White House responds to surge in Christian persecution crisis across sub-Saharan Africa
FIRST ON FOX - The White House, faced with an ongoing and growing tsunami of murderous attacks by Islamic State-allied groups against Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, is now working closely with the State Department to find ways to stop the killing.
Last week, the White House told Fox News Digital, "The Trump administration condemns in the strongest terms this horrific violence against Christians," after the U.N. reported 49 Christians were butchered with machetes on July 27 in and around a church in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while Catholic worshipers were praying for peace. Authorities say the killers were Islamist militants from the Allied Democratic Forces, also known as Islamic State DRC.
In neighboring Nigeria last month, 27 Christians were reported killed by Islamist Fulani tribesmen in the village of Bindi Ta-hoss, where residents are predominantly Christian. Eyewitness Solomon Sunday said, "I advised my family to seek refuge in the church, which seemed the safest place at the time. I lost my wife and second daughter in the attack; they were burned [alive] by Fulani militias."
Local youth leader D’Young Mangut, who helped retrieve the bodies, added, "People are being killed like chickens, and nothing is being done."
"Such grisly proceedings have become commonplace in central Nigeria," John Eibner, president of Christian human rights organization Christian Solidarity International, told Fox News Digital. "It is part of a longstanding process of violent Islamization, of ethno-religious cleansing. Last Palm Sunday, 50 Christians were similarly slaughtered in nearby Bassa. Over 165 Christians have been killed in the last 4 months in Plateau State (one of Nigeria’s provinces) alone," he added.
"Massacres of the sort that happen in central Nigeria are also happening with increasing frequency in predominately Christian places like Congo and Mozambique. There is no simple solution."
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The U.K. division of Open Doors, a global Christian charity which supports and speaks up for Christians persecuted for their faith, told Fox News Digital, "The crisis facing large areas of sub-Saharan Africa is hard to overstate. It is potentially existential for the future peace and stability of several nations in the region, not least Nigeria."
"Around 150,000 people have been killed in Jihadist violence over the last ten years. Over 16 million Christians have been driven from their homes and their land across the region."
The Trump administration appears to be preparing for action. This week, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "The Department of State is working closely with the White House to identify opportunities to further the cause of religious freedom around the world."
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The spokesperson added, "Religious freedom for all people worldwide is a moral and national security imperative and a U.S. foreign policy priority. As President Trump has stated, the United States will vigorously promote this freedom."
Nigeria is among the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. Recent Open Doors research shows that more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than the rest of the world combined. Local bishop Wilfred Anagbe was threatened, and some 20 of his parishioners killed, after he spoke out against the killings to a Congressional Committee in March.
This week, the bishop spoke exclusively to Fox News Digital, declaring that "the attackers form part of the larger Islamic- Jihadists family headed in Nigeria by the likes of Boko Haram, ISIS West Africa and similar groups. Nigeria has had a long history with Islamic fundamentalism. (But) the violence, killing and displacements without consequences suggests a new pattern where the Islamists have resorted to use their control of official government and apparatus to continue this jihad.
"There is a strong tendency by fundamentalist Muslims in Nigeria to turn the whole or part of Nigeria (in)to an Islamic State."
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"This is what the Nazis did to the Jews," David Onyillokwu Idah, director of the International Human Rights Commission, told Open Doors, adding, "It’s ethnic cleansing, step by step."
John Samuel, legal expert for Open Doors, told Fox News Digital that where the Islamist groups are operating, if Christians gather for "a prayer meeting, let's say, or go to a church, (it) could be a one-way ticket, or something very deadly."
"If you're a Christian, you either convert to Islam or die."
Samuel gives an example of a Nigerian Christian who was ambushed by Boko Haram fighters. According to his widow, "he was asked to deny his faith and say an Islamic prayer. He refused and he was killed instantly. You are a target. You are a target by the mere fact that you identify with Christ."
Across the region, it’s claimed the Islamist attackers want the land belonging to the Christians they attack. Lawyer Jabez Musa fights in court in Nigeria to get this land back. He told Fox News Digital the displaced Christians "want their land restored back to them for their livelihood. The cry is always I have been dispossessed of what belongs to me, my house, the food, foodstuff, the land. As we speak, over 64 communities in Plateau State have been dispossessed and taken over by the Fulani militants."
"Only Christians are targeted, they're killed, displaced, and their lands are taken over."
Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors U.K. and Ireland, told Fox News Digital that "African governments must urgently provide three things: justice - because very few of these perpetrators are ever held to account, and this impunity emboldens them. Restoration - people want their lives back, an opportunity to rebuild their homes, send their kids to school, have a future together. And protection - the state must protect them from these attacks. The security forces need to get out of their barracks and be deployed around the most vulnerable.
"For too long, nobody has been talking about the horrific wholesale slaughter of Christians and moderate Muslims in Africa. The Western world needs to wake up and be outraged," she said.
One grieving relative told reporters after the massacre in Nigeria’s Bindi Ta-hoss this past month, "We are tired of condolences and statements. What we need is real security, not sympathy."
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Fox News Digital reached out to the governments of both Nigeria and the DRC but received no response.
Lawyer Jabez Musa pleaded "I urge the American government, especially President Trump personally … to come to the help of Christians."