DRC under siege

 On January 24 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), one person was fatally shot by police and several others were arrested in Beni town while protesting the “state of siege” declared by President Felix Tshisekedi in May 2021.

A local source informed ICC that chanting erupted in the streets as early as 4:00 a.m., with protesters claiming that the siege has done nothing to solve insecurity in the region.

“The protesters started grouping and chanting early this morning and took to the streets at 6:00 a.m., defying the crackling of bullets to disperse them,” said the source. “They were demanding the lifting of the siege that lasted eight months without any fruitful outcome. The police engaged them in running battles until late in the evening where one person is believed to have been killed by police. Shops, banks, schools, and hotels remained closed as crowds drawn from different pressure groups called for an end to the state of siege that has failed to solve the conflict situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.”

The protests come two months after Uganda deployed troops to the DRC in an effort to defeat the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorist group, an affiliate of ISIS known to terrorize the primarily Christian nation.

The source continued, “The people here are disappointed by the fact that the government is using the state of siege to force the population to sleep at 7:00 p.m. and extort money from those caught after curfew, yet the (extremist) Muslim rebels continue to invade, kill, loot, and destroy property. The president has his military men, from the governor, mayor, and the local administrators, but we are still being oppressed under the imposed siege.”

Over Christmas, six people were killed in a bomb blast at the Ishango restaurant in Beni town. The local population, which is primarily Christian, is asking for heightened security measures that would allow them to return to normalcy and bring back the region’s economic vibrancy. A church leader in Beni told ICC:

“The president’s state of siege was a good thing in fighting terrorism in these two provinces, but a keen end-to-end follow-up has been lacking and that’s why the population is coming out to pressure the government to reconsider these measures. Several groups wrote to the military mayor of the city of Beni on January 19, notifying him that if the siege continued, there shall be demonstrations today. He never bothered to take any action. The church also sees this as harassment by the government.”

The extent of damage and loss of lives following the protests are not yet known. ICC will continue to monitor the situation and provide any necessary updates.

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.

Nigeria, defend yourself against Fulani militants

 Fulani militants killed 18 Christians in Ancha village on Tuesday evening, January 11, marking the second attack on the Christian community in Nigeria this week.

“A loud voice shouted, ‘Allahu Akubar’ (Allah is the greatest) at midnight,” an eyewitness told International Christian Concern (ICC). “The community has now been attacked seven times by Muslim militants.”

Those killed included the church secretary of the local Baptist church. More than 100 homes were burned down, and food stores and crops were destroyed. Six people are currently in the hospital receiving medical treatment for bullet wounds.

“My life is now at risk,” eyewitness John Rivi Bulus told ICC through tears, “The Fulani are now after my life; all my family members have now been killed by the Fulani militants…I am left alone.”

“There is a plan for jihad in Nigeria, but the Nigerian government continues to remain silent,” said an Irigwe youth leader. “We are pleading with Christians in the Diaspora to come to our assistance.”

ICC’s contact in Nigeria is currently at the devastated village and has reported that the situation is “very bad,” and that further details would be available soon.

“We will continue to monitor this tragic situation and send out information as it is received,” said ICC President Jeff King. “Right now, our Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria are in need of our prayers.” 

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.

Fulani people suck

 Fulani militants killed 28-year-old Stephen Monday and injured his wife, Ejoma, while the couple was walking to their farmland on January 10. 

“Fulani militants attacked and ambushed two people on their way to farm at Ancha village,” reported an ICC correspondent in Nigeria. “One was killed while the other sustained a gunshot injury in her mouth and has been taken to the hospital for treatment.” 

A Christian leader in Ancha old ICC that citizens are expecting more attacks through the night, as gunshots continue in the distance.  

“Fulani (militants) are shooting guns around the mountain of the community, destroying our food crops,” he said. “They will continue to attack and destroy our crops in 2022.” 

ICC spoke to another Christian leader in the area, whose name we withheld for security reasons. He said that Christians continue to suffer constant attacks as the government turns a blind eye. 

“These continuous, tragic reports out of Nigeria are one reason we named Nigeria the worst persecuting country in our 2021 Persecutor of the Year Awards,” said ICC President Jeff King. “It starts at the top with President Buhari who along with his government and military leaders is complicit in turning a blind eye to crimes against Christians.” 

“This is not the first time Fulani militants killed our farmers,” said the source. “There are always deliberate acts by the government of President Buhari allowing his tribesmen to Kill Christian farmers, leading to hunger in Christian communities.” 

On Friday, January 7, just six miles from yesterday’s attack, 49-year-old Timeh Evi was ambushed and killed by Fulani militants while working on his farm in Nzhwerenvi village. 

“Till now, his dead body has not been recovered as the attackers either made away with the body or dumped it somewhere,” a community member told ICC. “Only traces of his blood have been found on the farm. His motorcycle and water pump machine were stolen.”  

