RLPB 533. Advent Amidst Terror

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 533 | 18 Dec 2019
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

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NOTE: This will be the last Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) for 2019. Unless there is a crisis requiring an urgent call to prayer, the next RLPB will be the January Update on 29 January 2020.

Please continue to watch and pray over the Christmas - New Year period. When watching, listening to or reading the news, think of how local Christians might be impacted by events, and pray for them.
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'Advent' is derived from the Latin word adventus, which is a translation of the Greek word parousia which means 'coming'.

ADVENT AMIDST TERROR
by Elizabeth Kendal

The risk of Islamic terror attack is elevated over Christmas as terrorists seek not merely to kill for political gain, but to make a statement about their intention to eliminate Christianity. Across the United Kingdom (UK), undercover SAS officers will be stationed at Christmas markets and other crowded places. The situation will be much the same in Germany, in France, in Belgium and across much of Western Europe and Scandinavia. Europe might have the most potential targets, but Christians in jihadist hot-spots still face the greatest risk.

INDONESIA: On Tuesday 17 December Indonesia's National Police spokesman Argo Yuwono told media that more than 192,000 police and military personnel will be deployed nationwide ahead of Christmas to guard against potential terror attacks. He said, 'Based on intelligence data, there are potential risks ... so we're taking preventative measures but we are also ready to take proactive action.' On 5 December police from the Densus 88 counter-terrorism squad raided a house in the Sentani district of Jayapura, the capital of PAPUA Province, arresting an alleged terrorist and seizing a cache of homemade explosives. While police denied that eight terrorist suspects with ties to the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) had also been arrested, Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) director, Sidney Jones, confirmed, 'The recent arrests are linked to members of JAD cells in Bekasi [West Java] and Lampung … .' Terrorism experts have cautioned Papuan authorities to remain vigilant. [Background: RLPB 523 (9 Oct 2019)]. Please pray.

AFRICA'S TERROR AXIS: In March this year, Kurdish-led anti-IS forces captured Islamic State's last stronghold of Baghouz in eastern Syria. As jihadists have left Syria, either to return home or find fresh fields in which to sow misery and death, jihadist terror has escalated across Africa's terror axis.

(1) SOMALIA-KENYA-ETHIOPIA

In northern Somalia's Puntland, Islamic State in Somalia (ISS) is training fighters and recruiting Ethiopians with Amharic-language propaganda that specifically targets churches and Christians [see RLPB 520 (18 Sep 2019)]. Meanwhile, in southern Somalia, al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab continues to inflict terror both inside Somalia and across the border in Kenya where Christians are its primary target.

KENYA: On Friday 6 December at 5pm al-Shabaab militants flagged down a bus in eastern Kenya's Wajir County. The bus - en-route from Nairobi to the north-eastern city of Mandera - was carrying 56 passengers. After ordering the passengers off the bus, the terrorists separated them into two groups: 'locals' (ethnic Somali Muslims) and 'non-locals' (Kenyan Christians). The 'locals' were ordered back onto the bus while the eleven 'non-locals' were executed. The dead included eight Kenyan police officers returning from leave in Nairobi, two teachers and a medical doctor. The teachers and doctor are known to have been active members of evangelical churches. The bus driver and conductor have been arrested, suspected of being al-Shabaab sympathisers who colluded with the terrorists in the planning and execution of the attack. The militants escaped back to neighbouring Somalia. Please pray for all Christians living and serving in eastern Kenya.

(2) NIGERIA - CAMEROON

Voice of America reports (12 Dec): 'Authorities in Cameroon say Boko Haram terrorists have been launching daily attacks on villages along the Nigerian border, killing at least 30 people and injuring scores in the past few months.' Christian aid group Barnabas Fund (BF) reports that in mid-November, Boko Haram militants conducted a raid in Tourou district, in Cameroon's Far North region, in which they hacked to death a 12-year-old Christian schoolboy who resisted their attempt to abduct him as a 'child soldier'. BF also reports that seven people were killed and 21 children and young adults were kidnapped when Boko Haram rampaged through mainly Christian villages in the Far North region in early December. After each attack, the militants escape back to their base in neighbouring Nigeria. [Background: RLPB 518 (4 Sep 2019).] Please pray.

(3) BURKINA FASO – MALI - NIGER

Violent events linked to ISGS between Jan 2018 - May 2019.
Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (10 June 2019)

On Sunday 1 December terrorists stormed a worship service in eastern BURKINA FASO (BF), near the border with Niger. They killed 14 of the 15 men present, leaving the women and children traumatised and destitute [see 'Urgent Update on Burkina Faso' in RLPB 531 (4 Dec 2019)]. In recent weeks, pastors in BF's East region have been threatened. Despite this, Bible colleges in the region still want to proceed with graduation ceremonies and churches still want to celebrate Christmas. Please Pray! 

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1-3 ESV)

NIGER: On 10 December well-armed terrorists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) - also known as Islamic State in West Africa (an off-shoot of Boko Haram) - launched the most deadly and sophisticated attack on a military base ever seen in Niger. Suicide car-bombers opened the way for militants armed with mortars and riding motorbikes to briefly over-run the Inates base in remote south-western Niger near the border with Mali. At least 71 Nigerien soldiers were killed and 30 remain unaccounted for. ISGS claims to have killed 100 soldiers, wounded dozens more, while capturing weapons, ammunition and 16 vehicles.

Despite being majority Muslim, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali are states with secular government and religious freedom - states where the Church has long been respected for its service which benefits all the people. Today, the tri-border region has become a key focal point for ISGS. Analysts fear that as terror escalates, Niger's overstretched military might opt to withdraw from this remote region to concentrate its forces around the more densely populated cities. This is precisely what has happened in Burkina Faso and Mali. Crisis Group explains, 'The zone is at risk of becoming a no-man's land under the custodianship of a rural [ISGS-infiltrated and backed] jihadist insurgency, with residents more or less held hostage.' The implications for churches, Bible colleges and long-established missions through the wider region are huge. Please pray!

