RLPB 721. November 2023 Update, incl. Nigeria, Mali, Middle East & South Caucasus, Nepal

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 721 | Wed 29 Nov 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
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NOVEMBER 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

ANNOUNCEMENT

Two separate health issues have meant that 2023 has been, for me, a very difficult year. Both issues will require attention into 2024.

I have come to accept that, after 24 years and roughly 1,250 religious liberty prayer bulletins, the time has come to retire the weekly Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) ministry. While I know I will continue to read, research, and remain engaged, I also know I need to stop writing – at least for a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).

I will keep the www.ElizabethKendal.com website live, developing it and adding to it as I am able.

I will also keep my religiouslibertyprayer Instagram account live, using it to: (1) facilitate intercessory prayer for the persecuted Church; (2) share information that is relevant to suffering Church issues; (3) encourage and promote prayer as integral and indispensable to Christian and Church life; and (4) publish any personal announcements/news I might wish to make.

The RLPB and RLM archives will remain on-line for research purposes at:
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin
https://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Religious Liberty Monitoring
https://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com/

Next week’s RLPB 722 (6 Dec 2023), will be the final RLPB.

Until then, every blessing to you
Elizabeth Kendal

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UPDATE: DURING NOVEMBER 2023 WE PRAYED CONCERNING

BURKINA FASO (RLPB 718, 8 Nov), as Islamic terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda and Islamic State retain control of around 40 percent of the country. The capital Ouagadougou is gradually being encircled, its critical transit routes imperilled and cut. At least 46 locations are totally besieged, leaving Christians trapped, persecuted and totally cut off from the outside world. Violence is escalating. Aid to the Church in Need’s interview with Fr Pierre Rouamba, the prior-general of Missionary Brothers of the Countryside (FMC), is a must-read! We must not forget our brothers and sisters in Burkina Faso. Please pray!

UGANDA (RLPB 719, 15 Nov), after recent convert Hajara Namwase (32) was dowsed in gasoline, and set alight as punishment (likely an attempted honour-killing) for leaving Islam. The perpetrator – her Muslim husband Musa Kalele (42) – fled to South Sudan, leaving their three young children in the care of his mother. Originally from Budaka in Eastern Region, Hajara is receiving specialised burns treatment in Kampala. Please pray!

NIGERIA (RLPB 720, 22 Nov), to praise and thank God that, after 28 months as a hostage to Muslim terrorists in Kaduna, Treasure Ayuba (now aged 14) had escaped from his captors and found his way home ‘in answer to the prayers of many’ (2 Corinthians 1:11). Treasure’s liberation inspires us to persevere in prayer for the 100 (of 276) ‘Chibok girls’ who, after being abducted in April 2014, remain missing to this day; and for Leah Sharibu (now aged 20). Abducted in February 2018, Islamic State jihadists retain Leah as a ‘slave’ precisely because she insists on remaining Christian. Lord have mercy! We also lamented the loss of two ECWA pastors slain by Muslim militants in mid-November. Please pray for the traumatised and imperilled Church in Northern Nigeria.

UPDATE to RLPB 717, Blasphemy in Bauchi, 1 Nov 2023
- Mrs Rhoda Jatau to remain in jail.

On Monday 27 November the Bauchi State High Court threw out the No-Case Submission put forward by advocates defending Christian healthcare worker, Rhoda Jatau; with bail denied, she remains incarcerated. Rhoda Jatau has been held in detention since May 2022 for forwarding a video in which a Ghanian Christian convert (from Islam) condemned the mob lynching of Christian student Deborah Emmanuel (triggered by a vexatious accusation of blasphemy). As noted in RLPB 717: ‘Human rights attorney Solomon Dalyop Mwantiri told TruthNigeria (17 Oct) that if, on 27 November, the No-Case Submission is successful, then Mrs Rhoda Jatau would be acquitted and released in what would be a great win for religious freedom in the country. However, if the submission is rejected, then Jatau could remain in jail indefinitely.’ The ruling bodes ill for Christians across Northern Nigeria. Please pray for Mrs Rhoda Jatau and her family; may the Spirit of God sustain and comfort them; may our sovereign Lord deliver justice.


NOVEMBER 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* MALI: ABDUCTED PRIEST IS RELEASED
Update to RLPB 704, Mali: Catholic Priest Abducted …seven and a half months missing, 2 Aug 2023.

Released: Father Ha-Jo
(via Aid to the Church in Need)

After twelve months in captivity, Reverend Hans-Joachim Lohre (66) is free! The German priest, affectionately known as Father Ha-Jo, had been abducted in Bamako on Sunday 20 November 2022. While circumstances of the release remain unclear, the release was reportedly negotiated directly by the German government. On Sunday 26 November 2023 the terrorists released Father Ha-Jo into the hands of Malian authorities, who delivered him into the custody of German representatives who immediately placed him on a special flight to Germany. [It is quite possible that the jihadists had demanded the priest’s removal from the country (after more than 30 years of ministry) as one of the conditions of his release.] Praise and thank God that Father Ha-Jo is now free. Pray for a breakthrough against jihadists in Mali. Pray for Mali’s imperilled Church.

* MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH CAUCASUS
Update to RLPB 702, Christian Crisis in Azerbaijan and Iraq, 19 July 2023.

Webinar, 14 Nov 2023
Watch on YouTube

On 14 November, Melbourne School of Theology’s Arthur Jeffery Centre held a webinar on the topic: ‘How the Current Middle Eastern Conflicts Affect Local Christians’, with Dr Mark Durie and special guest Elizabeth Kendal. After Dr Durie spoke on the history of Muslim-Christian relations in the Middle East and the reality of dhimmitude (a state of subjugation under Islam – something everyone needs to understand) I was able to share my concerns for Christians across the wider region. I am particularly concerned that escalating conflict in the Palestinian Territories could trigger hostility against churches in Jordan and Egypt; and that, should war spread to Lebanon and Syria (as appears likely), it could spell the end of remnant Christian communities there.

I am also concerned that war in the Middle East could act as a smokescreen for ethnic cleansing elsewhere: specifically of Assyrians in Iraq and of Armenians in Transcaucasia (the South Caucasus). From the west and the east, Turkey and Azerbaijan have their eyes on Armenia’s southernmost province of Syunik. Turkey’s President Erdogan dreams of creating a pan-Turkic Middle Corridor as part of China’s Belt & Road Initiative. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev claims Syunik – and much of Armenian territory – is historically Azerbaijani, referring to it as ‘Western Azerbaijan’. In September we witnessed the ethnic cleansing of Armenians out of Nagorno-Karabakh (land they have inhabited for millennia) [RLPB 712 (27 Sep)]; will Syunik be next? [See ElizabethKendal.com / Global Persecution / Transcaucasia.] 

Even more existential is the threat in Iraq, where a final solution to drive the Assyrian remnant out of the Nineveh Plains (the historic Assyrian heartland) is well underway. In recent weeks Iran-backed Shi’ite militias have escalated their attacks against US military bases and forces. If war returns to Iraq, only God himself will be able save Iraq’s remnant indigenous Assyrian Christians. [See RLPB label/Iraq.] Please pray!

