Uganda: Thursday’s elections – backstory
19 Feb 2016
At the time of posting this article the people of Uganda are voting after days of violence, at least one person killed and a leading opposition candidate briefly detained twice when he tried to hold campaign rallies. Why should we care about the election? A win would give President Museveni a fifth term in office and delay the question of political succession for five years, amid speculation that he is preparing the way for his son or wife - both powerful individuals. Museveni’s original election ended a civil war and created impressive economic growth. But recently the economy and development have faltered, corruption is rife, public services are badly resourced and poorly functioning. Uganda is sitting on a demographic time-bomb with 38 million people aged under 20. The average Ugandan is 15. The faltering economy will struggle to create jobs for the youth bulge, adding to the 10 million unemployed. Past elections resulted in violence and accusations by the opposition of repression.
Australia: Nine Christian leaders arrested
19 Feb 2016
Nine Christian leaders were arrested after hosting a prayer vigil at the Minister for Justice’s office. They were part of ‘Love Makes A Way’ and were protesting over the deportation of 267 people to detention camps in Nauru. Most of the people were seeking asylum and medical treatment in Australia and 30 of them were babies born in Australia to refugee mothers. But Australia has worked hard to deter refugees. ‘No-one should be detained on Nauru, where there is no functioning hospital – it would be particularly cruel to rip children out of classrooms and send away these 37 babies born on Australian soil,’ said Love Makes a Way spokesperson Kate Leaney. The Christian leaders occupied the office to pray and to appeal to Justice Minister Michael Keenan so that he might stand for freedom from oppression for people seeking asylum in Australia. 10 churches have offered to take in the asylum seekers.
Police face criticism for allegedly failing to stop Wednesday's mob attack on an African student in Bangalore. A young Tanzanian woman was pulled from her car, stripped, beaten, paraded naked and sexually assaulted by young Indian men. Her car was set afire and a local policeman took no action. A short time before this outrageous attack a drunk Sudanese student ran over and killed an Indian woman on the same street. He too was pulled from his car and beaten; his car was set afire. Both were horrendous incidents on the same street just minutes apart. Both incidents fed the prejudices bubbling just below the surface of young Indian males. Pray for more to be done to prevent racial discrimination and for the mob culture emerging to be eradicated.
The pontiff showed solidarity with migrants in a rebuttal to the GOP (Grand Old Party – Republican) front-runner. Without naming him, Pope Francis rebuked Donald Trump and GOP immigration hardliners during a visit to the US/Mexico border. He led Mass in a field just a few hundred feet away from the United States. He laid flowers at a nearby memorial honouring migrants who had died trying to cross the border. He said, ‘We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant migration for thousands by train, highway or foot, crossing hundreds of kilometres through mountains, deserts and other inhospitable zones. The human tragedy that forces migration is a global phenomenon. They are expelled by poverty, violence, drug trafficking and criminal organisations. No more death! No more exploitation! There is still time to change, there is still a way out and a chance, time to implore the mercy of God.’
An estimated 50 people were killed in missile attacks on at least four hospitals and a school in rebel-held northern Syria on Monday. Russia has been accused of being responsible for the attacks. The UN said intentionally directing attacks at hospitals constitutes a war crime. In an article by President Putin’s press secretary Mr Peskov in a Russian newspaper, the Kremlin said, ‘accusations against the Russian Federation in the video-conferencing application of air strikes on hospitals in Syria were unacceptable. We categorically allot as deplorable those who make such statements and are unable to somehow prove their allegations’. Asked by journalists to comment on the information about the hospital bombardment in Syria’s Idlib province, as well as accusations of Russian air and space forces in this incident, Peskov called for people to go back to the source and noted that Syria's Ambassador to Russia, Riyad Haddad said that the hospital in Idlib province was destroyed by the Americans, not by the Russian for
Israel: Turning Jerusalem into a Christian Mecca
19 Feb 2016
Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem have increased greatly within the last decade as Christians trace the footsteps of Jesus, meditate and pray for their families and churches. It is a potential life-transforming event. There is also a growing global phenomenon of governments financing pilgrimages to Jerusalem, as a place of intercession, to pray for their national troubles. Ghana’s government faced criticism for attempting to sponsor Pentecostal pastors for such a trip to ‘intercede for the nation’s many socio-economic difficulties. Over the years, various Christian and Church organisations have asked governments to sponsor pilgrimages, stating, ‘Christians are entitled to state sponsorship for pilgrimages to Israel just as Muslims receive sponsorship to go to Mecca.’ Is Jerusalem becoming ‘Meccanised’? Post-resurrection history of Christianity indicates no geographical centre as the focus of Christian encounters with God. ‘When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen’. (Mat.6:6)
Global prayer for stability
19 Feb 2016
Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are no longer viable nation-states. A number of nations are supporting fighters who have ruthlessly taken many innocent lives. Refugees are streaming into Western nations, with all the resulting challenges and dangers. IS is spreading and instigating intolerable situations. On Wednesday 28 people died and 61 were wounded by a car bomb in Ankara. Egypt has ordered the closure of the country's last remaining centre for the treatment of torture victims amid a surge in allegations of torture by Egyptian officials. North Korea is sabre-rattling while the poor starve. So many nations need to be soaked in prayer, all of them holding a real sense of tension and danger if one party makes the wrong decision. Pray for the leaders of these nations to be led by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. May they make decisions that God can bless.
Three wards at Leicester Royal Infirmary have closed after 16 cancer patients were diagnosed with swine flu. The patients have been isolated to avoid an outbreak. Another three people with flu are being treated at the city's Glenfield Hospital but these cases have not yet been confirmed as swine flu. Anyone suffering from cold and flu symptoms should avoid the hospitals. It is a normal winter, swine flu is the normal flu and the number of cases is not that high across the East Midlands. However, when it gets into a clinical setting where people are very vulnerable then this is a difficult situation to manage. Doctors say, ‘Everything is being done and it is under control.’