Radical Islam in West Africa

Kenema is a provincial head town in the South-Eastern region of Sierra Leone. Most of its residents are Muslims, as it is the case in several parts of the country. On 3 November 2013 the people there came to the streets and threw stones at the houses of local men they consider being religious extremists. They call them Al-Shabaab, because they have long beards, they belong to a strict sect of the Islamist faith and their wives are fully covered. And above all, they accuse them of being a hothouse for breeding future terrorists. The Sierra Leone Police had to intervene to bring some tranquillity back to Kenema.

This is new in Sierra Leone. But it is not unique to that West African country. In the recent years, one has seen an expansion of radical approaches to religious practice in different corners of West Africa. They cannot be linked to any violent action. However, they show that the radical preachers trained in Saudi Arabia for many years are now having an impact of the way these traditional communities see Islam.