* NEPAL: THE BATTLE FOR NEPAL HEATS UP
Update to RLPB 710, The Battle for Nepal, 13 Sep 2023

Pro-monarchy rally, Kathmandu, 23 Nov 2033
Free Press Kashmir (25 Nov)

On Thursday 23 November tens of thousands of Nepalis marched through Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, demanding the restoration of the Hindu monarchy and Nepal’s status as a Hindu state. They clashed with opposition Communists who, while also demanding the removal of the government, are totally opposed to a return of the bad-old-days of Hindu monarchy. They also clashed with police who were forced to resort to batons and tear gas to restore order. The pro-Hindu monarchy sentiment is driven by mass disaffection with the political process which has resulted in political paralysis, devastating corruption, soaring unemployment and galloping inflation. Furthermore, Hindu nationalists are desperate to arrest the rapid growth of Christianity in the country. On Friday 24 November tens of thousands of Nepalis thronged the streets of Jhapa in Nepal’s far southeast to see King Gyanendra unveil a statue of King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal. With more events and protests planned in which violence is anticipated, security is being ramped up across the country.

Pastor Keshab Raj Acharya with his wife, Junu.
via ADF International

The popular shift towards Hindu monarchy and Hindu nationalism bodes ill for the Church in Nepal; we must expect persecution to escalate. In this context, the precedent set by a recent court decision further elevates the risk the Church faces. On 30 November 2021 a court deemed Pastor Keshab Raj Acharya (35) guilty of proselytising and sentenced him to two years in prison and a fine (reduced on appeal to one year in prison). On 6 October 2023 the Supreme Court dismissed Pastor Acharya’s second appeal without affording it any consideration. He now awaits a call to present himself to prison. 

Many fear the imprisonment of Pastor Acharya could trigger a flood of accusations of ‘proselytism’ or ‘forced conversion’ – without evidence. In Pastor Acharya’s case, witnesses told the court that the pastor did not ask them to convert, but only gave them tracts, which they read and discarded. Pastor Acharya and his wife Junu lead the 250-member Abundant Harvest Church in Pokhara, Nepal’s second largest city after Kathmandu, 200 km to the east.  Junu, dreads the day her husband is summoned to prison. She lamented to Morning Star News (15 Nov): ‘What can I do when that day comes, except pray? I must take care of the church as well as my children and provide for them.’ Fortunately, we do know that God hears, loves and has power to save. Please pray for Pastor Keshab Acharya and his family, and for the Church in Nepal.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 720. Nigeria: Treasure is free; many remain missing

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 720 | 22 Nov 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
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NIGERIA: TREASURE IS FREE; MANY REMAIN MISSING
By Elizabeth Kendal

In the early hours of Monday 5 July 2021 armed Fulani Muslims invaded Damishi village, in Chikun Local Government Area (LGA), southern Kaduna, in Nigeria’s North West Region. After breaching the walls of Bethel Baptist High School, the militants overpowered security and abducted 121 students from the school’s boarding hostel [RLPB 605 (7 July 2021)]. Over the next few months, the militants released children in batches as churches joined forces to raise ransom [RLPB 623 (10 Nov 2021)]. By 1 January 2022 only one student remained in captivity. Having only just turned 12, Treasure Ayuba was the youngest to be taken. As reported in RLPB 634 (22 Feb 2022) the terrorists had groomed and manipulated the traumatised boy to such an extent that when ransom was delivered to secure his freedom, he refused to leave. Convinced they had secured a convert, the terrorists put the boy to work, running errands…

Treasure Ayuba meets with
(left) Rev Dr Israel Akanji,
President Nigerian Baptist Convention, and
(right) Rev Joseph Hayab, chairman CAN, Kaduna.

…‘but the church was earnestly praying to God for him’ (v5, from Acts 12:1-19 NIV). And as the church earnestly prayed, the Spirit of God got to work bringing a liberating clarity to the young boy’s traumatised mind. Eventually, at some time around the end of October, after 28 months in captivity, Treasure (now aged 14) went out on an errand and did not return. He travelled at night and hid by day until he found hunters who took him to his hometown. Open Doors reports: ‘His mum didn’t know he’d escaped until he turned up in her doorway – an answer to her faithful prayers and the prayers of many Christians around the world.’ On Thursday night 2 November, the Nigeria Baptist Convention confirmed that Treasure Ayuba had been reunited with his family. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna described Treasure’s escape as ‘a miracle’. A miracle indeed – ‘in answer to the prayers of many’ (2 Corinthians 1:11).

Still, many Christians abducted in Northern Nigeria remain missing. On the night of 14-15 April 2014, Boko Haram terrorists abducted 276 girls aged 16-18 from the student hostel at the Government Girls Secondary School in the mostly Christian town of Chibok, in Borno State, in Nigeria’s North East Region [RLPB 257 (23 April 2014)]. Around 100 of those girls remain missing to this day. On 19 February 2018, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) abducted 110 girls from the Government Girls Science and Technical School in Dapchi, Yobe State, also in Nigeria’s North East Region. One month later, having been criticised for targeting Muslims, the terrorists returned the girls to their families – all except one! The terrorists retained Leah Sharibu (14), a Christian, because despite being given the opportunity, she steadfastly refused to convert to Islam to secure her release [RLPB 448 (28 Mar 2018)]. Leah (now aged 20) remains in captivity – a ‘slave’ of ISWAP – to this day.

 Slain ECWA pastors:
(left) Rev David Musa, killed 14 Nov 2023
(right) Rev Amako Maraya, killed 17 Nov 2023.

On Saturday 11 November 2023 Muslim militants abducted the Reverend David Musa of the ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) church in Obajana area, Lokoja LGA, Kogi State – which is in North Central Region and south of the capital, Abuja. On 14 November, after the terrorists received the ransom payment from the church, they killed him. On Friday night 17 November 2023, Fulani militants invaded Damakasuwa village in Southern Kaduna’s Kauru LGA. They killed the Reverend Amako Maraya, who leads the Second ECWA church in Damakasuwa, and abducted his wife. It was second time the pastor’s house had been targeted in three months. Pastor Maraya’s widow, Mrs Grace Maraya, was released on Sunday evening 19 November after the church paid the ransom; she was immediately hospitalised with severe trauma.


PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR GRACIOUS GOD WILL:

* thoroughly infiltrate conflict-ravaged, terrorist-infested and chronically insecure Northern Nigeria to bring peace to all peoples and liberty to all captives.

* orchestrate a breakthrough in Nigeria’s complex and multi-theatre war with Islamic jihadists: may the corrupt politicians and military officers who facilitate this war for personal and/or economic gain and/or for ideological reasons be exposed as traitors to their country and removed from their positions of power and influence. May Nigerians desire and demand something better from their leaders: e.g. righteousness and honour.

* intervene in the spiritual realm to restrain evil so that grace and truth might advance in the nation. May Nigeria’s courageous missionary-sending Church continue to grow despite her many martyrs. In this intense spiritual battle for Nigeria, may Jesus Christ have the victory!

We praise and thank-you Lord for liberating Treasure Ayuba; may the Holy Spirit bring healing to this deeply traumatised boy and to Nigeria’s deeply traumatised Church: in this we pray especially for Rev Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna, who for many years has served as the Kaduna Church’s ‘first responder’, negotiator, spokesperson and pastor.