Fulani (courtesy Samaritan's Purse)

ACROSS AFRICA, tribes and peoples with grievances - be they real, imagined or exaggerated - are embracing jihadists who come promising to empower, enrich, rescue and save, while actually harbouring intentions to exploit and enslave. Instead of securing liberty, equity and dignity, the aggrieved peoples are oppressed, abused and sacrificed as cannon-fodder and human shields. It would be better for them if they were to embrace the One who came preaching good news, offering life and liberty, and proclaiming the year of the Lord's favour (Luke 4:16-21). They need the Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray!

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ADVENT PRAYER

Dear God our Father

Please help us to fully comprehend and embrace what you have done through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ whose birth the angels announced as 'good news of great joy that will be for all the people' (Luke 2:1-21). Empower us by your Holy Spirit to live in the light of this truth, energised with hope, conscious that because of Jesus a new day has dawned. Father, open our eyes, unblock our ears, put life in our legs. May we never grow tired of serving in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, we lift before you the Christians of Mesopotamia and the wider Middle East, as they celebrate Christmas in exile, or in hollowed-out churches ravaged by war, and amidst great insecurity. We lift before you the Christians of Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, indeed all believers who this Christmas will be missing loved ones killed in terror attacks, Islamic jihad and communal violence in the course of 2019. We lift before you Christians in prison in Iran, Pakistan, China, Eritrea and North Korea; as well as those held captive by jihadists in the Malian desert and Northern Nigeria. We lift before you the multitudes of believers across the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia who will celebrate Christmas despite crippling poverty (caused by discrimination) and violent persecution (encouraged by impunity). Oh Father, bless them and keep them safe. May reviving power from the life-giving and ever-present Holy Spirit flood their hearts with joy, hope and peace as they remember, embrace and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

In the name of Jesus,

AMEN

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She 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).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 494. Somalia: bleeding into Kenya

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 494 | 19 Mar 2019
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)


SOMALIA: BLEEDING INTO KENYA
-- by Elizabeth Kendal

Lawless Somalia - Aug 2017
click on map to enlarge

Somalia is a failed state and one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. The population is 99.8 percent Muslim and the Christian charity, Open Doors, has placed it third on its World Watch List 2019, describing the persecution as 'extreme'. Whilst Islamic State (IS) does have a presence in Somalia, the main terror group operating there is al-Qaeda-affiliate, al-Shabaab [see RLPB 411 (21 June 2017)].  Both groups hunt down and execute Somali converts to Christianity, often with the assistance and support of thoroughly radicalised local Muslims who view Christianity as the religion of the colonisers (Italy and Britain) -- a religion that has no place in an independent Somalia. In September 2008 Mansuur Mohammed (25) became the first ethnic Somali convert to be martyred for Jesus Christ by al-Shabaab in Somalia. Since then, dozens have been martyred. There are 25 entries for Somalia in the RLPB archive and almost every entry tells the story of yet another ethnic Somali Christian martyr.  They have names like: Abdishakur, Abdikhani, Farhan Haji, Juma Nuradin, Hassan, (Ms) Asha, (Ms) Fatima Sultan, Abdullah, Ali, Hussein, Sheik Mohammed, Maaddey, Osman, Abdikarim and (Ms) Sofia Osman who survived despite being flogged almost to death. These are names in the Lamb's Book of Life! Christians tend to flee Somalia. However, despite its small mustard seed-like size, Somalia's buried/planted, 'underground church' has taken root and is growing. Meanwhile, al-Shabaab is recruiting both across Somalia and in Kenya, allegedly tempting disgruntled and unemployed youths with the offer of a 'hefty' salary.  

Civil war (commenced 1991) has resulted in a whole generation of Somalis being lost to displacement and famine. The Somali Diaspora (overseas communities) is estimated at being more than one million. Those with means fled to the US and EU; those without means crossed the border into Ethiopia or Kenya. At its peak the Dadaab refugee camp, in eastern Kenya's Somali-dominated Garissa County, housed around 500,000 displaced Somalis. While more than 100,000 have accepted assistance for voluntary repatriation in the past two years, Somalia is still anything but stable. At least in the refugee camps Somalis have access to Kenyan and international aid workers and teachers, many of whom are Christian. Likewise, the city of Garissa is home to many courageous, mostly Kenyan Christians who work tirelessly and sacrificially to minister to 'harassed and helpless' ethnic Somalis in a place of freedom (Matthew 9:35-38).

Kenya map showing
Garissa County and city.

That said, even inside Kenya, Christians ministering to Somalis must be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matthew 10:16), for the work is incredibly dangerous. After all, most Somalis who flee to Kenya bring their fundamentalist Islam and hatred of Christianity with them. Like a shield encapsulating the heart, it requires a breakthrough of the Holy Spirit to breach and finally shatter it. Fortunately, the Spirit of God is there with grace and in power, both in war-wracked Somalia and in Kenya's Somali-dominated eastern regions. Al-Shabaab has repeatedly targeted Kenyan Christians in Garissa County, especially teachers whom it assassinates because they might influence ethnic Somali youths as they receive an education in Kenya they could not receive at home [see RLPB 411 (21 June 2017)]. The worst single attack occurred on 2 April 2015, when al-Shabaab attacked Garissa University College, slaughtering 148 Christian students and wounding a further 79 [see RLPB 304 (8 April 2015)]. Despite all the obstacles, an ethnic Somali Church has taken root inside Kenya and is growing. Though it might have freedom in Kenya, that does not mean it is safe.

