Religious Liberty Monitoring

Eliminating fitna in Indian-administered Kashmir

2012-01-22T02:11:00.001-08:00

Fitna can be defined as anything that could shake the faith of a Muslim. Islam regards fitna as persecution that must be eliminated. Indeed, the Qur'an states: "Fitna is worse than killing". In other words, according to Islam, it is better to kill Christians than to let their life, testimony and witness be a source of fitna. Futhermore, the Qur'an mandates that fighting/jihad continue "until there is no [more] fitna" in the land and all worship is acknowledged to be for Allah (Qur'an 2:190-193).

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Eliminating Fitna in Indian-administered Kashmir
By Elizabeth Kendal
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Responding to the recent baptism of seven Christian converts in Srinagar, Kashmir's apostaphobic dictators of Islam have committed themselves to eliminating fitna in Kashmir.

Their strategy of choice is the peddling of disinformation: i.e. false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth (Merriam-Webster dictionary ).

By peddling disinformation, Kashmir's apostaphobic dictators of Islam hope to achieve two ends:

1) Kashmir's apostaphobic dictators of Islam are hoping to incite Islamic indignation, zeal and rage amongst the Muslim majority, so that Kashmiri society becomes less tolerant of fitna; the lives of Christians are made so miserable that they are no longer a source of fitna; and churches are driven underground where they can no longer be a source of fitna. If they can eliminate fitna, then Kashmir's Islamists will have empowered themselves significantly.

2) By falsely accusing Christians of hurting religious sentiments, threatening social harmony and offering monetary inducements for conversion, Kashmir's apostaphobic dictators of Islam are deliberately avoiding the language of repressive Sharia (Islamic law) while deliberately exploiting the language of the Indian penal code, in particular Article 153A which criminalises "any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious groups"; UN reports that assert that "Christianophobia" is caused by the "aggressive proselytism of certain evangelical groups"; and even the WCC-PCID-WEA rules for Christian witness (released June 2011) which focuses on "inappropriate methods of exercising mission". By exploiting such nationally and internationally acceptable blame-the-victim, non-Islamic language, the Islamists hope to justify and legitimise their repression while avoiding sanction. If they find they can repress, persecute and Islamise with impunity, then Kashmir's Islamists will have empowered themselves significantly.

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Seven youths baptised in Srinagar

In August 2011, Pastor Khanna baptised seven young men -- all converts from Islam -- in his church, All Saints Church, Srinagar. The service was open and many people attended; some with cameras -- nothing was done in secret. And why should it? Religious freedom is the constitutional right of all Indian citizens.

Film of the baptisms made its way to Facebook and then to Youtube.
(NOTE: as the men are baptised the congregation sings: 'I have decided to follow Jesus' - lyrics. Many Westerners like myself will doubtless have learned this song in Sunday School. It takes on a whole new dimension when it is sung by vulnerable minority Christians and Muslim converts who know full well that the Sharia penalty for apostasy is death.)

After seeing the footage, Kashmir's highest official of Islamic Law, Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-din Ahmad, accused Rev Khanna of "luring" Muslims to Christianity with the offer of money.

According to Pastor Khanna, the Muslim youths had been coming to the church on their own initiative. When they wanted to take part in Holy Communion he told them they had to follow a procedure. The seven young men subsequently expressed their desire to be baptised. Pastor Khanna denies that any incentive was ever offered. "I can't convert anyone," he said. "It is the work of the Holy Spirit."

Bishop PK Samantaroy, head of the Amritsar Diocese, confirmed that he has seen this particular group of young men attending the All Saints Church for over a year. "These converts had approached the pastor for baptism by their own freewill", he said. "In such cases, the Church cannot deny baptism."

Despite being arrested and beaten by Indian police, the seven youths have continued to insist they were never offered any material incentive. Despite this, some local newspapers have quoted anonymous police sources saying the converts were given money.

Pastor Khanna addresses Sharia Court

The head of the Kahsmir's Sharia Court, Mufti Mohd Bashiruddin, summonsed Pastor Khanna to explain himself in front of 15 other Ulemas (scholars of Islamic law). Despite the fact that the self-appointed Sharia Court has no jurisdiction, Rev Khanna consented and appeared before it on 17 Nov 2011 in the hope that by clarifying his position, he might be able to defuse tensions.

Rev Khanna shared his experience with AsiaNews: "I was alone, surrounded by 30 people. The tension was high and everybody was shouting insults and false accusations against me. The only confession that I made, was to admit the baptism. . ." However, the pastor was forced to sign a document in Urdu, which he did not understand. "I was terrified," he explains.

Pastor Khanna arrested

On Saturday 19 November 2011, police in Srinagar arrested Pastor Khanna on charges of creating enmity between religious communities and hurting religious sentiments. The next day, a court in Srinagar remanded Pastor Khanna to judicial custody for 15 days. Released on bail on 1 Dec 2011, Rev. Khanna has since left the Kashmir Valley.

Father Jim Borst charged

Then on 10 Dec 2011 the same Sharia Court laid charges against Father Jim Borst (79), a Dutch Catholic missionary of the Society of St. Joseph of Mill Hill, who has been working in Kashmir for almost 50 years.

AsiaNews reports: "For some, envy and jealousy of Muslim scholars are behind the charges of proselytising against Fr Borst. For years, the Mill Hill missionary, who has been the principal of the prestigious St Joseph's School, has been the target of Muslim scholars. [. . .] The schools the Dutch missionary set up, including St Joseph's in Baramulla and Burn Hall in Srinagar, are known for the quality of the education they dispense. What is more, their staff is 99 per cent Muslim. Many Muslim leaders have attended these schools . . ."

News report on Youtube: J&K: Row over forced conversions in Valley

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Protecting the faith (rather than human rights)

In November 2011, a group of Kashmir's leading Islamic clerics and scholars got together and established the Majlis Tahaffuz-e-Imaan (Council for Protection of Faith). The council will address issues such as Islamic religious education, Islamic banking, the problem of Christian missionaries, the use of media and Baitul Maal (fundraising) so that aid might be provided to the poor. Majlis Tahaffuz-e-Imaan's media committee has been tasked with raising awareness through pamphlets, facebook and a separate web portal.

On 26 December 2011, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, one of the Kashmir Valley's top Islamic clerics and separatist leaders, launched the Tahaffuz-e-Imaan website. Dedicated to the "protection of faith", it is specifically aimed at preventing apostasy, in particular conversions to Christianity.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said the site was launched because there was a need to use technology and modern equipment for countering conversion attempts. "The site, he said, was aimed to protect and [imbue] Islamic values, besides checking the conversion of young boys and girls."

The Tahaffuz-e-Imaan website includes a section on "Knowledge" where visitors can freely download e-books with titles like:
The Choice Islam and Christianity
Combat Kit Against Bible Thumpers
What Bible Says About Muhummed (p.b.u.h)
Al-Quran - The Miracles of Miracles
Who Moved The Stone?
Muhummed Peace be upon him the Natural Successor to Christ (p.b.u.h)
Resurrection or Resuscitation?
Is the Bible God's Word?
Crucifixion or Cruci-Fiction?

The Majlis Tahaffuz-e-Imaan (Council for Protection of Faith) hopes the site will help "to thwart nefarious designs of pervasive forces and the deep rooted conspiracy of making youth apostate and defectors by giving them concessions and benefits secretly."

See: Kashmir's Top Clergyman Launches Islamist Website against Apostasy and Conversion of Muslims to Christianity . . . MEMRI 30 Dec 2011

Verdict: "GUILTY"

On Wednesday 11 January 2012, at a hearing in Srinagar's Supreme Court of Islamic Shariat led by Grand Mufti of Kashmir Bashid-ud-din Ahmad, it was allegedly "proved beyond doubt" that Pastor Khanna and Fr. Borst had been involved in religious conversions using "baits and inducements".

Penalty: "EXPULSION"

On 19 January 2012, Srinagar's self-appointed Supreme Court of Islamic Shariat -- a court with absolutely no legal jurisdiction -- issued a decree mandating the expulsion of Punjabi Protestant pastor Reverend M C Khanna of All Saints Church Srinagar, along with his wife, Kanta, and his associate Gayoor Masih; as well as Dutch Catholic missionary Father Jaap (Jim) Borst. The four were directed to leave the Kashmir Valley forthwith for their involvement in "unethical" conversions. A case against a fifth Christian, Parvez Sameul Koul, principal of Tyndale Biscoe School, is under investigation.

According to Deputy Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam, the decree is not against Christians per se, but only against the "crimes" of the "convicts". "The three priests had been attracting local youth to conversions through monetary allurement," he claimed. "The decree has been issued to preserve harmony between followers of different faiths in the Valley."

See: Shariat Court seeks expulsion of Pastor Khanna, accomplices
IMRAN MUZAFFAR, Greater Kashmir, 19 Jan 2012

Deputy Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam cautioned the heads of the missionary schools to refrain from any anti-Islamic activities in their schools. He told media on Thursday (19 Jan 2012), "We will not tolerate any anti-Islamic activity in Kashmir by conversing (sic) Muslims to Christianity. Government should issue an order to ensure that only Islamic Morning Prayer should be allowed because majority students in Valley's schools are Muslims."

According to DailyBhaskar: "The court also directed Jammu and Kashmir government to take over the management of the Christian missionary schools" and monitor all their activities in the future.

Meanwhile Deputy Grand Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam urged Islamic non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to provide monetary support to the down-trodden so that they would not feel any need to turn to Christianity for aid or assistance. "There are some non-governmental organizations working in the Valley," he said, "which are luring people to apostasy in the garb of assistance. Such NGOs must be banned in the Valley."

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While Kashmir's apostaphobic dictators of Islam might have succeeded in eliminating, or at least hamstringing, some Christian ministry, NGOs, education, testimony and Gospel witness as sources of fitna, they might yet find that Islamic repression, deceit, manipulation, intolerance and legalistic totalitarianism are just effective in terms of being sources of fitna. This is something to be praying for.

For additional material including prayer points see:
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 142, 18 Jan 2012
India: tensions soaring as Christians charged in Kashmir

SYRIA: false narratives and propaganda

2012-01-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

The battle presently taking place in Syria includes a battle by foreign powers for Syria -- a battle for the regional balance of power; a battle that pits the US-Saudi / Gulf Arab Sunni Axis against the Iran-Hezballah Shi'ite axis of which Arab, mostly Sunni Syria is integral.

