Uighurs defy Urumqi mosque closure

Several mosques in the riot-hit Chinese city of Urumqi have opened for Friday prayers, countering earlier notices that all places of worship would be closed following clashes that left more than 150 people dead.

Mosques across the city, capital of China's far western Xinjiang region, had been ordered to close amid fears that large gatherings of ethnic Uighur Muslims could spark renewed unrest and clashes with the city's ethnic Han Chinese community.

Authorities had said the closures were for the sake of public safety and told Uighurs to pray at home.

However by midday on Friday large crowds had gathered at major mosques in the city.

It was not clear whether the decision to hold prayers at the mosques was a change of policy or whether the mosques were opened because crowds had gathered outside.

One ethnic Uighur policeman guarding a mosque in the city told the Associated Press: "We decided to open the mosque because so many people had gathered. We did not want an incident."

According to Reuters news agency a small demonstration by Uighurs was broken up by Chinese riot police outside one mosque, but apart from the one isolated flare-up no other outbreaks of unrest were reported.

Thousands of Chinese troops using armored cars and helicopters have been patrolling the city in a sweeping crackdown aimed at preventing further clashes between the Uighur and Han Chinese communities.

The move comes in the wake of ethnic violence that has left more than 150 people dead since Sunday in the region's worst ethnic violence in decades.

Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan, reporting from Urumqi, said the situation appeared to be back to normal on Friday although thousands of soldiers remained in the city, most of them stationed at mosques.

Our correspondent said state media continued to emphasize the importance of both Han Chinese and minorities working together, and commended soldiers for successfully bringing the situation under control.

Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, described the riots as a "serious violent crime elaborately planned and organized by 'three forces' at home and abroad", in reference to what China's government calls religious extremists, separatists and terrorists who they say menace Xinjiang.

'Inseparable'

Speaking at a Communist party conference, he said that officials and ordinary people "should cherish the great atmosphere of all the minorities working, preparing and developing together".

"We should bear this in mind that the Han people cannot be separated from minorities, and minorities cannot be separated from the Han people, and minorities are inseparable from each other either," Hu was quoted as saying in the local media.

Despite the authorities citing security fears that big Uighur gatherings could become another catalyst for unrest, the decision to silence congregational prayers could rankle the Uighurs, nearly all of whom are Muslims.

"Jumu'ah is the time of the week when we must pray. For us, it would be an insult to shut it down," said Ahmed Jan, a Uighur resident near the Dong Kuruk mosque.

"If we're not allowed to hold normal religious activities, there will be a lot of anger."

Xinjiang has long been a hotbed of ethnic tension, fostered by a growing economic gap between Uighurs and the Han Chinese, government curbs on religion and culture, as well as a massive influx of Han migrants who are now the majority in Urumqi.

On Tuesday, thousands of Han Chinese, vowing vengeance, attacked Uighur neighborhoods, with many residents saying that people were killed, but the Chinese government has not released any figures beyond the 156 it says were killed in Sunday riots blamed on Uighurs.

Activists say the clashes started when armed police moved in to break up a peaceful demonstration called after two Uighur workers at a toy factory in southern China were killed in a clash with Han Chinese staff late last month.

The government has not revealed the ethnicities of the 156 nor given any information on more than 1,400 people it says were arrested in the wake of the clashes.

Xinjiang, a vast desert territory that borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil reserves and is the country's largest natural gas-producing region.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/07/200971075832436566.html.

Obama set for emotional visits to Vatican, Ghana

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

L'AQUILA, Italy – President Barack Obama is ending three days of often-wonkish policy discussions with fellow world leaders to embark on two of the most photogenic and emotional events of his young presidency: meeting the pope at the Vatican and becoming the first black American president to visit a mostly black African country.

He was throwing in a televised news conference from Italy for good measure.

Obama, his wife and daughters were to meet Pope Benedict XVI shortly before leaving Italy late Friday for Ghana. The two men have spoken by phone but not met before, aides say.

In Ghana, officials expect a tumultuous reception for Obama, whose father was from Kenya. Because the first family arrives rather late Friday night, the main ceremony in Accra will occur Saturday, before he departs for Washington after a week long trip that started in Russia.