Pastor Abdul (30) is an ethnic Somali living in Garissa. He is married and the father of three children, aged 8, 5 and 3. He is also a pastor who cares for a fellowship of about 30 Somali converts. Because it is too dangerous to meet openly or all together, he meets with the believers in small groups in various places regularly for worship, prayer and Bible study. Recently his secret work was discovered by Somali Muslims who had grown suspicious. On Friday evening 8 March, Pastor Abdul was walking home from a prayer meeting when the Muslims confronted him. They told him they knew of his 'evil plans' to lead Somali Muslims into Christianity. They then beat him severely with wooden clubs. Neighbours found Abdul unconscious and lying in a pool of blood and rushed him to hospital. He has a broken thigh bone and numerous deep bruises, causing severe pain all over his body, but especially his legs, waist and back.  'I'm almost unable to bear the pain,' he told Morning Star News, adding, 'My family is in great fear, and Christians have re-located us to another place. Our prayer for now is to get a safe place for my family. My life and that of my family is at stake.'


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL 

* mercifully intervene in Somalia to bring peace and freedom; may al-Shabaab's financial backers be exposed; may all financial backing cease; may all lines of supply be severed; may al-Shabaab's life-source dry up. 'Break the arm (mechanism of action; source of power) of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.' (Psalm 10:15 ESV).

* lovingly bless, sustain and protect the vulnerable, underground Somali Church and all who serve her, both inside war-wracked Somalia and in eastern Kenya's Garissa County.

* faithfully walk with Pastor Abdul, his wife and their children, to guide, deliver and comfort them as they make decisions about their future; may the Lord protect and provide for his flock in Garissa.

* graciously raise up and send out more labourers into his harvest field of 'harassed and helpless' ethnic Somalis. We pray especially that the Church in Kenya might be seized with the urgency of this mission. 'For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power' (1 Corinthians 4:20 ESV).

We might ask, 'Is it easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a Somali Muslim to enter the kingdom of God?' But Jesus answers, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'  (Matthew 19:23-26)


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE 
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SOMALI CHURCH BEING ATTACKED

Somalia is one of the world's most dangerous places to be a Christian. Al-Shabaab hunts down and executes Christian converts. Somali Muslims maintain that Christianity has no place in Somalia. Civil war and famine have forced hundreds of thousands of Somalis to flee into Kenya, where they have access to Kenyan and international aid workers and teachers, many of whom are Christian. A small and vulnerable ethnic Somali Church is taking root both inside war-wracked Somalia and in eastern Kenya's Somali-dominated Garissa County. Kenya might offer freedom and opportunity, but the work among Somalis is still incredibly dangerous. On 8 March Pastor Abdul (Somali, aged 30, married, father of three) was severely beaten in Garissa by Somali Muslims. Though relocated, his family fear for their lives. Please pray for the Somali Church.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She 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).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 400. March Update. Incl. Egypt, Syria, Eritrea, India, Assyrians in Iraq; Nigeria, Prisoners in Iran and China; Somalia, West Africa

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 400 | Wed 29 Mar 2017

by Elizabeth Kendal

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely, and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)


MARCH 2017 UPDATE -- this month we prayed concerning ...

* EGYPT (RLPB 396), after 'Islamic State in Egypt' threatened Coptic Christians in North Sinai and called for IS sympathisers to report the whereabouts of Copts. Seven Copts were murdered in a matter of weeks, triggering an exodus of Copts from the Sinai.

UPDATE: According to the spokesman for the Coptic Orthodox Church, Rev Boulos Halim, an estimated 310 Coptic families were uprooted during the crisis in late February and early March; other sources report higher figures. Whilst around 200 families have settled in Ismailia (on the Suez Canal), other families are settling in Port Said, Asyut, Minya, Sharqia, Gharbia and Cairo. Kasr al-Dobara Evangelical Church in Ismailia has registered the displaced Copts to ensure they receive ongoing assistance. Many believe they will never be able to return to their homes. Despite this being 'the largest wave of collective displacement in Egypt since the June 1967 war' (Al-Monitor, 20 March) the international response continues to be one of stone cold silence. Pray for Egypt and its Church.

* XINJIANG, CHINA (RLPB 397), where a massive security crackdown is under way. Though focused primarily on Islamic jihadists and separatists, the Communist Party is keen to consolidate its control over all of society. Consequently, the Church in Xinjiang -- especially the house church movement -- is experiencing increased repression and persecution.

* EGYPT (RLPB 398), where Coptic Christian girls are disappearing into the hands of Islamic trafficking gangs and sexual slavery at the rate of one girl every two days.

* DAMASCUS, SYRIA (RLPB 399), where a new al-Qaeda-led jihadist coalition known as Hay'at Tahrir al Sham (HTS: 'Assembly for the Liberation of Syria') is threatening security in the capital.

UPDATE: On Tuesday 21 March, HTS fighters staged a car bombing in the Abassiyin area of north-eastern Jobar district. Just 2km from the walls of the Old City, it is the same district HTS invaded on 15 March. As would be expected, the Syrian Army's response has been ferocious. Despite having been driven back, HTS still boasts its ability to strike terror. With HTS threatening Damascus and Hezbollah threatening Israel (from southern Syria), the situation is growing increasingly complicated. Pray for Syria and its imperilled, remnant Church.


MARCH 2017 ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* ERITREA: IMPRISONED AND ABUSED TO DEATH

click on map to enlarge

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports that two Protestant Christian women who had been detained in Wi'a military camp died in Massawa Hospital on 17 March, five days after being admitted. Imprisoned for their faith, the women had commenced a hunger strike in protest at their treatment. CSW has learned that the women's bodies showed clear evidence of violent sexual abuse. When the women died the authorities confiscated their medical records, doubtless to eliminate evidence of human rights abuses. CSW has also learned that a significant number of Christians were arrested on Christmas Eve and forcibly marched barefoot to an unknown location. Eritrea is one of the most violently repressive and abusive totalitarian states in the world. Christianity has been under sustained and targeted attack since 2002. Pray Psalm 10 for Eritrea; pray the LORD will intervene.

