Radical Islamist groups 'invading' Madagascar

Cardinal-designate Désiré Tsarahazana urges church to take action as mosques mushroom, women allegedly bribed to wear Muslim clothing

Radical Islamist groups plan to build over 2,600 mosques in Madagascar and are bribing locals to convert to their cause, according to a newly appointed cardinal on the Indian Ocean island nation.

Describing such moves as an extremist "invasion" of the country, where about 7 percent of the population identifies as Muslims, Cardinal-designate Désiré Tsarahazana of Toamasina said the church should be alarmed.

"The rise of Islamism is palpable. You can see it everywhere. It is an invasion, with money from the Gulf States and from Pakistan – they buy people," he reportedly told the Catholic charity Aid to Church in Need.

"In my own diocese there are mosques being built everywhere … even though there aren't enough Muslims to use them," premier.org.uk quoted him as saying.

"They are also bringing over Muslims en masse from Turkey. This is a phenomenon that greatly concerns us," he said, adding that women are allegedly being paid to wear black burkas from head to toe to promote Islam.

He blamed widespread poverty for the recent exodus of students to Saudi Arabia who returned as Muslim leaders and scholars, and said planeloads of Muslims arrive twice a week from Turkey to settle on the island, which lies just off the coast of Southeast Africa.

Cardinal-designate Tsarahazana said former seminarians were among the recently appointed imams. He urged the church to speak up on the issue, as the government was not seen to be taking any action.

About 40 percent of Madagascar's population is believed to be Christian.