A new report from the Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Disappearance (AVAFD) states that more than 550 Egyptian Christian women and girls have been kidnapped since 2011. The kidnapped women are then forced to adopt Islam and marry their captors. They reported that the women’s ages ranged from 14 to 40. Many are raped; many are not even sought by police. Authorities instead claim the women left their families by choice. AVAFD founder, Ebram Louis said kidnappings have increased in Egypt since Hosni Mubarak fell from power. ‘Before the revolution, five or six girls would disappear each month. Now the average is 15.’ Often before the girls are forced into marriages, the traditional cross which the Coptic minority tattoos on their wrists is erased with acid, according to Terrasanta, a Catholic news service. Some maintain there are Islamic cells dedicated exclusively to the abduction of Coptic Christian girls and young women. See also: http://blog.godreports.com/2014/06/over-550-christian-girls-kidnapped-in-egypt-since-2011/

On June 18th officials from the Ministry of Planning and Housing sent bulldozers that destroyed a church-building belonging to the St John Episcopal Church of Sudan, in the Haj Yousif area. A Catholic church-building in the area was also demolished the same day. This happened days after they confiscated three Catholic schools. ‘The government wants to remove all churches from Khartoum,’ a source said.’Tell all churches to stand in prayer for the church in Sudan.' Clergymen said persecution was intensifying following the secession of South Sudan in July 2011, with officials targeting churches they claim to be associated with now unwelcome, largely Christian, South Sudanese in the Islamic-ruled country.  A Full Gospel Church was destroyed in the same area two months ago, on the pretext that it belonged to South Sudanese and since they had presumably left, the buildings were no longer needed.

Last Wednesday Boko Haram entered a village saying they had come to preach then fired on the crowd that gathered, killing 45. It follows a similar attack on Attagara village the previous day when gunmen in military uniforms convinced residents they had come to provide protection, gathering people in the centre of the village to kill them. A survivor said ‘they fired continuously for a very long time until all that had gathered were dead’. A local MP said it was impossible to count the dead because survivors fled into nearby hills but he estimated 200. (See last week's PA STOP PRESS) These attacks
happened near the mountains, close to the border with Cameroon where Boko Haram operates. Also please pray for Christian negotiator Stephen Davis, a former canon at Coventry Cathedral, who has been having talks with a senior commander of the group holding the 200 Chibok girls. See: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2645234/Australiandesperately-trying-free-kidnapped-Nigerian-schoolgirls.html

In the Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers march through the night hunting for women who are hiding in the bushes. 2,000 young soldiers fire gunshots in the air. The commander orders, ‘Go and rape women.’ The soldiers obey. Research from the American Journal of Public Health says that ‘in DRC 1,152 women are raped every day - 48 women every hour). Despite conflict officially ending in 2003 fighting has never stopped, claiming more than five million lives. Throughout this time, sexual violence has continued as a weapon. A total of 12% of the female population of the DRC have been raped at least once. DRC’s reputation is ‘the most dangerous in the world for women’. War Child UK, a charity working to reduce rape in the Congo, says sexual violence rises in conflict because men lose their role in society, are mentally scarred, and commit crimes with little consequence. Pray for the 4-day conference ‘End Sexual Violence in Conflict’ being held this week in London.