* INDIA: IMPUNITY EMBOLDENS ATTACKERS

On 17 March Assemblies of God pastor Ajay Kumar and Bible college student Assaryav were lured into a trap in Begusarai, Bihar state and then bashed by Hindu militants. Not only did police not intervene, they subsequently arrested the two Christians on charges of 'forcible conversions'. Kumar and Assaryav remained in custody until after midnight when they were released on bail, charged with 'deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India' under sections 295/295-A of the Indian Penal Code. A minority comprised mostly of the poor and marginalised, the Indian Church has little voice or influence inside India. The situation is extremely serious.

'I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.' (Psalm 121:1-2 ESV)

UTTAR PRADESH ELECTIONS (update to RLPB 394): The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a landslide win in Uttar Pradesh. Opting to ride to power on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who campaigned on a platform of economic development, the BJP did not even name a candidate for Chief Minister. Only when it had won a majority -- securing 225 of the 403 seats -- did the BJP name hard-line Hindu cleric Yogi Adityanath (44) [click here for profile] as the new Chief Minister. A New York Times editorial described this as 'a shocking rebuke to religious minorities', adding that 'nothing stands in the [BJP's] way of realising its long-held dream of transforming a secular republic into a Hindu state'. Pray for India and its Church.

* IRAQ: DISPLACED ASSYRIANS NEED ONGOING AID

Sources have told World Watch Monitor that the supplies sustaining displaced Assyrian Christians in northern Iraq could run out 'within weeks'. However, they do note that the UN agencies which have long ignored the Assyrians have changed their outlook since US President Donald Trump threatened to reduce US funding to the UN, and are now pledging more assistance. Without ongoing aid, the remnant Assyrians -- whose numbers have fallen from 1.4 million in 1987 to around 200,000 today (most of whom are displaced and destitute) -- 'could disappear within the next six to 12 months'. They are indeed 'a threatened people on the verge of extinction, the victims of horrific genocide'.  Pray that the Lord will supply all their needs, realising that while God does work miracles, more often than not he works through his Church, through us, his  'human instruments'. [See www.ElizabethKendal.com/Action ]

* NIGERIA: CHRISTIANS KILLED AS FULANI EXPAND SOUTH

Christians continue to be killed and driven from their homes and farms by southward migrating Fulani Muslims who appear to be guaranteed impunity. Morning Star News reports that on 11 March suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed at least six Christians in Tombo-Mbalagh, Benue state, bringing the total number of Christians killed in rural areas of Benue so far this year to 29. In neighbouring Nasarawa state, more than 200 have been killed and 500 wounded since the start of this year, while homes and farms have been destroyed. Two Christians (including a village chief) were killed and hundreds displaced when Fulani attacked a local congregation of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Oshugu village on Sunday 19 March. Commenting on the constant state of insecurity one survivor lamented, 'no one is doing anything about it'. Pray for God to intervene in Nigeria.
 
* PRISONERS ALERT: IRAN AND CHINA

Iranian Christian convert, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, is again in urgent need of medical care [RLPB 372 (24 Aug 2016)]. Maryam, an evangelist who has been incarcerated in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since March 2013, suffers with Atrial Septal Defect, a congenital heart defect also known as 'hole in the heart'. Due for release in July 2017, Maryam is struggling with serious depression and weight loss, along with other symptoms consistent with a deteriorating heart condition. Please pray.

Pastor Yang Hua
See: China Aid Association

ALSO in urgent need of medical care is Yang Hua, pastor of the 700-member, Protestant Living Stone Church in China's Guizhou Province. Arrested in January 2016, Yang -- who had been resisting pressure to register the church with the Communist-controlled Three Self Patriotic Movement -- was sentenced on 26 December to two-and-a-half years in prison for allegedly 'divulging state secrets'. Today Yang Hua's legs are so severely inflamed that he is at risk of paralysis. Without treatment his condition could require amputation. He has been given pain killers, but not the prescribed penicillin or specialist care. Denial of medical care is in reality a form of torture. Please pray. 

'Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.' (Hebrews 13:3 ESV)

* SOMALIA: MORE CHRISTIANS ASSASSINATED 

Morning Star News reports that one night in February, armed militants from al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab broke into the home of a Christian convert family in Afgoi, in Somalia's Lower Shebelle Region. Shouting 'Allahu Akbar' they shot converts Suleiman Abdiwahab (38), his wife Faduma Osman (35) and their son Ahmed Suleiman (11). Neighbours rushed in to find Suleiman critically wounded with bullet wounds to his chest; his wife and son dead. Three other children aged 13, 9 and 7 managed to escape. The neighbours took Suleiman to hospital; the family has since been relocated. May God bring healing to this grieving and traumatised family and protect and preserve his imperilled Church in Somalia.

* WEST AFRICA: JIHADIST COALITION FORMED
Just as it has done in Syria, al-Qaeda is advancing its strategic policy of jihadist unity in West Africa. On 2 March four jihadist entities -- Ansar Dine, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Sahara branch, Al Murabitoon and the ethnic Fulani 'Katibat Macina' -- announced they had merged to form Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims). The Mali-based coalition is loyal to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahiri and AQIM head Abdelmalek Droukdel. This is bad news for the Church and all Christian people-groups across West Africa. It further raises the stakes in volatile IVORY COAST which was recently rocked by mutinies in the former rebel capital of Bouake and at a Special Forces base in Adiake just 90km east of the port city of Andijan. [See Ivory Coast: Troubles Far From Over, by Elizabeth Kendal, 9 March 2017.] May God protect and preserve the Church in West Africa.

