Nigeria: Boko Haram survivors - food shortages
13 May 2015
Since Nigeria's army began clearing areas of the country's northeast from Boko Haram, some internally displaced people have started returning home. But thousands could now face severe food shortages as reconstruction is delayed. Some trade has resumed in towns, but ghostly pockets and haunting reminders of the insurgent takeover are evident. Three months after the fighting ended, the smell of rotting corpses still clings to the air by the Church of the Brethren near Mararaba. People have returned to Adamawa province, but health clinics, banks and schools are still lacking and vast stretches of farmland stand barren. People are afraid and lack the equipment and manpower to farm, so for the moment they can’t live off the land. There is no sign of government aid. The rainy season comes next month and landmines are still dotted around. About a week ago a bomb exploded when people went to clear the land.
Last week Prayer-Alert reported the release of 234 women and girls from Boko Haram. The total number of hostages released in the past few days has risen to 700. This marks a revival of fortunes for Nigeria’s military. More hostages have been freed in the past few weeks than in the past six years of the Boko Haram insurgency. This is due to the military receiving vital equipment and more support from the Nigerian people, who gave valuable information to track down the insurgents. Getting the Nigerian people on the side of the army would have been unlikely a few months back, given the military's appalling human rights record in the north east. The imminent arrival of Muhammadu Buhari as President has piloted a new sense of confidence. The former military strongman has vowed to crush the Muslim extremists. As the assault on Boko Haram’s stronghold continues it is hoped more victims will be released.
Nepal: Christian minority responds to earthquake
06 May 2015
Less than 3% of Nepal’s population is Christian. After years of intense persecution, Nepalese Christians now have freedom to meet, though proselytising remains illegal. Baptist Global Response reported that local churches were pooling limited resources to become community hubs for disaster relief. They offer shelter, clean water, and food to neighbours who are now sleeping in the streets. Rescue Network Nepal, an indigenous Christian organisation, have activated volunteers whom they had already trained through local churches to provide first aid and trauma care in rural regions. Samaritan’s Purse and Convoy of Hope are dispatching teams and supplies to the region and offer relief in conjunction with church networks in local communities. Nepal Christian Relief Services and Tearfund, along with other Christian agencies, have workers currently hard at work distributing food and other items to affected families.
NGOs are warning that criminal networks using the cover of rescue efforts are targeting rural communities that were devastated by the earthquake. Each year an estimated 15,000 girls and young women from poor communities are trafficked and forced into sex work. Now tens of thousands more young women from earthquake-devastated regions are in danger of being abducted and forced into the trade to supply a network of brothels across south Asia. The UN and local NGOs said that this is the time when the brokers go in the name of relief to kidnap or lure women away, and they are making people aware that someone might come with that aim. ‘We are getting reports of individuals pretending to look for people and rescue them.’ Trafficked sex slaves from Nepal are taken to South Korea, South Africa and India. The majority go to Indian brothels, where tens of thousands work in appalling conditions.
Libya: Now a ‘failed state’
06 May 2015
Since Qaddafi’s downfall Libya’s newly formed, militia-run police force terrorises religious minorities, officials and workers who previously served under Qaddafi. This has prevented tens of thousands of experienced government workers from providing millions of Libyans access to any form of government programme or service. Currently, daily life for Libyans is both dysfunctional and untenable. Libya has tumbled to the point of being a ‘failed state’ with no security force to protect its people. The country’s perpetual state of civil war has brought about desperate living conditions, food scarcities, a collapsed economy and groups of armed militias roaming the streets carrying out acts of terror against the people. Tens of thousands of working people are fleeing the country using any means at their disposal. For facts concerning Libya’s people smugglers who sell refugees hopes of a better life go to:
While speaking at a North Korea Freedom Week forum on Capitol Hill, the first North Korean defector to be ordained as a Methodist minister asserted that Korean Christians not only want to topple the regime of dictator Kim Jong-un but want the unification of North and South Korea to occur through the Gospel. Kang Chul-ho, who established the first North Korean defector church congregation in South Korea (and is also the vice president of the North Korean Christian Association) spoke at a forum entitled ‘Ending the Kim Regime's Reign of Terror in North Korea: What Must Be Done,’ and explained that the socialist regime fears the power of the North Korean defectors more than it actually fears the military strength of South Korea. Kang says that Kim Jong-un fears those who risk death in search of freedom and dignity because he knows they will eventually come back to liberate their homeland.
Christianity has influenced Aboriginal spirituality in many ways and many Aboriginal people are Christians. Prior to invasion Aboriginal people owned all of Australia but courts today successfully turned down their land claims. This week there's been an outcry across Australia over the conservative government’s plan to cut services to more than 150 remote indigenous communities in Western Australia. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government could not ‘endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices.’ Between 500 - 1000 attended a Perth rally and thousands more protested in Sydney, Canberra, Darwin, Adelaide, Alice Springs, and 1,000 in four New Zealand cities against funding withdrawal from remote communities. Kimberley Land Council says the proposal contravenes the UN declaration on the rights of the indigenous person. For material on Aboriginal culture go to http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/#axzz3ZLxtuWNR
Nigeria's President-elect Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday, ‘The fraud called Boko Haram can be defeated by denying it a recruitment base. No religion allows for the killing of children in school dormitory, in markets and places of worship. They have nothing to do with religion. They are terrorists and we are going to deal with them as they deal with terrorists anywhere.’ Buhari said Boko Haram will be denied a recruitment base. He lamented the destruction of schools in northern Nigeria, an action he said could deny thousands of youngsters access to education and a better future unless something is done urgently to end the crisis. Meanwhile on Wednesday the Nigeria army rescued nearly 300 females from Boko Haram. An army spokesman says the hostages freed during military offensive are not schoolgirls abducted from Chibok last year. For the full story go to:-