See: SYRIA: CHRISTIANS FEAR FOR THEIR FUTURE
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 137 | Wed 07 Dec 2011

Aisling Byrne writes for Asia Times Online (5 Jan 2012), that the battle for Syria is essentially the first stage of a "war on Iran". Byrne quotes Saudi King Adbullah who observes: "Other than the collapse of the Islamic Republic itself, nothing would weaken Iran more than losing Syria." Likewise, notes Byrne, the US administration has also commented that regime change in Syria would constitute a massive blow to Iranian power in the region.

"What we are seeing in Syria," she concludes, "is a deliberate and calculated campaign to bring down the Assad government so as to replace it with a regime 'more compatible' with US interests in the region. [. . .] Not for the first time are we seeing a close alliance between US/British neo-cons with Islamists (including, reports show, some with links to al-Qaeda) working together to bring about regime change in an 'enemy' state."

See: A mistaken case for Syrian regime change
By Aisling Byrne, Asia Times Online, 5 Jan 2012

PROPAGANDA ESSENTIAL TO STRATEGY

Byrne's article is essential reading for anyone confused by the conflicting narratives coming out of Syria, for Byrne's main complaint is against the "deliberate construction of a largely false narrative that pits unarmed democracy demonstrators being killed in their hundreds and thousands as they protest peacefully against an oppressive, violent regime, a 'killing machine' led by the 'monster' Assad." (emphasis mine)

Most of the article's ten pages are devoted to exposing and analysing the propaganda that is pouring out of Syria and being disseminated by those with a strategic interest in regime change and others determined not to let truth get in the way of a sensational story.

Byrne notes: "Of the three main sources for all data on numbers of protesters killed and numbers of people attending demonstrations - the pillars of the narrative - all are part of the 'regime change' alliance".

In particular, the British-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights -- which is funded by US and Gulf Arab money -- "has been described as the 'front office' of a large media propaganda set-up run by the Syrian opposition and its backers." As Byrne comments, the Observatory has been pivotal in sustaining the narrative of "massacres" and more recently "genocide". Yet not only is the Observatory not legally registered as a company or charity, it has no office, no staff and yet is "reportedly awash with funds".

Byrne reports: ". . . a YouGov poll commissioned by the Qatar Foundation showed last week that 55% of Syrians do not want Assad to resign and 68% of Syrians disapprove of the Arab League sanctions imposed on their country. [. . .] Unsurprisingly, not a single mainstream major newspaper or news outlet reported the YouGov poll results - it doesn't fit their narrative."

HOW TO SECURE A "HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION"
-- (or at least foreign backing)

As was the case in Libya, Syria's is an asymmetric conflict: the Syrian opposition cannot match the Syrian military. As Stratfor has noted, "Thus far al Assad has resisted his enemies. Though some mid-to-low-ranking Sunnis have defected, his military remains largely intact; this is because the Alawites control key units. Events in Libya drove home to an embattled Syrian leadership -- and even some of its adversaries within the military -- the consequences of losing. The military has held together, and an unarmed or poorly armed populace, no matter how large, cannot defeat an intact military force." (Stratfor: "Syria, Iran and the Balance of Power in the Middle East." By George Friedman, 22 Nov 2011.)

Consequently, the Syrian opposition knows that it needs external support, and to get it, it has to make a case for at best foreign intervention, and at least foreign backing.

Of course the West will never intervene on purely humanitarian grounds; it must have economic or geo-strategic interests. This is why multitudes of genuine humanitarian concerns are ignored or worse, treated as embarrassments and inconveniences to be covered up.

In order to launch a "humanitarian intervention", the Western governments concerned -- being democracies -- will first need to convince their constituents that a humanitarian catastrophe is indeed underway. Of course anyone can create a humanitarian catastrophe -- real or imagined. It has been done before by Islamist separatists in Bosnia, Yugoslavia; Albanian Islamist separatists in Kosovo, Serbia; Islamist imperialists in Ivory Coast and Islamist imperialists in Libya. It has also been attempted unsuccessfully by Islamist imperialists in the Palestinian Territories and in South Lebanon. Yes, false narratives have been created and propaganda used before to pave the way for US-NATO bombing campaigns against innocent civilians from Belgrade to Abidjan to Sirte, all so US-NATO states can advance their own economic and geo-strategic interests.

Byrne quotes American Conservative which notes that figures being cited by the UN are based on rebel sources and are uncorroborated. Likewise, reports of mass defections are a fabrication, with few defections actually being confirmed. Furthermore, American Conservative asserts that "Syrian government claims that it is being assaulted by rebels who are armed, trained and financed by foreign governments are more true than false".

See: NATO vs. Syria
By Philip Giraldi, American Conservative, 19 Dec 2011

Byrne's article in Asia Times Online includes many more such quotes and claims, including that the US has been pumping money into Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups specifically for the purpose of advancing regime change in Syria with the goal of hurting Iran.

As already noted, Byrne's article is essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of the situation in Syria.

SYRIA'S CHRISTIANS: ANOTHER INCONVENIENT PEOPLE

Like the Papuans of Eastern Indonesia and the Kachin of northern Burma, the threatened, imperiled, besieged Christians of Iraq and now Syria are just an inconvenience to Western powers that have economic and geo-strategic interests in their sights.

Western Christians need to accept the new reality: their governments do not inhabit a moral high ground. Rather, they are driven by economic and geo-strategic interests (money and power) and will not be hamstrung by inconvenient truths concerning the devastating consequences their actions will have on the liberties, lives and even future survival of local Christian communities.

Whither America on Religious Freedom? -- UPDATE

2011-12-22T01:13:00.000-08:00

USCIRF SURVIVES, BUT IS EVISCERATED

As Emily Belz reports for World Magazine (16 Dec 2011): "After four months of struggle, Congress approved the reauthorization of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, hours before the commission was set to shut down. The House approved the final reauthorization of USCIRF by a voice vote Friday (16 Dec), in a bill that will reduce the commission’s budget and remove most of the current commissioners."

For background see previous post:
Whither America on Religious Freedom? 8 Dec 2011

That Senator Richard Durbin, D-Ill. could essentially take a bill hostage by means of a secret procedural "hold" after it had passed in the U.S. House of Representative by a vote of 391-21 (15 Sept 2011), and then play games with it in order to advance an agenda, is astonishing and profoundly undemocratic. To ensure that there would be a high degree of desperation and no time for debate, Durbin waited until the 11th hour before releasing his "hold" on H.R. 2867 (the bill reauthorising funding for the USCIRF) and introducing his amendment S.AMDT. 1461, which limits commissioners to two-year terms.

When Congress voted on Friday 16 Dec, the legislators essentially had no option other than to pass Durbin's amendment or see the USCIRF close.

Congressman Frank Wolf, R-Va., slammed Durbin's move charging that it essentially amounted to "blackmail", while Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. condemned the amendment as "bad".

As it was, the original reauthorisation Bill cut the USCIRF's funding from $4 million to $3 million and reduced the number of commissioners (all unpaid) from nine to five. With Durbin's amendment, seven of the nine current commissioners will be permanently forced out. As Southern Baptist minister Reverend Richard Land laments, the effect of the amendment will be to leave the USCIRF with "very little institutional memory".

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On the surface this looked like basic political pork-barrelling by a rogue Senator. However, on closer inspection it looks more like premeditated strategic manoeuvring with one of the intended outcomes being the evisceration of the USCIRF.

Senator Durbin's alleged reason for placing a procedural "hold" on H.R. 2867, was that he wanted to "force members of the House of Representatives into earmarking funds for the federal government to purchase a state prison in Thompson, Illinois that his home state can no longer afford to operate". (Gaffney)

Frank Gaffney, Jr., the President of the Center for Security Policy and a columnist for the Washington Times, writes: "When the idea of a federal takeover of this facility was first floated last year, it ran into strenuous opposition on both sides of Capitol Hill. Not only was the deal deemed to be unaffordable at a time of yawning federal deficits. It turned out that the Obama administration and its allies in Illinois' Democratic machine in Washington and Springfield state had in mind another, even more outrageous motivation: the Thompson prison could serve as the place to relocate terrorists currently held offshore at Guantanamo Bay, allowing Gitmo's closure.

"In other words, Sen. Durbin is seeking to secure by stealth an earmark that would overturn existing legislation barring the relocation of such detainees inside the United States - and the real risk that they would, thereby, be granted constitutional rights, access to civilian U.S. courts and perhaps be set loose in our country by irresponsible federal judges."

See: Silencing the Watchdogs of Religious Freedom: Durbin's War on the USCIRF
Center for Security Policy | Dec 12, 2011
By Frank Gaffney, Jr.

Be that as it may, why did Durbin suddenly release the bill even though he had failed to secure the ransom? And if Durbin was simply accepting defeat on the matter of Thompson prison, how come the bill (his hostage) came back with an amendment attached?

According to Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., "There are people who are trying to kill this commission."

Reporting for World Magazine, Emily Belz writes (15 Dec): "Smith said President Bill Clinton opposed the creation of the commission and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doesn't want it around now, either. The State Department hasn't undertaken many of the commission's recommendations in recent years . . .

"'Religious freedom is not a priority' at the State Department, said Smith. 'Homosexual rights and abortion rights' are priorities, he said, referring to the Obama administration's recent push to put gay rights at the top of its global human rights agenda."

According to Gaffney, "the Obama administration has been working behind the scenes to do as its Islamist friends have demanded by shutting down the USCIRF. It has enlisted for this purpose Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate's Number 2 Democrat. Sen. Durbin is not only perfectly placed to do the deed stealthily. He has his own close associations with a number of the Brotherhood's top fronts and operatives in his home state of Illinois, in Washington and elsewhere across the country. . ."

That the highest levels of the US administration could be complicit in the evisceration of the USCIRF is very disturbing. It will be interesting to see who the administration appoints to fill the USCIRF's vacancies. If the new commissioners do not come with considerable experience in international religious liberty, then, though the USCIRF might survive, it will have been rendered harmless (harmless, that is, to religious liberty abusers) and non-threatening (non-threatening, that is, to economically and geo-strategically beneficial but morally compromising alliances).

ISOLATED INCIDENTS OR A TREND?

