Tag: Niger

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

The murder of a French priest has horrified the world. The same thing happens to Christians in lesser-reported places

July 27, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Central African Republic, Charlie Hebdo, Egypt, France, Jacques Hamel, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Paris, Sudan

Rev. Jacques HamelEglise Catholique de Rouen The 26 July killing of a Catholic priest in his church in St. Etienne du Rouvray, France, once again has pushed jihadist violence into the headlines. The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the murder, committed by two knife-wielding attackers who were shot and . . . Read More

N. Nigerian church attacked for ‘Friday’ services

July 18, 2016 Nigeria Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Niger, Nigeria, Prophet Muhammad

A Catholic church in Niger State, northern Nigeria, was attacked by Muslim youths on Friday (15 July). Eyewitnesses told the Daily Post that people who had gone to the church to pray were attacked by Muslims claiming that Friday was their day of prayer and that Christians only had the . . . Read More

2016 World Watch List drawn from world headlines

January 13, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Bibles, BJP, Boko Haram, Central Asia, Charlie Hebdo, Churches, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kenya, Libya, Middle East, Mosul, Niger, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, North Korea, Paris, Sub-Saharan Africa

Some of the most urgent headlines of the past 12 months, from the global spread of jihadist violence to North Korea’s test of a putative atomic weapon, intersect with an updated list of the most difficult places to live as a Christian. For the 14th straight year, North Korea is . . . Read More

Boko Haram ‘more deadly terror group’ in 2014 than IS

November 20, 2015 Adamawa, Bauchi, Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Denmark, Education, Gombe, Hamas, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Kano, Lake Chad, London, Maiduguri, Middle East, Muhammadu Buhari, Niger, Nigeria, Paris, Quran, Terrorism, UN

Boko Haram was the world’s deadliest terror group in 2014, ahead of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, according to a report released on 18 Nov. by the Institute of Economics & Peace. It was responsible for 6,664 deaths in 2014, more than any other terrorist group in the world, according to the Global . . . Read More

Fleeing Boko Haram – nowhere to run, nowhere to hide

November 12, 2015 Abuja, Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Chad, Chibok girls, EYN, Genocide, Jos, Kaduna, Niger, Nigeria, Samuel Dali, UN, West Africa, Yobe, Yola

A special report by IRIN, built on field visits to Nigeria’s north-eastern region which the military has re-taken from the Boko Haram insurgency, reveals an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the Lake Chad Basin region. In Europe, Syrian refugees with the means head for their country of choice, armies of aid . . . Read More

Boko Haram attacks intensify in Nigeria & Cameroon

August 2, 2015 Adamawa, Benin, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Chad, IDPs, Kidnapping, Maroua, Muhammadu Buhari, N'Djamena, Niger, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Refugees, West Africa

On 25 July, 20 people were killed when a 12-year-old girl blew herself up in a crowded bar in Maroua, northern Cameroon.World Watch Monitor The radical Islamist group Boko Haram has intensified its suicide bombing attacks in northern Nigeria and Cameroon in recent weeks. On Friday (31 July) a . . . Read More

Mali’s mausoleums rebuilt, but not churches

July 23, 2015 Mali Burkina Faso, Islamic extremism, Mali, Niger, Timbuktu

Fourteen mausoleums in the city of Timbuktu in northern Mali have been rebuilt, three years after they were destroyed by Islamist extremists. The reconstruction was overseen by Unesco. For most of 2012, armed Islamist groups ruled the region, banning the practice of other religions and desecrating and looting churches and other . . . Read More

Niger churches ‘abandoned’ after Charlie Hebdo destruction

July 23, 2015 Niger Baptists, Boko Haram, Charlie Hebdo, Churches, Islamic extremism, Mahamadou Issoufou, Niamey, Niger, Prophet Muhammad, Protestants, Trauma, West Africa, Zinder

In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, the churches in the predominantly Muslim West African nation of Niger experienced the worst attacks in their history. On the weekend of 16-17 January, hundreds of angry Islamists attacked and ransacked dozens of properties and churches, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah . . . Read More

‘Are you ready to renounce your Christian faith?’

March 25, 2015 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chad, Chibok girls, Damasak, Goodluck Jonathan, Niger, Nigeria, Potiskum

Anticipation of further violence as Nigeria begins voting for its next president is growing after the release of a new video shows Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau threatening that the election ‘will not happen in peace’. The chilling message will alarm Christians from Nigeria’s northern states who live in persistent . . . Read More

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