'Put not your trust in princes ... Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God ... The Lord loves the righteous ... but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.' (From Psalm 146)

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She 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).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 323. Uganda: persecution on the rise in Eastern Province

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 323 | Wed 19 Aug 2015

UGANDA: PERSECUTION ON THE RISE IN EASTERN REGION
By Elizabeth Kendal

Uganda's population is approximately 85 percent Christian and 11 percent Muslim, with full religious freedom. Most of Uganda's Muslims live in the Eastern Region where persecution of Christians is escalating [map with districts]. Two factors would drive this trend. First, Islamic radicalisation is a global trend, but the degree of intolerance manifesting as violence depends largely on what is being taught in local mosques. If local mosques have been infiltrated with hard-line Wahhabi/Salafi imams, often Saudi-funded, then persecution is guaranteed to escalate. Secondly, Uganda is one of five African states contributing to the fight against al-Shabaab through the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Al-Shabaab has been threatening retaliation on Uganda for years, but has increased its rhetoric in recent months as Uganda has increased its involvement in Somalia. Recent AMISOM advances in 'Operation Jubba Corridor', which has dislodged al-Shabaab from its strongholds in Southern Somalia, were largely enabled by Uganda's provision of transport and attack helicopters. AMISOM forces have rarely had air cover. With these helicopters being based in Somalia, air cover and air transport will now be more available. All this would agitate fundamentalist Muslims in Uganda's Eastern Region, inflaming Islamic zeal and stoking a desire for revenge.

all the attacks reported
by MSN (2015) occurred
inside the red triangle.

It is most critical that the Ugandan government combat the escalating persecution because appeasement and impunity will only open the door to further escalation. The following attacks, reported by Morning Star News (MSN), all occurred in Eastern Region and are simply the most recent in a string of similar attacks. [See MSN: Uganda]

On 11 August Issa Kasoon (a Muslim) beat and strangled his wife Jafalan Kadondi, in Nsinze village, Namutumba District, leaving her for dead. However, she survived and is receiving specialist care for throat injuries. Relatives joined Kasoon in beating Kadondi and the couple's two sons, Ismael (16) and Ibrahim (18) whose arm was broken when struck with a blunt object. The reason for the attack: Kasoon had discovered that his family had converted to Christianity.

Once an Islamic teacher (sheikh), Hassan Muwanguzi is now an evangelist for Jesus Christ. He has suffered intensive persecution since turning to Christ in his early 20s in 2003. His family disowned him, his wife left him, he has been forced to fight false charges levelled against him, he is routinely beaten and in 2012 his house was burned down. Despite all this, Muwanguzi has opened a Christian school in Kibuku District. In March 2014 Muwanguzi survived an attempted poisoning at the hands of Muslim relatives. On 16 June 2014 a group of Muslims attempted to kill him, and when they could not, they murdered his daughter Grace (12) instead. On 29 June 2015 Muwanguzi (who is remarried and has three surviving children) foiled another assassination plot. Then on 2 July armed Muslims broke into his home late at night but fortunately Muwanguzi was away at a prayer meeting. Seeing Muwanguzi's home being thoroughly looted, neighbours tried to intervene, at which point the intruders brandished knives and vowed to have Muwanguzi's head (literally) because he had become an enemy of Islam.

On 17 June 2015, in Nabuli village, Kibuku District, Namumbeiza Swabura, a mother of eleven including a 5-month-old baby, died after being poisoned by her sister-in-law. Swabura and her husband Mugoya Muhammad, a former sheikh, had been receiving death threats since becoming Christians in August 2014. The couple's pastor, James Kalaja of New Hope Church in Nabuli, told MSN that Nabuli village has many Muslims hostile to Christians. Kalaja is no stranger to suffering: Muslims gang-raped his 17-year-old daughter after he ignored their demands to cease his Christian ministry. Kalaja subsequently moved his family to a safer village and only travels into the village now to lead Sunday worship. His daughter is profoundly traumatised. Meanwhile, widower Muhammad, now a single father of eleven, continues to receive death threats on his mobile phone.


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT

* 'the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction' (2 Corinthians 1:3,4 ESV) will lift up and sustain those who have suffered so terribly and lost so much because of their faith in, love of and service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for all Ugandan Christians presently suffering for their faith: especially for Jafalan Kadondi and her sons Ismael and Ibrahim; for Hassan Muwanguzi and his family; for widower Mugoya Muhammad and his eleven children; for the Kalaja family ministering in Nabuli.

* the Lord of Hosts will guide and protect his people and frustrate the ways of the wicked. (See Psalm 146.) May persecutors who seek to harm believers come to know conviction of sin, especially those who have beaten and killed members of their own family.

* the government in Kampala will move to rein in Islamic radicalisation, intolerance and escalating persecution; may the government of President Yoweri Museveni resist the path of appeasement and act to preserve freedom and security.

* local police will uphold the law, arrest the persecutors and prosecute their crimes; may there be no impunity for violent Islamic persecution in Uganda.


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN WHOLE ARTICLE
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UGANDA: PERSECUTION RISING IN EASTERN REGION

Uganda's Muslims (11 percent of the population) live mostly in the Eastern Region where persecution of Christians is escalating. Radicalisation, Muslim anger over Uganda's involvement in Somalia, and impunity are all factors. Converts from Islam and those in Christian ministry are persecuted the worst. Mugoya Muhammad, a Christian former Islamic teacher (sheikh), was widowed in June when his wife was murdered by relatives because of her faith. He is left raising their 11 children. Another former sheikh, Hassan Muwanguzi, has suffered immensely since turning to Christ in 2003. Muslims murdered his daughter in 2014 and are still after his 'head' -- literally. Muslims gang-raped Pastor Kalaja's daughter (17) after he refused to cease ministry. On 11 August convert Jafalan Kadondi and her two sons barely survived an attack by Muslim relatives. Please pray.