As noted in the previous posting, when the Obama administration recently appointed the popular and immensely gifted Reverend Suzan Johnson Cook to the post of US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom -- after a lengthy delay -- it was praised for finally filling the post, thereby affirming America's commitment to international religious freedom. This was despite the fact that the appointee had absolutely no experience in international religious freedom. In no other field would such a thing be tolerated.

As I have previously noted, when it comes to dealing with the propaganda and religio-political ideologies and strategies that threaten religious liberty both domestically and internationally, lack of religious liberty background puts the cause of religious liberty at a serious disadvantage.

In the light of this, the machinations surrounding the reauthorisation of funding for the USCIRF provide me with an uneasy sense of déjà vu.

Is the Obama administration intentionally and strategically disempowering international religious liberty advocacy because, while it wants to appear domestically to be supportive of it, in reality, it doesn't want to be embarrassed internationally by it?

By retaining the religious freedom bodies, the form or appearance of international religious freedom advocacy is maintained for the purpose of public relations and propaganda. But by filling these bodies with appointees who, despite their gifts and graces, have little or no experience in dealing with the religio-political complexities inherent in international religious liberty advocacy, they render those bodies ineffective, or worse.

How does the administration get away with it? Well, if the administration can hold the sword of Damocles over the heads of religious freedom advocacy bodies for long enough, then for mere life all will be immensely grateful!

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The reality is, when powerful alliances and/or big money and /or geo-strategic gains are involved, there is nothing more inconvenient than an informed, experienced and passionate dedicated religious freedom advocate who is absolutely committed to shattering the deadly silence.

Christians should pray for Rev Suzan Johnson Cook -- the Obama-appointed US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom -- that she might learn quickly, be gifted with discernment and wisdom, and have the courage to be the most inconvenient Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom America has ever known!

Likewise, Christians should pray that when the Obama administration appoints new commissioners to the USCIRF in the next few months, they will prove to be the most inconvenient religious liberty advocates imaginable!

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21 ESV)

As violent persecution escalates and impunity becomes the order of the day, the last thing the persecuted need is to be left to suffer in darkness under a shroud of silence.

Whither America on Religious Freedom?

2011-12-08T15:14:00.000-08:00

-- Implementing the OIC's Resolution 16/18 (with updates)
-- USCIRF prepares for closure
-- New foreign policy priority: LGBT Rights

During the week of 12-16 Dec 2011, the US will have two opportunities to either defend OR diminish religious liberty. Religious liberty is already in decline in the US (see Religious Liberty Monitoring, label: USA). But by the end of next week we should know exactly what path the Obama administration intends to take with regard to domestic and international religious liberty policy. Will the tide be turned OR will the Obama administration add momentum to the flow of world forces in this age of escalating persecution? Whither America?

The US and the OIC: implementing UNHRC Resolution 16/18

As I have noted previously, far from being a breakthrough for free speech, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC's) new Resolution 16/18, "Combating intolerance . . ." is actually more dangerous than resolution 2005/3, "Combating Defamation of Religion". Indeed, the strategic shift from defamation to incitement actually advances the OIC's primary goal: the criminalisation of criticism of Islam. For, in Resolution 16/18, the OIC has deliberately and strategically adopted the language of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 20.2, which mandates: any advocacy of hatred that "constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law".

As The International Islamic News Agency (IINA) reported on 1 Aug 2011, implementation of the resolution will require that domestic and international laws be enacted to prevent the incitement that results "from the continued defamation of religions." In other words, anything that could have been deemed defamation under Resolution 2005/3 will doubtless now be deemed incitement under Resolution 16/18 -- incitement which must be prohibited by law.

The question no one seems to be asking is: What is it that makes some people highly incitable to reactionary violence and destruction?

For full background see: UNHRC Resolution 16/18
By Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 21 Aug 2011.

The first meeting pursuant of Resolution 16/18 took place in Istanbul on 15 July 2011. The next meeting will be held in Washington from 12-14 December 2011. It will be hosted by the Reverend Suzan Johnson Cook, (profile New York Times) the new US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

In July 2010, Foreign Police magazine noted that the Reverend Suzan Johnson Cook's appointment was "welcome but curious". For while the Harlem-born Johnson Cook (54) has an impressive, indeed phenomenal, resume -- particularly in urban evangelistic and pastoral ministry -- she has no experience at all in religious liberty or foreign policy.

I would suggest that when it comes to dealing with the propaganda and religio-political strategies that threaten religious liberty both domestically and internationally, then lack of religious liberty background puts the cause of religious liberty at a serious disadvantage. A cynic might even question whether this was exactly why Rev Johnson Cook -- described by the New York Times as "Billy Graham and Oprah rolled into one" -- was appointed.

Concerning the forthcoming US-OIC meeting, Judson Berger of FOX News notes: "Critics describe the get-together . . . as a Trojan horse for the long-running OIC push for restrictions on speech.

"A key worry is that the meeting could become a platform for Islamic governments to push for hate-speech laws which, in their most virulent and fundamentalist form, criminalize what they perceive as blasphemy.

"'It's just an astonishingly bad decision,' said Nina Shea, who sits on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and serves as director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom."

See: Free Speech Concerns Ahead of Meeting With Muslim Nations on Religious Tolerance
By Judson Berger for FoxNews, 11 Nov 2011

UPDATE:
D.C. Islamophobia Conference Was a Bad Idea
December 13, 2011 11:19 A.M.
By Nina Shea
QUOTE: Legal and security officials of a delegation which will remain unnamed gave a sweeping overview of American founding principles on religious freedom and how they have been breached time and again in American history by attacks against a broad variety of religious minority groups — including now against Muslims. A raft of current cases were mentioned; America’s relative exemplary and distinctive achievement in upholding religious freedom in an emphatically pluralistic society was not. That same speaker reassured the audience, which was packed with diplomats from around the world, that the Obama administration is working diligently to prosecute American Islamophobes and is transforming the U.S. Justice Department into the conscience of the nation . . .

Across the room, smirking delegates from some of the world’s most repressive and intolerant regimes could be spotted, furiously taking notes.

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The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) prepares for closure.

The US International Freedom from Religious Persecution (IFRP) Act 1998 tied international religious freedom to US foreign policy by mandating that sanctions be leveled against regimes deemed to be severe violators of religious liberty. As such, the US IFRP Act caste a veil of protection over many of the world's vulnerable religious minorities by ensuring that dictators had a reason to reign in their most intolerant and belligerent elements.

There is little doubt that the financial crisis of August 2008 robbed the US of her economic leverage, which in turn robbed the US Freedom from International Persecution (US IFRP) Act 1998 of its power. This is why persecution has increased so dramatically since Aug 2008. With the veil of protection stripped away, vulnerable religious minorities are now finding that impunity is the order of the day. And impunity is like fuel to the fires of persecution.

Despite this new reality, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) -- a Commission created by the US IFRP Act -- is still desperately needed. As violent persecution escalates globally, the USCIRF's role in monitoring religious liberty and advising the President, the Secretary of State, the US Congress and indeed the world, is more important than ever.

When impunity is the order of the day, the last thing the persecuted want or need is silence. Indeed, with violent persecution increasing, it is imperative that truth-revealing, hope-inspiring, silence-shattering speech be enabled and magnified, lest the persecuted simple slip from our consciousness into deadly darkness.

Consequently, it is profoundly disturbing that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) will cease to exist from Friday 16 December 2011 unless funding is reauthorised before then.

See:
USCIRF Announcement
6 December 2011

Dick Durbin May Block Religious Freedom Commission's Renewal to Force Feds to Buy Prison He Wanted for Gitmo Detainees.
Faith McDonnell, 5 Dec 2011

See also (recommended)
Myths about religious freedom abroad
By Felice D. Gaer and Nina Shea, Commissioners on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom - 12 Dec 2011

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New foreign policy priority: LGBT (Gay) Rights.

On Tuesday 6 December, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in recognition of International Human Rights Day.

The principle focus of her speech was LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender) Rights.

As this report from Associated Press reveals: "The Obama administration is making gay rights a foreign policy priority as the U.S. government agency monitoring international religious rights [the USCIRF] prepares to close.

Secretary of State Clinton's speech, which has been received with great excitement in the Gay community, has some serious worrying elements. (Transcript)

Excerpts and comments:

"In the 63 years since the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights] was adopted, many nations have made great progress in making human rights a human reality. . . In many places . . . the ability of religious minorities to practice their faith freely has been secured.
[Is this a "Mission Accomplished" statement?]

"Today, I want to talk about the work we have left to do to protect one group of people whose human rights are still denied in too many parts of the world today. In many ways, they are an invisible minority. They are arrested, beaten, terrorized, even executed. Many are treated with contempt and violence by their fellow citizens while authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse. They are denied opportunities to work and learn, driven from their homes and countries, and forced to suppress or deny who they are to protect themselves from harm. I am talking about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] people . . .

"Now, raising this issue, I know, is sensitive for many people and that the obstacles standing in the way of protecting the human rights of LGBT people rest on deeply held personal, political, cultural, and religious beliefs.
[Note: undefined "religious beliefs" are, in and of themselves, deemed to be an obstacle to the human rights of LGBT people.]

"Of course, it bears noting that rarely are cultural and religious traditions and teachings actually in conflict with the protection of human rights."
[This implies that any religious teaching that conflicts with "human rights" as defined by the UN and "international community" will be rejected as erroneous interpretations, unrepresentative of the faith: i.e. the Islamic fundamentalist teaching that homosexuals should be killed; and the traditional mainline Christian teaching that homosexuals couples are not eligible for marriage which is defined as the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others.]

"Indeed, our religion and our culture are sources of compassion and inspiration toward our fellow human beings."
[Considering the fact that Mrs Clinton is speaking to a highly diverse audience, what does she mean by "our religion" and "our culture"? Clearly Mrs Clinton is asserting here that all religions and cultures are not only inherently the same, but inherently compassionate and inspirational as well. Of course the dhimmis and dalits of this world -- human beings who want their human rights protected FROM abusive religion and culture -- might disagree.]

"It was not only those who've justified slavery who leaned on religion, it was also those who sought to abolish it. And let us keep in mind that our commitments to protect the freedom of religion and to defend the dignity of LGBT people emanate from a common source."
[NOTE: "dignity" is not defined. To one it may mean right to live in peace and security according to the traditional understanding of human rights, while to another, dignity might include the "right" not to be offended, or the "right" not to have your religious or lifestyle choices challenged.]

