US embassy cable - 04ACCRA1584

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ACCRA 001584 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR AF/PD (WHITMAN); AF/W, R 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/26/2007 
TAGS: EAID, KDEM, OIIP, OPRC, PGOV, PHUM, PREL, KPAO, OEXC, GH 
SUBJECT: MUSLIM WORLD OUTREACH -- GHANA 
 
REF: STATE 155954 
 
Classified By: PAO DQUEEN.  REASONS 1.4 (B & D) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Since the events of 9/11/01 Post has made 
special efforts to increase contacts with and outreach to 
Ghana's Muslim community.  Post relations with most elements 
of this community, which is far from monolithic, are very 
good and, with some groups, they are excellent.  We have 
focused increasingly on those sects and groups that post has 
identified as being most susceptible to anti-American 
propaganda and maneuvering, with special emphasis on youth 
and students. Paras below keyed to elements outlined reftel. 
END SUMMARY 
 
A.  CONTEXT 
 
2.  (C) Ghana,s Muslim population is approximately 20% of a 
country of 20 million. The rest are primarily Christians, 
representing many denominations, along with a small 
percentage of animists. While the north of the country is 
primarily Muslim, all of Ghana,s large urban areas have 
significant, long-established Muslim populations that have 
mostly migrated from northern rural areas. Ghana,s Muslims 
are divided into four main sects, two of which represent 
different strains of Sunnism, plus smaller groupings of 
Shia,a and Ahmadia.  The Alhussunna Wal-Jama'a Sunni sect 
hosts Wahabi missionaries and is more fundamentalist than the 
other group, the Tijanniya. Muslims in Ghana generally 
perceive themselves as marginalized from the mainstream 
Christian culture and the economic and political power they 
believe Christians monopolize.  Some Muslims acknowledge that 
this marginalization is a partially self-inflicted distancing 
due to longstanding fear of proselytization and conversion. 
 
3.  (C) The leadership of the middle-of-the-road Tijanniya 
has exerted a moderating influence over its younger, more 
radical elements and, to a certain extent, with the more 
Islamist Alhussunna.  At the leadership level, the two 
factions get along fairly well, although both face resistance 
from younger and more impatient radicals, especially in Accra 
and Kumasi, Ghana's second city.  The Shia'a maintain a 
fairly low profile, accepting assistance from Iran, although 
the Iranian mission does not confine its outreach to Shia'a. 
In the overcrowded and underserviced urban slums where many 
unemployed Muslim young men live, discontent with U.S. policy 
in the Middle East, and with a government that is viewed as a 
close ally of the U.S., is a potentially volatile and 
exploitable negative force. 
 
4.  (C) Ghana has been predominantly free of the religious 
communal violence that has taken place in other West African 
countries.  For the most part, Christian-Muslim relations are 
good.  Even in the most deprived urban areas, where members 
of all faiths are crowded together, disagreements do not 
escalate into religion-based strife.  Nevertheless, this 
tolerance has in the past been characterized by a degree of 
fragility.  PAO was told by an official of the Christian 
Council of Ghana, which maintains an interfaith working group 
with Muslim religious leaders, that a few years back young 
Muslim men in the poorest sections of Accra had coalesced 
into ad hoc gangs that threatened the peace in their 
neighborhoods.  Only the level-headed leadership of the 
Alhussunna Chief Imam prevented major incidents of violence. 
 
B.  ENGAGEMENT 
------------------------ 
Formal Institutions 
------------------------ 
5.  (C)   Post engages with a number of institutions and 
NGO's in the Muslim community, although some are more 
accessible than others.  The National Chief Imam, his office, 
and organizations associated with it, are prime interlocutors 
with mission officers.  These are adherents of the Tijanniya 
sect, espousing moderate interpretations of Islam, although 
many younger Tijanniya have expressed impatience with the 
lack of forcefulness and the relatively pro-American stance 
of the National Chief Imam.  Moreover, the other Muslim sects 
respect the National Chief Imam, but do not necessarily agree 
with his positions or follow his leadership.  Nevertheless, 
his moral authority and his role as titular leader of Ghana's 
Muslims, make the institution he heads and its affiliate 
organizations critical contacts for this post.  In a 
high-profile gesture, he and his senior staff recently 
attended the Ambassador's July 4th reception. 
 
6.  (C) A smaller structure exists under the Chief Imam of 
the Alhussunna.  They have a less liberal interpretation of 
their religion than the Tijanniya, making them, if anything, 
a more important target for post contact and programs.  The 
Chief Imam himself is a man of good sense and good will, but 
it is not clear how strong a grip he has over the most 
militant factions within his sect, especially the youth. 
Thus, post officers are making a greater effort to engage 
younger Muslim audiences, particularly among the Alhussunna. 
All the Muslim communities have youth organizations and 
NGO's, some directly affiliated with the offices of the 
national and regional imams, and some nominally independent. 
Also, there are chapters of the Muslim Student Association of 
Ghana on the university campuses, and serious post efforts 
are directed at them.  It is not always easy to identify 
which groups are the most influential, or have the most 
potential for causing problems.  Despite our limited human 
and financial resources, post is addressing this issue. 
 
