Middle East – Africa

CNA Staff, Jul 16, 2020 / 03:00 am (CNA).- After a violent incident between South Sudanese tribal members in a previously peaceful refugee camp in Uganda, a local priest says that tribes must provide conflict management and education, not produce division.

“Tribes, which can be a good medium to learn cultures, languages and traditions, should not be misused to fuel hatred and discord,” said Fr. Lazar Arasu, the Director of Don Bosco Palabek Refugee Services.

Arasu, a native of southern India’s Tamil Nadu State, is a Salesian priest who has lived in East Africa for three decades.

Most people tend to have only a superficial knowledge of their cultures and traditions, he explained. He underscored the need for people to learn the deeper meaning of culture, tradition and their history in the right way in order to have the right attitude to the institution of tribes and cultures.

The Church, the priest said, “should be an umbrella embracing under her shade people of all tribes and differences. When they remain neutral, they remain the true voice of God.”

The Palabek Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda in the Archdiocese of Gulu. It is home to about 55,000 refugees from nearby South Sudan, the world’s youngest country.

The settlement woke to a rude shock after a violent incident left one person dead and at least 20 injured.

The June 23 incident occurred between two communities of South Sudanese refugees. The clash over a piece of land involved members from the Lango and Nuer communities who live alongside 12 other South Sudanese tribes that have been coexisting at the camp for years.

Arasu is concerned that the background of unresolved conflicts in South Sudan has helped push people into mistrust and suspicion of each other. The mood for conflicts among the South Sudanese, including those living in refugee camps, is heightened by the fact that past conflicts have never been resolved,

“In between the wars, no community dialogue was encouraged; often the peace talks involved only political leaders who held ‘synthetic’ peace deals. Full pledged wars had roots in communities at grassroots,” Arasu said in his reflection, “Building Bridges of Peace in South Sudan,” provided to ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner.

He called for capacity building among leaders to help them learn the right attitudes to tribes, ethnic differences, and conflict management. This will help end protracted violence.

The Salesians in Uganda participate in peace meetings, counseling and casual visits to the families. This help makes progress to restore peace, especially among refugees seeking safety in the country. The Salesians have assured settlement authorities and security forces of their support and assistance, Arasu said.

“May God continue to help us to build bridges of peace and help us to be bridges of peace and harmony,” said the priest.

Members of the Salesians of Don Bosco have been ministering at the refugee settlement in Palabek for three years.

“They are taking steps to be close to the people, especially those affected by violence, by way of reaching out to them with food and a few other necessities,” said the priest.

At the Palabek Refugee Settlement, the Salesians report, the Acholi are the largest community at 45 percent, followed by the Lutuku at 15 percent and the Lango at 10 percent. Other tribes such as the Nuer make up 3 percent or less.

The Salesians help provide psycho-social support and pastoral care for thousands of Christians. Their four nursery schools educate over 1,000 children, more than 700 children are enrolled in Salesian primary and secondary schools, and other initiatives help support 700 families.

At their vocational training center, 400 refugees and 50 host community Ugandans are students seeking work skills, the Salesians’ news service Mission Newswire reports.

South Sudan’s five-year civil war began shortly after South Sudan gained independence in 2011.

Different parties to the conflict deliberately prevented humanitarian aid from reaching civilians. The policy of deliberate starvation along ethnic and humanitarian lines caused acute food security problems for 55% of the population.

The war killed hundreds of thousands of people and left 2.1 million people internally displaced, with another 2.5 million as refugees abroad, according to the United Nations.

People in South Sudan continue to face serious humanitarian concerns, exacerbated by government corruption, locust swarms, and floods in October that destroyed crops and livestock.

Arasu blamed the protracted violence in South Sudan on tribal politics and “deep rooted tribal hatred”.

He attributed this tribal hatred to several factors. The British colonists sowed disunity among the various communities in South Sudan and favored some tribes over others, a situation that continues to manifest itself in incidences of violence to date.

“This instilled prejudice, jealousy, suspicion and hatred on tribes with larger populations,” Fr. Arasu said.

Under Arab rule, he said, the Sudanese indigenous tribes and people were suppressed on racial and religious grounds.

