Can we do without Western civilization?

A group of radical Islamists last weekend attacked government targets in the northern town of Maiduguri in Nigeria and had a standoff with the security forces, which encircled their strong hold on around the home of their leader Muhamad Yusuf and killed him that same night. About 140 people died in clashes after the militants burnt a police station, a church and a customs office early Wednesday. This violence has shocked people of the predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria who had lived peacefully and in harmony with their fellow Nigerian Christians. “It is unbelievable that such a thing has happened in our country, Mr. Ike Muhameed Gaboni ,a Nigerian living and working in Kigali said. In our country divisions based on religion don’t generally exist but it is very unfortunate that what happened in Maiduguri occurred in the first place The events in Sudan, where women have been forced to stop wearing ‘western clothes’ i.e. trousers and revealing clothes, have caused some of the Sudanese women to live in a state of fear and it has caused human rights activists to claim that the government there is infringing on the rights of people by determining what kind of clothes citizens wear. The Sudanese ban of women wearing trousers is because it feels that it is a form of embracing western culture as opposed to traditional Sharia law. The events in Nigeria, Sudan and of course the activities of the Al-Shabab in Somalia suggest that some people on this continent do not want so called “western culture” to penetrate their borders. However, common sense dictates that it is impossible to be separated from this. They have forgotten that the education they acquired or that their children or grand children are getting now has never been African in nature. They also do not remember that in this modern technological era, to condemn someone for embracing western civilization is a gross misinterpretation of facts. How can one use a cell phone and a computer in his daily life activities and fail to acknowledge the importance of western civilization? It is ironic. Many believe that such incidents are a manifestation of the attempts by Muslim radicals to extend Islamic extremism on the African continent.. African governments and Muslim leaders should be conscious of this. phatari@yahoo.co.uk