The following paragraph is especially concerning.

"But progress comes from changes in laws. In many places, including my own country, legal protections have preceded, not followed, broader recognition of rights. Laws have a teaching effect. Laws that discriminate validate other kinds of discrimination. Laws that require equal protections reinforce the moral imperative of equality. And practically speaking, it is often the case that laws must change before fears about change dissipate." (emphasis mine)
[This is a clear, unambiguous warning that laws will soon be enacted to teach us not to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation. How long will it be before anti-defamation or anti-incitement laws are enacted that will essentially criminalise all criticism of the LGBT lifestyle? Just as the OIC is seeking to protect and advance Islam, so too is the Gay lobby seeking to protect and advance the homosexual lifestyle -- all in the name of "human rights". But this has nothing to do with human rights. This is authoritarian repression and radical social engineering in the name / under the cover of human rights.]

"This morning, back in Washington, President Obama put into place the first U.S. Government strategy dedicated to combating human rights abuses against LGBT persons abroad. Building on efforts already underway at the State Department and across the government, the President has directed all U.S. Government agencies engaged overseas to combat the criminalization of LGBT status and conduct, to enhance efforts to protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, to ensure that our foreign assistance promotes the protection of LGBT rights, to enlist international organizations in the fight against discrimination, and to respond swiftly to abuses against LGBT persons.

"I am also pleased to announce that we are launching a new Global Equality Fund that will support the work of civil society organizations working on these issues around the world. This fund will help them record facts so they can target their advocacy, learn how to use the law as a tool, manage their budgets, train their staffs, and forge partnerships with women’s organizations and other human rights groups. We have committed more than $3 million to start this fund, and we have hope that others will join us in supporting it." (emphasis mine)
[So if the Obama administration fails to reauthorize funding for the USCIRF, then at least we will know where the money is going!]

See also:
Obama, Clinton to World: Stop Gay Discrimination
By Anne Geran, AP National Security Writer
GENEVA, 6 December 2011 (AP)
Quote: The Obama administration bluntly warned the world against gay and lesbian discrimination Tuesday, declaring the U.S. will use foreign assistance as well as diplomacy to back its insistence that gay rights are fully equal to other basic human rights.

Obama Elevates Gay Rights as a Foreign Policy Priority
Dan Robinson, at the White House for Voice of America, 6 Dec 2011

Clinton Says Obama Wants Gay Rights Over Religious Freedom in Key Speech
By Paul Stanley, Christian Post, 7 Dec 2011

COMMENTARY: Obama, Clinton put world on notice over LGBT rights
Ken Williams - Editor in Chief, SDGLN (San Diego Gay & Lesbian News)
7 December 2011

PAPUA, INDONESIA: Racial and religious hatred in action

2011-11-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

By Elizabeth Kendal

More footage has emerged of the Indonesian Army's violent crackdown on the Third Papuan People's Congress in Zakeus Field, Abepura, on the outskirts of Jayapura, on 19 October. (For background, see Religious Liberty Monitoring: 27 Oct 2011 )

Many will find this footage quite upsetting. It shows plain clothed and uniformed security personnel shooting hundreds of rounds of ammunition into the crowd; beating, brutalising and humiliating scores of participants, and violently attacking the elected President of the West Papuan Transitional Government, Forkorus Yaboisembut.

More Brutal Footage emerges from Congress crackdown
West Papua Media 11 Nov 2011

The level of violence was more than disproportionate; it was totally unnecessary, for the participants were all unarmed civilians. The brutality was thus nothing more than raw racial and religious hatred in action. The footage will give viewers a clearer picture of what the Papuans have to live with.

------------

In addition to this, another article provides further testimony from those who endured the military raids on the nearby religious institutions.

Papuan Church No Longer a Save Haven
By Engage Media 3 Nov 2011

On the afternoon of 19 October, after breaking up the Congress, armed police officers, Mobile Brigade officers and TNI soldiers stormed nearby religious institutions in search of fleeing Congress participants.

According to the above article, Father John Jehuru OSA, Rector of the Inter-diocesan Seminary, was watching the events unfold in Zakeus Field from in his study room in Fajar Timur School of Theology when a bullet flew through his window, only narrowly missing him.

Eye witnesses report that armed soldiers went room to room, ransacking the facilities and screaming at the "stupid priests" who had been providing refuge to Congress participants.

Several priests -- including Father Gonsa Saur and Father Yan You -- displayed immense courage and spiritual integrity in the face of serious intimidation and threats to their life. Likewise, many seminary students risked their lives to protect others. One student was violently attacked as he was trying to help a participant who had been shot. Soldiers struck the seminary student with the butt of a rifle, fracturing his arm. They also struck him in the face with a rubber batten, causing his nose swell. Finally they dragged him off to prison and held him in detention overnight. Only after being released the next day was the student able to seek medical attention for his broken bones and other injuries.

Once again -- this was not about putting down a coup or defending the integrity of Indonesia. Rather, this was nothing other than pure racial and religious hatred in action. It was armed Javanese Muslim soldiers given free range to do whatever they liked to unarmed Melanesian Christian civilians.

----------------------------

On 8 November, Aljazeera ran an excellent feature on Papua. Author, William Lloyd George, cut straight to the chase with his opening line: "While the international community is fixated on events taking place across the Middle East, they are turning a blind eye to desperate cries for help by the Papuan people."

West Papua's cry for help
By William Lloyd George, for Aljazeera, 8 Nov 2011

After providing an overview of contemporary Papuan history and suffering, William Lloyd George concludes by giving voice to the Papuan cry: "Why can Indonesia get away with shooting unarmed people, but other governments cannot?"

"The difference between us and the Middle East," one local Papuan told George, "is that we're not fighting a dictator. We’re fighting invading neo-colonialists who have stolen our land. If the international community doesn’t help us, West Papuan people will slowly perish while fighting for the independence we deserve."

But as Religious Liberty Monitoring has noted -- it really is not that simple. It is not that neo-colonialists can get away with murder but dictators can't. The sad reality is this: as much as we hate to admit it, foreign policy is dictated by economic and strategic interests, not human rights.

Unfortunately for the Papuans it is not in the interests of the "international community" (and by that they mean the West) to help them. For Papua is a resource-rich land and Indonesia is a highly strategic nation in a world where international politics has nothing to do with advancing what is right and just but everything to do with pursuing wealth and power. In such a depraved system, human beings are an inconvienience to be dealt with, while human rights are an obstacle to be navigated.

Consequently, it is imperative that men and women of conscience lift their voices and their prayers for, and be prepared to stand in costly solidarity with, such "inconvenient peoples". For the powers of this world -- even powers we have long trusted -- will only betray them, at least until it is in their political interests not to!

BURMA (Myanmar): Interests, Smokescreens, Chemical Weapons & Ethnic Cleansing

2011-11-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

By Elizabeth Kendal

Burma/Myanmar is indeed the Sudan of Asia and the regime's recent reforms are nothing more than the calculated steps of a brutal Burman-Buddhist-supremacist regime determined to advance its own interests and ensure its own survival. Through these token reforms, the regime hopes to pacify the Burman-Buddhist masses and create a smokescreen around the centre, behind which it can pursue its brutal policies of racial and religious hatred; policies aimed at the subjugation and even extermination of the non-Burman, non-Buddhist ethnic minorities that live around Burma's periphery.

----------------------------------

Burma's reforms: not 'democracy', just interests and smokescreens

Burma has been subject to Western political and economic sanctions for decades on account of its repression of democracy. However, since the mid-1990s ascendant China has been taking Burma into its embrace, supplying it with loans and commodities, trading freely and building infrastructure -- but not out of benevolence. China is pursuing its own interests, in particular its interest in gaining access to Burmese ports on the Bay of Bengal, where there has long been a power vacuum. Motivated by this threat, the US is now pursuing engagement with Burma. Consequently Burma's geo-strategic value is rising in line with China's economic and military ascendancy, which means Burma (like Indonesia -- RLPB 119) can now play geo-politics to its own advantage. To this end, the regime is welcoming the US overtures as they offer a way to counter the anti-China sentiment rising inside Burma.

[While China's largess might have neutralised the impact of Western sanctions, many amongst the junta's powerful elite are not happy to see Burma becoming a client state of their former enemy. Many of Burma's military elite fought and lost comrades in the war that raged from 1968 to 1978 between the Burmese nationalists and the China-backed Communist Party of Burma (CPB). The fact that China continues to support the United Wa State Army (the successor to the CPB) is a sore point for many military elites; furthermore, it raises the spectre of Chinese duplicity. Further to this, Chinese goods have flooded the markets and Chinese firms are buying up the land, causing social tensions to escalate.]

The West is highly excited over Burma's recent reforms: the release of some 200 political prisoners (despite over 1000 still behind bars); talks held with Aung San Suu Kyi ; improvements in press freedom and the introduction of debate into its parliament.
See: Burma: At freedom’s gate
By Amy Kazmin, Financial Times, 24 October 2011

The Burmese, however, are more sceptical. The reforms really do need to be seen in the light of Burmese domestic realities. Domestically, the regime wants to lessen its dependence on China. It also wants to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014 (which will be decided this month ).

The only reform that has really captured the imagination of the Burmese is the regime's 30 September decision to suspend until 2015 the immensely controversial Myitsone Dam Project in Kachin State. A joint project between the previous Burmese junta and the China Power Investment Corporation, the Myitsone Dam project was not only opposed by the Kachin -- a Christian people whose lands would have been decimated -- but by many Burmese. For not only would 90 percent of the output and 70 percent of the profits go to China, but the impact on the Irrawaddy River -- Burma's life source -- would be catastrophic. So even this move must be seen in the context of the regime's survival strategy amidst Burma's internal reality of high anti-China sentiment.
See: A Case of Mistaken Priorities
By Aung Zaw, Friday, October 21, 2011
AND
China behind Myanmar's course shift
By Bertil Lintner, Asia Times Online, 19 Oct 2011

DAM SUSPENDED YET WAR CONTINUES

Whilst the regime has suspended the Myitsone Dam Project, its war on the Christian Kachin -- a war triggered in part by the dam project (see Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin RLPBs 114 (28 June 2011), 115 (5 July 11), 118 (27 July 11)) -- continues unabated.

