News

Security not only concern for Syrians returning home

  July 4, 2017 Syria Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, IDPs, Islamic State, Maaloula, Migrants, Refugees, Trauma, UN

As Islamic State forces are pushed back and more areas declared “safe”, Syrians are starting to return to their homes. According to the UN’s Refugee Agency (the UNHCR), nearly half a million have gone back since January. Around 440,000 internally displaced people, and more than 31,000 refugees who had fled . . . Read More

Kidnapped missionaries appear in video posted by jihadist groups in Africa’s Sahel

  July 3, 2017 Mali Al-Mourabitoun, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, Beatrice Stockly, France, Gao, Gloria Argoti, Ken Elliott, Sahel, Timbuktu

A coalition of jihadist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda released a video showing six foreign hostages, including three missionaries, just hours before France president Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Mali, where France agreed to help support anti-terrorist efforts in the Sahel. According to the US-based monitoring group SITE, the undated 16’50” footage . . . Read More

As ‘Free Iran’ movement gathers in Paris, young Iranian Christians share challenges

  June 30, 2017 Iran Hassan Rouhani, Youth

Over 90 European and US faith leaders have signed a petition urging Western governments to make the plight of religious minorities central to any deal with Iran. The letter comes ahead of the annual Iranian opposition rally in Paris tomorrow (1 July), where tens of thousands of Iranians are expected . . . Read More

Divorce law for Pakistani Christians ‘modernised’

  June 30, 2017 Pakistan Divorce, Imran Khan, Lahore, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, PTI, Punjab

Pakistan’s High Court in Lahore has struck out an amendment in its Christian Divorce Act (1869), meaning Christians will now be able to divorce in a dignified way, without needing to resort to false accusations of adultery. Pakistan’s existing family laws – which are applicable to Christians only – are close . . . Read More

Central African Republic – the world’s most neglected conflict

  June 29, 2017 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Seleka, UPC

In a report on 5 June, Human Rights Watch noted that “violence in the Central African Republic has fallen from the world’s radar, but that does not mean the killings have let up. Over a dozen armed groups now roam the country, committing a range of abuses. Violence is on . . . Read More

Islamic State in Asia: what you need to know

  June 29, 2017 Abu Sayyaf, Islamic State, Malaysia, Maute, Myanmar, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, Rohingya, Samarinda, Selangor

When Islamic State (IS) launched its so-called caliphate in 2014 it had seized territory in Iraq and Syria. However over the last 18 months, militants claiming allegiance to the group have carried out attacks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, while the group also has sympathisers in India . . . Read More

Al-Azhar says Islam ‘totally incompatible’ with violence, as IS shifts focus to Upper Egypt

  June 29, 2017 Egypt Al-Azhar, Alexandria, Anba Macarius, Copts, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai, Upper Egypt

Scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the pre-eminent seat of Sunni Islamic learning, have submitted a bill to the Egyptian government, which “aims to reaffirm the total incompatibility between the violence justified by religious arguments and Islamic law”. As World Watch Monitor reported on 21 June, Al-Azhar has distanced itself from . . . Read More

Kidnapped Philippines priest ‘alive’ but Marawi situation ‘dire’

  June 27, 2017 Philippines Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Cotabato, Islamic extremism, Marawi, Maute, Pigcawayan, Rodrigo Duterte, Teresito Suganob

The Catholic priest abducted by the Maute terrorist group last month – in the early stages of its ongoing assault on the city of Marawi in the southern Philippines – is believed to be still alive, after his release was reportedly offered in exchange for the parents of the Maute . . . Read More

New trauma centre to help northern Nigeria’s 2.7m conflict-affected children

  June 27, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Trauma, UN

Twelve years after his death, Martina has finally ‘buried’ her father. Not in the real sense – he is in a mass grave somewhere unknown – but by saying goodbye in her own way, thanks to help from trauma counsellors helping women and children in northern Nigeria. UNICEF estimates more . . . Read More

CAR’s clerics say ‘war must stop’ as killings continue despite peace agreement

  June 26, 2017 Central African Republic Bangui, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Seleka, UN

More than 100 people were killed last week in the Central African Republic (CAR), only a day after a peace agreement was signed by 13 of the country’s 14 armed groups in Rome, brokered by the Catholic peace-building group Sant’Egidio. Rev Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, president of the Evangelical Alliance – one . . . Read More