Kenyan Muslim groups 'to protect churches'

[cbayer]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18703171


Police say gunmen used grenades and guns to carry out the church attacks


4 July 2012 Last updated at 05:42 ET


Muslim leaders in Kenya have agreed to form self-defence groups to protect churches following a deadly attack on Sunday.

Fifteen people were killed in the raids on churches in Garissa, a town near the border with Somalia.

Kenya's border region has been tense since it sent troops into Somalia to pursue al-Shabab Islamist militants.

Adan Wachu, head of the Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims, told the BBC the attacks were acts of terrorism.

more at link

[alfredo]

1. This is a hopeful statement.

"Muslims felt that because those Christians are a minority in their domain they must be protected at all cost."

Somalia doesn't play well with others. Ask the people of Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya. I had some dealings with them in the late 60's, and that convinced me it would be a wise move to exclude that vision of hell from any summer vacation plans.

[cbayer]

2. I visited Kenya last year, but stayed far from the Somalia border.

I did go to Mombasa, where there were bombings last week.

Very disturbing.

[alfredo]

3. Mombasa was a real kick. Malindi up north was a real paradise.

I lived up in Asmara Eritrea. It was a very nice place pre famine/pre revolution. It all went to shit and hasn't fully recovered from the wars and bad leadership that followed the famine.


I lived for a month or two on Sport Road in Nairobi. I remember there was a bit of a Mau Mau dust up while I was there. A priest got lynched. He must not have been Kikuyu.


BTW, did you go to Fort Jesus? Not sure if they still call it that. It's a real eye opener.

[cbayer]

4. Went by Fort Jesus while tooling around the city waiting for the ferry.

But didn't really get to spend any time there.

Nairobi street names are amusing. The traffic is not.

While I was based in the city, I spent most of my time outside of it. The Masai Mara, Lake region and the beach were all amazing.

The whole trip was life changing for me. I knew I was privileged, but I had no idea how privileged until I arrived at the Nairobi airport. I felt humbled and was silent much of the trip. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to have visited and greatly saddened that the country is being targeted. There have been some report that the Mombasa bombings were funded by Iran.

[alfredo]

7. Africa changed my life in so many ways. It made me less materialistic.

It made me more compassionate, and it made me a class warrior.

[Igel]

5. I might be hopeful about the statement.

But describing it as giving hope all by itself, nah.

Might be that they've taken umbrage at others killing in their name. Sort of a "not in our name" movement.

Might also be that their job is to protect the lessers among them from attack by outsiders. It's a duty to protect them as part of their agreeing to be compliant and obedient. Or it might be that you can't have a Xian raise a weapon against a Muslim. That's like letting the inferior attack the superior, a violation of Allah's rules of order. These two options look similar but are a bit different.

Or it might be actual sympathy. Xians in Muslim-majority societies tend to be worse off than the typical Muslim, and this community took a hit and might not be able to defend itself. Then perhaps it's just good ol' human compassion that's leading the Muslims to defend those who are beaten down.

On the whole, I don't know that I'd go with the last possibility. Yeah, it's possible--and it's the way it'll be spun, because the first three aren't properly orthodox and offend the delicate sensibilities of the Westerners.

[alfredo]

6. As they say, "action speaks louder than words." We will see if they are honorable.