It will involve drumming groups and Ghanians "putting their best foot forward in terms of the cultural richness of an incredibly diverse country," White House adviser Michelle Gavin told reporters Thursday. To help accommodate the many who cannot attend, U.S. and Ghanian officials have scheduled "watch parties," radio broadcasts and video coverage in theaters, parks and other places.

"I do not believe that there is a way in which we could ever fulfill or assuage the desires of those in Ghana or on the continent on one stop," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

But first, Obama had some final business at the Group of Eight nations meeting in central Italy, where he has had mixed success in seeking accords on greenhouse gas emissions and other matters. He was to meet with several African leaders early Friday, then hold a news conference.

Next comes the audience with the pope, whose generally conservative views will not entirely mesh with Obama's. They are likely to discuss world poverty, the Middle East and other topics, aides say, but the visit will be largely personal and spiritual.

"There are issues on which they'll agree, issues on which they'll disagree and issues on which they'll agree to continue to work on going forward," White House national security adviser Denis McDonough told reporters Thursday.

"Given the influence of the Catholic Church globally," he said, and "the influence of the Catholic Church and church social teaching on the president himself, he recognizes that this is much more than your typical state visit."

Obama is a Protestant seeking a new church in Washington.

He will become the third straight U.S. president to visit Ghana, a relatively stable democracy in a continent wracked by poverty and heavy-handed governments. But he is the first such president of African descent.

Obama chose Ghana, Gavin said, "because it's such an admirable example of strong, democratic governance, vibrant civil society." There's much to admire, she said, and to hold up as "a counter to what one often hears about Africa."

On Saturday, Obama will meet with Ghana's president, John Atta Mills, and address the nation's parliament.

Algeria sponsors Sunni Sufism to fight Wahhabi/Salafi extremism

By Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS, July 8 (Reuters) - After using police raids, arrests and gun battles in its fight against Islamist insurgents, Algeria is now deploying a new, more subtle weapon: a branch of Sunni Islam associated with contemplation, not combat.

The government of this North African oil and gas producer is promoting Sufism, an Sunni Islamic movement that it sees as a gentler alternative to the ultra-conservative Salafism/Wahhabism espoused by many of the militants behind Algeria's insurgency.

The authorities have created a television and radio station to promote Sufism and the "zawayas" or religious confraternities that preach and practice it, in addition to regular appearances by Sufi sheikhs on other stations.

All are tightly controlled by the state. Sufism, found in many parts of the Muslim world, places a greater focus on prayer and recitation and its followers have tended to stay out of politics.

Exact numbers are hard to come by, but George Joffe, a research fellow at the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge University, estimates there are 2-2.5 million Sufis in Algeria, out of a total population of 34 million.

Salafism/Wahhabism has its roots in Saudi Arabia and emphasizes religious purity.

Officials believe Sufism could help bring peace to Algeria, a country still emerging from a conflict in the 1990s between government forces and Wahhabi Islamist rebels that, according to some estimates, killed 200,000 people.

"I disagree with the Salafi ideology because it doesn't take into consideration the particular nature of Algeria," said Mohamed Idir Mechnane, an official at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

"We are doing a lot to encourage people to come back to our traditional Islam: a peaceful, tolerant and open-minded Islam. And thanks to God, people are much more attracted by our message than by the Salafi message," he told Reuters.

INVOCATION

To give the Sufi "zaouias" a more central role in society, they are encouraged to arrange marriages, help take care of orphans, teach the Koran and distribute
charitable donations. Followers of Sufism focus on the rituals of "Dhikr" or "Hadra" -- "invocation" or "remembrance" -- which feature sermons, reciting the Koran, praising the Prophet Mohammed, requests for intercession and rhythmic invocations of Allah.

During one "Dhikr" ritual at a Sufi zaoui just outside Algiers last month, about 60 men sat in a circle in a large room and began chanting. After a few minutes, some of the elders rocked from side to side.