There has been systematic looting of native wealth and other human rights abuses, perpetrated both by foreigners and by native rulers.

In addition, the priest sees natural tension between different communities based on their different ways of life, such as conflict between pastoral tribes who herd livestock and agrarian tribes focused on agriculture.

Suspicion and mistrust mingled with prejudice can cause irritation and annoyance that can trigger war, causing enormous damage even lasting for years, said Arasu. The danger is “any small incidents such as a little misunderstanding at water-points, playgrounds and markets can be blown into full-fledged war.”

“Having witnessed the bloody past, it is difficult to believe the coming of peace. Down through the decades, numerous peace agreements have been signed and discarded thoughtlessly,” he said.

“Until peace is restored at grassroots there can be no meaningful peace at the national level,” he said. “South Sudan needs peace more than anything else.”

Tribal animosity caused some problems for the appointment of the new Catholic Archbishop of Juba Stephen Ameyu. Some critics presented themselves as leaders of the Bari tribe and objected that he was not a member of the tribe. However, in December 2019 the Juba-based Bari Community Association made clear that these critics’ position did not speak for the entire community.

In January the Republic of South Sudan and the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance signed a peace declaration in Rome. Under the peace agreement facilitated by the Catholic community of Sant’Egidio, opposition groups and the South Sudanese government recommitted to cease hostilities, pursue political dialogue, and allow humanitarian aid for the people of South Sudan.

A new government was sworn into office in February.

A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa. It has been adapted by CNA.

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CNA Staff, Jul 14, 2020 / 12:32 am (CNA).- Caritas Spain has announced that it will donate more than 23,000 euros – about $26,000 – to Caritas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight a new outbreak of Ebola in the country.

T… […]

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2020 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- While Turkey’s president has made moves to close the museum at the former Christian basilica Hagia Sophia and revert it to a mosque, the Patriarch of Constantinople has said the massive site should remain… […]

Rome Newsroom, Jul 7, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- More Christian families left the Nineveh Plains than returned to their hometowns last year amid ongoing security concerns in northern Iraq, according to a recently published report by Aid to the Church in Need. 

The report, “Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq,” documents how Iraqi Christians’ worries over Iran-backed militias operating in their region drive emigration and economic insecurity. 

“Christians who have returned to their homes still feel unsafe, and substantially more insecure than other groups in the region mostly because of the violent activity of local militias,” Fr. Andrzej Halemba, the leader of ACN’s Nineveh Reconstruction Committee, wrote in the report’s foreword.

“Although economic concerns, especially employment, are paramount in some areas, it is impossible to decouple these from security considerations. These key factors need to be addressed to tackle the physical and economic insecurity that forces populations to move. If the tendency to emigrate is not stemmed, it will place, in turn, even greater pressure on Christians remaining in Iraq by reducing their critical mass and thus creating a less hospitable environment,” he said.

The ACN report found that 57% of Iraqi Christians surveyed said that they had considered emigration. Among them, 55% responded that they expect to leave Iraq by 2024.

The number of Christians living in areas formerly occupied by the Islamic State has already declined from 102,000 to 36,000 people since 2014. The report stated that some displaced Christians who returned to the Nineveh Plains as their homes were rebuilt are now choosing to leave. 

“In the summer of 2019, the Christian population of this region reached an inflection point, with more families leaving their hometown than returning. In Baghdeda alone, 3,000 Syriac Catholics left over the course of just three months in 2019 – a drop of 12% in the number of Syriac Catholics in the town,” it said.

With continued migration, the future of the Western Neo-Aramaic language known as Surith, and sometimes called “Syriac,” is also threatened if the children of immigrants do not retain the language. One Christian in Bartella told ACN: “Learning Syriac is important because it’s the language of Jesus.”

The report named Australia as one of the primary locations where Iraqi Christians emigrate, with at least 139,000 moving there since 2007.

This is in part made possible by Iraqi Christians’ family connections abroad. The study found that most Christians had at least one family member living abroad, which provides an added incentive and knowledge of how to leave Iraq. 

However, the majority of the Iraqi respondents to the ACN survey cited security concerns over family reasons as the primary reason for wanting to emigrate. 