REMINDER: please pray for the blasphemy trial resuming in Bauchi on 27 November, as lawyers representing Rhoda Jatau present their ‘No-Case Submission’. Lord have mercy. [For more information and specific prayer requests see RLPB 717, Blasphemy in Bauchi, 1 Nov 2023.]

Psalm for the imperilled, traumatised Christians of Northern Nigeria: Psalm 146
excerpts:
Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation… The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind… he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
AMEN (‘so be it’!)


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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NIGERIA: TREASURE IS FREE; MANY REMAIN MISSING

In July 2021 Treasure Ayuba (12) was the youngest among 121 children abducted from Bethel Baptist High School, southern Kaduna. Local churches joined forces to make ransom payments, and by January 2022, Treasure alone remained in captivity. Believing they had secured a convert, Treasure’s captors put him to work. Meanwhile, ‘the church was earnestly praying to God for him’ (Acts 12:5). On 2 November 2023 Church leaders in Kaduna confirmed that Treasure Ayuba (now aged 14) had escaped and returned to his family. Thank-you Lord! Meanwhile, around 100 of the 276 teenage girls abducted by terrorists from the Christian community of Chibok in April 2014, remain missing. Likewise, five years after her abduction in February 2018, Leah Sharibu (now aged 20) remains ‘a slave’ of Islamic State jihadists. Please pray.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 717. Nigeria: Blasphemy in Bauchi

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 717 | 01 Nov 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.

NIGERIA: BLASPHEMY IN BAUCHI
By Elizabeth Kendal

On 27 November 2023 a court in Bauchi State, in Nigeria’s North East Region, will rule on a ‘No-Case Submission’ filed by lawyers defending Mrs Rhoda Ya’u Jatau. The Christian healthcare worker – who is married with five children – has been detained without trial, held incommunicado, since her arrest in May 2022 on vexatious charges of blasphemy and incitement. While the prosecution has closed its case, the defence has not even been heard, because each time Jatau’s lawyers apply to make their case – i.e. that there is no case – the court postpones the hearing. Solomon Dalyop Mwantiri, a human rights activist from Plateau State, who travelled to Bauchi to monitor proceedings on 20 September, told Christian Solidarity International (CSI, 28 Sep): ‘The postponement[s] appears to be a tactical delay to keep Jatau in continued remand. A religious agenda of Christian persecution is being played out in this case.’ On 4 August multiple human rights advocacy organisations protested the situation in a joint letter to the Nigerian government. The letter was only made public in early October after the 60-day confidentiality period expired and the Nigerian government still had not responded. On 16 October Judge Fatima Jibrin ruled that the defence’s ‘No-Case Submission’ will be considered on 27 November.

green circle = Warji LGA.
(click on map to enlarge)

Mrs Rhoda Ya’u Jatau (45) is a resident of Katanga, Warji Local Government Area (LGA), Bauchi State – a Sharia state, the population of which is around 85 percent Muslim. Jatau was arrested on 20 May 2022 after she forwarded a video to a closed WhatsApp group for staff at the Primary Healthcare Board where she worked. In the 2:26 minute video, a Ghanian man (a convert to Christianity) condemns the horrendous 12 May 2022 mob lynching by Muslims in Sokoto (in Nigeria’s far north-west) of Christian student Deborah Emmanuel [see RLPB 645, Nigeria: Horrific killing; Pivotal case, 18 May 2022]. Enraged by the video, Muslim staff accused Jatau of blasphemy and mobilised local youths against her. Intending to kill Jatau, but unable to find her, the 200-strong mob instead spread out to loot and burn Christian homes and businesses throughout Katanga. At least 15 Christians were injured, the ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) church was vandalised, and Jatau’s family was forced into hiding [see RLPB 646 (25 May 2022)]. Jatau’s husband, Adamu (50), has sold all his belongings to finance his wife’s legal defence.

Rhoda Jatau and her husband Ya'u Adamu
in court October 2023. CSI/Masara Kim

Rev. Ishaku Dano, who oversees the ECWA church in Katanga, told Sahara Reporters in December 2022: ‘Such persecution of Christians in Bauchi is just becoming public. But for long, we’ve been suffering and dying in silence. For you as a Christian to gain employment or school admission in Bauchi, it takes the grace of God. Such discrimination is displayed even by students and teachers and public schools against Christian children and no one dares utter a word. The more you try to speak, the more you fall victim of situations like that of Rhoda because they know they are the ones in control of the government and law enforcement. We are a minority amongst them.’

Judges overseeing Jatau’s case have repeatedly refused to grant bail on the grounds that Jatau’s release would likely trigger a fresh wave of destructive Islamic rioting. Human rights attorney Solomon Dalyop Mwantiri told TruthNigeria (17 Oct) that if, on 27 November, the No-Case Submission is successful, then Mrs Rhoda Jatau would be acquitted and released in what would be a great win for religious freedom in the country. However, if the submission is rejected, then Jatau could remain in jail indefinitely. Acutely aware of the pivotal nature and high stakes of this case, Dalyop is appealing ‘for prayers and the intervention of all advocates of religious freedom around the world’.


PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:

* sustain and protect Mrs Rhoda Jatau, her husband Adamu and their five children, along with all those who are working to secure justice and liberty in this case, and Christian freedom and security in the state. May the Lord provide their every need and keep them safe.

‘fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’ [see Isaiah 41:10-13 ESV]

* intervene for justice in the case of Mrs Rhoda Jatau. May the defence’s No-Case Submission be heard and accepted; may the vexatious charges against Mrs Rhoda Jatau be dropped so that she might be freed from prison and reunited with her family.

* intervene for peace and security in Northern Nigeria’s Bauchi State. If it be the case that intolerant elements do incite unrest and violence against Christians, may the Lord step in to defend, help and fight for his people. May the police have courage to uphold the law and maintain civil order, for the sake of Bauchi’s minority Christians, who have long ‘been suffering and dying in silence’. Lord have mercy!


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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NIGERIA: BLASPHEMY IN BAUCHI

On 27 November 2023 a court in Northern Nigeria’s Bauchi State will hear a ‘No-Case Submission’ filed by lawyers defending Mrs Rhoda Jatau (45). In May 2022, Jatau – a Christian healthcare worker, married with five children – was arrested on a vexatious blasphemy charge. She has been in jail ever since, unable to get bail as judges fear further Islamic rioting. Every time her defence lawyers move to have their no-case submission heard, the hearing is postponed. In early August multiple religious freedom advocacy groups protested the situation in a joint-letter to the Nigerian government. In early October the letter was made public after the Nigerian government failed to respond. On 16 October Judge Fatima Jibrin ruled that the ‘No-Case Submission’ will be considered on 27 November. The stakes are high. Please pray.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 712. September Update incl. Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Iran, Mozambique, Uganda

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 712 | Wed 27 Sep 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com 
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.

SEPTEMBER 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING SEPTEMBER WE PRAYED CONCERNING

AZERBAIJAN AND SUDAN [RLPB 709 (6 Sept)], as Armenian Christians in Azerbaijan’s besieged Nagorno-Karabakh, and Nuba Christians in Sudan’s war-ravaged South Kordofan, faced the prospect of starvation.

