http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1703452005
Sat 30 Jul 2005
Extremists rip off tsunami charity cash
IAN JOHNSTON
CHARITABLE donations to help people affected by the Asian tsunami
disaster are falling into the hands of radical Islamic groups linked
to terrorists in Indonesia, a leading expert on the global al-Qaeda
network warned yesterday.
Relief money had become the "primary source" of income for two
militant groups, including one founded by a Muslim cleric serving a
prison sentence in connection with the Bali bombing in 2002 in which
more than 200 people were killed.
Dr Rohan Gunaratna, head of the international centre for political
violence and terrorism research at Singapore's Institute of Defence
and Strategic Studies, told the Asia-Pacific Financial Crime
Conference that the Boxing Day disaster had given "unprecedented
opportunities for these groups to expand their areas of influence".
The UK Department For International Development (Dfid) said it
was "concerned" about his comments and urged him to provide more
information so it could take action if necessary. However, the Red
Cross, Oxfam and Cafod aid agencies insisted that strict accounting
procedures saw to it that no money given to them had fallen into the
wrong hands.
Dr Gunaratna, author of the book Inside al Qaeda: Global Network of
Terror, said the radical Islamic groups Mujahideen Kompak and
Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia, or MMI, were moving into the Aceh
region, where 130,000 people were killed and entire villages
demolished by the devastating tsunami.
He told the conference, organised by banks in Singapore, that steps
had to be taken to ensure that charitable donations did not go
astray.
"Charities are a primary source of income for these groups," he
said. "That's why there has to be more accountability in where
donations go."
MMI, which has been called the Indonesian equivalent of Sinn Fein,
was founded by militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who is serving a 30-
month jail sentence for conspiracy in the Bali bombings. Its name
means the Council of Mujahideen For Islamic Law Enforcement.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group has said Mujahideen
Kompak plans to wage holy war in Indonesia.
And, according to the US-based analysts Global Security, Mujahideen
Kompak has been responsible for attacks on Christians, including the
nail-bombing of a church in North Jakarta during evening prayers in
November 2001. Its leaders are also sometimes drawn from the
infamous Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Indonesian authorities have arrested scores of al-Qaeda-linked
militants suspected of being involved in the Bali bombings, last
year's attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, or in the 2003
attack on the city's Marriott Hotel. But some critics still accuse
the government of being soft on terrorists for fear of escalating
conflicts in a land which is home to more Muslims than any other.
Dr Gunaratna said: "Indonesia must suffer more from terrorism for
the people and their leaders to realise that terror is serious
business and you can't flirt with terrorists."
Terrorism expert Professor David Capitanchik, formerly of Robert
Gordon University, told The Scotsman that terrorist groups were
known to have set up charities to act as money-laundering operations.
"Around mosques, there are lots of people standing outside with
boxes asking people to give to charity," he said. "It is rare that
people who donate money know exactly where it is going.
Organisations banned in this country - like Hamas - raise funds like
that here."
Patrick Nicholson, of Catholic aid agency Cafod, who was in Aceh in
early this year and again in June, said that while radical Islamic
groups had first tried to exploit the situation to whip up anti-
Western feeling, they appeared to have given up.
"I would challenge him [Dr Gunaratna]. There aren't the same sort of
groups [in Aceh] as you see in other parts of Indonesia," he
said. "They [Islamic extremists] turned up after the tsunami and
tried to get Western aid agencies kicked out.
"But they got no support from local people, and they all left."
When he returned in June, there was no sign of Islamic radicals. He
added that Cafod's accounting allowed a £10 donation in Britain to
be traced to the building of a house or buying of a boat.
A spokesman for the International Committee for the Red Cross said
simply: "If the question is, 'Is Red Cross funding falling into the
hands of terrorists?', in our view, it isn't."
However, the UK government appeared to be taking the claim
seriously. A Dfid spokesman said: "We are concerned to hear these
allegations. We encourage Dr Gunaratna to approach Dfid with more
information."
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