In particular, living under an Iran-backed militia was directly correlated with feelings of insecurity. These Shia militia groups operate with the permission of the Iraqi government, but they have previously refused to comply with the prime minister’s instructions to integrate into the Iraqi army. 

The ACN report detailed Christians’ complaints of theft, threats of violence, and injury perpetrated by these militia groups, which have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for human rights abuses.

Additionally, many Iraqi Christians live with the fear that the Islamic State or a similar group will return. The survey conducted by ACN found that 87% of these Christians felt unsafe or absolutely unsafe, and 67% believed that “it is likely or very likely that ISIS or a similar group will return in the next five years.”

“Disputes between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over certain Christian-majority areas have also hindered infrastructure reconstruction provoking further insecurity,” Halemba said.

The priest underlined that reconstruction efforts in the Nineveh Plains needed to continue, adding that the number of families in the immediate region that would still like to return is estimated to be more than 2,000. 

The report, published in June, is based on a stratified sampling survey conducted between August and November 2019 of 793 Christians living in areas formerly occupied by the Islamic State in the Nineveh Plains. The report was written by Halemba and Xavier Bisits, a management consultant for Bain & Company and ACN project support officer.

The authors said that the survey’s results indicated that NGOs, churches, and governments should focus on the causes that drive Iraqi Christians to emigrate and advocate for the restoration of security in the Nineveh Plains in partnership with local Church leaders.

“The findings of ‘Life after ISIS’ make clear that restoring the stability of the Christian community in this post-conflict region is only possible with a concerted effort focusing on security, education, long-term economic opportunities, and reconstruction,” Halemba said.

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CNA Staff, Jun 25, 2020 / 05:41 pm (CNA).- According to a scholar of comparative religion, Christians in Turkey are being persecuted by the Turkish government, in part to distract attention from its recent setbacks in foreign policy.

Alexander Görlach, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, said that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan needs a distraction from his failures, and Christians can provide just that.

“While the world is busy fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, dealing with mass unemployment and a global recession, the Turkish government is taking advantage of the situation to further pressure minorities,” Görlach said in a June 23 opinion piece for Deutsche Welle, a German public broadcaster.

His assessment of the plight of Turkish Christians, one of the oldest populations of Christians in the world, comes after years of systemic discimination against minorities. Minorities make up 0.2% of the Turkish population, according to the 2020 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom report on Turkey. The vast majority of the population, including Erdogan, are Sunni Muslims.

Although the Turkish constitution “guarantees the freedom of conscience, religious belief, and conviction” and designates the country a “secular state,” according to USCIRF Erdogan’s administration uses an Islamic nationist rhetoric to discriminate against minorities.

Contrary to Turkey’s claim to a secular status, the government includes both the Directorate of Religious Affairs, which supervises Muslim practices in the country, and the General Directorate of Foundations, which manages the activities of minority religious groups.

Precipitating the USCIRF designation of Turkey to the “Special Watch List” for offenses against religious freedom, the Turkish government barred the elections of non-Muslim groups from taking place, leaving some religious groups without leaders.

One such group, the Armenian Apostolic Church, was left without a functioning Patriarch of Constantinople for 11 years while the government blocked their elections, according to the USCIRF report.

Religious rights groups were also alarmed when officials arrested Fr. Sefer Bileçen, a Syriac Orthodox priest, on terrorism charges after he gave bread and water to members of an illegal Kurdish separatist group, in January. Although the priest said that he felt it was his Christian duty to help those who come to the monastery door, he faced charges of “helping and abetting” terrorists, and at least seven and a half years in prison.

In addition, the Turkish government has appropriated many Chirstians’ land after they fled from the area during the recent Turkish military offensive. As they return, they find that they have nowhere to settle.

Turkish leaders said that Turkey’s designation to the USCIRF Special Watch List is unwarranted.

Hami Aksoy, a spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed that the designation itself reveals an anti-Muslim bias underlying USCIRF.

“The report contains baseless, unaccredited and vague allegations as in the past years while trying to portray isolated incidents as violations of religious freedoms through far-fetched accusations,” Aksoy said. “It is clear that the Commission, which has been accused of being anti-Muslim in the past, has drawn up this report based on its unwarranted agenda and priorities under the influence of circles that are hostile to Turkey, rather than objective criteria.”

