Angola cannot have it both ways. Banning Islam in Angola would be very bruising to Angolans, as well as to Muslims throughout Africa. There is nothing objectionable about criticising militant Islamist terrorists. However, what raises eyebrows in the Muslim world is when a predominantly non-Muslim country, with an avowedly Marxist-Leninist past, confuses Islam with militant Islamist terrorists. This unfortunate befuddlement is tantamount to misconstruing the true nature of Islam, and alas it is commonplace across the world. The Angolan government on Friday denied categorically a report alleging that it had adopted measures to ban Islam and had destroyed mosques, as reported by various print media organisations, African and international, and social media networks. Apparently it was a Moroccan newspaper that first reported this particular brouhaha. Angolan Minister of Culture Rosa Cruz e Silva was quoted as saying at a press conference in the Angolan capital Luanda: “The legalisation of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. Mosques will be closed until further notice.” Under Angolan law, a religious group must have over 100,000 adherents and be present in at least 12 of the country's 18 provinces to gain legal status. The estimated 100,000 Angolan Muslims are geographically concentrated in larger cities such as Luanda. Many originally hail from other southern African countries as fellow former Portuguese colony Lusophone Mozambique, with a much higher proportion of the population being Muslim than in Angola. There is also a sizable Lebanese community that includes both Shia and Sunni Muslims in Angola. Nevertheless, an Angolan statement expressed surprise and concern with regards to news of the southern African nation persecuting Muslims, closing down properly registered mosques and banning Islam. Angola, a nation of 20 million people, predominantly Roman Catholic, neither destroyed mosques nor persecuted Muslim citizens, the statement read. Be that as it may, the Angolan government on Friday conceded that it had refused the registration of a number of Islamic religious groups suspected of terrorism and closed illegal mosques because they did not comply with the country's laws. What must be acknowledged by the international media is that the bogus reports tarnished Angola's image and perhaps even made this member of the OPEC oil cartel dominated by Muslim nations susceptible to potential terrorist attacks. The government of the number two oil producer in Africa, which faced a storm of criticism that it had allegedly “banned Islam”, is naturally miffed, fidgety and on edge. As a sure sign that Luanda is jittery, Angolan Foreign Minister Georges Chikoti briefed diplomats in Luanda Friday on the explosive situation many are now dubbing a diplomatic faux pas. Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawki Allam said that if proven true, such provocations by the Angolan government would be “considered an affront not only to Angolan Muslims but to more than 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world”. Conflicting statements by Angolan officials complicate matters. There had been “misunderstandings” about the government actions, a defensive Chikoti told diplomats in Luanda. The Angolan foreign minister said Angola's constitution defends the right to religious freedom, but the law requires religious groups to meet legal criteria to be recognised as official. “There are eight Islamic denominations here, all of which requested registration. But none of the Muslim sects fulfilled legal requisites, so they can't practice their faith until concluding the legal process.” Furthermore, Chikoti disclosed that some Muslim sects had not registered their mosques as official places of worship, but he did not go into further detail on what legal requirements they had not met. Yet, Angolan Muslims vehemently protested an announcement by the Angolan Ministry of Justice in October that it rejected the applications of 194 organisations, including one from an umbrella Islamic community group, the Islamic Community of Angola (COIA). While Angola's foreign minister and its minister of culture and human rights have been vocal concerning the controversy, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has been conspicuously silent. With an abundance in oil wealth, diamonds and other mineral riches, there has been an influx of Muslims, both West African and southern African labourers and mineworkers, and Lebanese merchants and businessmen. According to the Angolan statement, Muslim expatriates and Angolan citizens of foreign extraction are often considered illegal migrants, and they tend to practice their activities in “inappropriate or unauthorised places”. Most Angolans consider the Muslims of the country as alien corsairs and dangerous buccaneers intent on stealing the wealth of Angola without displaying any loyalty to the state. It is a question of xenophobia and identity politics at work. What lessons might we draw from the recent hullabaloo surrounding the Muslims of Angola? False accounts of what actually is happening in Angola prevent the media from learning lessons for the future, of which there are many. “There is no war in Angola against Islam or any other religion,” said Manuel Fernando, director of the National Institute for Religious Affairs, part of the Ministry of Culture, on Tuesday. “There is no official position that targets the destruction or closure of places of worship,” Fernando insisted, expounding that there is no discrimination against Muslims in Angola. It is against this high-strung backdrop that Angolan Muslims, who are now in a tizzy, urged the government to distinguish between “religious confessions” whose requests for registration the government rejected, among them COIA and other Muslim organisations that cater to the social needs and economic well-being of Angolan Muslims on the one hand, and militant Islamist terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda on the other.