"For over 14 centuries, Islam has been present in this country," said Hadj Lakhdar Ghania, a member of the influential confraternity, Tidjania Zaouia. "We used to live ... in peace and in harmony. But the day the Salafists/Wahhabis said we should implement a new Islam in Algeria, problems and troubles started," he told Reuters.

Though the violence has tailed off sharply, insurgents affiliated with al Qaeda still mount sporadic attacks on government targets, posing a challenge to stability in a country that is the world's fourth biggest exporter of natural gas.

Deploying Sufism against radical Islam is not a new idea. A 2007 report by the U.S.-based Rand Corporation think tank, said Sufism could be harnessed to help promote moderate Islam. "Traditionalists and Sufis are natural allies of the West to the extent that common ground can be found with them," it said.

Algeria's promotion of Sufism could also have implications for countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, which also have Sufi traditions and where Western governments are struggling to counter the influence of Wahhabi Islamist radicals.

FOLLOW THE RULES

"A Sufi should connect with Allah through invocation and prayer. For example, on Fridays we spend several hours ... chanting and reciting the Koran. We repeat 1,200 times the name of Allah, and 1,200 times the name of his Prophet Muhammad," Hadj Lakhdar Ghania said.
The Salafists are a more visible presence in Algeria because while the Sufis do not wear any distinguishing dress, most Salafists have beards and in the street wear the "Kamiss", a long white robe, and white skullcaps.

For some militants, the Salafi puritanism leads to a strict interpretation of religion that justifies violence against non-Salafis and even kill them.

Many Salafi Scholars promote violence, and others have renounced it since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. But some militant groups still claim Salafism as their ideology. Hard-line Islamists say Sufi practices such as visiting the tombs of Sufi saints to seek benediction amount to idolatry.

"Sufism is negative. It doesn't seek change. It promotes charlatanism, " said Sheikh Abdelfatah, an influential Salafist imam based in Algiers.

The predecessor organization to al Qaeda's North African wing was influenced by the movement, calling itself the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

The influential Algerian Salafist cleric Abdelmalek Ramdani, who lives in Saudi Arabia, called on his followers a year ago to keep away from politics.

But to Mouloudi Mohamed, an independent Algerian expert on Islamic issues, the best way to combat extremism is by going back to traditional Islam, not the Salafism that was imported from Saudi Arabia's Najd Region.

"I don't believe we should import solutions but rather use the Islam of our fathers to live in peace," he said.

Pakistan says NW refugees can go home next week

by Sajjad Tarakzai

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan said Thursday nearly two million displaced people can start returning home next week, drawing a line under its massive assault against the Taliban in the northwest.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said preparations were being made to send home the hundreds of thousands of people who fled their homes in the Swat valley, claiming that the military had "eliminated" the extremists.

"The displaced people will start going back from July 13. The special support group will finalise the strategy from today and will make a procedure for their return, security and other arrangements," he told a news conference.

"The army will remain in the area for the security of the people and the reconstruction process of the affected areas will start soon."

Soldiers launched an offensive against the Taliban in parts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in late April after the fighters moved from Swat into the neighbouring district of Buner, which is further south towards Islamabad.

The offensive sparked a huge evacuation.

Most of the 1.9 million displaced, including about 500,000 who fled an offensive last year elsewhere in the northwest, are packed into relatives' homes, while others are crammed into hot and dusty refugee camps.

Families say they are desperate to return to their cool mountain homes, but have expressed concern that there is still no guarantee of security.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes, who visited Buner on Thursday, said many people were returning already, but added every effort must be made to ensure that people can rebuild their lives in safety and not flee again.

"People need help to re-establish themselves, to re-establish their livelihoods, to re-start farming. They're going to need some food," he told reporters in the village of Sultanwas, which sustained heavy damage.

"The biggest concerns are that people are able to return and that once they've returned, that return is sustained.

"The worst thing of all if people come back and then suddenly they find it's not safe and have to go back again. That would land us all with a big problem," Holmes added.

Electricity and water supplies were cut off in the main urban hubs during the fighting, hospitals closed their doors, markets shut and witnesses have spoken of significant amounts of damage after the offensive.

Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, the official in charge of Pakistan's emergency response to the displacement crisis, said full security would be provided to ensure the safety of those who went back.

"First the people living in camps will be sent. Then the people living in schools. In the third phase, people living with their relatives in houses and in the final stage, people living outside NWFP," he told Geo television.

"We will provide full security," he added. "We will enroll local young men through community policing and pay them 10,000 rupees (123 US dollars) per month, they will be responsible for law and order in their areas".

Army commanders have been saying for some time that Swat, Buner and neighbouring Lower Dir are almost cleared of Taliban rebels, although fighting continues in several pockets.

The prime minister said soldiers would remain on the ground after people return, but appeared to be drawing a line under major combat operations.

"More than 1,700 militants were killed during the operation. Our soldiers also made sacrifices. Some of them were injured. Some of them were disabled, but they eliminated the extremists," Gilani told reporters.

Death tolls released by Pakistan are impossible to confirm independently because fighting takes place in military zones closed to the media.

Fighter jets Thursday pounded suspected militants, killing at least 12 in the tribal belt of South Waziristan, where commanders have vowed to open a second front against Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, officials said.

Twelve Taliban militants were killed around Ladha, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) northeast of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, they said.

Pakistan to begin return of displaced next week

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan will start bringing people displaced by fighting between security forces and Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat Valley back home from next week, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday.

About 2 million people have fled their homes since the army began an offensive against the Taliban in their bastion of Swat, a former tourist valley northwest of Islamabad, in late April.

Most of the displaced are living with family or friends in "host communities" and about 280,000 are in tent camps. They and their plight are sensitive issues for a government that critics say is bowing to U.S. pressure to battle the militants.

"The displaced men, women and children will begin returning to their homes with dignity from July 13," Gilani told a news conference.

Government officials say more than 1,700 militants and nearly 160 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, launched two months ago after militant aggression and advances prompted concern over the stability of Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal. Independent casualty estimates are not available.

The United States, grappling with an intensifying Taliban insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan, has welcomed Pakistan's action against the militants.

The army has pushed the militants out of Swat's towns and it controls the main lines of communication, but clashes are flaring daily in some areas.

None of the top militant leaders in the area have been among those killed, leading to fears the fighters could re-emerge. The military said on Wednesday that the Taliban leader in Swat, Fazlullah, had been wounded in an air strike on Monday.

On Thursday, security forces killed "a few" militants and arrested 25 during a mop-up operation in Swat, the military said.

Public backing for the offensive against the Taliban is strong, but some analysts say the government is encouraging people uprooted by fighting to return home because of the risk that a prolonged displacement could undermine that goodwill.

SECURITY WORRIES

However, U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes on Wednesday said Pakistan needed to ensure appropriate conditions, especially security, before encouraging displaced people to go home.

Gilani said the government had restored utilities and infrastructure in Swat and had taken measures to provide security to the people.

But he cautioned that sporadic incidents of violence could not be ruled out in Swat because of the prevailing security situation in the entire country.

Militants have carried out a series of suicide bombings and bomb attacks around the country in retaliation for the Swat offensive.

In the latest such attack, a remote-controlled bomb went off close to a vehicle carrying security forces in the northwestern town of Bannu, wounding six soldiers, police said.

The military is also slowly preparing to mount an all-out assault on South Waziristan, a major militant sanctuary on the Afghan border and power base of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

"Sporadic incidents of terrorism do take place in other parts of the country. So (Swat) is also part of Pakistan and that can also take place there, despite our best ability," Gilani said.

Mine kills five Pakistan soldiers: officials

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) – A landmine killed five paramilitary soldiers and wounded four others in Pakistan's insurgency-plagued province of Baluchistan on Thursday, security officials said.

The blast happened in a hilly area home to dozens of coalfields, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of the southwestern province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.

"Our vehicle hit a mine, killing five soldiers and injuring four others," a Frontier Corps (FC) official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"The vehicle was returning to Quetta after delivering food supplies to soldiers stationed in the area," he said.

One of the injured is in a serious condition, he added.

Another security official confirmed the mine blast.

"We have received reports that five FC men were killed and four others injured in the landmine explosion," he said.