When the United States retreated from Syria in 2019, Christians in the Middle East feared threats from Turkey.

“We are gravely concerned regarding the recent draw down of the U.S. presence in Iraq,” Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Ebril said. He was one of the leading voices on behalf of displaced Christians in the Middle East. Without the U.S. presence in Iraq, he and many others feared persecution by Islamic nationalist groups.

U.S. Vice President Mark Pence was confident that even without the U.S. presence in Iraq, the U.S. would be able to continue to protect religious minorities in the Middle East.

“The United States will work hand in hand from this day forward with faith-based groups and private organizations to help those who are persecuted for their faith. This is the moment, now is the time, and America will support these people in their hour of need,” Pence said.

Görlach, who wrote the opinion piece detailing the threat that the Turkish government poses to Christians, is not so confident.

“Step by step, using a nationalist and Islamic rhetoric, Turkey’s Christians are becoming a welcome scapegoat for Ankara,” said Görlach. “Erdogan has miscalculated on various fronts in Syria and Libya, and is now looking for someone to serve as a distraction.”

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 25, 2020 / 03:05 pm (CNA).- The United States should send a special envoy to Nigeria to help coordinate the protection of the Christian population and prevent further destabilization in the area, said former Rep. Frank Wolf on Thursday, June 25.

Wolf was speaking during a press briefing on the ongoing violence facing Christians in the country, which was hosted by the organization In Defense of Christians. The former congressman served 17 terms representing Virgina’s 10th congressional district and has worked extensively on issues of human rights, genocide, and religious freedom.

“An implosion of Nigeria will destabilize the surrounding countries,” said Wolf. He described the Nigerian people as “crying out for help,” and said that the “current policy and actions of the American embassy in Nigeria have failed” to protect vulnerable groups.

Islamic extremists, Wolf said, have killed more people in Nigeria than ISIS did in the Middle East, yet there is far less attention on the plight of Nigerian Christians. 

A special envoy in the Lake Chad region, which is located in northeastern Nigeria, would serve as a way to “coordinate the response to the crisis,” and work with allies to better protect the people of the region. 

Bishop Matthew H. Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto was also a panelist at the briefing. He said that the situation in Nigeria stems from a culture that has devalued Christianity and no longer cares about faith. 

As the geopolitical and economic landscapes have shifted, the bishop said, space has been made for the growth of militant extremist groups. 

“This is the vacuum that [extremists] are exploiting–mainly, a west that is in retreat, as far as Christianity and Christian values are concerned, a west in which diplomats and businesspeople are far from being interested in matters of faith, especially when it comes to Christianity,” said Kukah. 

The Nigerian government has given “quite a lot of oxygen to Islamic extremists by the nature of […] the political appointments that have been made,” said Kukah, in what he called a “blatant show of nepotism and favoritism. “

In Nigeria, for the first time in the country’s history, Kukah explained, the president and all security chiefs are Muslim, and suggested this could contribute to the lack of direct action against the growing religious violence. “We get a feeling that if you lift the veil, you can understand,” he said.  

Kukah rejected the idea that the extremist groups are imported to Nigeria from outside of the country and therefore are beyond the control of the government. 

“If they are coming from outside, how do we as Christians explain when the Minister for Internal Affairs is a Muslim? When the Director General of Customs is a Muslim? When the Director General of Immigration is a Muslim,” he asked. 

“Somebody must be aware of what is going on,” said Kukah. 

In Nigeria, Kukah said, the Christian population is further impeded by what he called an “almost total media absence.” There is no Christian radio station or media house, he said, meaning that it is hard for Christians to share their stories. 

In February, Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback told CNA that Nigeria was one of the countries of highest concern when it came to violations of religious freedom. 

Brownback said he is concerned the situation in Nigeria will spread to nearby countries if nothing is done to crack down on religious persecution. 

“There’s a lot of people getting killed in Nigeria, and we’re afraid it is going to spread a great deal in that region,” he told CNA. “It is one that’s really popped up on my radar screens — in the last couple of years, but particularly this past year.” 

