as attempts to change the Islamic face of Darfur, where virtually all people are Muslims, and claimed that only four of the more than 50 relief organizations operating in Darfur were Islamic.

“These people want to invade us in our homeland in the name of charity and benevolence to Christianize Muslims,” al-Qaradawi said during his Friday sermon. “This is what they did in Pakistan, this is what they did in Bangladesh and this is what they are doing now in Darfur.”

Al-Qaradawi, whose voice carries considerable weight in the Islamic world, is considered a moderate figure who has condemned terrorism. But his comments have also raised eyebrows in the West. In an interview broadcast in July by the British Broadcasting Corp., the cleric said suicide bombings against Israelis were justified.

“We are advocates of Christian-Islamic dialogue and we are supporters of the use of dialogue and argument, but we will never accept to be invaded inside our own national territories, ” he said during his Friday sermon.

Al-Qaradawi also urged Muslims to “close ranks” and dismissed claims that the Darfur conflict is one between Arabs and Africans, stressing that “all people in Darfur are Arabs, for he who speaks Arabic is an Arab, whatever be his ethnic group.”

In Geneva, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday that some refugees have returned from the Chad border area to Darfur since July, but refugees and those displaced in Sudan still report “ongoing incidents and attacks” near temporary relief camps.

“In all three villages, the displaced people and the returnees from Chad told our (UNHCR) team they are afraid to go more than a few kilometers (miles) outside of the settlements because of ongoing insecurity,” Jennifer Pagonis, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva.

“While they indicated that there has been a slight improvement in security, they reported ongoing incidents such as livestock theft, physical assault, rape, killings, and attacks on villages by the Janjaweed militia.”