C.  CURRENT PROGRAMS 
------------------- 
Representation 
------------------- 
7.  (U) The mission uses a multi-layered approach to engage 
the Muslim community, some of which relies on funding from 
ORCA.  We initiated a series of events that targeted large 
and influential audiences, generating a great deal of 
publicity.  During Ramadan, the Ambassador hosted an Iftar 
dinner for Muslim leaders, also including leaders from the 
Christian denominations.  Working through national and 
regional Imams, the mission funded food distribution in poor 
Muslim neighborhoods in and around Accra.  For youth, we 
organized soccer tournaments in Accra and Kumasi, in 
collaboration with a Muslim NGO, with teams competing for 
prizes.  Last year's final game started with a kickoff by the 
U.S. Ambassador and was attended by the Minister of 
Education, Youth and Sports.  Following Ramadan, the DCM led 
a delegation of post officers to present a ram and rice to 
the National Chief Imam, following local custom.  The mission 
worked with the MinEd's Islamic Education Unit to provide 
prizes to winners of popular student radio quiz show that was 
specially designed to focus on Islamic history and culture. 
(The prize presentation was held at PAS, with first prize 
going to students from the Iran-funded Islamic University.) 
--------------------------------------- 
DOD Humanitarian Assistance 
--------------------------------------- 
8.  (U) The Office of Defense Cooperation has carried out 
humanitarian projects in Muslim neighborhoods with Navy 
Seabee construction crews (e.g., a community center for the 
Alhussunna near the mosque in the poor Muslim ghetto in 
Accra), that have cemented relationships and received 
positive media attention.  When a post-organized site visit 
by General Charles F. Wald (EUCOM Deputy Commander) fell 
through July 15th, the Ambassador filled in.  All local Imams 
expressed appreciation for U.S. military assistance in 
building their community center in Nima.  At the Islamic 
School donation of U.S. textbooks, the Chief Imam said the 
U.S. military needs to know that they have friends in Nima. 
ODC is working with USAID to identify other projects for the 
Muslim population, including drilling boreholes in the 
water-starved north of Ghana. 
------------------------------------- 
Development and Education 
------------------------------------- 
9.  (U) Still in the public diplomacy domain, post organized 
a series of presentations to inform Muslim leaders of USG 
development programs in Ghana and encourage them to have 
their followers and communities participate.  One was a 
roundtable discussion on education, bringing together USAID, 
Peace Corps and Public Affairs Section to discuss how Muslims 
in every region of Ghana might take advantage of the various 
agencies' education initiatives.  Our presentations in Accra 
and Kumasi targeted student groups, urban youth organizations 
and civic leaders, providing fora for mission agency heads to 
increase awareness among Muslims of what the USG was doing 
for development in Ghana, how Muslim communities were 
benefiting, and how others might do the same.  PAS has 
brought groups of Muslim students for briefings on services 
provided by the Information Resource Center (IRC) and the 
Education Advising Center.  PAS used the above-mentioned 
prize ceremony to brief Muslim university students on PAS 
services, and sign them up for membership in the IRC.  The 
Mission International Visitor committee targets Muslim 
leaders for IV projects, recently including officials of 
women's organizations and the Muslim heads of the youth wings 
of the Ghana's two major political parties.  Muslim students 
participated in a SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) 
competition, an indication that self-enforced isolation is 
being replaced with engagement, thus creating openings for 
increased tertiary education programming. 
-------------------------- 
Individual Outreach 
-------------------------- 
10.  (SBU) Post officers have represented and explained U.S. 
positions and programs to Muslims, one-on-one, to small 
groups and larger audiences.  This has been a 
highly-effective way to engage people in a culture that puts 
great store on face-to-face encounters and personal 
relationships.  It also involves keeping an open door, 
usually at PAS, so that Muslim friends can drop in for a chat 
or have meetings with EmbOffs.  Officers have accepted 
invitations to speak before large groups on issues of policy 
and respond to questions on those areas that particularly 
trouble Muslims.  One officer gave a talk to students at the 
Islamic University, never before visited by an embassy 
officer, at the invitation of students who had participated 
in a program at the IRC. 
-------------------- 
New Initiatives 
-------------------- 
11.  (C) We are expanding and replicating all of the programs 
and events described above to more communities and 
organizations.  We are also planning new initiatives and more 
contact with students and youth, which is crucial to efforts 
to engender longer term trust and mutual understanding.  We 
plan to host a speaker on Muslim life in the U.S. before the 
end of the current FY or early in the next.  Our biggest 
outreach to an entire region will be launched in September, 
when the Ambassador opens an "American Corner", i.e., an IRC 
annex, in Tamale, the largest city in the Muslim majority 
north of Ghana.  (Note:  Tamale, over 400 miles from Accra, 
has no other permanent foreign mission presence.)  PAS is 
supplying this facility with $30,000 worth of books, 10 
computers, along with $22,000 supplemented through AF/PD for 
Internet connectivity and other equipment.  This center will 
serve as a platform for all mission officers and agencies to 
program or plan representational events in that region. 
Tamale also is home to a public university, whose students we 
expect to become regular visitors to this facility. 
 
12.  (C) Muslims in Ghana are open to contact and many are 
eager to learn more about the U.S.  Even those who oppose 
U.S. policies look with respect and admiration on America's 
social and economic accomplishments.  While there are groups 
and individuals who are worrisome and need to be monitored, 
there is little evidence their numbers are growing.  Post 
outreach efforts are now a significant counterinfluence to 
attempts by the most negative elements within the Muslim 
community to expand their influence. 
 
YATES