Horror in Africa: Deadly Violence Against Christians Spreads

The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) has been warning the world for years that the deadly violence against Christians in Nigeria is going to spread like wildfire across the continent of Africa if it is not put out quickly.

Now reports show that violence against Christians is burning far beyond Nigeria’s borders.

Recently, more than 1,200 Nigerian Christians had been slaughtered by radical Islamic groups such as Boko Haram in the first six months of 2020. That’s more than were reportedly killed in all of 2019.

Just days ago, Boko Haram reportedly carried out another deadly attack in Nigeria, brutally executing 12 Christians, including a pastor, and kidnapped women and children. The insurgents killed at least 12 people in the attack on the Takulashi village near Chibok in Borno state on Nov. 22. The militants are also said to have abducted nine women and young girls.

If nothing is done, the bloodshed will continue to spread into every part of Nigeria, and Africa. Undeterred, evil will always find a way.

The ACLJ has gone directly to the U.N. Human Rights Council to defend Nigeria’s dying Christians. We’ve delivered multiple critical written submissions and oral interventions through our European affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), urging intervention to save Nigeria’s endangered Christians.

And now reports of bloodshed and violence against Christians are popping up from other regions of the African continent. The settings are different, but the details are disturbingly similar.

A week before the horrific attack in Nigeria, at least 18 Christians were reportedly killed and Christian homes and a church were burned to the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo by suspected Islamic radicals.

In Uganda, a Christian pastor and father of eight children was set up and fatally ambushed by Islamic extremists because he dared to preach the gospel on a local radio program. According to reports, “A Christian pastor was reportedly killed in northern Uganda at the end of October after he compared Christianity and Islam during his radio broadcast.

“Pastor David Omara, the father of eight and pastor of Christian Church Center, was beaten and strangled around 9 p.m. on Oct. 31 after finishing a broadcast in the town of Aduku, according to his son, Simon Okut.”

And in a recent report straight out of a nightmare, Islamic terrorists beheaded over 50 innocent Christians during a mass execution on a soccer field in Mozambique.

According to reports, the vicious perpetrators are attempting to form a new Islamic state. This cannot be allowed. Action must be taken to stop this deadly violence and prevent terror from spreading further.

ACLJ just filed a critical Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) through the ECLJ regarding the deadly violence afflicting Christians in Mozambique.

The submission highlighted the unfathomable acts of evil—including murder, rape and human trafficking—being perpetrated against Mozambique’s innocent Christian population.

Christians are being attacked in northern Mozambique, by Islamic extremists, resulting in thousands of citizens becoming displaced. It is estimated that since 2017, approximately 1,500 people have been killed and 21,000 displaced as a result of attacks by Islamic extremists.

These attacks predominately target Christians and their places of worship. In addition, in the southern region of Mozambique, vulnerable young women are prey to human traffickers who then exploit them sexually.

Men and young boys are also targeted by human traffickers who traffic them from Mozambique to South Africa to be used as forced labor. Furthermore, albino children are targeted by human traffickers for their organs and body parts.

We pointed out that such disgusting acts violate not only Mozambique’s own constitution but the anti-trafficking law that was passed in 2008.

The submission urged international intervention to stop this terrible violence and abuse and to put pressure on Mozambique to do more to protect its Christians and hold terrorists accountable, “Mozambique must do more to protect its citizens from being attacked by Islamic extremists. The savage attacks on Christians and others in the north (or wherever they occur) must be condemned and the perpetrators must be arrested and held accountable for their crimes.

“A strong message must be sent that terrorism will not be tolerated.”

The ACLJ will continue to fight tirelessly to defend Christians in Nigeria, Mozambique and all across Africa and see the barbaric terrorists brought to justice. Stand with us.

In addition to Mozambique, we also recently submitted UPRs for the African nations of Somalia, Niger, Namibia and Sierra Leone. {eoa}