Nigeria: Fulani herdsmen conflict has growing religious dimension – BBC

Nigeria: Fulani herdsmen conflict has growing religious dimension – BBC
Following the shooting dead of two Catholic priests and over a dozen parishioners at a church in Nigeria’s Middle Belt last month, the BBC has visited the village and spoken to survivors. Fr. Joseph Gor and Fr. Felix Tyolaha were killed during the morning Mass at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, in . . . Read More

Trump tells Buhari: ‘We cannot allow Christians to be murdered’

Trump tells Buhari: ‘We cannot allow Christians to be murdered’
US President Donald Trump decried the killings of Christians in Nigeria as he met with the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, in Washington yesterday (30 April). Nigeria has been plagued by violence attributed to Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt and northeast. Benue state has been particularly affected, with attacks happening . . . Read More

Niger: pastor’s daughter kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants

Street scene in Zinder, Niger's second biggest town, where thousands of people fled to after Boko Haram first attacked Diffa in February 2015. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
The teenage daughter of a pastor was kidnapped on 16 October in Diffa, south-eastern Niger, in what appears to be the first targeted kidnapping of a Christian by Boko Haram-affiliated militants in the West African nation. Aphodiya Garba Maida, 17, daughter of a pastor with the EERN (Église Évangélique de . . . Read More

‘There will never be peace for Nigeria’s Middle Belt unless there’s equality and justice’

‘There will never be peace for Nigeria’s Middle Belt unless there’s equality and justice’
Obscured by Boko Haram’s headlines, violence has also raged further south, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt: a less reported, years-long campaign which experts now believe has been responsible for more deaths than Boko Haram. Militants among the ethnic Fulani, a predominantly Muslim and nomadic population of cattle herders, are suspected of targeting . . . Read More

Kidnapped missionaries appear in video posted by jihadist groups in Africa’s Sahel

Kidnapped missionaries appear in video posted by jihadist groups in Africa’s Sahel
A coalition of jihadist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda released a video showing six foreign hostages, including three missionaries, just hours before France president Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Mali, where France agreed to help support anti-terrorist efforts in the Sahel. According to the US-based monitoring group SITE, the undated 16’50” footage . . . Read More

Murder of Fulani Christian mayor in Mali increases concerns over creeping Islamic extremism

Murder of Fulani Christian mayor in Mali increases concerns over creeping Islamic extremism
The motive behind the murder of a Fulani Christian politician in Mali last month remains unknown, but locals suspect an Islamist agenda. Moussa Issah Bary, the 47-year-old deputy mayor of Kerana (near the Burkina Faso border), was shot dead by six unidentified men on motorbikes on 16 November. He is . . . Read More

Rising Islamist militancy across Sahel belt threatens African Christianity

Rising Islamist militancy across Sahel belt threatens African Christianity
More than 70 churches, as well as Christian homes, schools and orphanages,were burned down by Islamists in Niger in January 2015.World Watch Monitor As the world focusses on potential military advances against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, it risks overlooking another vast region where militant Islam is . . . Read More