One can only hope that Lindsay Murdoch is right in his assessment: "Burma's armed forces have committed serious abuses against ethnic rebels in renewed fighting, setting back efforts by the country's leaders to convince Western nations they are serious about ending 50 years of brutal military rule." (emphasis mine)
See: Burmese military abuses cast doubt on leaders' reforms
Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok, October 20, 2011

The trouble is, with the US working to bring Burma out of China's embrace into its own so as to secure strategic gains in the Bay of Bengal, it is quite likely that the US might be keen reward the tokens while ignoring the genocide, exactly as is happening in Papua, Indonesia.

ETHNIC CLEANSING

In its 18 October report, Human Rights Watch estimates that 30,000 Kachin are now displaced. Despite this, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has inexplicably downplayed the ethnic cleansing in Kachin , just as he downplayed the ethnic cleansing of Abyei, Sudan. In contrast, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, told the UN General Assembly on 19 October that recent fighting had resulted in more than 15,000 displaced Kachin being confined to a remote mountainous area on the Chinese border in conditions that can only be described as 'perilous'. According to Quintana, the UN informed the Burmese authorities that it was willing to help these Internally Displaced Persons but Thein Sein's government declined the offer.
See Quintana: Burma’s government failing to solve ethnic issues
Thursday, 20 October 2011 21:24 Thomas Maung Shwe

Further to this, Burma expert Zin Linn reports that China is blocking the delivery of food, emergency shelter and medicines, leaving some analysts wondering if Kachin State is being ethnically cleansed at China's behest.
See: Why does Burma want war in Kachin State?
By Zin Linn , for Asian Correspondent.com, Sep 26, 2011
and
Is Burma attempting to colonize Kachin state
By Zin Linn Jul 21, 2011

QUESTION: Is the suspension of the dam project just a smokescreen behind which Burma will have three years to ethnically cleanse Kachin State?

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

On 1 November 2011, Burma expert Zin Linn wrote to his blog The Democratic Question of Burma : "The Burma Army’s full-scale offensives are becoming greater than ever in Kachin State. The fighting seems vengeful as Burmese soldiers commit various crimes – such as looting, killing, raping and burning down the civilians’ villages – on the front line. [. . .] Kachin natives are singled out by the Burmese soldiers and they are not regarded as citizens of their own nation. It looks like the Burma Army has been launching a racial war. In frontline areas, Burmese soldiers are committing crimes freely as there are no effective or appropriate penalties set by senior authorities.

"The worst and concrete evidence is that the wicked Burmese Army has used a mysterious chemical weapon in the recent offensive against Kachin rebels in Northern Burma . . .

"For more than a week, Burmese soldiers used the unidentified chemical weapon in three war zones — Christian Prayer Hill and Lung Zep Kawng in Ga Ra Yang village, and Shwe Nyaung Pyin village — against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on Myitkyina-Manmaw (Bhamo) Road in Waingmaw Township. Those events were narrated by KIA soldiers, who said they were under attack by poisonous gas.

"On October 29, Burma Army troops fired two mortar rounds of chemical weapons on the People’s Army fighters under the KIA in Prayer Hill, said civilian fighters. 'Two rounds of chemical weapons were fired at us in Prayer Hill. There were seven of us present. Dark smoke billowed from the areas where the mortar shells landed,' La Gun, a civilian fighter and a victim of the chemical weapon told Kachin News Group on Sunday. When the victims breathed the dark smoke, they felt extremely dizzy, found it hard to breathe, thirsty and vomiting for hours, according to one victim.

"The same chemical weapon was used during the week-long fighting in Lung Zep Kawng last week, La Gun said. The same day, the chemical weapon was used by the Burmese Army in Ntap Bum battle zone, near the KIA headquarters Laiza. Four KIA soldiers suffered dizziness, fell on the ground and began vomiting for a long time, said eyewitnesses.

"President Thein Sein’s government has to take responsibility for the use of such chemical weapons. . ." (emphasis mine)

See: Kachin fighters claim Burma Army using chemical weapons
By Zin Linn Nov 01, 2011

CHURCH DEEPLY IMPACTED

With the Kachin people being over 90 percent devout Christian, the Church is being hit hard. Churches in Kachin State have been attacked, seized, used as prisons and burned. The Christian Kachin are being raped, brutalised, enslaved, starved and slaughtered.
See Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) label: Burma
ALSO: Burma Army Targets Christian Civilians in War on Insurgents
Troops attack churches in Kachin state conflict.
Compass Direct News, 28 Oct 2011

Furthermore, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported on 31 October, that in Maw Wan Ward, Phakant Township, the town administration is now requiring Christians to seek official permission to read the Bible, pray and fast, amongst other Christian 'cultural' activities. Requests must be accompanied by recommendations from other departments and must be submitted to the Township Administration Office 15 days in advance.

With war and repression escalating behind a smokescreen of token reforms from a Burman-Buddhist-supremacist regime operating from a position of increasing geo-strategic significance, the Christian Kachin need our prayers for God's intervention now more than ever.

For suggested prayer points:
RLPB 132. Burma: Interests, Smokescreens & Ethnic Cleansing

Papua, Indonesia: from 'Peace Child' to genocide. Indonesian Army storms Third Papuan Congress; 6 dead, dozens wounded, hundreds arrested.

2011-10-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

The indigenous ethnic Melanesians of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) turned from shamanism to Christ in the early part of the 20th Century as Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) USA opened the mountainous region up for courageous pioneer missionaries, several of whom shed their blood, becoming martyrs for Christ, that these remarkable people might know the LORD. It is one of the great missionary stories of the 20th Century.

Unfortunately, however, the story doesn't end there.

In 1962, the US convinced the Netherlands (the colonial power in Dutch/West New Guinea, which had wanted West New Guinea to be independent) to cede the territory to Indonesia in order to prevent Indonesia moving into the Soviet sphere of influence. The treaty between the Republic of Indonesia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands is known as the New York Agreement.

In 1963, Indonesia invaded and occupied Papua, ultimately annexing the territory in 1969 after a rigged plebiscite, the ironically named "Act of Free Choice". [NOTE: The 1969 "Act of Free Choice" may yet be challenged at the International Court.]

Since then the government of Indonesia has facilitated the rapid colonization of Papua by Javanese Muslims for political and geo-strategic purposes. The result: the Papuans have suffered decades of exploitation, increasing political marginalisation, Islamisation, racial and religious hatred, discrimination and violent persecution -- all of which, in many estimates, is amounting to genocide.

So the great missionary tale that starts with Dutch missions, expands through the sacrificial ministry of MAF USA and Australian missionaries, and blossoms -- thanks to God's preparation of the people -- with mass conversions to Christ, may yet end in tragedy.

But the story that goes from "Peace Child" (Part 1, Part 2) to genocide within a century involves not just the victims (the Papuans) and not just the killers (the Indonesians), but all those who, on account of greed, arrogance, power-lust and/or indifference, have betrayed and abandoned the Papuans to their terrible fate.

THE PAPUAN CONGRESS

On 16-19 October 1961, before the Papuan people found themselves being traded like a common commodity they held a historic Papuan Congress. Richard Chauvel explains (SMH, 23 Oct): "The political manifesto of October 19, 1961, was issued at the time when the United Nations was debating a Dutch proposal to internationalise the administration of West Papua, then Netherlands New Guinea, and secure the UN's support for Papuan self-determination.

"Papuan leaders who formulated the manifesto supported the Dutch proposal, but they wanted to introduce a Papuan voice into a decade-long dispute between Indonesia and the Netherlands about their homeland and their future."

At that first Papuan Congress, a declaration of Independence was read and the Morning Star flag raised.

The event was re-enacted on 16-19 Oct 2000, when Abdurrahman Wahid was president of Indonesia and the prospects for Papuan autonomy were good, the mood was positive and hopes were high.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the first Papuan Congress, a Third Papuan Congress was held -- with government approval -- in Jayapura, Papua from 17-19 October 2011. Of course today the overwhelming sentiment in Papua is despair: despair at the total failure of Special Autonomy; despair at the creeping systematic genocide; despair at living with daily anxiety on account of the perpetual gross human rights abuses being committed at the hands of the Indonesian military -- abuses committed with impunity and in darkness as Papua remains closed to the outside world.

THIRD PAPUAN CONGRESS

After failing to get permission to use either Cenderawasih University auditorium or the GOR sports stadium in Jayapura, the Third Papuan Congress opened not on 16 October as planned, but on 17 October in the open air at Lapangan Sakeus (Sakeus Field, also spelled Zakeus). The event had the approval of the central government.

Opening with prayers, the congress included several Christian leaders amongst the speakers, including Rev Benny Giay, Rev Socrates S. Yoman and Rev Yemima Krey. The theme of the congress was: “To uphold the basic rights of the Papuan people now and in the future.”

It appears, however, that as far as Jakarta is concerned, the basic rights of the Papuan people exist within the confines of subjugation. For as it turned out, the Papuans would not be permitted to dream too vividly.

The Jakarta Globe reports: "Anxiety was apparent among the participants of the Third Papuan People's Congress on Wednesday [19 Oct] as they marched toward the event venue in Abepura, passing by lines of military and police officers in full combat gear and holding assault rifles.

"By 8 a.m. that morning, the final day of the three-day congress, security officers were standing at the ready. Five Barracuda armored jeeps were parked not far from the Zakeus oval, the site of the event, as were seven police trucks and three trucks from the region’s Cendrawasih Military Command."

See: At Papuan Congress, a Brutal Show of Force
Oktovianus Pogau, Jakarta Globe, October 22, 2011

WestPapuaMedia.info reported: "One Papuan video activist sent a text message to Engage Media this morning (19 Oct): 'Good morning, brother, I’m down at the field, and we’re surrounded by the military. Please pray so the congress is safe.'

The Jakarta Globe continues: "As the congress drew to a close, the 3,100 officers sprang into action, marching toward the venue with their fingers on the triggers of their Pindad SS1 assault rifles. As the prospect of a full-blown attack became evident, fear could be seen in the eyes of many congress-goers.

"Minutes later, the situation descended into violence.

"Soldiers from the Armed Forces (TNI) and police officers fired bullets into the air and ordered the participants to disband. Some of the officers pointed their weapons directly at the unarmed civilians.