Brownback expressed frustration that the Nigerian government was not doing enough to protect religious groups. 

“I think we’ve got to prod the [Nigerian President Muhammadu] Buhari government more. They can do more,” he said. “They’re not bringing these people to justice that are killing religious adherents. They don’t seem to have the sense of urgency to act.”

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CNA Staff, Jun 23, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- A cardinal has urged Catholics worldwide to support a fund helping families and schools in the Holy Land affected by the coronavirus crisis. 

Cardinal Fernando Filoni told EWTN News June 22 that the pand… […]

CNA Staff, Jun 22, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a statement on Friday, calling on the Turkish military to halt airstrikes in northern Iraq, and urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğ… […]

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 19, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- A new survey of Palestinian Christians reveals that many not only fear economic hardship and the annexation of their land, but are also concerned about the attitudes of their Muslim neighbors.
… […]

CNA Staff, Jun 11, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- The militant group Boko Haram is believed to be behind a recent attack on a Nigerian village that left at least 81 people dead on Tuesday, June 9. 

A survivor of the attack on the village of Faduma Kolomdi, located in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, according to local news outlets, said that militants requested that the village residents turn over their weapons, and offered to preach a sermon to them before the attack.

“They gathered us and said they wanted to deliver a religious sermon to us. They asked us to submit whatever arms we had. Some villagers gave up their dane guns, bow and arrows,” said the survivor, who was speaking to a government official about the attack. 

“Suddenly, they started shooting at will. Even children and women were not spared, many were shot at close range,” said the survivor.  

In addition to those killed, an additional 13 were injured and seven more, including the leader of the village, were abducted, along with several hundred cattle. The attack lasted approximately six hours, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The attackers fled after the Nigerian Air Force fired shots at them from a fighter jet. 

The governor of Borno state, Babagana Zulum, called for the country’s military to step up its efforts against extremists groups. Zulum visited Faduma Kolomdi on Wednesday and met with survivors of the attack.

Zulum cited the repeated attacks by the Isalmist group Boko Haram and its splinter organizations and demanded the military take more aggressive action. 

“Last year, about the same number of people were killed in Gajiram like it happened again” said Zulum. 

“This is barbaric. It is very unfortunate. The only solution to end this massacre is by dislodging the insurgents in the shores of Lake Chad. Doing so will require collaborative regional efforts,” he added.  

A spokesman for the Nigerian military said in a statement on Wednesday that the attack was committed by Boko Haram and Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), and that action would be taken to “track and apprehend or neutralize the perpetrators.” 

“We further wish to reiterate that the Nigerian Army is committed to investigate the circumstances of these callous attacks by desperate Boko Haram criminals and the bandits on innocent civilians,” said the statement from Col. Sagir Musa, the acting director of public relations for the Nigerian Army. 

“We would ensure that appropriate action is taken to mitigate against any future incidents. While thanking Nigerians for their understanding, we implore all to continue to support and cooperate with the troops as they carry out their duties,” he said. 

The attack is the latest in an ongoing series of killings and kidnappings in Nigeria, often carried out by Islamist group against the country’s Christian population. Last week a Christian pastor and his pregnant wife were killed on their farm in northeastern region of the country.

More than 600 Christians have been killed so far in 2020, according to a report on May 15 by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety). Christians have been beheaded and set on fire, farms set ablaze, and priests and seminarians have been targeted for kidnapping and ransom.

In January, militants kidnapped four Catholic seminarians from Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna and eventually killed one of them, Michael Nnadi. On March 1, Nigerian priest Fr. David Echioda was kidnapped by gunmen after offering Sunday Mass, but was released days afterward.

Speaking to CNA in February, Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said he was concerned the situation in Nigeria will spread to nearby countries if nothing is done to crack down on religious persecution. 

“There’s a lot of people getting killed in Nigeria, and we’re afraid it is going to spread a great deal in that region,” he told CNA. “It is one that’s really popped up on my radar screens — in the last couple of years, but particularly this past year.” 

“I think we’ve got to prod the [Nigerian President Muhammadu] Buhari government more. They can do more,” he said. “They’re not bringing these people to justice that are killing religious adherents. They don’t seem to have the sense of urgency to act.” 

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