Three Children among 13 Christians Killed in Attacks in Two States in Nigeria

JOS, Nigeria, June 20, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen on Monday (June 17) killed four Christians in north-central Nigeria’s Kaduna state, including three children, on the same day nine other Christians were slain in neighboring Plateau state, area sources said.

Christian residents in Kaduna state’s Kauru County told Morning Star News that between 3 a.m and 4 a.m. well over 200 armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded two predominantly Christian villages in the Ungwan Rimi Kamuru area, killing 8-year-old Monday Yahaya, 9-year-old Zhime Danladi and Samson David, 15.

“They were all buried today after a brief prayer at the grave site,” area resident Thomas John told Morning Star News in a text message.

A Kaduna police spokesman reportedly confirmed the killings but identified the 9-year-old as Ashimile Danladi and cited Samson David’s age as 17.

Also in Kauru County, that evening herdsmen attacked predominantly Christian Kikoba village, killing Audu Gara, kidnapping a Christian woman, Asabe Deme, and burning houses, according to area resident Matthew Nasamu, 51.

“The Fulani herdsmen attacked Kikoba, a Christian village in Kauru LGA of Kaduna state, in the evening, around 5 p.m.,” Nasamu said in a text message to Morning Star News. “All houses were burned and razed down, farms were destroyed, and all the villagers are now displaced.”

In all, 93 houses belonging to Christians were burned, and farm crops were destroyed, he said.

Plateau State Attack 

About 35 kilometers (21 miles) east in Riyom County, Plateau state, Muslim Fulani herdsmen at about 1 p.m. killed nine Christians and burned two church buildings in attacks on two villages, area sources said.

An attack on Kangbro village killed 25-year-old Gado Peter, Stephen Ziah, 60, and Adam Sabo, 65, said Miango resident Lawrence Zango in text messages to Morning Star News. A fourth Christian, Samson Audu Rivi, was receiving treatment for gunshots wounds at Enos Hospital, Miango, west of Jos.

Two church buildings were burned alongside 185 houses in Kangbro village, said area resident Patience Moses, 23, in text messages to Morning Star News.

“Two churches were burnt by the Fulani herdsmen in Kangbro, and the churches are ECWA [Evangelical Church Winning All] Church, Kangbro, and Catholic Church, Kangbro,” Moses said. “185 houses were burnt and destroyed, while the entire Christian villagers who survived the attacks are now displaced.”

Less than two miles away, Muslim Fulani herdsmen shot six Christians to death in the attack on the second village, Nakai Danwal, according to area resident Lawrence Zango, who said at least 54 houses were set on fire. 

Previous attacks 

Zango said that area Christians area have been under attack from herdsmen before.

In April and May, he said, herdsmen killed nine Christians in attacks on predominantly Christian communities of Kigam, Ri-Do, Rotsu, Hura and Jebbu Miango.

“Fulani terrorists killed nine industrious Nigerian citizens and injured two within a month,” Zango said. “The killings are continuation of their usual genocide attacks on innocent farmers on the plateau, destroying their only means of livelihood.”

Salah Akpa, a Christian and head of Kigam village, was killed on his farm on April 9, he said. The following day, a Christian identified only as Emma from Ri-Do village was killed. Herdsmen killed two other people, Janah Dare and Dadi Ibrahim, in an ambush on April 14 in Hura village, he said.

On April 27, the same Fulani herdsmen killed Sunday Di and a Christian identified only as Baram as they made their way home in Dong village, Zango said. The next day in Rotsu village, the same herdsmen ambushed Christians Emmanuel Ishaya and Jummai Ijah, who along with a 7-month-old baby identified only as Tabitha were wounded but survived, he said.

On May 1 herdsmen killed Monday Audu Rivo as he made his way to his farm, and the same day another unidentified resident going hone to Jebbu Miango was shot and was receiving treatment at Enos Hospital, Miango.

“The activities of the Fulani terrorists are similar and the same with that of Boko Haram in the Northest,” Zango said. “The federal government should direct security agencies to investigate and arrest the leaders of the Fulanis within close environs before it escalates to destroy Nigeria.”

The government needs to send more security personnel to rural areas where Fulani herdsmen are forcefully capturing grazing area, he said, adding that it also needs to send relief aid to victims of attacks and compensate traumatized farmers.

Christians make up 51.3 percent of Nigeria’s population, while Muslims living primarily in the north and middle belt account for 45 percent.

Nigeria ranked 12^th on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution. 