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 Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).

RLPB 317. RAMADAN: a time of jihad and of seeking

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 317 | Wed 08 Jul 2015

RAMADAN: A TIME OF JIHAD AND OF SEEKING
By Elizabeth Kendal

The last ten days of Ramadan (7-17 July this year) have special significance and are regarded as the most blessed days of the blessed month of Ramadan. They are days of particular striving and of Qur'an recitation, which fuel Islamic zeal. Unsurprisingly, the last days of Ramadan can be particularly violent as jihadists expend their pent-up frustration and whipped-up zeal in jihad for the sake of Allah. We must pray for all Christians at risk of Ramadan violence, especially those in:

* ISRAEL, where fliers purportedly from ISIS have appeared in Jerusalem, telling Christians they have until the end of Ramadan to leave, otherwise they will be slaughtered [see RLPB 316 (1 July)].
 There have already been several seemingly 'lone wolf' Ramadan terror attacks against Jewish Israelis (civilians and soldiers), mostly close to the Old City.

Furthermore, ISIS has upped-the-ante in its war against Hamas, issuing a video message from Syria entitled 'A Message to our People in Jerusalem'.  In it ISIS warns Hamas they will be overrun: 'The rule of sharia [Islamic law] will be implemented in Gaza, in spite of you. We swear that what is happening in the Levant today, and in particular the Yarmouk camp [where ISIS invaded, crushed Hamas and beheaded its leaders] will happen in Gaza.'

Last week ISIS fired three Grad rockets into Israel from Sinai (Egypt) and killed more than 60 Egyptian soldiers in co-ordinated attacks on 15 army and police posts close to the Israeli border (see map), raising fears that this could be the start of an ISIS offensive towards Gaza.

The danger facing Christians in Israel -- particularly in Jerusalem and Gaza -- cannot be underestimated.

* NIGERIA, where Boko Haram is escalating its jihad. 

St Michael's, Jos.
Full report: Morning Star News.

On Sunday 5 July a suicide bomber entered the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) building in the Jigawa district of Potiskum Local Government Area, Yobe State. He detonated his explosives at around 10 am as the congregation was gathering for worship. Five parishioners died at the scene while another died later in hospital. Amongst the dead were the pastor and a parishioner and her two children. Many more were seriously wounded. That night, two churches were also bombed in Jos, Plateau State. Over the same weekend 32 church buildings were destroyed in Borno State.

* SOMALIA & KENYA, where al-Shabaab has vowed to spend this year's 'Ramadan offensive' killing 'un-believers'.

SOMALIA: Just prior to Ramadan, al-Shabaab ambushed an Ethiopian convoy in southern Somalia's Bay Province (north-west of Mogadishu), slaughtering more than 60 Ethiopian soldiers. Ethiopia sent reinforcements which al-Shabaab attacked with a wave of suicide bombers. The al-Shabaab spokesman boasted, 'This military feat against the foot soldiers of the Western crusaders serves as another poignant reminder to the disbelieving armies that the cost of invading Muslim lands is indeed bloody.' On 26 June al-Shabaab over-ran an African Union military base in Lego, 100 km north-west of Mogadishu, slaughtering more than 60 Burundian soldiers. About 30 June an Ethiopian military commander surrendered to al-Shabaab militants in Kansahdhere, Bay Province, promising to convert to Islam. As elsewhere, competition between ISIS and al-Shabaab (an al-Qaeda affiliate) is forcing the jihadists to be constantly escalating their attacks.

KENYA: On 7 July at 1 am, al-Shabaab militants attacked a compound housing quarry workers in north-eastern Kenya's Mandera County. Despite security being on the scene in minutes, at least 14 were killed and 11 injured. According to the al-Shabaab spokesman, Tuesday's attack, which was part of al-Shabaab's 'Ramadan offensive' against Kenya, had killed more than a dozen 'Kenyan Christians'.
[UPDATE: report from Morning Star News]

* SYRIA, where jihadist offensives threaten hundreds of thousands of Christians with genocide.

ALEPPO (north): On 2 July al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front announced they had formed a new alliance -- Ansar al Sharia -- for the purpose of capturing Aleppo. Another coalition named 'Fatah Halab' (Conquest of Aleppo), cobbled together by regime-changers Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, is also fighting in Aleppo [see RLPB 315 (24 June)] while ISIS is waiting in the wings. Fierce fighting occurred on 3 July after al-Nusra sent suicide bombers into Jamiyat al Zahra, a neighbourhood that is home to some of the government's most important military assets in the area. Government and allied forces are having success repelling the jihadists.

DERA'A (south):  Launched on 24 June the 'Battle of Southern Storm' is supposed to culminate in a march on Damascus (Libya-style). The US-backed supposedly 'moderate' rebels in the south have recently been joined by fighters from al-Nusra and other hard-line jihadist brigades. As normally happens, these hard-liners will eventually absorb / devour the US-armed 'moderates'.

Fr Dhiya Aziz

IDLIB (north): On Saturday 4 July jihadists, presumed to be from al-Nusra Front, kidnapped Franciscan priest Father Dhiya Aziz, the parish priest in the mostly Christian village of Yacoubiyeh in Idlib. His whereabouts are unknown.

UPDATE: Middle East Concern reports that Fr Dhiya was released unharmed on 9 July. [ The MEC report includes the news that four Christians have been abducted in Baghdad, Iraq.]

HASAKAH (north-east): Lest we forget, 207 Assyrian Christians (including 87 women and 37 children) remain in ISIS captivity at this highly volatile time.

