TOGO: Ordinary Togolese shocked that Christmas Bomber might have developed his radical views while at school in Togo

Record ID: 356837

  • Title: TOGO: Ordinary Togolese shocked that Christmas Bomber might have developed his radical views while at school in Togo
  • Date: 1st January 2010
  • Summary: LOME, TOGO (DECEMBER 31 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STREET SCENE, PEOPLE WALKING, TRAFFIC (SOUNDBITE) (French) SYLVIO COMBEY, STUDENT, SAYING: "This is shocking information, as everyone knows how al-Qaeda is perceived by the entire world, and for a young Nigerian to do this, someone who went to school in Togo, with all the rigour of the Togolese education system, to be te
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Togo
  • Country: Togo
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA3O5WM6HLCTETDKX9EX07PD4MY
  • Story Text: Ordinary Togolese denounce the suspected Christmas bomber's actions.
    Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner with almost 300 people on board, is the son of a respected banker from a privileged background in Nigeria, where most people less on less than 2US dollars a day.
    He was educated at the British School in Lome, Togo, a boarding school mostly for expatriates and students from around West Africa, before studying engineering at University College London (UCL), where he was enrolled until June 2008.
    Earlier this year he told his parents he wanted to study Islamic sharia law in Yemen shortly before cutting off contact with them.
    "This is shocking information, as everyone knows how al-Qaeda is perceived by the entire world, and for a young Nigerian to do this, someone who went to school in Togo, with all the rigour of the Togolese education system, to be tempted by this movement, I think it's bad," said Sylvio Combey, a student from Togo's capital Lome.
    As a student, Abdulmutallab went to London in 2001 on a school trip organised by the British School in Lome. After graduating from Togo he won a place to study mechanical engineering at UCL.
    Abdulmutallab's Internet postings on Facebook and Islamist chatrooms musings while he was at school in Togo and at university, portrayed a lonely youth struggling between extreme Islamic views and liberalism, according to the Washington Post.
    Posting under the name Farouk1986 from Togo in 2005, he wrote of Arabic language studies in Yemen and plans to apply to Stanford and other leading U.S. universities as well as feelings of depression and loneliness, the newspaper said.
    Some Togolese people still hope he developed his more radical views after leaving the school in Lome.
    "We were very surprised went we heard the news, because this would mean Togo sheltered a Nigerian who was thinking of becoming an extremist. But I don't think he was leaning that way when he was here, which reassures us. Now that the investigations are continuing, we will see if he kept any contacts here," Herve Agbodan, a Togolese journalist said.
    A regional wing of al Qaeda said it was behind the failed Christmas Day bombing, which was meant to avenge U.S. attacks on the group in Yemen, according to a web statement.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register