"As the crowd dispersed in panic, the troops pressed forward."

At 3:30pm (Jayapura time) the Papuan video activist sent another text message: "Brother, they’ve opened fire … to us all."

The Jakarta Globe describes the violence and brutality wielded by the Indonesian police against these unarmed civilians.

As Chauvel (SMH, 23 Oct) reports, "At least six people were killed, more than 300 were taken into custody [pictured], the leaders accused of treason, and many others were beaten by police and soldiers."

See: RAW FOOTAGE OF THE ATTACK ON THE PAPUAN PEOPLE’S CONGRESS

The trigger for this heavy-handed crackdown? As in the 1961 and 2000, a declaration of independence was read and the now-banned Morning Star flag raised.

"On this day, 19 October 2011, we declare our complete Independence and Sovereignty as the Papuan people and the state of West Papua", read Prokorus Yaboisembut, the newly elected President of West Papua.

see: Report by GKI on Third Papuan Congress and Declaration of Independence
[Full translation by TAPOL of the report received from KPKC, Synod of GKI, Indonesian Christian Church on 21 October 2011]

With that, the military and police stormed the congress ostensibly to put down the "coup".

Armed soldiers also stormed a nearby monastery, terrorising the residents for two hours. Oktovianus Pogau reports that "Later, bullet holes could be seen in some of the walls, and bullet fragments were found in some bedrooms.

"'Dozens of officials forced their way into the monastery and walked back and forth for two hours in front of us,' the Rev. Adrianus Tuturu said. 'We were so afraid we hid in our rooms.'"

According to Pogau, the chairman of the House of Representatives commission on defense, Mahfudz Siddiq, said security forces "should have been firmer" and refused to issue a permit for the congress.

"The Jayapura Police chief said he would do whatever it took to quash subversion. 'Whoever supports separatism or subversion activity, I will do the same as yesterday [19 Oct]. I’ll finish them,' Adj. Sr. Comr. Imam Setiawan told state news agency Antara."

See also: Rights Bodies Grill the Police Over Beatings, Deaths at Papua Congress
Banjir Ambarita, Jakarta Globe, October 25, 2011

US SUPPORTS JAKARTA'S STRONG STANCE AGAINST "SEPARATISTS"

"While visiting Indonesia, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reiterated the U.S. commitment to closer ties with Indonesia and voiced support for Indonesia's strong stance against a separatist movement in the eastern province of Papua.

"But U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says the warming relationship has not stopped the U.S. from speaking out against possible human rights abuses by the military in Papua.

"'We have made very clear where there are allegations of abuse or problems associated with excessive violence,' said Campbell. 'We want those circumstances thoroughly explored. And if there is indeed cause for subsequent remedial action, we would expect a legal process to be followed accordingly.'"

See: US Officials Back Indonesian Stand Against Papua Independence
Voice of America, 25 October 2011

But of course we have seen this before. For as was noted in Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 119 (3 Aug 2011) "On 24 January [2011] an Indonesian court sentenced three soldiers to eight, nine and ten months imprisonment for insubordination after video footage emerged showing the soldiers torturing Papuan civilians -- beating, burning, knifing and suffocating them. [See also, Papua: evidence of human rights abuses]. Whilst the US expressed regret over the leniency of the sentences, they praised the fact that the soldiers were tried at all, hailing it as 'progress'. (Without the trial, the US would have been obliged by its own laws to withhold military aid.)"

And the above was not an isolated incident, for TNI crimes and human rights abuses are routinely covered up or whitewashed so as to ensure that they do not negatively impact Indonesian or US mining or strategic interests.

On 23 Oct 2011, the Jakarta Globe featured a photo of Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro smiling broadly with his counterpart Leon Panetta, US secretary of defense. "We clearly explained", said Purnomo, "that the [gathering] was a separatist movement. Everywhere it's the same -- separatism has to be put down. The Indonesian government will not tolerate separatists.”

And according to Purnomo, Panetta "completely agreed".

See: Jakarta Gives US Its Side of Story in Papua Deaths
Made Arya Kencana, Banjir Ambarita & Ulma Haryanto,
Jakarta Globe, 23 October 2011

It appears that US policy concerning whether "separatism" be put down (as were the Papuans in Papua) or supported (as were the Albanians in Serbia) depends entirely upon an assessment of US economic and strategic interests; nothing more.

The Jakarta Globe(23 Oct) continues: "A photograph of a body purported to be that of Daniel Kadepa, a 25-year-old university student, was obtained by the Jakarta Globe. It showed the body of a man lying face down with a wound to the back of his head.

"'I talked to the forensic doctor who checked the body and he told me that Daniel was killed by a gunshot to the head,' said Oktovianus Pogau, a member of the Papua Solidarity Society. 'A relative of his also told me that she saw with her own eyes a military officer shoot him.'

"Other photos showed bodies purported to be those of Max Asayeuw, 31, and Yacob Samonsabra, 54. Both men were part of the Papuan Caretaker Movement (Petapa) and were guarding the congress. Yacob had a gunshot wound to the chest, while Max’s face was bruised and bloodied."

The lone voice of moral outrage came from US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, a Democrat from American Samoa.

The crackdown prompted the Congressman to ask Indonesia’s ambassador to the United States for guarantees of safety for those arrested last week.

"'It has been reported that the Indonesian Armed Forces [TNI] fired shots during the meeting where a crowd of thousands of defenseless and unarmed civilians were engaged in peaceful political assembly,' he wrote.

"Faleomavaega said the reports gave evidence of crimes against humanity, adding: 'I have very serious concerns in the matter and I do not condone the serious acts of violence by the TNI and police on the peaceful demonstration by unarmed civilians who were simply voicing their opinions about the failure of the government of Indonesia to seriously implement the Special Autonomy Law for West Papua.'" (Jakarta Globe, 23 OCt)

With six Congress leaders facing charges of treason, many Congress participants have fled into hiding.

See: Papua Congress participants hiding from Jayapura police
Interview with Ferry Marisan, director of the Institute of Human Rights Study and Advocacy in Papua. Radio Australia, October 20, 2011

Today, Friday 28 Oct 2011, ABC Lateline released an excellent video report.
See: Video shows aftermath of Papua crackdown
By Hamish Fitzsimmons, 28 Oct 2011

John Baransano, a Protestant minister in Jayapura who was at the rally, appealed through ABC Lateline for international help.

"I call on the churches around the world to care about this," he said. "I'm calling for an intervention for us because today's events show that we need a transitional government and this needs to happen to help the people of Papua," he said.

"We are now in a dangerous situation . . ."

Anglican minister Peter Woods, who lived in Indonesia for many years, was in Jayapura during the Congress and filmed interviews with many of the independence movement's leaders. Reverend Woods told ABC Lateline that he believes the violence on October 19 was premeditated.

For more on Papua;
See Religious Liberty Monitoring, label: "Papua"
Includes articles on Islamisation, colonisation, political marginalisation, gross human rights abuses, and Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.
ALSO: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, label: "Papua"

EGYPT: "more radicalised than we realised"; Islam, Dhimmitude and the Maspero Massacre

2011-10-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

By Elizabeth Kendal

Islam is a materialistic, imperialistic and political religion. Its aim is to achieve dominance -- demographically or through military or political conquest -- so that Muslims might rule and Sharia (Islamic Law / the law of Allah) might be applied.

Where Islam is dominant, atheists and polytheists have two choices: convert to Islam or die. Jews and Christians (the People of the Book), however, have a third choice: dhimmitude -- i.e. they may pay for their "protection" (i.e. right to life) with "jizya" / tax / protection money (religiously santioned extortion) and by submitting to Islamic rule and Sharia law in total subjugation and abject humiliation (Sura 9:29).

The subjugated peoples are known collectively as the dhimma (singular: dhimmi). The state of subjugation -- a state of immense insecurity, vulnerability, perpetual anxiety and psychological trauma -- is known as dhimmitude. The rules under which the dhimma must live are codified in the dhimma pact. If at any time, the dhimma violate the dhimma pact, then "protection" is withdrawn and jihad (Islamic holy war) resumes -- meaning the dhimmis may be killed and their properties plundered.

Europe's rise and Islam's decline -- commencing in the late 17th Century and culminating in defeat for Islam in the 20th Century's two world wars -- saw dhimmitude wane. Today, however, Islam is back and so too is dhimmitude. And nowhere is this more evident than in Egypt.

This is unsurprising considering the results of a recent survey by Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. For according the the study, while 61 percent of those living in cities support a civil state, 48.5 percent of rural residents support an Islamic state. When asked what state they wished to see Egypt resemble, 48.9 percent of rural Egyptians and 31.5 percent of urban residents named Saudi Arabia. Turkey was a distant second with 11.9 percent of urban residents looking to it as a model, and only 6.5 percent of rural residents. Further to this, some 40.1 percent of Egyptians classified themselves as Islamists. As one observer remarked: "I think Egypt has become more Islamized than we realized."

See:
Al-Ahram Center releases extensive political survey.
Tuesday Aug 23, 2011

Talking about secularism when Egypt looks to Saudi Arabia as a model
Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey), Monday, October 17, 2011

It is little wonder that some 93,000 Coptic Christians have left Egypt since 19 March. This figure comes from a report by the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights (EFHR). Furthermore, Naguib Gabriel, the head EFHR, estimates that the figure could increase to 250,00 by the end of 2011.

NGO report: 93,000 Copts left Egypt since March
Almasry Alyoum, 25 Sept 2011

The Maspero Massacre

In Elmarinab village in Egypt's Aswan Province on 30 September, thousands of Muslims went on a pogrom after having been incited in their mosques during Friday prayers. The military watched on without intervening while the Muslims destroyed St. George's church and other properties owned by Coptic Christians. Subsequently the state-run media whitewashed the incident. [NOTE: the Copts are the indigenous people of Egypt; the true descendents of the Pharoahs. They have been Christian for 2,000 years.] The Muslim pogrom was launched in response to church renovations. Though the Christians had legal permission to repair their dangerously dilapidated church, church repair is nevertheless prohibited by the dhimma pact, for the Christians must not only be humiliated, they must be seen to be humiliated lest they become a source of fitna (strife / temptation / anything that could shake the faith of a Muslim and thereby cause "chaos").