UPDATE AZERBAIJAN: On Tuesday 19 September Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan launched what it called an ‘anti-terror’ operation in its Armenian Christian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K). Prior to the offensive Azerbaijan already controlled the high ground of Susha (which overlooks the capital Stepanakurt) and it had already closed the Lachin Corridor, the only road linking N-K to Armenia. So, when the shelling started and Azeri troops advanced, there was little N-K’s exposed, vulnerable and half-starved Armenian civilians could do but bunker down in their basements and wait for the end.

On Wednesday 20 September, after 24 hours of terror – during which five Russian peacekeepers and at least 200 ethnic Armenians were killed – N-K’s ethnic Armenian government agreed to a Russian-brokered cease-fire. The terms of the ceasefire require N-K Armenian Christians enter into talks on demilitarisation and ‘reintegration’ into Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan. On Friday 22 September Moscow confirmed that N-K’s defence forces had started surrendering their weapons and that the process would continue through the weekend with the help of Russian peacekeepers.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov assured the UN General Assembly: ‘Azerbaijan is determined to reintegrate ethnic Armenian residents of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as equal citizens.’ Having enduring centuries of persecution and genocide, no ethnic Armenian believes that. By Sunday 24 September a mass exodus of Armenians was underway, eager to escape ethno-religious persecution and ethnic cleansing. They leave behind their homes, farms and businesses, along with hundreds of ancient churches and monasteries (many dating back to the 10th Century and some even earlier) and a land – Artsakh – that has been Armenian for millennia.

David Babayan, an adviser to N-K’s President Samvel Shahramanyan, told Reuters he expected almost everyone to leave. He said: 'Armenians do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan – 99.9 percent prefer to leave our historic lands. The fate of our poor people will go down in history as a disgrace and a shame for the Armenian people and for the whole civilised world. Those responsible for our fate will one day have to answer before God for their sins.’ (See Proverbs 24:12)

Everyone knew this day was coming: see RLPB 575, Genocide Postponed? 11 Nov 2020. Going forward, threats include: (1) ‘cultural erasure’ [see RLPB 577 (25 Nov 2020) and Cornell University College of Arts and Science (21 Sept 2023), ‘Hundreds of Armenian heritage sites at risk in Nagorno-Karabakh’, ]; (2) the territorial integrity of Armenia, as Turkey and Azerbaijan prepare to move on Syunik (Armenia’s southern-most province) [see RLPB 591, Armenia-Azerbaijan: new war looms, 31 March 2021, and Reuters (26 Sept 2023),  ‘Azerbaijani and Turkish leaders hold talks, eye land corridor via Armenia’ … ‘whether Armenia likes it or not’]. Lord have mercy!

NEPAL [RLPB 710 (13 Sep)], where Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) activists and political parties are exploiting the current political chaos and paralysis to advance the Hindutva cause. This is resulting in a marked escalation in violent persecution of Nepal’s rapidly growing Church. Please pray.

NIGERIA [RLPB 711 (20 Sep)], after more massacres – the aim of which is ethno-religious cleansing for the purpose of Fulani expansion – were reported in southern Kaduna and north-west Plateau.

UPDATE: (other September reports from Morning Star News)

Kaduna: Seminary student
Na’aman Danlami
(Aid to the Church in Need)

KADUNA (North West Region): On Thursday night 7 September gunmen attacked the rectory of St Raphael’s Catholic Church in Fadan Kamantan, in southern Kaduna’s terror-ravaged Zangon Kataf LGA. Intending to kidnap the parish priest, Rev. Emmanuel Okolo, the terrorists attempted to gain entry to the priest’s residence. When that failed, they set fire to the property. Whilst Rev Okolo and his assistant managed to escape, seminary student Na’aman Danlami (25) was trapped; he perished in the flames.

TARABA (North East Region): At around 2am on Sunday 10 September terrorists invaded the Mile Six area of Jalingo, the capital, located in the state’s north. A source in the area told ChannelsTV (10 Sept) that the assailants operated for hours, moving from one house to the other without interference by security operatives. The kidnappers have demanded ransom. The killings came just days after two Christians were killed and at least six kidnapped on the Takum Road in the state’s south-west.

PLATEAU (North Central Region): Before dawn on Wednesday 13 September gunmen invaded Maigyemu community, Jos East LGA. They broke into the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) compound in Nuku village and kidnapped the Reverend Usman Umaru from his residence. Two other Christians were also abducted.

NASARAWA (North Central Region): On Wednesday morning 20 September Muslim Fulani militants attacked Kola village, in Nasarawa state’s Akwanga LGA, killing one Christian, wounding three others – including Baptist pastor, the Rev. Thomas Wakayi – and displacing all residents.

Please pray for the Church in Nigeria’s Islamic North and jihad-wracked mixed Middle Belt.


SEPTEMBER 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* IRAN: ARMENIANS FREE TO WORSHIP, BUT NOT IN PERSIAN.
- worship in Persian (language) or witness to Muslims and you’ll go to jail!

(1) Ethnic Armenian Iranian Pastor Joseph Shahbazian was arrested on 30 June 2020 when agents from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps raided his house church gathering in Tehran [RLPB 557 (8 July 2020)]. He was sentenced in June 2022 to 10 years in prison to be followed by two years internal exile for ‘founding or leading an organisation that aims to disrupt national security’. However, in February 2023 the Supreme Court granted him a retrial and in May his sentence was reduced to two years. Then, on the evening of 13 September, Pastor Joseph Shahbazian (59) was summoned to the Evin Prison office and informed that he had been pardoned and was free to leave prison and return to his family, including his first grandchild, born while he was incarcerated. Thank-you Lord!

(2) Ethnic Armenian Iranian believer Anooshavan Avedian was arrested on 21 August 2020 when agents from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) raided a prayer gathering in his home in north-east Tehran. He was sentenced in April 2022 to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years ‘deprivation of social rights’, for ‘establishing and leading an illegal group with the aim of disrupting the security of the country through educational and propaganda activities, contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam, through the dissemination of false claims’. His appeal in May 2022 was not successful. On Wednesday 13 September 2023, Anooshavan Avedian (61) entered prison to commence his 10-year jail term. May the Lord intervene for Anooshavan Avedian as he did for Joseph Shahbazian. In the meantime, may the Lord protect, sustain and comfort him. Please pray.

* MOZAMBIQUE: MASSACRE IN NAQUITENGE

Map showing location of
Mocímboa da Praia (far north).
(Click on map to enlarge)
map source: worldometers

At around 3pm on Friday 15 September local militants affiliated with Islamic State invaded the village of Naquitenge village in the district of Mocímboa da Praia in Mozambique’s northern-most province of Cabo Delgado. Sources told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that the militants first summoned all the residents to a meeting. Once the residents had gathered, the militants then proceeded to separate the Christians from the Muslims. Then, according to missionary Friar Boaventura from the Institute of the Fraternity of the Poor of Jesus, ‘They opened fire on the Christians, riddling them with bullets.’ At least eleven Christians were killed in the attack, and many more were left seriously wounded; homes were burned and property was destroyed. Islamic State has claimed responsibility. The attack comes as displaced residents were starting to return to their homes, and a month after Mozambique forces reportedly killed Bonomade Machude Omar, the leader of the Islamic State group in Mozambique. Having ambushed a detachment of soldiers, Omar and his fellow jihadists were killed in the subsequent firefight. Please pray for Mozambique (estimated to be 62 percent Christian) and for the imperilled Church in jihad-wracked Cabo Delgado.

