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True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

Outlook: My Friend Became an Islamist Leader

Fighters from the militant Islamist group Ansar Dine, Mali

05/08/2015

My Friend Became an Islamist Leader

BBC World Service - Outlook, My Friend Became an Islamist Leader

How extremism in Mali shut down Manny Ansar's desert festival and radicalised his friend

How extremism in Mali shut down Manny Ansar's desert festival and radicalised his friend Iyad Ag Ghaly

In 2001, Malian music manager Manny Ansar founded the Festival in the Desert. It became a celebrated event where African musicians mixed with Western stars like Bono of U2 and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. The festival was forced to close in 2012 when Islamist extremists took control of Northern Mali and banned all music. Manny had been inspired to start the event by his friend Iyad Ag Ghaly. So he was shocked to discover that Iyad had become the leader of the militant Islamist group Ansar Dine which is still trying to impose its version of Sharia law in Northern Mali.

American writer Tod Wodicka suffers from sleep paralysis - a terrifying condition that makes him feel like he's being attacked by demons in his sleep. Now, Tod's passed the condition on to one of the characters in his second novel 'The Household Spirit'. The book tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a middle aged recluse and a young woman who lives next door.

In January this year, Palesa Sibuyi was shot twice by gunmen when they attacked a shopping centre in Johannesburg in South Africa. Remarkably, Palesa's life was saved by a total stranger - a woman called Lilene Van Hoolwerff who shielded Palesa with her own body. The BBC's Mpho Lakaje reports from Johannesburg.

Mildred Apenyo was fed up with being harassed on the streets of the Ugandan capital Kampala. So, she decided to open the country's first women-only gym where she teaches self-defence, kick-boxing and yoga.

(Picture: Fighters from the militant Islamist group Ansar Dine, Mali
Picure credit: Romaric Ollo Hien/ AFP/Getty Images)

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