On Sunday 9 October, around 1,000 Christians, plus numerous sympathetic Muslims, peacefully protested outside Cairo's Maspero building -- the home of Egyptian state television and radio -- calling for an end to religious discrimination and sectarianism. However, to demand equity and justice instead of accepting subjugation and humiliation is yet another violation of the dhimma pact. This time the reprisal came first and formost from the Egyptian military.

See:
Egypt On Edge After Army Kills 20 Coptic Christians At Protest
Associated Press, Sun, 10/16/2011

The night Maspero turned into a war zone: A firsthand account
Reem Abdellatif, October 16, 2011

Violence and Bloodshed in Egypt: An Eyewitness Account
Sharif Abdel Kouddous, for the Pulitzer Center, Cairo, Egypt, October 10, 2011

Maspero survivors finally testify: army shot at unarmed demonstrators without provocation
Multiple eyewitness survivors of 'Bloody Sunday' at Maspero answer SCAF [Supreme Council of the Armed Forced], say military police shot at unarmed Coptic and Muslim demonstrators, APC's [Armoured Personnel Carriers] crushed people repeatedly, and afterwards police searched for 'Christians'.
Nada Hussein Rashwan, Thursday 13 Oct 2011

Stunned by bloodshed, Egyptians torn over army
By SARAH EL DEEB - Associated Press | AP – Sat, Oct 15, 2011

As violence escalated outside Maspero, state media falsely reported that armed Coptic protesters had attacked the military, killing three soldiers. The state media urged loyal Muslims to rise up in defence of their military, an appeal to which thousands of angry Muslims responded.

Egypt's State Media Implicated In Violence Against Christian Demonstrators
AINA, 13 Oct 2011

The Maspero Massacre left 26 dead and more than 300 wounded. On Sunday 16 Oct. Magdy Fahim Mosaad became they 27th Christian protestor to die when he succumbed to the injuries he received on Sunday 9th when he was run over by an armored personnel carrier.

Eye witnesses have testified that police and military shot, beat and chased Christians who they abused as 'infidels' and 'sons of dogs'. And so that truth could not be reported, the military attacked the studios of al-Hurra ('The Free One'), a United States-based Arabic-language satellite TV channel funded by the U.S. Congress, targeting Christian reporters and forcing its closure.

While the state media did apologise for its false report (blaming a 'nervous reporter') the military publically denied that they had killed any Christians -- this despite volumes of video and mobile phone footage showing armoured vehicles ploughing through the protesting Christians, running them over, crushing and tearing them, to cries of 'Allahu Akbar' (Allah is great).

Furthermore, a committee of "experts" appointed by the Minister of Information himself, Osama Heikal (who has praised the state media's coverage of the Maspero violence), has determined that while state television may have committed "professional errors" it did not intentionally incite violence against unarmed protesters.

Committee: State TV's Maspero coverage did not incite violence
Nada Hussein Rashwan, Monday 17 Oct 2011

And so we have yet more whitewashing and impunity.

By Monday 17 Oct. Egyptian newspapers were shifting the blame, from the military, onto Coptic priests and leaders. "Coptic religious leaders, clergy and intellectuals are responsible not only for the Maspero violence but also for threatening national unity, according to several papers."

Monday's papers: Editorial pages shift Maspero blame
Almasry Alyoum, 17 Oct 2011

Though an independent civilian prosecutor had begun looking into the Maspero Massacre, the military has now taken over the investigation. Military officials claim that the army must conduct the investigation on its own and in private due to the sensitivity of the clashes and in order to preserve troop morale. The head of the military judiciary, General Adel El-Morsi, has called for all evidence to be handed to the military.

Egypt military takes over inquiry of Coptic unrest
By AYA BATRAWY - Associated Press | AP – Thu, Oct 13, 2011

SCAF alone to investigate Maspero clashes
The head of military judiciary said Thursday armed forces alone will investigate Sunday's deadly clashes . . .
Ahram Online , Thursday 13 Oct 2011

No doubt the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) will call for "reconciliation" -- by which they mean the military will agree to make peace with the Christians in exchange for the Christians dropping all charges. Such "reconciliation" has been standard practise in Egypt since mid 2007. It provides the ruling regime with a win-win solution, for while it deceives and appeases the West it is actually a consession to politically powerful Islamists who insist on upholding the Islamic order which instutionalises legal discrimination / religious aparthide by prohibiting Christians / dhimmis from testifying against Muslims in court.

-----------

The West's reluctance to challenge the immoral religious aparthide inherent in Islam is both immoral and short-sighted. If the West truly believes in the principle of universal human rights, then religious and cultural rights can never trump human rights. Furthermore, silence in the face of Islamic religious aparthide is discriminatory; for why should these victims be less worthy of our moral outrage? Anyone who maintains that the systematic religious aparthide inherent in Islam is the religious right of Muslims, is clearly no defender of universal human rights.

See also:

A Double-Bind Upon the Copts: dhimmitude in action.
Rev Dr Mark Durie, Monday, October 10, 2011
Quote: "The Copts are in a double bind. If they protest against the abuses brought upon their heads by the dhimma system, they are treated as rebels, and the value of their blood and possessions discounted accordingly: the more they protest, the less right they have under Islamic law even to exist. On the other hand, the more they acquiesce, the more voracious and emboldened their persecutors will become. [. . .] The international community will be held accountable if they do not act swiftly on the brutal attacks towards Egypt’s Coptic Christians who are suffering under a modern day form of apartheid where institutionalised discrimination and deadly attacks have a become a way of life for Egypt’s 15 million Copts."

The forgotten Christians of the East
By Caroline B. Glick, Jerusalem Post, 10 Oct 2011
Quote: "JUST AS the Jews of the Islamic world were forcibly removed from their ancient communities by the Arab rulers with the establishment of Israel in 1948, so Christians have been persecuted and driven out of their homes. Populist Islamic and Arab regimes have used Islamic religious supremacism and Arab racial chauvinism against Christians as rallying cries to their subjects. These calls have in turn led to the decimation of the Christian populations of the Arab and Islamic world. [. . .] It is unclear what either Western governments or Western churches think they are achieving by turning a blind eye to the persecution and decimation of Christian communities in the Muslim world. As Sunday’s events in Egypt and other daily anti-Christian attacks by Muslims against Christians throughout the region show, their behavior is not appeasing anyone. What is clear enough is that they shall reap what they sow."

SUDAN: war spreads across 'new south' into Blue Nile

2011-09-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

by Elizabeth Kendal

The Arab-supremacist, Islamist regime of President Omar el-Bashir has long systematically marginalised (politically and economically) all Sudan's non-Arabs and violently persecuted all those who dare resist Islamisation. Black African Muslims who oppose the racist regime are labeled apostate and targeted for elimination along with the infidels. Consequently, Khartoum has long been at war not only with the predominantly-Christian South, but with the entire non-Arab periphery. In fact anyone -- including Arabs -- who advocates religious liberty and ethnic diversity over Sharia and Arabisation is treated as an enemy. The most significant opposition has long been the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

Consequently, the secession of South Sudan was never going to bring peace to the Republic of Sudan, for while the South seceded, the problem -- the regime in Khartoum -- remained. As was inevitable, the secession of the South has only made Khartoum more determined to entrench its power and exert total control over coveted lands and resources.

The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) mandated that three regions -- Abyei (straddling the North-South border) along with South Kordofan and Blue Nile states (both in the north) -- be entitled to "popular consultations" through which the predominantly black African, largely-Christian, SPLM-allied tribes could determine their own futures. However, in total defiance of the CPA, the Government of Sudan (GoS) seized and ethnically cleansed Abyei in May 2011, before launching, on 5 June, an ethnic cleansing campaign in South Kordofan. As is their regular strategy, Khartoum is engineering famine in South Kordofan by means of aerial bombardments and denial of humanitarian aid, in order to use starvation as a weapon of mass destruction.
SEE
Sudan: Nuba genocide resumes, 24June 2011.
AND
Nuba Genocide: US House Committee hears testimony, 9 Aug 2011.

In June, as war raged in South Kordofan, President el-Bashir postponed Blue Nile's "popular consultations", prompting Blue Nile's elected governor, SPLM-North chairman Malik Aggar, to warn that war may indeed be imminent. For just as in neighbouring South Kordofan, the people of Blue Nile have no desire for Arab domination or Islamisation. In Blue Nile, just as in South Kordofan, the SPLA-North -- which has long defended the peoples of Blue Nile and South Kordofan from Khartoum's aggression -- is refusing to disarm, and Khartoum is labeling this refusal an act of rebellion justifying military intervention in the name of defending national unity.

[NOTE: This is exactly the same as the situation in Burma, where the Burman-supremacist Buddhist junta is demanding the disarmament of the long-persecuted ethnic-religious minorities, and citing their refusal as justification for war. (NOTE: in both cases -- Burma and Sudan -- the demand was preceded by fraudulent elections, rigged to deliver a majority in parliament and to give the impression of a popular mandate.)
see: http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/search/label/Burma ]

On 28 and 29 August, the GoS moved "significant military forces – comprised of Popular Defence Forces (PDF) [Arab militias] national security, and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) – with heavy equipment into Blue Nile state." (source: Reeves / African Centre of Justice and Peace Studies)

On 1 September 2011, GoS forces attacked the home of Governor Malik Aggar in Al-Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile State before launching a full-scale assault on SPLA positions. Heavy military equipment has been deployed inside civilian areas.

On 2 September, President Bashir declared a state of emergency in Blue Nile and, in what is being described as a "political and military coup", dismissed Governor Aggar, installing Major General Yahya Mohamed Khair as military ruler in his place.

Reports abound of massive GoS troop deployments, aerial bombardments and wide-scale displacement across the Blue Nile state. An estimated 50,000 people have been displaced, with some 16,000 having crossed the border into Ethiopia. Furthermore, as in South Kordofan, the GoS is refusing to allow humanitarian aid groups access to the region. As food supplies run out, starvation will set in and we will witness yet another GoS-engineered humanitarian crisis.

Not only is the GoS moving to secure valuable resources (oil in Sth Kordofan and water and hydroelectric power in Blue Nile), the GoS is doubtless acting preemptively to hamstring the SPLM-North.