* UGANDA: ANOTHER EVANGELIST MURDERED

On Wednesday 6 September evangelists Philip Bere and Mudenya Sirasi participated in an evangelistic event in Eastern Uganda’s Kituuti town. According to Sirasi, many people accepted Christ, including Muslim women and two young Muslim men. About 7:40pm, as the evangelists travelled home to Katiryo, they were ambushed by Muslims angry about the conversions. Bere was struck and pulled from the bicycle as Sirasi fell but escaped into a tunnel under a bridge. Captured, Philip Bere (33) was subsequently bashed to death with a large rock. The pastor of Bere’s church told Morning Star News that police in Katiryo, Kibuku District, took statements about the killing and assured him they were searching for the killers. The pastor laments: ‘Our evangelist was killed because of his passion for preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, especially to Muslims.’ Apparently Bere was well-known for his preaching among Muslims in Buseeta, Lwatama, Katiryo and other parts in eastern Uganda. Please pray.

--------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 711. Nigeria: Terror in Kaduna and Plateau

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 711 | Wed 20 Sep 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.

NIGERIA: TERROR IN KADUNA AND PLATEAU
- Christians live with gross insecurity while militant Muslims enjoy impunity.
PLUS – urgent update on Azerbaijan’s imperilled Artsakh Armenians.
By Elizabeth Kendal

CHRISTIAN CRISIS IN KADUNA

On Tuesday 12 September Christian leaders from across Kaduna State met with the state’s new Commissioner of Police, Musa Garba, and other senior officers in what was essentially a confidence-building exercise. The Christian leaders informed the police that attacks by militant Muslim Fulani herdsmen and Islamic terrorists have resulted in the killing of 23 pastors, the abduction of 215 Christians still in captivity and the closure of 200 church worship buildings in four years. They then tasked the police commissioner to ‘match his words with action by going after the bandits’ and ‘consider sanctioning religious leaders who engage in hate sermons and speeches’. Please pray!

Map showing area of Christian Crisis in
south Kaduna and north-west Plateau.

Three days later, on Friday 15 September, militant Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked Dogon Noma village in predominately Christian Southern Kaduna’s Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA). Resident David Musa told Morning Star News (MSN, 18 Sep): ‘Fulani herdsmen surrounded the village in their hundreds, shooting anybody in sight; the attack occurred at about 7am. Pray for Dogon Noma community.’ Nigerian media immediately reported that two residents had been killed, at least four abducted with many more were wounded. By 18 September, MSN was able to confirm that 15 Christians had been killed and 32 have been abducted. Lord have mercy!

CHRISTIAN CRISIS IN PLATEAU

On 26 July, RLPB reported: ‘Since mid-May, Christians in central Plateau State have been under sustained attack as large bands of Muslim Fulani herdsmen have attacked village after village, seemingly with impunity.’ RLPB quoted Truth Nigeria (4 July) which warned that ‘several hundred terrorists’ were ‘massing in the Fulani ethnic settlement of Bangai [in Riyom LGA] … They are moving on motorbikes, 3 men to a bike and may number as many as 800.’ Truth Nigeria (20 July) warned that the ‘mother of all invasions’ was being prepared. According to intelligence it had received, the ‘invasion’ would start in Mangu LGA, and spread west into neighbouring Barkin Ladi, and on through Riyom, Jos South and Bassa, employing not only Fulani herdsmen, but jihadists and mercenaries recruited from across Nigeria and the Sahel. [See RLPB 703, Christian Crisis in Plateau State, 26 July 2023]. The terror continues.

On 7 August, at 11pm, militant Muslim Fulani herdsmen, working alongside Islamic jihadists, attacked the predominantly Christian community of Nchiya in Mangu LGA, killing four Christians. On 10 August, at 1am, they invaded the predominantly Christian communities of Banyit and Rahogot in Barkin Ladi LGA, killing 21 Christians and wounding at least seven. On 14 August at 2pm they attacked a community high school in Kwi village in Riyom LGA, killing two Christian teachers and wounding two Christian staff members. Morning Star News (MSN) reports that on Sunday 10 September militant Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded the predominantly Christian community of Kulben in Mangu LGA at around 8:40pm, killing 10 Christians, wounding more, and destroying property. Lord have mercy!


PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:

* intervene in Nigeria to protect, defend, sustain and sanctify his precious Nigerian Church. May the Holy Spirit ignite in the churches a love that compels them into action – that they might advocate for their persecuted brethren; unite in intercessory prayer for them across tribal, regional and denominational lines; and give generously to those who are displaced, grieving and impoverished simply because they are Christians. May the Church put her trust in God, not ‘man’. ‘It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.’ (Psalm 118: 9 ESV)

* comfort and sustain all those vulnerable Christians across Kaduna and Plateau states who are grieving, wounded, displaced and terrified. ‘The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.’ (Deuteronomy 33:27 ESV)

* intervene in Nigeria to bind all ‘spiritual forces of evil’ as they seek to disable or even destroy the most missional Church in all Africa and one of the leading missionary-sending Churches in the world today. ‘For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.’ (from Ephesians 6:10-18 ESV)

* redeem the current insecurity and work it for good. May those who desire a better Nigeria for the sake of their children seek it and find it in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May those in authority find the political will, courage and energy to reform the deeply problematic 1999 Constitution – which was written by a military junta and enshrines centralised – i.e. in the hands of the President – rather than state-based security, which can leave states unable to protect their people. May God the Redeemer (Haggo’el) have mercy on Nigeria!


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
------------------------------------------
NIGERIA: TERRO IN KADUNA AND PLATEAU

Militant Muslim Fulani herdsmen, often working in conjunction with Islamic jihadists, continue to attack predominantly Christian villages in Nigeria’s Kaduna and Plateau states. At 7am on Friday 15 September hundreds of militants surrounded Dogon Noma village in predominately Christian Southern Kaduna’s Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA) and shot anybody in sight. At least 15 Christians were killed and 32 were abducted. Meanwhile, Christian communities in neighbouring Plateau State have been under sustained attack since mid-May from militants estimated to be around 800 in number. Mangu, Barkin Ladi and Riyom LGAs have been most severely affected. There is mass displacement. Most recently, at 8:40pm on Sunday 10 September, militants invaded the predominantly Christian community of Kulben in Mangu LGA, killing 10 Christians, wounding others and destroying property. Please pray.
------------------------------------------

URGENT UPDATE ON AZERBAIJAN’S IMPERILLED ARMENIANS

Background:
RLPB 709, Christian Crisis for Armenians in N-K, 6 Sept 2023
RLPB 702, Final Solution in Azerbaijan, 19 July 2023

At 1pm on Tuesday 19 September, Azerbaijan announced that it had launched an ‘anti-terror operation’ in Nagorno-Karabakh (an Armenian Christian enclave inside Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan). Troops have entered the capital, Stepanakert, backed by artillery shelling. Azerbaijan insists the operation will continue until the enclave’s government is dissolved and its armed forces are disbanded. Towards evening, former State Minister and Human Rights Ombudsman of Artsakh/N-K Republic, Artak Beglarian, wrote on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) that ‘26 civilians, including 11 children are injured, 2 civilians including a child is killed. Military casualties and injuries are also increasing'. Civilian infrastructure is being destroyed and more than 7000 Artsakh Armenians are again displaced. Clearly, Azerbaijan is moving to establish full control over this historically Armenian territory; genocide looms. Please pray.

live conflict map
20 Sept 2023

UPDATE (after the MailChimp's "automated abuse-prevention system, Omnivore," rejected and refused to deliver this RLPB, therefore causing delay): At 1pm on 20 September, ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to a Russian-brokered cease-fire the terms of which require they enter talks on demilitarisation and N-K's 'reintegration' into Azerbaijan. In the meantime, N-K/Artsakh Armenians say will not hand over their weapons until their security is guaranteed. This is far from over.