For decades, Fulani militants have attacked Christian farming villages in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region—where the Muslim north meets the Christian south—displacing millions of Christians and leaving them without reliable access to food.   

The numbers are staggering. Depending on the source, an estimated 100 thousand Christians have been killed over the past 20 years, while over two million have been displaced.  

Many say that this is a conflict over land, as the arid zones in Nigeria have been increasingly moving southward. But to leave the narrative at that is simply irresponsible. While farmer-herder conflicts over land have existed throughout centuries, a more sinister element has emerged within the last few decades, fueled by a jihadist agenda.  

This is what the Nigerian government refuses to acknowledge and what Christians in Nigeria have spent years trying to communicate to the international community. 

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.

New Year's Resolution for Nigeria: Stop the Fulani

 Five people in Nigeria were brutally attacked by Fulani militants on Friday, December 31, while on their way home from an annual prayer meeting held for the Christian communities of Irigwe chiefdom.

An International Christian Concern (ICC) correspondent who was at the event spoke to the National Publicity Secretary of the Irigwe Christians, who said, “One was killed and burnt beyond recognition, while four others sustained varying degrees of injuries.”

The deceased victim was identified as 38-year-old Adamu Sunday. Those injured are Bitrus Sunday, 31, Mr. Bitrus Doro, 41, Sunday Musa, 43, and Sunday Alex, age unknown.

One of the survivors told ICC that during the attack, a Fulani militant warned that it was “the first attack for the new year,” and that more would be coming in 2022.

The unnamed survivor added, “It was God that saved my life; I don’t know how I escaped; it was God that saved me.”

The youth leader of the Irigwe tribesmen told ICC that authorities ignored threats from the militants prior to the bloodshed. “This was the second time [the] Fulani promised an attack on one of the communities, and the government of Nigeria doesn’t want to protect them because they are Christians,” he said.

“Attacks of this nature have been ongoing for the past 20 years and the silence is deafening,” said ICC President Jeff King. “While the government claims to be doing its best to curb the violence, the reality paints a different picture of a Muslim-led government allowing anti-Christian violence to continue without consequence.”

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. We also encourage you to contact the Nigerian embassy in your country today, calling on them to address the persecution of Christians.

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.

Who is Nasir El-Rufai?

Human rights watchdog group International Christian Concern (ICC) released a report earlier today profiling Nigerian Governor Nasir El-Rufai and analyzing his years-long pattern of punishing Christian communities in Kaduna State. While militant groups contribute to religious persecution in Nigeria, No Protest Allowed highlights another major source of persecution in Nigeria—the government. 

Since taking office as Governor of Kaduna State in May 2015, El-Rufai has repeatedly endangered Christian communities by ordering them into strict lockdowns. These lockdown orders—which trap villagers in their homes—prevent villagers from organizing early warning systems and make militant attacks even more deadly as villagers no longer have the warning they need to flee impending attacks. 

Despite international condemnation of these lockdown orders, El-Rufai has continued to punish Christians using this technique. In 2020, he locked down a Christian-majority agricultural area for over two months during planting season. Militants, taking advantage of his lockdown orders, killed over 100 Christian villagers during that time. 

In addition to chronicling several of these lockdowns, No Protest Allowed exposes El-Rufai’s immense wealth and his family’s extensive international travel including to London, Paris, New York, Dubai, and the Caribbean. 

Dubbed the “reformist governor” by the Economist, El-Rufai’s carefully-groomed image as a man of the people began to crumble as ICC researchers combed through the El-Rufai family’s social media presence. While El-Rufai has loudly publicized his decision to enroll some of his children in Kaduna’s public school system, ICC researchers found that he quietly sent at least one of his children to a private school in Canada where annual tuition is about $44,000 USD per year. Another social media post showed his family drinking sparkling apple juice infused with 24kt gold flakes at the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai. 

Nigeria goes to great effort to cast itself as a beleaguered nation struggling valiantly against sectarian violence. Secular democracy, the narrative goes, is the guiding principle governing Nigeria—any deviation from that is the fault of malicious nonstate actors intending to spoil what they cannot control. 

Nigeria does suffer from sectarian violence—it is estimated that Boko Haram is responsible for over 35,000 deaths and that Fulani militants have killed from 20,000-50,000 in the last decade or so—but the idea that the government is an impartial player doing its best to promote justice and freedom for all is simply wrong. 

A self-proclaimed admirer of China’s Den Xiaoping, El-Rufai recently resurrected a military-era rule regulating pastors and their sermons. The regulations are striking similar to Chinese regulations and do not bode well for the future of religious freedom in Kaduna. 

“El-Rufai’s actions endanger thousands and help to illustrate the deeply problematic nature of government persecution in Nigeria,” said Jay Church, the report’s author and ICC’s Advocacy Manager for Africa. “ICC hopes that the international community takes note of El-Rufai’s consistent pattern of persecution in Kaduna State and responds accordingly. We call on the U.S. and others to sanction El-Rufai for his egregious violations of human rights and hope to see those sanctions come about in the near future.” 

