US embassy cable - 05ACCRA661

UNCLAS  ACCRA 000661 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, GH 
SUBJECT: OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIMS OF GHANA'S NORTHERN REGION 
 
 
1.  (SBU)  Summary:  Emboffs were generally well received on 
an intense Muslim outreach trip to Tamale, capital of 
Northern Region, on March 23-25.   Interlocutors raised 
questions about U.S. foreign policy, USG activities in 
Ghana, and about how they could benefit from scholarships, 
USG assistance, and U.S. exchanges.  They explained why most 
Ghanaian Muslims are dissatisfied with the ruling NPP party. 
Emboffs were told they were not welcome and should leave 
when they went to address the Tamale Polytechnic, a reminder 
that there are some radical elements in the Ghanaian Muslim 
community which will require further Embassy outreach 
efforts.  End summary. 
 
Meeting with Muslim Groups 
-------------------------- 
 
2.  (U)  On March 23-25, PolChief, PAO and Econoff traveled 
to Tamale, capital of Ghana's Northern Region, as part of 
the Embassy's outreach effort to Ghana's 15-20 percent 
Muslim population. 
 
3.  (U)  Emboffs met with about 150 members of the Ghana 
Muslim Students' Association, University of Development 
Studies.  They called on the Chief Imam of the Central 
Mosque and about 30 of his followers, and hosted a two hour 
roundtable with around 40 Muslim NGO activists, Islamic 
teachers, journalists, and Imams, including the Deputy Chief 
Imam of the conservative Alhussunna community in Northern 
Region.  Emboffs also met independently with several Muslim 
NGO activists and women leaders. 
 
4.  (U)  In all these meetings, Emboffs described the Muslim 
community in America and US Embassy activities in Northern 
Region, as well as fielding a range of questions on USG 
policy toward Iraq and the Middle East, US attitudes toward 
Muslims and terrorism, nuclear nonproliferation policy, the 
role of girls' education, and visa issues.  For the most 
part, interlocutors were receptive to our arguments and 
claimed they now understood that America was not anti-Muslim 
and was not denying visas to Muslims, as they earlier 
believed.   They wanted more access to USG assistance, 
highlighting the significant poverty and illiteracy in the 
Northern Region, and hoped to establish exchanges with U.S. 
mosques and Muslim organizations. 
 
5.  (U)  The one exception to an otherwise warm reception 
was the hostility Emboffs encountered when we went to speak 
to the Ghana Muslims Student Association at Tamale 
Polytechnic.  After beginning our meeting in a campus 
mosque, we were asked to leave the mosque.  There was 
considerable internal debate, with some students arguing 
that we should never have been allowed to enter the mosque 
and others embarrassed at not receiving us hospitably. 
Ultimately, the radicals in the group prevailed and we were 
told the students did not want to meet with us. 
 
Muslims and Politics 
-------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  On the margins of our meetings, PolChief asked 
about Muslim views of Ghanaian politics.  Our contacts 
concurred that Muslim-Christian relations are generally good 
across Ghana.  There are more divisions within the two 
religions than between them.  The North-South divide is more 
pronounced and worrisome for the long term than Muslim- 
Christian relations. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Muslims are overwhelmingly supporters of the 
opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.    This 
is in part because former Prime Minister Busia, whose party 
was the forerunner to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), 
adopted the Aliens Compliance Order expelling large numbers 
of other West Africans, many of them Muslims, living in 
Ghana between 1969 and 1971.  Some Ghanaian Muslims were 
expelled because they were mistaken as foreigners.  Muslims 
in Ghana have never forgiven the NPP for this period.  In 
addition, former President J.J. Rawlings paid attention to 
Muslims, often visiting poor Muslim ghettos ("zongos").  By 
contrast, according to our Muslim contacts, President Kufuor 
of the NPP is not perceived as paying much attention to 
Muslims.   Perceived involvement of the NPP in the 2001 
murder of the Ya-Na (Chief of the Abudu "gate" of the 
Dagomba tribe and a Muslim) has reinforced a perception of 
NPP insensitivity.   Muslims are reportedly unimpressed by 
the NPP's choice of a Muslim Vice President, which many of 
them view as tokenism.  Muslim contacts point out that there 
were no Muslims in Kufuor's first Cabinet and only one in 
the current lineup of ministers. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
8.  (SBU)  Muslims are among the poorest Ghanaians, 
especially in the three northern regions.  It was not 
surprising that most of our questions centered on how we 
might assist their communities, with aid, scholarships, 
visas, and exchanges.  Most are moderate and appeared eager 
to engage us in dialogue.  However, there is a more radical 
element, which we ran into at the Tamale Polytechnic.  As 
one interlocutor later pointed out, approaching these 
elements requires more one-to-one interaction and 
preparatory work than we had done.  Their radicalism 
reflects, at least in part, an aggressive Iranian, Libyan 
and Saudi influence in the northern regions.  There is 
clearly more work to be done to reach out to this community. 
 
YATES 
 
 
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