------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 703. July Update, incl. Vietnam, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 703 | Wed 26 Jul 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
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JULY 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING JULY WE PRAYED CONCERNING

VIETNAM [RLPB 700 (5 July)], after the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam deployed massive military force into the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak in response to the deadly 11 June attack on two government offices in Dak Lak’s Cu Kuin district. We prayed specifically for the Central Highlands’ indigenous, predominantly Christian hills tribes who feared the deployment could herald an escalation in ethno-religious persecution and displacement. We also prayed for imprisoned Protestant Pastor and religious liberty advocate Nguyen Trung Ton (51), whose health continues to deteriorate as the authorities continue to withhold medical care.

UPDATE: On 21 July the Director of Dak Lak’s provincial police announced that all six suspected ringleaders of the 11 June attacks had been arrested. In total, more than 90 people have been arrested on multiple charges including terrorism. Please pray that the situation will now settle and that the government will withdraw its forces. Pray that no innocent, wrongly arrested person will be condemned; may justice prevail. Pray that the government will not exploit the situation to advance the ethno-religious persecution and displacement of the Central Highlands’ Montagnard/Degar Christians. Pray for the Church in Vietnam.

PHILIPPINES [RLPB 701 (12 July)], where the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Vice President Sara Duterte appear set to continue the dangerous practice of ‘red-tagging’ its critics. Since the May 2022 elections, religious workers – including priests, bishops and missionaries – associated with the Protestant Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI, an independent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion), the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and the Roman Catholic Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) have been ‘red-tagged’ – i.e. falsely accused of recruiting for or financing the New People’s Army (NPA; the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines). Victims of ‘red-tagging’ are often arrested, murdered or disappeared – mostly at the hands of the Philippine Armed Forces, and mostly for doing nothing more than criticising government policy. Please pray.

AZERBAIJAN AND IRAQ [RLPB 702 (19 July)], where remnant indigenous Armenians in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) and remnant indigenous Assyrians in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains now face political (as distinct from military) efforts to drive them from their lands. While the besieged Christians of N-K face a government-induced humanitarian catastrophe, the displaced Christians of the Nineveh Plains face a political conspiracy of dispossession. If these Christians are forced to surrender their lands – lands they have inhabited for millennia – they will be replaced by land-grabbing Muslims backed by colonising governments. Those colonising Muslims will move quickly to erase millennia of Armenian, Assyrian and Christian heritage, as if it never existed. For up to 400,000 already traumatised Armenians and Assyrians, this is a Christians crisis of existential proportions. Please pray.

JULY 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* ERITREA: PASTORS MARK 7000 NIGHTS IN PRISON

On Saturday 22 July, as noted by Voice of the Martyrs (USA), Pastors Haile Nayzgi and Kiflu Gebremeskel spent their 7000th night in detention. Arrested on 23 May 2004, the pastors were leaders in the Full Gospel/Kale Hiwot Church of Eritrea, one of the many Protestant denominations banned in May 2002. Pastor Haile Nayzgi also served as chair of that denomination, while Pastor Kiflu Gebremeskel also served as chair of the Eritrean Evangelical Alliance. While Pastor Nayzgi is reported to be in good health, Pastor Gebremeskel has been seen ‘visiting hospital frequently under tight security’. Neither man has ever been charged with any crime. Both are believed to be held in the maximum-security Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Interrogation Centre. An estimated 400 Christians in Eritrea are currently imprisoned for their faith, many in appalling conditions in shipping containers in military camps, in unsanitary over-crowded prisons, and even in underground cells in the desert [see also RLPB 671, The Horror of Eritrea, 16 Nov 2022]. Please pray for the Church in Eritrea; and may God intervene to deliver Eritreans from tyranny.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! (Psalm 70:1 ESV)

* INDIA: MANIPUR TEARING APART

On 19 July footage emerged from Manipur showing a mob of hundreds of ethnic Meitei Hindu men parading two naked ethnic Kuki Christian women through the streets. The horrific crime, which took place on 4 May (one day after the violence erupted), went far beyond mere humiliation. According to a report by British Asian Christians (21 July), the terrified women – aged 50 and 19 – were abused, groped and assaulted, before the younger woman was taken into a field and gang raped. When her father and brother tried to rescue her, they were bludgeoned to death. It is alleged (unconfirmed) that the women – who had been hiding in the bush as the Meitei burned their village – were betrayed by police who, instead of helping them as promised, led them into the hands of the mob.

Kuki 'Rally for Separate Administration',
Churachandpur, 20 July. (India Today)

The human toll – which is overwhelmingly Kuki – now stands at: at least 140 dead and 60,000 displaced; with over 4400 Kuki homes and 357 churches (Kuki and Meitei) burned, many razed to the ground. Convinced their relationship with the Meitei Hindus of the Imphal Valley is now damaged beyond repair, the Christian Kuki of the Manipur hills are demanding a separate state. On Thursday 20 July some 10,000 ethnic Kuki gathered in Lamka Public Ground in Churachandpur (in the hills, 63km south-west of Imphal) for the ‘Rally for Separate Administration’. Please pray!

Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonour who delight in my hurt! Let them turn back because of their shame who say, “Aha, Aha!” (Psalm 70:2-3)

* IRAN: 50 CONVERTS ARRESTED IN A WEEK

Article18 reports (18 July): ‘More than 50 Christian converts have been arrested in a rash of new incidents across five Iranian cities over the past seven days, with fears the number could rise much higher as fresh reports keep coming in. At least 51 of those arrested at their homes or house-churches – in the cities of Tehran, Karaj, Rasht, Orumiyeh and Aligoudarz – remain in detention on unknown charges, while others have been released on bail.’ The evident crackdown on converts and house-churches comes as the Shi’ite regime re-instigates (after a brief pause) its aggressive policing of Islamic norms. On Sunday 16 July the regime announced its morality police patrol units would resume operations. Of particular concern to the regime is women’s compliance concerning the hijab, which has been compulsory since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Christian fear this wave of arrests heralds the beginning of a renewed effort to crush dissent, enforce Islamic norms and revive the values of the Islamic Revolution. Please pray for the Church in Iran.

