Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 17 February 2017

Trinidad & Tobago tries to halt fighters to Islamic State

RICARDO NUNES could be involved with ter- grams. to San Bernardino.” long been celebrated for
Associated Press rorist activities,” National “They are certainly not the Tidd praised Trinidad and its rich mix of cultural influ-
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Security Minister Edmund only ones worried about Tobago for adopting anti- ences, primarily rooted in
Tobago (AP) — A Carib- Dillon said. “There is a mi- this phenomenon of self- terrorism legislation and co- India and Africa. Its Muslim
bean island nation has be- nority in the Muslim com- radicalization and how operating with the U.S. and minority of Indian-descend-
come an unlikely source of ed families and Afro-Trini-
fighters and funding for the dadian converts includes
Islamic State militant group, dozens of mainstream
prompting an internation- mosques and more militant
ally backed effort to stem strains such as the Jamaat
the flow of money and re- al Muslimeen, an organiza-
cruits to Syria and Iraq. tion responsible for a 1990
Security officials and terror- coup attempt classified as
ism experts believe that as the Western Hemisphere’s
many as 125 fighters and only Islamist uprising.
their relatives have trav- “I think that the indictment
eled from Trinidad and To- is on the government, past
bago to Turkey and on to and present,” said Yasin
IS-controlled areas over the Abu Bakr, leader of the Ja-
last four years, making the maat Al Muslimeen, which
country of 1.3 million peo- has seen as least two mem-
ple the largest per-capita bers travel to Syria. “Why
source of IS recruits in the would the young people
Western Hemisphere. in a place like Trinidad and
The Islamic State has put Tobago, the land of steel
out propaganda videos band and calypso, carni-
and magazines featuring val and gaiety, chutney
bearded fighters with lilting and all the rest of it. Why
Trinidadian accents train- would a young person
ing in the desert with sniper take up his family and go
rifles and encouraging their
countrymen to join them. In this Feb. 9, 2017 photo, Umar Abdullah, head of the Islamic Front in southern Trinidad, speaks to a place where death is
during an interview in Two Princesses Town, Trinidad and Tobago. Umar Abdullah said he has ac-
Alarmed, Trinidadian state tively discouraged members from traveling to Syria to fight. He said he knew several young men almost certain. Why would
security officials have who had become IS fighters, although he declined to provide specifics. somebody do that? That is
launched intensive surveil- (AP Photo/Ricardo Nunez) the big question that the
lance and monitoring of state has to answer.”
the country’s homegrown munity and there is a mi- easy it has become,” said other international part- Umar Abdullah, head of
Islamist movements, which nority in the criminal com- U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, ners. the hard-line Islamic Front
have a history of militancy munity that is hellbent on who is responsible for De- “Trinidad is a serious coun- group in southern Trinidad,
and crossover with the committing these types of partment of Defense oper- try and recognizes that said he has actively dis-
country’s violent criminal offenses.” ations in Central and South there is work to be done,” couraged members from
gangs. Saying their efforts U.S. officials have described America and the Caribbe- Tidd said. traveling to Syria to fight. He
are bearing fruit, Trinidad themselves as deeply con- an. “They need to be able Some hard-line Muslim said he knew several young
and Tobago officials have cerned about the combat- to understand what are the leaders have opposed the men who had become IS
recently proposed legisla- ants and funds heading out conditions that might pre- new efforts, instead blam- fighters, although he de-
tion to crack down on the of Trinidad and Tobago. dispose individuals to be- ing the government for fail- clined to provide specifics.
flow of money to Islamic They say they are working come radicalized and then ing to improve the lives of “I do feel responsible in
State fighters overseas by with the islands’ govern- to be able to take steps poor, largely Afro-Trinidad some way with some of
establishing criminal penal- ment on intelligence-shar- to try to stop that from oc- youth who can find them- these brothers that have left
ties for those sending mon- ing and new legislation, as curring before people go selves drawn in by IS recruit- and gone to Syria and fight
ey to the group. well as sponsoring trips for down that path with the ers. and so on,” Abdullah said.
“There’s always a concern Muslim leaders to the U.S. to tragic results we have seen An oil-rich nation just off “I felt I could have done a
in terms of money leaving meet Islamic leaders work- in everyplace from Paris to the coast of Venezuela, lot more, I felt I could have
Trinidad and Tobago that ing on anti-extremism pro- Brussels to Berlin to Orlando Trinidad and Tobago has dissuaded them.”q