Displaying items by tag: Africa

Gunmen burst into St Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state. They opened fire and set off explosives, killing dozens of worshippers, including many children, who were celebrating Mass on Pentecost Sunday. Legislator Adelegbe Timileyin told local media that at least fifty people were dead. While much of Nigeria has struggled with security issues, Ondo is widely known as one of the country’s most peaceful states. Its state governor said, ‘This vile and satanic attack is a calculated assault on the peace-loving people of Owo Kingdom. I appeal to our people to maintain calm and let the security agencies take charge. The perpetrators will never escape. We are after them. And I can assure you we will get them.’ While radical Fulani militants have terrorised the Middle Belt region over the past two decades, authorities are still investigating the source of Sunday’s attack.

On 15 May Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia’s president from 2012 to 2017, won the election and has returned to the top job. He faces numerous tough challenges, from a devastating drought that risks pushing millions into famine to deep political divisions within the federal government and state authorities. Arguably his biggest task, however, will be to tackle al-Shabaab and a recent rise in attacks, including 48 deaths from suicide bombings in March.' The president’s new administration will need to contend with the Islamist militants’ use of children. They use boys as spies, logistics operatives, and combatants, and girls as cooks, cleaners, and ‘wives’ as well as to spy or move weaponry. The country has a bulging young population with limited or no opportunities. Trust in the government and its security institutions is low, which means that al-Shabaab can lure young recruits with promises of money, marriage, or power.

This is one of the hardest times Kenyans have experienced. Four rainy seasons in a row have failed. The government declared a national disaster after only two consecutive failed rainy seasons. Since then, the short rains and the long rains have both failed again. Water is hard to find; cattle are dying. Even camels struggle to survive. The World Food Programme says half a million Kenyans could starve. Prolonged hunger and malnutrition have made people prone to disease: their weakened bodies can’t resist infections. In Muslim-dominated areas, Christians are usually left out when government food relief is distributed. Families used to earn their living as casual labourers or through small businesses, but normal life has ended with the catastrophic drought and famine which followed a series of other disasters.

Many face extreme poverty as drought and food shortages are serious challenges in this one-party state. Christians in denominations not recognised by the government are persecuted; many are under house arrest, and over 3,000 are in prisons that are beyond description. Some are kept in metal, unsanitary, unventilated shipping containers in the desert - tin cells that are almost too hot to touch by day and freezing cold at night. They are beaten to get them to renounce their faith. The government has seized church assets. All denominations are drawn together in fellowship through decades of war, drought, and government oppression, but the intense suffering of the Church in Eritrea is one of the untold stories. Pray that Christians may remain fervent for Jesus amid hardship and make a significant impact on their nation and beyond. Evangelicals now operate through underground networks in homes. Around twenty or more networks are known, but numbers are impossible to ascertain.

Kenya is in a world of hurt. Joy Mueller of Kenya Hope says, ‘They look at having no food to feed their families and no money to pay school fees or buy the things they need. For the third year in a row, these poor people are just devastated. First, the pandemic locked everything down, so rural Kenyans couldn’t buy supplies or sell their livestock at the market. Then right on the heels of the pandemic, they got hit with a severe drought. All the water sources dried up; pastureland was gone and animals were dying. For the people here, their animals are their bank accounts. 2022 seemed to be the start of something better when they got some beautiful rain in February. Hope sprang again, but then they were hit by African armyworms. They’re called armyworms because they march across the field eating every green thing in their path.’

Ayder Referral Hospital, Tigray’s main hospital, is now turning away sick people they can no longer treat. They have run out of supplies, casting doubt on the government’s claim to have opened the war-torn Ethiopian region to humanitarian aid. 200 patients, including babies with meningitis and tuberculosis and a 14-year-old boy with HIV, have been turned away. Two cancer patients waiting for operations were turned away due to no cancer drugs. These needy people are suffering from widespread famine and the ravages of a brutal 17-month war. Officials said they could only accommodate patients with food or money. A paediatric ward nurse said ten patients left when there was no more food: they said, ‘Pray for us; instead of dying here let’s go home and die there.’ 

On 23 April WHO reported an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A patient aged 31 began experiencing symptoms on 5 April. He was sick for over a week before going to a local health facility. On 21 April he was admitted to an Ebola treatment centre but died that day. Recognising the symptoms, health workers submitted samples to test for Ebola. Now there are investigations to determine the source of the outbreak. The disease has had a two-week head start and medics are playing catch-up. The positive news is that the health authorities have more experience than anyone else in the world at controlling Ebola outbreaks quickly. By 27 April everyone had been inoculated in the province’s capital city, and over 230 Ebola contacts had been identified and monitored. Three vaccination teams will soon reach those at highest risk. See

There are some Christian deaf leaders and deaf believers in South Africa who now have scripture published in sign language by Door International. That gives them a perfect opportunity to move into training local leaders in how to evangelise, disciple, and plant churches. Published sign-language scriptures and deaf leaders are rare. Deaf people are one of the world’s largest unreached people groups. Less than 2% of the world’s 70 million deaf people have access to the Gospel. Using a new technique, Door is teaching deaf leaders from Angola and South Africa how to reach their people for Christ. The programme ‘2×2’ is based on Christ’s mission approach in Luke 10. Between now and June four leaders are going into the field to live, work, observe, and serve alongside existing two-by-two teams to gain some of the tools they need and then return to their country and continue the process.

Islamic teacher, Hiire Sadiki, was poisoned on April 2, shortly after his wife learned he had converted to Christianity. He put his faith in Christ on March 27 after several months of discussions with a Christian pastor. After he didn’t observe the Ramadan fast and his wife noticed him praying in the name of Christ she questioned his mode of praying. He told her he believed in Issa (Jesus]). His wife had studied the Koran and knew verses about apostasy punishment. She left the room and began phoning Muslim leaders, then returned and prepared supper. ‘After 30 minutes, a neighbour arrived, went to the kitchen and then immediately left. After supper Sadiki suffered convulsions and vomiting and phoned the pastor who took him to hospital. Tests indicated his food was tainted with insecticides used to kill rats. The assault was the latest of many instances of Christian persecution in Uganda. 

Osinachi Nwachuckwu was best known for featuring in the hit gospel song Ekuweme has died in an Abuja hospital. Police have arrested her husband. Initial reports said the 42-year old had been sick with throat cancer, but her family deny that, alleging she had been a victim of domestic abuse. A police spokesperson said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of her death. Many Nigerians, especially Christians, have reacted with sorrow and anger to the news of her death. Some have gone online to urge religious leaders not to advise church members to stay in abusive relationships. Domestic violence has also been trending on social media.