The US/Russia-brokered cease-fire for Syria came into effect on Monday and will end at midnight on Sunday. Nations hope the truce can lead to the revival of peace talks between Assad’s government and the rebels battling to overthrow him and contribute to efforts to defeat IS and other extremists in Syria. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said peace talks between opposition groups and the government could resume as early as next month. However, that scenario is complicated by the fact that Jabhat Fateh al-Sham remains intertwined with several other groups who are fighting on the ground and harshly criticised the US/Russian agreement to reduce violence. However, it did not reject the ceasefire, and along with the 21 insurgent groups welcomed plans to deliver aid to besieged areas of the northern city of Aleppo, saying it will help facilitate them. Pray for peaceful strategic military objectives to be achieved, with ongoing UN-established aid corridors into areas.

The nutrition situation in Borno and Yobe states in NIGERIA is extreme. The Boko Haram conflict has contributed to large-scale population displacement, limiting market activity, and restricting normal livelihoods. Other areas of highest concern are ETHIOPIA: following a severe drought, more people will need food assistance over the coming year than at any time in the past ten years. SUDAN: below-average national food production and very large pasture deficits. SOUTH SUDAN: conflicts continue to disrupt trade, humanitarian access, and livelihoods. Food security has deteriorated to ‘Emergency’ in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. YEMEN: extensive conflict has reduced incomes and elevated food prices. Food is inadequate for poor households. Many are suffering from the 2015/16 El Niño which led to drought. SOUTHERN AFRICA: 2016 is a second poor food production year. The number of people in crisis is expected to continue to increase through the year . HAITI: there are below-average agricultural seasons, reduced labour demand, and continuing high staple food prices.

IS has spread from Syria to Iraq; giving Christians the ultimatum - convert, submit, or die. In Basra and Baghdad Christian women are threatened in the workplace and forced to wear headscarves. Many have been driven out. There is low-level persecution of Christians by the government and its Shia-dominated army. Kidnapping is commonplace. ‘The future looks bleak for Christians in Iraq,’ says Paul Robinson of Release, ‘Christians are caught in the crossfire.’ The'ar and his family fled from Baghdad to the Christian village of Qaraqosh, but had to flee again when it was captured by IS. The'ar said, ‘We have no future. Our prayer is to leave this country, just to be human and to raise our kids with dignity.’ However, there are rays of light. Thousands of refugees have trekked through the desert to Kurdistan, which has declared itself a safe haven for Christian refugees. It is one of the few areas of the Middle East where churches for Muslim-background believers are flourishing.

New rules regarding the UNHCR process have been decried by Christian advocates in Thailand, who claim that the change in rules disproportionately target Pakistani Christian refugees. Fleeing persecution in their homeland, Pakistani Christians comprise the largest portion of the refugee community in Thailand. Thai authorities often view these refugees as illegal immigrants, round them up, and detain them in deplorable conditions. On their arrival in Thailand they soon discover they are unwanted when their travel visa expires and they apply for asylum at the UNHCR. Here they are advised that despite having an official UN asylum registration, Thailand's refusal to sign UN conventions on asylum means that their status is illegal. Will pressure from the international community help change the UNHCR process for the better, or will the situation for Pakistani Christian refugees continue to get worse?