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.

 

Azerbaijan looks to recreate 1915 genocide

 International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that November 8, 2021, Azerbaijani troops opened gunfire on a group of Armenian utility workers repairing water pipes near the city of Shushi, which was captured during the Turkish-Azeri war last year against Nagorno-Karabakh (Armenian: Artsakh). The incident occurred on the same day that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev was in Shushi alongside Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to mark the one-year anniversary of the invasion’s ceasefire.

It occurred near the Lachin-Stepanakert Road, the only transit option connecting Karabakh’s Armenian Christian community with the outside world. The road was temporarily closed following the incident. Most of Nagorno-Karabakh’s land was lost during the war, and now residents are surrounded by Turkish-Azeri forces. This is the second citizen killed since last year’s ceasefire, with the first being murdered in front of Russian peacekeepers this past October.

“The recorded incident is another proof of the anti-Armenian, genocidal and fascist behavior of the Azerbaijani side towards the Armenian people, about which we have stated many times since the signing of the trilateral statement,” said Gegham Stepanyan, Artsakh’s Human Rights Ombudsman.

“Today, at around 3:00 p.m., near the city of Shushi, the Azerbaijani side fired at Armenian civilians working on water pipes in the area. One civilian killed, three wounded,” said local journalist Anush Ghavalyan. “This is how Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev brings peace to the region—by killing civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh. No people, no conflict.”

Speaking about the recent escalation of Turkish-Azeri aggression towards Artsakh’s Armenian Christian residents, a Stepanakert local shared simply, “This is hell… we don’t know what will happen.”

The deceased is 22-years old. The wounded civilians are 43, 41, and 31 years old.

The incident comes just days after the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released a factsheet reiterating its recommendations for State Department CPC and SWL designations. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan were named on the factsheet as recommendations for the Special Watch List (SWL).

Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “The escalation of violence toward Armenian civilians living in Nagorno-Karabakh is very alarming. These incidents give further evidence of how Azerbaijan has embraced Turkey in such a way that both countries are emboldened and empowered to commit genocidal atrocities towards Armenian Christians. They intend to intimidate those who remain living in Karabakh, suffocating them with forced isolation from the outside world. Turkey and Azerbaijan have made it clear in their rhetoric that their actions are viewed as a continuation of the 1915 genocide against Christians. The ceasefire may have been established a year ago, but the cleansing activities of the invasion continue to this very day.”

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.

Joga, Lakhma, Magda, and Sukka are crazy

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that a Christian community in India’s Chhattisgarh state was brutally attacked by a mob of radical Hindu nationalists over the weekend. The attack left nine Christians seriously injured, including three who are currently hospitalized in critical condition.

On Saturday, November 6, a mob of 50 radical Hindu nationalists attacked 14 Christian homes in Metapal village, located in the Dantewada district. Local Christians report that the mob was led by four men named Joga, Lakhma, Magda, and Sukka. The mob went from house to house, attacking Christians to make Metapal a “Christian-free” village.

Wielding fists, wooden clubs, and other objects, the extremists beat the Christians of Metapal, including women and children. The attack left nine Christians seriously injured with broken bones, dislocated joints, and head injuries.

“Santu, a teenage boy, was carried by four people to the hospital like a dead body,” Pastor Susheel Kumar, a survivor of the attack, told ICC. “He suffered multiple fractures to his legs and hand.”

Following the attack, Mogadi Madkami, Santu Madkami, and Hidma Podiyami were taken to Dantewada District Hospital where they remain in critical condition. Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR no. 22/2021) against 15 members of the mob; however, no arrests have been made to date.

“There has been intense opposition in the village against people practicing Christianity,” Pastor Kumar explained. “These Christians have been threatened a number of times in the past. Last year, three families fled the village after they were attacked by the right-wing groups. They have never returned to the village.”

“This is not an isolated incident,” another Christian leader, who requested anonymity, told ICC. “Christians across the state are facing intense pressure from the religious militant groups. Christians are not free to exercise their faith on par with Hindus. We want the government to treat us fairly and without bias.”

Across India, attacks on Christians and their places of worship are being reported in greater number and severity. Recently, a report authored by the United Christian Forum documented over 300 attacks on Christians taking place in just the first nine months of 2021. Without significant intervention by government authorities, it is likely that 2021 will be the worst year on record for Christian persecution in India.

William Stark, ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, said, “We here at International Christian Concern are very concerned by the attack on the Christian community of Metapal. Violent attempts to make communities ‘Christian-free’ must be stopped and punished if religious freedom is to mean anything in India. Unfortunately, this attack is merely a symptom of a larger problem in India. Religious intolerance and religiously motivated violence have become so normalized in India that we are hearing reports of multiple incidents every week. Strict action must be taken against the perpetrators of this attack and stern statements must be made by India’s leaders to dispel the notion that a community could or should be cleansed of a particular religious community.”

For interviews, please contact: press@persecution.org.