UK Coptic bishop receives Welby's highest award

The Archbishop of Canterbury has given his highest award to the UK Bishop of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church, Bp. Angaelos, for his “exceptional services to the cause of Christian unity”.

Justin Welby said to Bp. Angaelos, in presenting the Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism, “My encounter with Orthodoxy through you has been a really profound experience ... It has changed much of my understanding of what the Church is universally. I have never had that much engagement with Orthodoxy, and certainly not with Coptic Orthodoxy. I found a completely different understanding, a much deeper sense of being drawn into the Body of Christ, and this is a recognition of the importance of your role in presenting to the UK and to the Church that we belong to one another in Christ.”

Bishop Angaelos welcomed “working with ... the Anglican Communion worldwide to advocate for others … It comes at a time at which we must stand together. It is time for us to speak collaboratively and powerfully. It is only by the world seeing us standing together and witnessing that what we have in common is more than what separates us, that it realises that we have common ground, especially for those who are not so privileged as we are to speak…
           
“At a time of increasing challenge and darkness, when there appears to be no hope, and those who threaten us appear to be stronger, our hope and strength lies well and truly in our unity, in our shared vision, and in our commitment to do what we can, not only for ourselves but for the world around us.”

Adherents of the Coptic Church are the largest contingent of Christians remaining in the Middle East, where Christians have been subject to continued pressures, including rampant violence forcing large numbers out of their ancestral lands in places like Iraq and Syria.

Head of Nigerian Islamist group Ansaru arrested

The leader of Ansaru jihadist group, a Boko Haram splinter group, known for kidnapping foreigners and attacks against Christians, has been arrested.

A military spokesman said Khalid al-Barnawi was captured in Lokoja, capital of the central Nigerian state of Kogi.

"Security agents made a breakthrough on Friday in the fight against terrorism by arresting Khalid al-Barnawi, the leader of Ansaru terrorist group in Lokoja," military spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said.

"He is among those on top of the list of our wanted terrorists."

The US had placed a $5m (£3.5m) bounty on his head after branding him one of three Nigerian "specially designated global terrorists" in 2012.

Ideologically aligned to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansaru disapproves of what it sees as Boko Haram’s indiscriminate bombing and shooting campaign, preferring instead high profile killings and attacks on Western interests.

Ansaru tries to avoid Muslim casualties and actively attacks Christians and churches.

Ansaru also said it carried out an attack on a maximum security prison in the Nigerian capital Abuja in 2012, freeing dozens of inmates.

Source: BBC

Girl with explosives not a Chibok victim

On 29 March, Catching Our Eye reported that a teen-aged girl, detained in Cameroon when authorities discovered she was carrying explosives, claimed she was one of the nearly 300 girls kidnapped two years ago from her school in Chibok, Nigeria. Today, the BBC is reporting that Nigerian officials say the girl is not a Chibok kidnapping victim. The report does not indicate the girl's actual circumstances.