Extremists rip off tsunami charity cash
Extremists rip off tsunami charity cashCHARITABLE 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". "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."
From an older post:
Tsunami aid 'went to the richest'
Six months after the Asian tsunami, a leading international charity says the poorest victims have benefited the least from the massive relief effort. A survey by Oxfam found that aid had tended to go to businesses and landowners, exacerbating the divide between rich and poor. The poor were likely to spend much longer in refugee camps where it is harder to find work or rebuild lives. The survey points to the marginalisation of dalits - outcasts in India - and specific problems in Sri Lanka where aid has gone to businesses and landowners rather than the landless. This poverty gap is worst in Aceh, the Indonesian province which was the most badly affected area.
posted by Unknown @ 11:56 AM
2 Comments:
We spent some time in Scotland and loved every minute we were there. The people and the country are wonderful and the only little problem was at times we had a difficult time understanding the local vernacular and as we are both native New Yorkers, I have no doubt the Scots had an equally hard time understanding us at times although we were all speaking the same language.
However, the written word never gave us any trouble which the reason for the long segue. What does extremist mean in Scotland? The people in the article are many things, killers, thieves, liars, brutalizer of women and children, but to the editors of The Scotland, they're not terrorists, they're extremists.
Why the game of semantics? It's a despicable way of lessening the message that these people are beyond contempt. I thought The Scotsman was better than this.
DP111 - Fantastic. I'm so pleased for you.
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