Mine explosions are fairly frequent in Baluchistan -- rife with Islamist militancy, sectarian violence and regional insurgency.

Hundreds of people have died since Baluch rebels rose up in 2004, lashing out against the central government, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's wealth of natural resources.

Strife shows ethnic tension China hopes to ignore

By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer

URUMQI, China – It started with some boys fighting over fireworks. It wound up as a clash between hundreds of villagers from two competing ethnic groups.

Such incidents illustrate the ethnic tension that pervades much of China — and exploded this week in the western region of Xinjiang, taking 156 lives.

The situation is worst in the west, the vast borderlands where Chinese imperial dynasties spilled into traditional homelands of Buddhist Tibetans, Muslim Uighurs, nomadic Mongols and Hui, a Muslim group. But other areas are not immune: The fight over fireworks broke out in February in Henan province in central China, a day's drive from Beijing.

In the recent western unrest, anger at the authorities' handling of a brawl between Uighur and Han factory workers in south China triggered a protest Sunday 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) away in Xinjiang, the Uighur homeland. Uighurs beat Han — members of the majority ethnicity in China — and torched their shops and cars. After security forces quelled the riots, vigilantes on both sides attacked people in the regional capital Urumqi.

"There is huge distrust between ethnic groups," said Nicholas Bequelin, Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch. Incidents such as the factory clash show that "people have negative stereotypes about each other, there's racism in a sense, and every community closes ranks against the 'waidiren' — the people from outside."

Government policies don't help. Beijing has promoted economic development in Xinjiang and Tibet, but it has also imposed Chinese language and culture and ignored minority grievances, blaming overseas exiles for inciting any unrest.

Many minority communities remain poor, which only hardens Han stereotypes that other groups are lazy and ungrateful, despite the government's economic assistance. The Han make up 91 percent of the population.

Even in the absence of such policies, old tensions bubble up.

February's melee in Henan province started when Han and Hui boys quarreled over fireworks. A 2004 traffic accident in another Henan village degenerated into an ethnic fight that left seven dead officially and, according to some foreign news reports, as many as 150.

Farther east in Shandong province, police shot and killed at least five Hui in a protest march in 2000 after a Han butcher advertised sales of "Muslim pork" — outraging Muslims whose dietary laws forbid the eating of pork.

Even among the Han, old feuds between clans and villages have picked up in recent years. Police deployed in March to separate two villages on the tropical island of Hainan after a fight between residents left one dead. The cause, state media said, was an 80-year-old land dispute.

Uighurs and Tibetans complain of being discriminated against when trying to get jobs and bank loans, unlike, they say, Han migrants. In Xinjiang, the Han population has soared, from 6 percent in 1949 to 40 percent in 2000.

Policies that phase out instruction in minority languages in favor of Chinese in upper grades leaves Tibetans and Uighurs feeling further disadvantaged, both in school and later in the job market. Beijing maintains the language policy is to bring these groups into the thriving mainstream.

The government also restricts religion, appointing imams and senior clerics, limiting the numbers of monks, tearing down unregistered madrassas and prohibiting minors and university students from taking part in religious services.

The government's "attitude is that Tibetans simply have to become Chinese and Uighurs simply have to become Chinese," said Andrew Fischer, an expert in development policies of western China at the Institute of Social Studies at the Hague in the Netherlands.

Beijing defends its approach, pointing to the economic progress and infrastructure Chinese rule has brought minority areas.

"The mainstream position for the last 50 years is that the minorities have benefited from Chinese peaceful liberation and being brought into the motherland and there's no problem at all," said Fischer.

The distrust of some minorities is thinly veiled. During last year's Beijing Olympics, police told hotels near Olympic venues not to rent rooms to Tibetans, Uighurs or Mongolians.

The Xinjiang riots have stirred anger among many Han, who have seen images of bleeding Han civilians on state-controlled media.

Many comments on online forums have called for a harsher crackdown. Some even say the rioters should all be shot — a comment echoed this week by Urumqi's Communist Party secretary, Li Zhi, who said that rioters involved in killings and violent crimes would be executed.