Posted on 04/25/2024 2:04:56 AM PDT by Cronos
Christians in west Africa were the victims of a new wave of suspected Islamist attacks in the weeks after Easter.
Suspected Fulani militants carried out a three-day massacre in the Diocese Pankshin in Nigeria’s Middle Belt on 12-14 April, killing at least 29 Christians and burning down churches and houses.
Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Fr Andrew Dewan, the diocese’s director of communications, said the attacks were “designed to drive away the owners of the land, so the Muslim extremists can take over”. He added that the attacks have “religious and ethnic components, all mixed up together”.
Fulani militia had attacked villages in the area on Christmas Eve, killing around 200 and driving up to 20,000 from their homes.
“Most of the things said in the immediate aftermath of the Christmas Eve attacks are yet to be implemented,” said Fr Dewan. “The promises the government made amount to nothing but hot air,” he said, while “the diocese is overwhelmed – we’re dealing with widows, payments for children’s school fees, accommodation.”
Some reports alleged official collusion in the attacks. This week government soldiers shot at students of Plateau State University who were protesting after the death of one of their fellow students in the massacre and the lack of military protection in Christian-majority areas.
In eastern Burkina Faso, suspected terrorists kidnapped and murdered a catechist in Fada N’gourma on 18 April. ACN reported that the body of Edouard Yougbare was found the next day in Saatenga parish.
John Pontifex, spokesman for ACN UK, said: “Edouard gave his life on the front line of persecution. He is a martyr who gave his life for God and in service of his community.”
He added: “At a time when Burkina Faso has become one of the world’s worst hotspots of persecution, where nobody can feel truly safe, we at Aid to the Church in Need stand in solidarity with all those suffering.”
Another catechist was killed in Burkina Faso’s Diocese of Dori two months ago while leading a Sunday morning celebration in a chapel.
Jihadi groups now control around 40 per cent of the country’s territory, while more than two million people have been displaced by the conflict.
I do not think turning the other cheek is called for here. Someone should put these Fulani militants down.
Singleness of purpose Islam continues apace.
You conservatives simply do not understand that the victims of this Islamic violence are black and black lives in Africa do not matter. After all, is it not better that the forces of Islamic liberation kill the oppressor Christian blacks? The threat of Christian Dominionism in Burkina Faso is so severe that it must be suppressed by any means necessary. The ban on DDT brought back malaria which regularly kills a lot of blacks now (a good thing), but not enough. The Fulani forces are doing good work, such as it is, but they need to pick up the pace to be really effective at stopping the establishment of a Handmaid's Tale in Burkina Faso.
You fascists ought to listen to us college students. We are so much wiser than you.
It’s true that this is not an issue that will ever make a stink for our govt. I have met some Fulani in northern Ivory Coast, they are a different ethnic group from the Ivorians, travel across borders and have no home country plus muslim so they would be hard to track down and or infiltrate.
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