Tag: Ansar Dine

Imam calls for radical reforms to end extremism and safeguard Eastern Christians

February 21, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Sharia, Ansar Dine, Boko Haram, France, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Paris, Yazidis

Sexual slavery practised by Islamic State (IS) jihadists is condoned in literature that is available at Islamic institutions and should be burnt, a leading imam in France has said. Hocine Drouiche, vice president of the Conference of Imams of France and an imam in Nimes, said that the ideology behind the . . . 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

Four months on, no word on US missionary kidnapped in Niger

February 27, 2017 Niger Abalak, Ansar Dine, Jeff Woodke, MUJAO, Niamey, Tuareg

Jeff Woodke is known in Abalak for his devotion to Niger and its nomadic populations.Jeff Woodke / Facebook UPDATE (27 Feb 2017) It’s been more than four months since a pioneering American missionary was kidnapped in Niger. Jeff Woodke, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement, was . . . Read More

Murder of Fulani Christian mayor in Mali increases concerns over creeping Islamic extremism

December 16, 2016 Mali Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, Bamako, Beatrice Stockly, Islamic extremism, Sahel, Timbuktu, Tuareg

The motive behind the murder of a Fulani Christian politician in Mali last month remains unknown, but locals suspect an Islamist agenda. Moussa Issah Bary, the 47-year-old deputy mayor of Kerana (near the Burkina Faso border), was shot dead by six unidentified men on motorbikes on 16 November. He is . . . Read More

Burkina Faso: citizenship for kidnapped Australian

November 29, 2016 Burkina Faso Ansar Dine, Burkina Faso, Djibo, Islamic extremism, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, West Africa

An Australian surgeon kidnapped by jihadists in Burkina Faso nearly a year ago, and whose whereabouts remain unknown, has been declared a citizen of the West African nation, an official decree announced on Wednesday (17 Nov.). Ken Elliot was abducted along with his wife Jocelyn in January 2016 by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists . . . Read More

Kidnap in Niger of US missionary a ‘terrible tragedy’

October 20, 2016 Niger Abalak, Ansar Dine, Jeff Woodke, MUJAO, Niamey, Tuareg

Jeff Woodke is known in Abalak for his devotion to Niger and its nomadic populations.Jeff Woodke / Facebook The kidnap of a pioneering American missionary in Niger is a “terrible tragedy” for the communities he served for 24 years, according to the local mayor. It has also raised security . . . Read More

Rising Islamist militancy across Sahel belt threatens African Christianity

September 8, 2016 Agadez, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, Beatrice Stockly, Islamic extremism, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Muammar Gaddafi, Niger, Sahel, Timbuktu, Tuareg, West Africa

More than 70 churches, as well as Christian homes, schools and orphanages,were burned down by Islamists in Niger in January 2015.World Watch Monitor As the world focusses on potential military advances against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, it risks overlooking another vast region where militant Islam is . . . Read More

Burkina Faso dead include 7 mission workers

January 19, 2016 Burkina Faso Al-Mourabitoun, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, Djibo, Ouagadougou, West Africa

Six of the 29 people killed by Islamist militants in Burkina Faso on Friday were on a humanitarian trip prompted by their Christian faith, while a seventh was a US missionary who, with his wife, had been running an orphanage and women’s refuge in the West African country since 2011. . . . Read More

As UN targeted by Islamists in Mali, Bishops urge renewed peace efforts

October 9, 2014 Mali Ansar Dine, Bamako, Gao, Kidal, Mali, MNLA, MUJAO, Timbuktu, UN

The UN Mission in Mali honors nine Nigerien peacekeepers killed on 3 October 2014.UN Photo/Marco Dormino While the world’s attention is fixed on IS in Syria and Iraq, it’s easy to forget that last year, French troops were rushed to Mali to prevent a jihadist-influenced coup that threatened to . . . Read More

Kidnapped Swiss Christian freed amid Mali’s unrest

April 27, 2012 Mali Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, Bamako, Beatrice Stockly, Berbers, Gao, Kidal, Mali, Timbuktu, Tuareg

Separatist Islamist rebels released a Swiss Christian woman kidnapped by a private militia on April 15 amid political turmoil in Timbuktu, Mali, according to a Swiss foreign ministry statement. Armed members of the militant Islamic group Ansar Dine handed Beatrice Stockly to Swiss diplomats on Tuesday (April 24), Reuters reported. . . . Read More

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