The state has again blocked the long-delayed election of a new Armenian Apostolic patriarch, arguing that an election would be contrary to the community's traditions. Yet freedom of religion protects the right of religious communities to elect leaders in accordance with their traditions as they interpret them. The Istanbul governorship (a state institution under the Interior Ministry responsible for state administration in Istanbul province, where the patriarchate is based) argues that a new leader cannot be elected because the previous patriarch, unable to fulfil his functions since 2008 because of illness, is still living.

On 25 February, Nigeria's information minister had a meeting with the family members of 110 girls who were abducted a week earlier. The frustrated families had criticised the government for taking so long to acknowledge the abduction. They presented the minister with a list of names of the missing girls, and complained that officials were being slow to respond. The girls’ fate is not known, but witnesses said the Islamic extremists specifically asked where the girls’ school was located. Some eyewitnesses reported seeing young women taken away at gunpoint. Air Force spokesman Olatokunbo Adesanya said that efforts to locate the girls are being conducted in close liaison with other security forces. It is feared the girls will become brides for Boko Haram extremists. Nigeria's president said no effort will be spared to locate them.

60.5% of South Sudan’s population is Christian, with over 60 different major ethnic groups. South Sudan split from the predominantly Islamic north in 2011 and was expected to prosper as the split meant it inherited most of Sudan's oil wealth. But civil war has robbed the nation, killed thousands, and left tens of thousands in need of humanitarian aid. Now a report by UN human rights investigators says that over 40 South Sudanese officials, including military generals and state governors, may be guilty of crimes against humanity, (rape, murder of civilians, and conscripting child soldiers). The report says, ‘Children have been recruited and forced to kill civilians. In many cases they have watched loved ones raped or killed. The scale of the hunger and destruction inflicted on the country by its political and military leaders defies description.’

Recently the Egyptian army and police launched a comprehensive anti-terrorism operation in the Sinai peninsula ahead of the 26-28 March elections in which President al-Sisi will be running for a second term. A spokesman said intelligence information revealed that extremist groups were planning to carry out terrorist attacks across Egypt during the election, to erode citizens’ trust in the state’s ability to secure the country and to prevent them from casting their votes. Armed groups are concentrated in three cities, Rafah, Sheikh Zuweid and el-Arish, deep in the desert. Classes have been indefinitely suspended in all schools in the area. The roads linking north Sinai to the other governorates and the governorate cities to each other were closed, forcing residents to stay at home and making it difficult for university students to travel.