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, 'God is great!' (Psalm 70:4)

* NICARAGUA: BISHOP CHOOSES JAIL OVER ROME

Having already chosen jail over exile in the USA, Bishop Rolando José Álvarez (56) has now chosen jail over Rome. Bishop Álvarez was arrested on 19 August 2022, ostensibly for his outspoken criticism of the regime of President Daniel Ortega. On 9 February 2023 the Nicaraguan government forcibly exiled 222 political prisoners, stripping them of their citizenship and putting them on a flight to the USA. Despite being given the option of exile, Bishop Álvarez chose to stay in his native country to be with the Catholic community under repression by the Ortega regime. The next day, on 10 February, the regime stripped Bishop Álvarez of his citizenship and sentenced him to 26 years in prison [see RLPB 681, 22 Feb]. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports that, on 4 July, Bishop Álvarez was taken from prison to meet with a mediator ‘assigned by the Vatican who tried to persuade him to go to Rome. The bishop refused the offer and called on the government to grant his unconditional release and that of five other imprisoned priests, to unfreeze the bank accounts of Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the country and to halt its targeting of religious groups and leaders.’ The next day, on 5 July, Bishop Álvarez was returned to La Modelo Tipitapa prison, where he will continue to share in the suffering of the Nicaraguan Church. Lord have mercy! Please pray.

But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! (Psalm 70:5)

* NIGERIA: CHRISTIAN CRISIS IN PLATEAU STATE

Since mid-May, Christians in central Plateau State have been under sustained attack as large bands of Muslim Fulani herdsmen have attacked village after village, seemingly with impunity. Morning Star News (MSN) reports (7 June) that between mid-May and early June at least 300 Christians, including two pastors, were killed and 30,000 residents were displaced, while some 2,000 homes and 28 churches were destroyed in Mangu Local Government Area (LGA), central Plateau. In June the killings continued and spread west to Barkin Ladi and Riyom LGAs in Plateau’s north-west bordering some of the most conflict-stricken LGAs of south-east Kaduna. On 4 July, Truth Nigeria warned that ‘several hundred terrorists’ were ‘massing in the Fulani ethnic settlement of Bangai [in Riyom LGA] … They are moving on motorbikes, 3 men to a bike and may number as many as 800.’ On Sunday 9 July the new governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang imposed a 24-hour curfew on Mangu LGA in an attempt to restore order as the army sent reinforcements.

TVC News Nigeria, 13 July 2023,
video 3:13mins

On 17 July Governor Mutfwang labelled the wave of killings ‘a clear genocide’, adding, ‘what we are seeing is a deliberated and orchestrated plan to wipe out numbers of people’. As he noted, these killings cannot be described as ‘herder-farmer clashes’, for the villages are attacked at night and the residents are slaughtered in their beds. On 20 July Truth Nigeria warned that the ‘mother of all invasions’ was being prepared. According to intelligence they had received, the ‘invasion’ would start in Mangu LGA, and spread into neighbouring Barkin Ladi, and on through Riyom, Jos South and Bassa, employing not only Fulani herdsmen, but jihadists and mercenaries recruited from across Nigeria and the Sahel. By 24 July officials were reporting that Mangu LGA was housing some 80,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in eleven makeshift camps, relying mostly on donations from local churches. One IDP, Grace Emmanuel (70) laments: ‘The crisis has made us homeless, our farmland has been destroyed and we have to manage to live in this primary school. It’s not easy, we don’t have anything to eat. We go and fetch water from the well, [but] sometimes the water is not enough for thousands of us.’ Lord have mercy! Please pray.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! … O Lord, do not delay! (first and last words of Psalm 70).

---------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 699. June Update, incl. Sudan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Nigeria, Uganda

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 699 | Wed 28 June 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
For bite-size: follow religiouslibertyprayer on Instagram.

JUNE 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING JUNE WE PRAYED CONCERNING

HONG KONG [RLPB 696 (7 June)], after three Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-approved religious umbrella bodies – the China Christian Council, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Hong Kong Christian Council – held their first ever conference on ‘The Sinicisation of Christianity’ in Hong Kong. If Beijing’s directly imposed national security law (enacted June 2020) ended the era of ‘One China Two Systems’, then the conference doubtless heralds the end of an era of ‘tolerance’. Hong Kong’s roughly 1500 churches, 35 Bible Colleges and multiple Christian media organisations will now be expected to either ‘sinicise’ – i.e. become obedient servants of the CCP – or face persecution and dissolution, as on the mainland. Please pray for the Church in Hong Kong.

NORTH KOREA [RLPB 697 (14 June)], after the arrest of five Christians who had gathered at a farmhouse for a secret time of pre-dawn prayer and worship. In North Korea, the Kim Dynasty alone is to be worshipped and obeyed. Putting God above the Kim dynasty is a political crime in North Korea, the penalty for which would normally be that the accused – along with three generations of their family – would be imprisoned in a concentration camp and condemned to hard labour. These prisons are essentially death camps, where many prisoners die from brutality and starvation. A local resident told Radio Free Asia: ‘A staff member of the judicial agency told us that the [believers] refused to tell where they got their Bibles and said, “All for Jesus, even in death”.’ Please pray for the Church in North Korea.

SUDAN [RLPB 698 (21 June)], as the conflict which erupted on 15 April in Khartoum between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spreads south, into South Kordofan, threatening the lives of well over a million Christians. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (Hilu faction: which represents the interests of the predominantly Christian Nuba tribes) is fighting both RSF and SAF forces. On 12 June, the SAF dropped bombs on the long marginalised, predominantly Christian Nuba Mountains for the first time since 2016. Christians in the jihad-ravaged Nuba Mountains are again facing the spectre of war, famine and death.

UPDATE: CONFLICT ESCALATES IN SOUTH KORDOFAN

Whilst most reports contain contested and unconfirmed accounts, fighting does appear to be escalating along the El Obeid – Kadugli axis, with the RSF and SAF fighting each other, and the SPLM-N (Hilu faction) forced to fight both. Responding to claims it has breached a cessation of hostilities agreement, the SPLM-N (Hilu faction) has publicly stated that it reserves the right ‘to respond to any attacks against the Nuba people in areas controlled by [its] army’. The situation is fluid; tensions are soaring, and much is at stake. Meanwhile, in Khartoum, numerous reports indicate that the RSF has taken control of most of the city by using civilians as human shields. Of course such a tactic would never work in Darfur (which is rich in gold) or South Kordofan (where most of Sudan’s oil reserves are located) or in Blue Nile (which is rich in water) as the SAF has never had a problem with bombing and strafing non-Arab civilians. The spectre of protracted devastating war looms large over the entire non-Arab periphery, including the predominantly Christian Nuba Mountains (population estimated to be around 1.5 million). Lord have mercy! Please pray.


JUNE 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* AZERBAIJAN: LACHIN CORRIDOR CLOSED

On 15 June Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers engaged in a skirmish at the entrance to the Lachin/Berdzor Corridor. Each side blamed the other, and Azerbaijan responded by closing the corridor – which is the only road connecting Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) to Armenia and the outside world. The closure extends to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – which is responsible for getting humanitarian aid in and medical evacuations out – and Russian peacekeepers. On 20 June, Artsakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan lamented: ‘The situation is turning disastrous day by day, and it is incomprehensible why the world tolerates this.’ In a statement dated 23 June, the European Union described the situation as ‘very worrying’, adding, ‘It directly threatens the livelihoods of the local population and raises serious fears of a potential humanitarian crisis.’ Few doubt that Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan is eager to ethnically cleanse Artsakh/N-K of Armenian Christians. Talks are currently underway in Moscow. Please pray.

