Tag: Niger

Niger: pastor’s daughter kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants

October 17, 2017 Niger Boko Haram, Charlie Hebdo, Diffa, Lake Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Sahel, West Africa

Street scene in Zinder, Niger's second biggest town, where thousands of people fled to after Boko Haram first attacked Diffa in February 2015. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The teenage daughter of a pastor was kidnapped on 16 October in Diffa, south-eastern Niger, in what appears to be the first targeted kidnapping of a Christian by Boko Haram-affiliated militants in the West African nation. Aphodiya Garba Maida, 17, daughter of a pastor with the EERN (Église Évangélique de . . . Read More

US hostage’s wife asks his African captors to contact her

July 11, 2017 Niger Abalak, Jeff Woodke, Niger, Sahel

Jeff Woodke (Photo: Woodke's Facebook page)

The wife of a pioneering American missionary abducted nine months ago in Africa’s Sahel region has put out a video pleading for his safe return. In the 2’26” video released today (11 July), Els Woodke expresses her despair and desire to be in touch with her husband’s kidnappers. Jeff Woodke, . . . Read More

Thousands of Nigerian refugees forced back home to looming famine

June 30, 2017 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Chad, IDPs, Niger, Refugees, UN, Yobe

Thousands of Nigerians who fled Boko Haram’s insurgency, and sought refuge in neighbouring Cameroon, have been forced back home, the UN said on 29 June, as Reuters reports. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), some 887 Nigerians, most of them children, were repatriated against their will on 27 June alone. The . . . Read More

Lake Chad Basin crisis to dominate African Union Summit

June 27, 2017 Addis Ababa, African Union, Benin, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Chad, Lake Chad, Maiduguri, Muhammadu Buhari, Niger, Nigeria

As the 29th African Union (AU) Summit begins today (27 June), one of the major talking points will be the “now-major conflict zone” of the Lake Chad Basin, writes Omar S Mahmood, analyst at The Institute for Security Studies. The UN has described the situation in north-eastern Nigeria – one . . . Read More

African mission leader searches for positives despite deadly surge of jihadist violence

May 30, 2017 Africa, Boko Haram, Burkina Faso, Europe, Garissa, Gloria Argoti, Islamic extremism, Ivory Coast, Jeff Woodke, Ken Elliott, Lagos, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia

Attacks attributed to radical Islamic groups are happening on a weekly, or even daily, basis in Africa, posing security concerns across a vast swathe of the continent. The phenomenon has dramatically affected Church activities in various regions. But Rev. Reuben E. Ezemadu, Coordinator of the Movement for African National Initiatives . . . Read More

Unicef: Boko Haram increasing use of child suicide bombers

April 13, 2017 Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Chibok girls, Children, New York, Niger, Nigeria, West Africa

As it torments West Africa, Boko Haram is increasingly turning to children to carry out its crimes. One of every five suicide bombers deployed by Boko Haram in the past two years has been a child, usually a girl, according to a report released on Tuesday (11 April) by Unicef. . . . Read More

Niger: Christians and Muslims fighting radicalism

February 9, 2017 Niger Charlie Hebdo, Islamic extremism, Maradi, Niger, Nigeria, Zinder

January 2015 saw a murderous attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, which killed 12 journalists. In Niger, as in much of the Muslim world, protests against the work of Charlie Hebdo, which was claimed to have insulted Islam’s prophet, became violent, as more than . . . Read More

75,000 children in N. Nigeria risk ‘dying of hunger’; 14 million need humanitarian aid, says UN

November 18, 2016 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Chad, Gwoza, IDPs, Niger, UN, Yobe

The UN says 75,000 children are at risk of dying of hunger in north-east Nigeria.Open Doors International Seventy-five thousand children are at risk of dying of hunger in north-east Nigeria, reports the UN, as the region deals with the aftermath of Boko Haram violence. The UN also says that . . . Read More

UPDATE: Nigeria: suspects in blasphemy case released

November 4, 2016 Blasphemy, Boko Haram, Hisbah, Imo, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Kano, Muhammadu Buhari, Niger, Nigeria, Ramadan, Sabon Gari, Sharia, Sultan of Sokoto

Christian Center in Abuja, Nigeria, Feb. 2016 (World Watch Monitor) A court in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano has freed five people detained in relation with the killing of a pastor’s wife who had been accused of blasphemy. Bridget Agbahime, 74, wife of Mike Agbahime, pastor of Deeper Life Bible . . . Read More

‘We are in a catastrophe’

September 23, 2016 Ban Ki-moon, Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Diffa, Lake Chad, London, Mahamadou Issoufou, New York, Niger, Nigeria, Samuel Dali, Sub-Saharan Africa, UN

Leaders of Africa’s Lake Chad Basin countries affected by Boko Haram’s intensifying insurgency over the past two weeks are calling on the international community to act urgently against the region’s ongoing humanitarian “catastrophe”. Presidents Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria), Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger), Idriss Deby Itno (Chad) and Paul Biya (Cameroon) are scheduled . . . Read More

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