Here are a few of the many incidents of Christmas attacks on Christians in 2018. Two days before Egypt’s Christian celebrations, a specialist in mine clearance died defusing a bomb hidden next to a church in Cairo. On 24 December a Methodist church in Bury offering night shelter to homeless refugees was attacked by arsonists who also stole their laptop and projector equipment. In Indonesia over 90,000 police and soldiers helped guard 50,000 churches across the country, including those previously attacked by terrorists. In India on 23 December a mob attacked forty people worshipping at a church in Kowad, injuring ten people. Militants increase their attacks on Nigerian churches at this time, and in Pakistan a planned attack was foiled in Karachi. See

Pray: for God to protect His people across the nations who are vulnerable to terrorism during the Christmas period. (Psalm 5:11)

More: releaseinternational.org/christian-persecution-set-to-rise-in-2019/

Adults were murdered, children were kidnapped, and people robbed in Boko Haram attacks on mainly-Christian villages in the far north of Cameroon. The army has difficulty combatting militants in an area dotted with small, isolated villages linked by poor roads where militants strike and then escape via main roads back to Nigeria. On 1 December gunmen attacked mourners at a funeral in Kotserehé, killing four and wounding three. The following night, they murdered three and wounded another when they swarmed into Zangola, stealing food and clothing; they similarly looted Yagoua. In Mbreche, militants kidnapped 21 young people aged between 12 and 21; next they attacked Tahert, stealing a motorbike and wounding a girl. Those abducted will be forced to become Boko Haram ‘soldiers’ and fight for the extremists. In November a Christian boy was hacked to death for resisting militants’ attempt to abduct him as a ‘soldier’.

Pray: for God to comfort all who have been attacked and bereaved, and that the authorities can find the children and block the militants’ actions. (Psalm 86:17)

More: barnabasfund.org/en/news/seven-killed-and-21-young-people-kidnapped-in-far-north-cameroon-as-boko-haram-rampage

According to a Human Rights Watch report, survivors of human trafficking are being locked up in shelters by the Nigerian government. 76 of them are women suffering from depression, anxiety, insomnia, flashbacks, aches and pains. Despite attempts to combat human trafficking and provide support for survivors, care for victims is still severely lacking. Nigerian authorities are illegally detaining traumatised survivors, and inhibiting their recovery from the experiences they went through. They are not allowing survivors to leave at will, in violation of the country’s international legal obligations. The detentions overwhelmingly affect women and girls between the ages of 8 and 17, putting their recovery and well-being at risk. Some were promised well-paid jobs as domestic workers, hairdressers, or hotel staff but were then tricked and trapped in exploitation, and forced to pay back huge ‘debts’ for their travel.

Pray: for medical, counselling, financial support and reintegration into society or reuniting with their families for all the men, women and children. (Psalm 23:4)

More: www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/nigeria-government-detaining-trafficking-survivors-report-190827085056733.html

World Polio Day was on 24 October. Global polio numbers have fallen over decades, but new outbreaks continue to raise questions about eradication efforts in countries where humanitarian access is a problem. The recent surge in polio is fuelled by dozens of cases of wild poliovirus in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and by unexpected new outbreaks of vaccine-derived strains, rare mutations that affect under-immunised populations, in at least 14 other countries. Some of these had not seen polio for years, including Ghana and the Philippines, which both announced outbreaks in September. In some cases, vaccine-derived polio strains have leapt across borders - from Nigeria to its neighbours and from Somalia to Ethiopia. A WHO committee has said, ‘The risk of new outbreaks in other countries is considered extremely high, even probable’. There are grave concerns that it will not be possible to control outbreaks in Africa and Asia.

Pray: for vaccines to eradicate new strains, and for medicine to reach destinations safely. (Proverbs 3:8)

More: www.thenewhumanitarian.org/maps-and-graphics/2019/10/24/polio-outbreaks-how-virus-spread-decades-eradication-efforts

Chad’s defence minister has said that a landslide at an illegal gold mine had killed about thirty people in a region near the Libyan border early on 24 September, and more victims might still be buried in the rubble. There has been rapid growth in illegal mining in recent years, often by refugees from Sudan looking for quick money to head to Europe or by rebels fighting the army. Unsafe methods and a lack of oversight mean that accidents are common at such mines across Africa, where impoverished communities seek a share of the vast resources that are usually dug up by international companies, processed and sent overseas. As gold surges, so does illegal mining across Chad, South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Nigeria - bringing crime, danger and risk to fragile environments.

Pray: for those rescued to be arrested for illegal mining and trespassing, for those still underground to be found and for the families of the dead to be comforted. (Proverbs 21:15)

More: www.vanguardngr.com/2019/09/about-30-killed-in-landslide-at-chad-gold-mine/

  1. Nigeria: pregnant mother among five Christians killed
  2. Nigeria suicide blast kills 30 at video hall in Borno
  3. Niger: Boko Haram violence against Christians
  4. Nigeria: Christian persecution growing

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