BACKGROUND: STALIN’S BORDERS
Long part of, and integral to, the historic Christian Kingdom of Armenia, Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) now exists as an Armenian Christian enclave inside Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan. In the 1920s-30s, Stalin carved up the Russian Federation into ethnic republics to create the Union of Social Soviet Republics (USSR). To ensure that the ethnic minorities of the Russian Federation’s periphery (e.g. Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Azeris etc) could not break away, Stalin made sure (by way of borders) that each SSR included a large (often 40 percent) ethnic minority. Following this strategy, Stalin placed Artsakh – which includes the mountainous NK region – inside the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR. By this means, Stalin hoped to keep the periphery restive (therefore focused on itself, not the centre) and forever tied to the Russian SSR. This is why so many Russians consider the break-up of the Soviet Union a disaster: it left millions of Russians – along with Armenians and others – stranded, as ethnic minorities, often in hostile territory, separated from their ethnic kin and co-religionists by artificial borders imposed by a mischievous dictator. Stalin’s ally, fellow Communist Bros Tito did the same in Yugoslavia. We continue to live with the consequences. Lord have mercy!

* INDIA: MANIPUR STILL BURNING
Update to RLPB 694. Manipur Burns, 17 May 2023

Manipur Violence: Escaping the Conflict,
 Kuki Families Find Safe Haven in Delhi.
The Quint, 1 June 2023

The ethno-religious violence that erupted in Manipur on 3 May shows no sign of abating. In an open letter dated 16 June and bearing the signatures of some 550 civil society groups, advocates demand Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi end his silence over the sectarian violence that has claimed some 115 lives and displaced over 50,000 people, mostly ethnic Kuki Christians. Catholic media reports (21 June): ‘The June 16 letter called for “an immediate stop to divisive politics by the state and security forces”… Manipur is burning today in very large part due to the divisive politics played by the BJP and its governments. And on them lies the onus to stop this ongoing civil war before more lives are lost.’

On 19 June Times of Israel expressed alarm regarding the plight of Manipur’s ethnic Kuki, Jewish Bnei Menashe community, among whom one has been killed and over 1000 are now displaced (20 percent of the community), while two synagogues have been burned to the ground. An estimated 292 Bnei Menashe families have fled into the Kuki-majority hill areas within Manipur or to the nearby state of Mizoram. Times of Israel quotes researcher, Sushant Singh – who accuses state police and security forces of joining Meitei groups in targeting Kukis: ‘It has essentially been a state gone rogue acting against a minority community.’

On 20 June India’s top court declined to entertain an urgent hearing on a plea filed by the Manipur Tribal Forum to deploy army personnel to protect Kuki Christians in strife-torn Manipur. A Catholic official told UCA News (21 June): ‘Abandoned houses of displaced Christians continued to be burnt down, apparently, in a planned attempt to erase their existence there.’ Lord have mercy! Please pray.

* IRAQ: EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN NINEVEH PLAINS
Update to RLPB 695, May Update, Iraq: An Existential Christian Crisis, 24 May 2023

In an open letter dated 19 June, five Iraqi political groups led by Christian leaders and activists protested the large-scale real estate operations underway in Northern Iraq designed to change the demographics of the Nineveh Plains. The five political groups are: the Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa), the National Union of Beth Nahrain, the Abnaa al-Nahrain Party, the Assyrian National Party and the Chaldean-Assyrian-Syriac Popular Council. The ‘Babylon Movement’ – which controls four of the five seats reserved for Christian deputies in the Iraqi Parliament – did not sign. As noted in RLPB 695 (24 May) the Babylon Movement is profoundly compromised. Having won its seats on the votes of Sunni Kurds and Shi’ite Arabs, it is obliged to advance the interests of those communities, not the region’s indigenous Assyrian Christians.

The illegal real estate operation involves the municipalities of Nineveh selling residential land in the Assyrian homeland of the Nineveh Plains to individuals who are not from the region and who are not members of the Assyrian Christian community. The operation violates Iraq’s 2005 constitution Article 23.3.b – ‘Ownership of property for the purposes of demographic change is prohibited’ – and the 2013 Federal Supreme Court ruling which interpreted that article.

The signatories are appealing for Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani and other relevant Ministers to intervene immediately to put a stop to the illegal sale of land and real estate in the Nineveh Plains to individuals outside the indigenous Assyrian Christian community. If the Iraqi government fails, then the end of the Assyrian nation’s existence in its historic homeland is all but guaranteed. If the constitution is not upheld, then, within a few years, Muslims will come to dominate the Nineveh Plains and the indigenous Assyrians will be driven out, ending a history that spans well over three millennia. Please pray.

* NIGERIA: CHRISTIAN CRISIS PERSISTS IN MIDDLE BELT

At least 450 Christians have been killed in the Middle Belt states of Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau states since mid-May. Christianity Today reports (22 June): ‘Tens of thousands were displaced… Whole villages, dozens of church buildings and thousands of homes reportedly were destroyed. Grain was looted.’ The culprits: Muslim Fulani herdsmen. International Christian Concern reports (27 June): ‘Christian communities in Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, were heavily hit this month by radical Fulani militants…Thirty-seven Christian farmers saw their crops destroyed and land taken over by Fulani this month.’ Christian communities are targeted in what is an orchestrated campaign of Fulani-Islamic expansion. Civilians are massacred, farms are seized, churches are burned, believers are abducted and pastors are slaughtered – all with impunity. There is no security. Lord have mercy! Please pray. [For stories and more detail see Morning Star News / Nigeria.]

* UGANDA: ISLAMIC STATE TERROR ROCKS THE WEST

Uganda school attack
survivor speaks of ordeal.
(Al Jazeera, 18 June 2023)

On Friday evening 16 June, the roughly 60 boarding students at Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, in Uganda’s Western Region, were singing Gospel songs (as is their custom at the end of the day) when they came under attack. The five terrorists – presumed to be Islamic State Democratic Republic of Congo (ISDRC) – first targeted the boys’ dormitory. When the boys refused to open the door, the terrorists unleashed a round of gunfire. They then dowsed the dormitory with flammable liquid and set it alight. They then moved on to the girls’ dormitory where they attacked the girls with machetes, all the while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is greater). The dead include 38 students, one guard and two members of the local community. Eight survivors remain in a critical condition in hospital. Six students were abducted – taken across the border into DRC’s terror-wracked North Kivu Province. Three students who had managed to escape were subsequently rescued by the Ugandan Army. A woman with two children who had been kidnapped outside the school was also rescued, together with her children.

Due to its location – close to border of Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) North Kivu Province where ISDRC [formerly known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)] is believed to be based [see RLPB 681 (22 Feb)] – many believe the school should have been provided with more security. By 20 June more than 20 people had been arrested, including school officials who stand accused of collaborating with the terrorists for personal gain. Please pray for the grieving families, for the wounded and traumatised, and for the school community. May justice be done, may Islamic State be defeated and may peace and security be restored in predominantly Christian Uganda and in predominantly Christian DR Congo’s long-suffering north-east.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com