SEEKING AFTER GOD

On Monday 13 July Muslims around the world will participate in a night of prayer and seeking after God. Tradition has it that on the night of the 26th day of Ramadan in AD 610, Muhammad, whilst in seclusion, reputedly received his first divine revelation.

According to the Qur'an, the night of the 26th of Ramadan -- known as the 'Night of Power' (or Night of Decree) -- is 'better than a thousand months' (Sura 97:1-5), for it is believed to be a night of special power and favour when prayers are especially effectual. Concerning the Night of Power, Muhammad is recorded as having said, 'Whoever established prayers on the night of Qadr (Night of Power) out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven' (Bukhari vol 3, book 31, no. 125).  Consequently, many Muslims will spend the night of the 26th of Ramadan in fervent prayer, seeking after God, hoping for forgiveness of sins and anticipating divine revelation. Pray for Muslims this week, this Sunday and especially on Monday night 13 July, that those who seek God might find him. 'Seek and you will find'. (Matthew 7:7 ESV).


PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT JESUS CHRIST,

* our Lord and Saviour, will protect and provide for persecuted and vulnerable Christians at risk of Ramadan violence and Islamic jihad.

'Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Saviour of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.' (Psalm 17:7-9 ESV)

* who is King of kings and Lord of lords, 'will come with vengeance and with the recompense of God' to deliver and vindicate his people (Isaiah 35:4 ESV); may Muslims come to fear the Lord.

'So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives.' (Isaiah 59:19 ESV)

* the 'light of the world' will shine his light into the hearts and minds of Muslims as they seek God's favour, forgiveness and revelation on the Night of Power (13 July); may they receive the 'light of life' and walk in darkness no longer (John 8:12).


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN WHOLE ARTICLE
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RAMADAN -- A TIME OF JIHAD AND OF SEEKING

The last ten days of Ramadan (7-17 July) are days of particular striving, Qur'an recitation and soaring Islamic zeal. Jihadists will expend their pent-up frustration and zeal in jihad for the sake of Allah. Christians are at risk of Ramadan violence and jihad. Pray particularly for Christians in Israel, where ISIS has threatened to kill Christians who have not fled by the end of Ramadan; in Nigeria, where Boko Haram is escalating attacks; in Somalia and Kenya, where al-Shabaab has vowed to kill 'disbelievers' during Ramadan; and in Syria, where jihadist offensives on multiple fronts put Christians at risk of genocide. Monday 13 July is the 26th of Ramadan. On that 'Night of Power' Muslims will seek divine favour and revelation. Please pray that Muslims seeking God will find him.
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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).

RLPB 262. May Update, Incl.North Korea, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Iran, Mozambique, Somalia, Nuba Mts

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 262 | Wed 28 MAY 2014

By Elizabeth Kendal

MAY 2014 UPDATE -- During May we prayed concerning ...

* CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR) (RLPB 259), where anti-balaka militias are still driving local Muslims out of the capital Bangui, while ex-Seleka Islamic rebels are still terrorising Christian communities across the north. The country is tearing apart. Pray that God will bless the Church's peace-making efforts.

* KOREA (RLPB 260), where tensions are rising and rhetoric is increasingly belligerent, leading the North Korean regime to tighten controls and increase isolation, escalating the suffering and the risk for the North Korean Church.

UPDATE: On 13 May, a 23-storey apartment block in the capital Pyongyang collapsed, entombing more than 80 families. Despite a public apology from senior regime figures, locals are 'disappointed' and resentful, blaming regime corruption for both the collapse and the high death toll. There is considerable fear that other apartment blocks throughout the city might not be safe. Additionally, it has emerged that in March the regime executed Ri Kyung Ho (49), a stage-lighting engineer from the remote northern border city of Hyesan. Ri had been caught speaking by mobile phone to relatives in South Korea. Under interrogation, he allegedly revealed that he was assisting defectors. His family has been condemned to the gulag. The Church in North Korea needs our prayers.

* SUDAN (RLPB 261), where 8 months pregnant Meriam Ibrahim had been sentenced to death for apostasy, as well as to 100 lashes for adultery (after the court refused to recognise her marriage to a Christian man).

UPDATE: IT'S A GIRL  In the early hours of Tuesday 27 May, in the Health Centre Clinic of Omdurman Federal Prison for Women, Meriam gave birth to a baby girl, naming her Maya. Neither her husband Daniel, nor her lawyer have been permitted access to see them.

ANOTHER APOSTASY CASE:  Morning Star News (MSN) reports (27 May) that Sudan has imprisoned another Christian woman, similarly accused of apostasy and adultery. Faiza Abdalla (37) was arrested on 2 April after Immigration/Citizenship officials questioned her right to a Christian identity on the grounds that Abdalla is a Muslim name. On 8 April, a Sudanese court annulled Faiza's marriage to a South Sudanese Catholic and accused her of adultery. Faiza's parents converted before she was born, meaning they too might yet be accused of apostasy.

More on Sudan below.

[NOTE: Islam rejects the UN's definition of religious freedom, maintaining it is nothing more than a 'secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition' (which it is) that violates Sharia Law.]


MAY 2014 ROUND-UP -- also this month ...

* GIRLS AT RISK 
As fundamentalist Islam takes root in many Muslim majority communities and nations, female children are increasing at risk of under-age forced marriage to Muslim men. It also means that Christian girls being kidnapped for forced conversion and marriage -- trafficked across religious lines -- will be younger as well.

In Pakistan, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII -- a Sunni, government-funded advisory body) has decreed that Pakistan's marriage laws are 'un-Islamic'. The CII is recommending that the minimum age for girls to marry be abolished, saying girls may be married 'if the signs of puberty are visible'. The ruling has sparked intensive debate in Pakistan (including satire!).

