BARNABAS FUND: PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS AROUND THE WORLD - 5/14/2004

Persecution of Christians Around the World

The following stories are made available by the Barnabas Fund, a leading world authority on the persecution of Christians around the world.

HUNDREDS OF CHRISTIANS DIE IN BLOODY MASSACRES IN KANO

NIGERIA 14 May 2004

Many hundreds of innocent Christians have died in Kano since a Muslim protest turned into carnage in retaliation for Muslim deaths hundreds of miles away in Yelwe.

Members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) say some 600 Christians have been killed so far this week in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city. Andrew Ubah, the general secretary of the association in Kano, told Reuters on Thursday 13 May that he was keeping a tally based on reports from church leaders throughout the city. "Almost 600 people have been killed and 12 churches burned," he said.

David Emmanuel, a factory worker told Reuters he saw two truckloads of corpses on Wednesday night, and he counted at least 30 bodies in the street. Elsewhere, correspondents have seen 35 mostly burned and mutilated bodies.

The official police tally of 30 that remains more or less static from Wednesday night is belied by the overflowing morgue and the constant stream of eye-witness reports from all quarters of the city. Bodies were being discovered on Thursday and because the main hospital mortuary was full were taken to undisclosed locations, according to the Red Cross. "Not all cases are reported, especially cases in which relatives have already buried their dead," said Aminu Inua, a Red Cross official in Kano.

"Hundreds of people were killed," said Christian leader Mark Amani. "Some corpses were burned in wells. Even little children were killed. The bodies of pregnant women were ripped open and their bodies burned," he said.

Sources report the killing of several hundred people when defiant mobs of Muslim youths armed with clubs and machetes and cutlasses rampaged at about 1 a.m. on Thursday despite a police imposed curfew. Mobs went from house to house looking for Christian victims and in some cases trapped the occupants inside and torched the houses. Police have been issued orders to shoot armed rioters on sight. While Muslims have complained that the police have killed innocent civilians as a result, they do not mean the scores of hacked bodies that lie in the streets and in charred buildings and vehicles according to residents.

There are fears that the number of deaths may continue to grow since an order was circulated by Umar Ibrahim Kabo, the most senior Mulim cleric in Kano, for all Christians to leave the area by today, Friday 14 May. More than 30,000 residents, mostly Christians, have been driven from their homes in Kano officials said on Thursday, a figure confirmed by Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon in a telephone conversation with Barnabas Fund.

Barnabas fund wishes to announce an urgent appeal to support the survivors, those displaced from their homes and the families of Christian victims in Kano. You can make a donation to help the pastors, their families and their churches through a Barnabas Fund office or via our website donation page - Remember to specify Project 39-500.

At least 269 people have been killed in brutal violence between Muslim Hasua/Fulani and Christian Tarok fighters in Plateau State since February. The latest round of violence was sparked by a clash between Muslims and Christians in the village of Mavo in Wase District in mid-February, in which some 10 people were killed. Several days later on 19 February four police officers were killed in Tunga village, Langtang North District, by Islamic militants seeking revenge.

The town of Yelwa in Shendam District first saw violence on 24 February when Fulani Muslim fighters struck again, massacring some 48 Christians who fled to a church in a vain attempt to find refuge. Some reports suggest as many as 50 more may also have been killed, and over 100 Christians fled the town. Two days later Christians turned on their Muslim neighbours in the nearby town of Gerkawa, Mikang Local Government Area, killing 40 - 50 in retaliation for the massacre in Yelwa. Army units evacuated some 3000 Muslims from Gerkawa, relocating them to Yelwa and further strengthening the Muslim dominance of the town.

Tensions remained high in the region throughout March and April and exploded again into major violence in several villages in the border region of Plateau and Taraba States in late April when an estimated 100 people were tragically killed. The latest attack which has enraged Muslims across the country occurred in the aftermath of this violence, as on the weekend of 1 - 2 May Christian fighters attempted to retake Yelwa. (The town is now widely reported in the international media as a "mainly Muslim town" with no reference to the fact that this is only as a result of the massacre and driving out of Christians in February.) The deaths of 67 people have been confirmed in this latest bloody clash, with some estimating the total death toll at 200, 350 or even 630 people tragically slain.

In addition to those killed, hundreds have been injured and at least 7,500 have been internally displaced because of the violence over the past three months. Thousands of homes and several churches and mosques have been burnt to the ground. Some reports indicate women and children have been kidnapped. Other minor clashes have also taken place.

PRAY

Pray for the families of the victims and the survivors of the attacks in Kano; pray that the Lord will heal them and mend this devastation in their lives.

Pray that the government of Nigeria will have the strength to act justly and decisively in this situation and in the tensions felt throughout Nigeria; pray that further atrocities will be prevented.