China Forces Churches to Sing Songs Praising Communist Regime

China continues its war against the Christian faith by forcing churches to replace hymns and spiritual songs with those praising the country.

Earlier this year, the Chinese government required all believers to sing from Newly Compiled Hymns, a hymnal published by China’s Two National Christian Council. As reported by Bitter Winter, a magazine on religious liberty in China, the new required singing includes Bible chapters through a secular lens.

“The hymns published by the government only promote political, secularized content,” director of a Three-Self church in China said. “All believers are unwilling sing them.” One of the hymns reads: “China is beautiful; China is great; the sons and daughters of China love China. … Bless China, O Lord.”

“Such hymns aren’t praising the Lord at all,” the director continued. “They are entirely praising the country, and are no different from secular songs. Isn’t the government engaging in dishonesty and deceit?”

Last month, churches in Mudan district were required to create “Christian cultural activity centers.” These places will “write and perform Chinese operas and skits; form activity groups for painting and calligraphy, Chinese operas, fashion shows, and photography; incorporate local cultural characteristics into Christian traditions, and promote the ‘sinicization’ of Christianity.”

Sinicization is the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to assimilate minorities into the Chinese culture, which includes Christians. Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, testified at a congressional hearing in September that China plans to roll out a five-year sinicization plan, which includes the new hymns.

Another part of the plan is to re-write the Bible.

“There are outlines that the new Bible should not look westernized and [should look] Chinese and reflect Chinese ethics of Confucianism and socialism,” Fu told the Christian Post. Chinese elements will also be introduced into worship services, attire, and style of church buildings. 

Nonetheless, the Christian population in China continues to rise. Christian Post reports that China will have the world’s largest Christian population by 2030. “In 1980 there were approximately 3 million Christians in China. By 2010 that number had risen to 58 million…By 2025, there could be 255 million Christians.” 

Open Doors USA, a religious freedom watchdog group, however, believes Christianity may become more difficult. “…the increased power of the government and the rule of President Xi Jinping continue to make open worship difficult in some parts of the country.”

New Poll Shows Majority of Arab World Still Believes Israel Is #1 Threat

A clear majority of the Arab world continues to believe that Israel is the main threat in the Middle East and North Africa, a comprehensive BBC poll of 11 Arab countries revealed on Monday. The poll -- which involved interviews with over 25,000 respondents in Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Yemen, Iraq, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria -- also demonstrated that a strict social conservatism prevailed throughout the region.

Opposition to women holding positions of power and influence, as well as sympathy for the practice of "honor killings" -- the execution of female relatives for allegedly shaming their families -- remains widespread as well. The poll, conducted for the British broadcaster by the Arab Barometer research organization, showed that residents of the Palestinian territories were more resistant to liberal democratic values than are their neighbors in several respects.

Notwithstanding a string of brutal internal wars in Arab nations over the last decade in which several million people have been killed and displaced, Israel was still held up as the greatest threat to the region in most countries. In Lebanon, 79 percent of respondents identified Israel as the main threat, while in the Palestinian territories that figure was 63 percent. In all cases, the US came second.

Despite their geographical distance from Israel, a plurality of respondents in Morocco, Algeria and Libya all agreed that the Jewish state was a more significant threat than any other country. Only in Iraq and Yemen did more respondents identify Iran -- which has supported terrorist paramilitaries in the brutal internal conflicts in both countries -- as a bigger threat than Israel.

At the same time, the overwhelming dissatisfaction with living standards in the region meant that at least one in five residents of the Arab world wished to emigrate elsewhere. Europe remained the most popular destination, although a sizable number wanted to move to North America, or to other countries in their own region. About 30 percent of Palestinians would emigrate if given the opportunity, with the number rising to nearly 60 percent in the case of Sudan.

In terms of international outlook, the poll will make comforting reading for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose popularity among Arabs remains high even as it declines dramatically in his own country, in the wake of the resounding defeat suffered by Erdogan's AKP Party in the re-run election for the mayor of Istanbul on Sunday. A full 75 percent of Palestinian, Jordanian and Sudanese respondents said they had a "positive" view of the Turkish Islamist leader. Overall, 51 percent of respondents across the region expressed a liking for Erdogan, compared with 28 percent for Russian President Vladimir Putin and just 12 percent for US President Donald Trump. Although the poll showed that levels of religious observance were falling throughout the Arab world -- especially in the North African countries -- this has not translated into more tolerant attitudes towards women in either public life or within the family.