Mass grave of Christians killed by Islamic State found in Libya

December 28, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Misrata, Libya, Dec 28, 2018 / 01:48 pm (CNA).- A mass grave of 34 Ethiopian Christians executed by the so-called Islamic State group in 2015 has reportedly been unearthed in Libya.

The bodies have been exhumed and will be eventually repatriated to Ethiopia, the Libyan interior ministry says.

Libyan government authorities found the mass grave Dec. 23 after obtaining information from arrested Islamic State members. The grave appears to be located on a farm near the coastal city of Sirte, 170 miles southeast of Misrata.

Islamic State gained control of Sirte in 2015, but United Nations-backed forces regained control of the city in December 2016 after months of deadly fighting.

According to the Libyan Express newspaper, a propaganda video posted to social media in April 2015 appeared to show the Islamic State members shooting and beheading the Ethiopian Christians, who were all wearing orange jumpsuits, on a beach. The Christians were in Libya to seek work as migrant workers, according to International Christian Concern.

The 2015 incident happened just months after Islamic State members executed a group of nearly two dozen Coptic Christians; a mass grave containing their bodies was found last October.

Islamic State and other terrorist organizations are still active in Libya and retain control of parts of the country.

A suicide bomber attack on the Libyan foreign ministry in the capital Tripoli, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, killed at least three people and injured 21 on Christmas Day. A senior Libyan diplomat was among those killed.

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UNICEF: CAR is most dangerous country for children

March 11, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Bangui, Central African Republic, Mar 11, 2019 / 10:00 pm (CNA).- Despite last month’s peace agreement between the Central African Republic government and rebel factions, the country’s citizens, especially children, continue to face violence and famine.

“This is the most dangerous place in the world for children,” Caryl Stern, the CEO of United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in the U.S. (UNICEF USA), told NBC News.

Ongoing battles between Muslim and Christian rebels have taken thousands of lives and displaced millions of people since 2013. The Political Accord for Peace and Reconciliation, signed in Kourham, Sudan, in February, is the eighth agreement to have occured.

Because of the violence between rebel groups, the country of over four million people has a shortage of necessities. According to UNICEF, 1.5 million children are at risk for starvation, 950,000 children are without access to safe water, and, in 2019, 38,000 children under the age of five will suffer severe acute malnutrition.

The children are not only threatened by a lack of food and water; they also face the risk of being recruited as child soldiers against their will.

According to NBC News, rebel groups control about 75 percent of the country, while the government has authority over the capital and other small sections. The country is dangerous for humanitarian groups; 396 attacks on aid workers took place last year.

David Brownstein, the U.S. chargé d’affaires in the Central African Republic, has expressed concern that the unstable nature of the country will give ISIS the opportunity to take hold of the area and promote further violence.  

“ISIS takes advantage of vacuums. Literal vacuums, security vacuums, governance vacuums, perceived moral vacuums,” Brownstein said, according to NBC News.

In February, a peace agreement was reached after a lengthy dialogue between the government and 14 major rebel groups. The African Union and United Nations mediated the discussion. Countries such as Chad, Angola, Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, France, Britain, the U.S. and Russia were also involved.

Vatican News reported that, under the agreement, the armed groups promised to refrain from the destruction or occupation of public places and sacred spaces. The deal also required that arm groups not harm civilians or humanitarian workers.

Bishop Juan José Aguirre Muños of Bangassou said the agreement was reached under false pretenses – a means for rebel groups to gain more control of the resource rich land, according to Vida Nueva.

“Although they already have control of 80% of the mines of diamonds, gold, cobalt, mercury … and of transhumance, they want more,” he said.

“It is a screen to hide everything from above and continue conquering the country and stealing raw materials,” he added.

 

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1 Comment

  1. They…isis are continuously cooked…if you trust I Cor. 3:17… “ 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”

    Does anyone see maybe there. That is one of many masculine verses that have fallen into
    desuetude….only in the feminized consciousness.

    Reply

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