Accra Mail (Accra)

Ghana: Al-Qaeda in Ghana?

An Accra-based radio station - Joy FM - is reported that it has obtained copies of videos seeking to propagate Islamic fundamentalism in Ghana.

One of the videos show Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, in a speech calling for non-Islamists to be wiped out.

Copies of the propaganda material are broadcast openly at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle here in Accra. The vendor, an African-Arab from Mali attracts sales by screening the videos and VCDs on a small tabletop kiosk.

In one of the videos, America's and indeed the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden is shown calling on all Muslims to rise up against the infidels or non-Muslims whom he describes in Arabic as Kafr.

Portions of the speech are translated in English subtitles on the bottom of the screen. Though the video is originally in Arabic, it is also available in Hausa, the predominant language used by most Muslims in Ghana.

The images of bin Laden are similar to those screened by BBC, CNN and other international news networks but the visuals are extensive and more detailed and show the training camps of Al-Qaeda in prewar Afghanistan. The vendor has VCDs of other Jihadis including the former head of Al-Qaeda cell in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Public interest in the video shows picks up around late afternoon, but peaks around 5:30pm when most workers and students are on their way home.

The video vendor, who says he is from Mali, tells JOY NEWS he buys his goods from neighbouring Togo. For the vendor of such Jihadis propaganda, he might just be earning a decent living.


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