In Iraq, the minimum age of marriage for girls is set to be lowered from 18 to 9 in accordance with Shia Islam. In February, the Maliki government approved a draft law, allegedly for political gain ahead of elections. Known as the Ja'afari Personal Status Law, the draft law says girls reach puberty at age nine and are therefore ready for marriage. It also states that a girl under nine may be married with the consent of her male guardian, for a price. [The law would also legalise marital rape and unrestricted polygamy (not requiring consent).] Now that the elections are over [30 April] and the Maliki regime is back in power, the stage is set for the law to be enacted.

For the sake of the children, the Church must pray for a great awakening amongst Muslims; may the light of Christ break through the darkness. (John 1:5)

* CHINA: WENZHOU CHURCHES UNDER FIRE
Updating RLPBs 255 & 258 (April 2014)

CAA

On 20 May China Aid Association (CAA) published a list of 64 churches across China's eastern business hub of Wenzhou city that have been 'rectified', demolished or issued notices since the crackdown began in February. In virtually every case it is the cross that is deemed offensive and 'rectification' usually involves the cross being removed. So this has nothing to do with building regulations: the authorities are not opposed to having impressive buildings in their city; they are only opposed to the crosses that identify those buildings as places of Christian worship. These 'rectifications' are about de-Christianising the skyline before people get the impression that Christianity is acceptable, inviting and growing. In addition, some 40 people have been summonsed by police or detained in connection with the protest at the Sanjiang church demolished on 28 April (RLPB 258). A serious battle has begun. Please pray, ' For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood . . .' (Ephesians 6:12-18 ESV)

* IRAN: SAEED ABEDINI BEATEN IN HOSPITAL, RETURNED TO PRISON

Pastor Saeed Abedini (34) is a US citizen who has been imprisoned in Iran since September 2012. In March (prior to Iran's nuclear talks with the US) Abedini was admitted to hospital for treatment for stomach injuries sustained during prison beatings. On 21 May (just after nuclear talks concluded) Abedini was seized violently and dragged out of the hospital by agents who beat and electrocuted him in front of distressed family members. Abedini has been returned to the maximum security Rajai Shahr Prison which houses violent criminals. [See RLPB 238 (26 Nov 2013).] In the US, Abedini's wife, Naghmeh, and advocate Jay Sekulow of the American Centre for Law and Justice told Fox News (news video) they feared that Iran is using Abedini as a political pawn.

* MOZAMBIQUE: SEEKING FIRMER FOUNDATIONS

Operation World lists Mozambique's population as being 46 percent Christian (half Catholic, half Protestant), 32 percent ethno-religious, and 19 percent Muslim. Mozambique's amazing church growth has come in the wake of decades of suffering. Mozambique has had religious freedom only since 1990 when it was written into the new constitution after decades of civil war and brutal Marxist repression and persecution. Christian leaders in this emerging democracy have drafted a submission to the national parliament requesting the formulation of a specific law to protect freedom of religion and worship. The aim is that 'the churches will have a better legal framework in which to operate'. They request our prayers. May God bless their efforts, build his Church and heal their land.

* SOMALIA: CHURCH LEADER MARTYRED

On 23 September 2008 Mansuur Mohammed (25), a humanitarian aid worker, became Somalia's first indigenous Christian martyr when al-Shabaab Islamic militants declared him a 'murtid' (traitor to Islam) and publicly beheaded him for refusing to renounce Christ. He had been a Christian for just three years. Since then, al-Shabaab has hunted down and executed dozens of Somali believers. On 23 May Morning Star News reported that a prominent convert, Abdishakur Yusuf, who oversaw five underground Christian fellowships, had been assassinated at his home on the outskirts of Mogadishu on Sunday 16 March. Mogadishu's gravely imperilled underground Christian community is absolutely shattered. For months after Yusuf's assassination they were too traumatised and afraid to speak out, but now they are requesting our prayers. Yusuf leaves a widow and three young children. Pray for the Church in Somalia.

* SUDAN: CHRISTIAN HOSPITAL BOMBED

The Government of Sudan (GoS) continues its aerial bombardment of displaced Nuba. On 1 May citizen journalists from NubaReports were filming a worship service at the Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel -- the only hospital in the Nuba Mountains -- when it came under aerial bombardment. [See film here]. The five bombs dropped on 1 May were followed by more the next day. While nobody was killed, hundreds disappeared into the bush, several sustained serious shrapnel injuries and buildings were damaged. In the days before the bombings, drones were observed flying over the area three times. As noted by Tom Catena, a US doctor with the Catholic Medical Mission Board who serves as the hospital's director, the bombing serves no other purpose than to disperse the Nuba and destroy their only hospital. Then on Monday 26 May GoS war-planes dropped eight bombs on the compound of the Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organization (NRRDO). Though there were no casualties, the buildings sustained significant damage. [NRRDO's projects serve over 650,000 Nuba citizens living in areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N).]

NubaReports: Gidel

The GoS wants the Nuba dead and the regime is adept at using starvation as a weapon of mass destruction. In pursuit of genocide, the GoS is escalating its aerial bombardments of aid centres ahead of the rainy season, when getting supplies is almost impossible.  The GoS wants to ensure the Nuba are displaced and without means of survival. A delegation of the European Union to Sudan expressed its concern in a press release, noting that the deliberate bombing of the hospital is a 'war crime'. Doubtless Sudan's President -- the indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir -- dismisses this EU statement for what it is: mere words.

~~~~

Lift your hands and pour out your hearts to the one who has real power and genuine interest! 

'The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He ... was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. [...] According to what they have done, so will he repay . . . From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.' (From Isaiah 59:14-19 NIV)

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today 
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).