Now that South Sudan has seceded, Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile have become the "new south". Today conflict is raging right across this "new south" as well as in Darfur in the west. Should Sudan's other marginalised and persecuted peoples decided to fight -- such as the Nubia in the far North and the Beja in the east -- Sudan may well disintegrate.

Khartoum takes aim at the GoSS

Further to this, Khartoum has accused the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) of supporting rebel movements in the north. SPLM-N secretary general Yasir Arman, however, categorically denies that the GoSS is supporting the SPLA-North. (NOTE: As long-time civil war allies, soldiers of the SPLA-North carry weapons that have come from the South.)

GoS moves against the SPLM-North

The GoS has banned the SPLM-North, seized its offices and is arresting its members, not only in Khartoum but in all states across the North.

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) reports that perceived SPLM-North supporters are being arrested throughout Sudan. The ACJPS report provides a list of dozens known to have been arrested.

SPLM-N secretary general Yasir Arman has slammed the GoS for carrying out "arbitrary arrests" of SPLM-N members across the country and for the "closure of its offices and confiscation of vehicles and properties". He also scoffed at the GoS, saying its plan to crush the SPLM-N was little more than "wishful thinking" and an "impossible mission".

As Arman notes, the conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile started long before the separation of South Sudan. "The current conflict," says Arman, "is a creation of [President Bashir's] NCP [National Congress Party] in that they sowed the seed of the problem when they voluntarily destroyed the CPA; attempted to disarm the SPLA/N and rejected the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement. The SPLM/N and other resistance movements and democratic forces are determined to put an end the illusive NCP program of the second Islamic Republic (see RLPB 117 ), a Taliban Republic that is based on heavy human cost and loss, denial of diversity, ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism."

UNHRC Resolution 16/18

2011-08-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

-- the OIC, the UN and Apostaphobia

By Elizabeth Kendal

The following post adapts and expands upon an address I presented at Christian Faith & Freedom's July 2011 "Free to Believe" conference in Canberra, Australia.

Thesis: While it has been hailed in the West as a victory for free speech, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference's (OIC's) new Resolution 16/18, "Combating intolerance . . .", is even more dangerous than resolution 2005/3, "Combating Defamation of Religion". Far from being an OIC back-down or a breakthrough for liberty, the change in focus from defamation to incitement is not only totally consistent with OIC strategy since early 2009, but it actually advances the OIC's primary goal: the criminalisation of criticism of Islam.

NOTE: on 28 June 2011, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference changed its name to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

2,858 words
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THE HISTORY OF A RESOLUTION

On 12 April 2005, United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), meeting for its 61st session in Geneva, passed HR Resolution 2005/3, "Combating Defamation of Religions": 31 for, 16 against and 5 abstentions.

The resolution was presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) under Agenda Item 6 pertaining to "racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and all forms of discrimination".

Islam on-line (IOL) reported it this way: "The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted on Tuesday, April 12, a resolution calling for combating defamation campaigns against Islam and Muslims in the West." ("UN calls for Combating Anti-Islam Campaigns", islamonline.net 12 April 2005)

The passing of the resolution heralded a fundamental shift in international Human Rights. Religion (specifically Islam) was to be awarded rights normally reserved for human beings.

Resolution 2005/3 expressed alarm at post-9/11 discrimination of Muslims in non-Muslim countries and noted with concern that "defamation of religions is among the causes of social disharmony and leads to violations of human rights". The resolution noted with deep concern that Islam and Muslims were coming under attack in human rights forums and that Muslim minorities were increasingly the victims of stereotyping and profiling.

It expressed "deep concern that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights abuses, violence and terrorism", while labelling organisation that defame Islam as "extremist". States were urged to "take all possible measures to promote respect for all religions and their value systems". (emphasis mine)

Finally, the resolution "Requests the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to continue to examine the situation of Muslims and Arab peoples in various parts of the world . . . and to report on his findings to the Commission at its sixty-second session [April 2006], and to make recommendations to improve their situation . . ."

The language had been carefully chosen, for "defamation", as it is normally defined, is "communication to third parties of false statements about a person that injure the reputation of or deter others from associating with that person." (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law)

From the very outset, the OIC's agenda was to have criticism of Islam deemed defamatory so that it might be criminalised.

Once the resolution was passed, the OIC had a 12 month window -- from April 2005 to April 2006 (next sitting) -- in which to ensure that the Special Rapporteur would reach the conclusion sought by the OIC: that "defamation" of Islam needed to be banned.

CARTOON INTIFADA

Sept 2005: Jyllands Posten publishes Muhammad cartoons (competition). NOTE: no riots.

October 2005: Muhammad cartoons reprinted in Cairo during Ramadan. NOTE: no riots.

Dec 2005: OIC Summit, Dakar, Senegal.
OIC formulates its 10 Year Plan which includes a 4-point item entitled "Combating Islamophobia".

Item VII. Combating Islamophobia

1. Emphasize the responsibility of the international community, including all governments, to ensure respect for all religions and combat their defamation.

2. Affirm the need to counter Islamophobia, through the establishment of an observatory at the OIC General Secretariat to monitor all forms of Islamophobia, issue an annual report thereon, and ensure cooperation with the relevant Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in order to counter Islamophobia.

3. Endeavor to have the United Nations adopt an international resolution to counter Islamophobia, and call upon all States to enact laws to counter it, including deterrent punishments.

4. Initiate a structured and sustained dialogue in order to project the true values of Islam and empower Muslim countries to help in the war against extremism and terrorism.

As soon as the Dec 05 Dakar Summit concluded, the Arab League got to work. The result: the Cartoon Intifada of February-March 2006 which left a trail of death and destruction from the Levant through South Asia and Africa; with large and disturbing street protests in numerous major cities, particularly London.

DELAY

In March 2006, the UN General Assembly voted to replace the thoroughly discredited UN HR Commission with a smaller and supposedly improved UN HR Council. Actually the new UNHRC has all the same problems as the old UNHRC. While the progress of Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion, was delayed for a year, it mattered not, for through the Cartoon Intifada the OIC had established a precedent: "defamation" of Islam leads to death and destruction.

In March 2007, the UN HR Council passed Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion: 24 for, 14 against, 9 abstentions.

See: UN Human Rights Council: Protecting Religion
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 12 April 2007

Subsequently, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diène (a Senegalese Muslim), presented his report on 21 August 2007.

According to Special Rapporteur Doudou Diène, "defamation" of Islam arises out of "baseless Islamophobia" which expresses itself as "hatred of Muslims" which in turn gives rise to "extremism". His conclusion: those who "defame" Islam must be held accountable for Islamic extremism.

However, according to Diène, anti-Semitism is not religious or racial but political and Israel's fault. Likewise, he claimed, the Christianophobia that is evident in "South America, Africa and Asia" (NOTE: the Middle East was not on his list) is caused by the aggressive and unethical proselytising of evangelical Christians. Diène charged that Christians had "exploited freedom of expression" to defame religions, including Voodoo and other traditional faiths. He claimed that by defaming Hinduism, Christians had created the environment that favoured the emergence of militant Hindutva. Thus unlike Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and Christianaphobia were not baseless, but were valid responses from threatened peoples.

The Special Rapporteur concluded with this recommendation: "In the light of the polarised and confrontational readings of these articles ["international instruments, and in particular articles 18, 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" (ICCPR)] the UNHRC should "promote a more profound reflection on their interpretation". Diène recommended that the UNHRC "consider the possibility of adopting complementary standards on the interrelations between freedom of expression, freedom of religion and non-discrimination, and in particular by drafting a general comment on article 20".

Article 20 of the ICCPR states:
1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. (emphasis mine)

I commented at the time, that any effort to include "defamation" of religion (especially when defamation is essentially nothing more than criticism) in the same category as "incitement" would serve totalitarian forces from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe that seek to make religious liberty an issue not of fundamental, universal human rights, but an issue of harmony, social cohesion and national security.

Furthermore I proposed that the very heart of the issue was not "defamation" of Islam or "baseless" Islamophobia, but the fact that the dictators of Islam are now as ever consumed with and driven by "apostaphobia". This touched such a raw nerve with the dictators of Islam that it won a citation in the OIC's 1st Observatory of Islamophobia.

I proposed that apostaphobia be defined as a well-founded fear of loss of authority through loss of adherents, which manifests primarily as uncompromising repression and denial of fundamental liberties, by violent and subversive means.

I also proposed that the UNHRC add apostaphobia to its vocabulary, and confront apostaphobia by upholding the international human rights covenants that protect the fundamental, universal right of individuals to religious liberty, not seek to reinterpret and amend those covenants to protect religions and apostaphobic religious dictators from the threat posed to them by religious liberty.

See: UNHRC: Watershed Days
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 18 September 2007

The fact is: on account of the new openness available through satellite, internet and mobile phone technologies, disillusioned Muslims are rejecting and leaving Islam in unprecedented numbers. Consequently, the apostaphobia of the dictators of Islam is rising.

See: Religious Liberty Trends 2007-2008 (Apostasy & Apostaphobia)
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 15 Feb 2008

Apostasy, and the baptism of Madgi Allam
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 4 April 2008

[NOTE: in June 2011, World Council of Churches, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Evangelical Alliance appeased the apostaphobic dictators of religion and advanced their cause by publishing complementary standards for Christian witness.]

UN GA

In December 2007, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion: 108 for, 51 against, with 25 abstentions. (NOTE: 10 Year Plan, Item VII, point 3 part (a) -- achieved!)

In March 2008, the OIC presented its 1st Observatory Report of Islamophobia to the OIC’s 11th session in Dakar. The report, which drew heavily on the UN Special Rapporteur's August 2007 report, proposed that the world's view of Islam be corrected and that "deterrent punishments" for "defamation" be established. (NOTE: as per 10 Year Plan, Item VII, point 3 part (b))

The Observatory Report of Islamophobia asserted that, in order to have peace, the correct (i.e. OIC-approved) version of history and of Islam must be understood, promoted and accepted; clearly anything else is "baseless" Islamophobia or inciteful "defamation" of Islam, responsible for the violent, destructive and retaliatory (as distinct from immature, irrational and criminal) Muslim-rioting in the world today. It also claimed that Islamophobia exists in part because there is no legal instrument to combat it, therefore a "binding legal instrument" must be created "to fight the menace of Islamophobia".

See: OIC: Eliminating "defamation" of Islam.
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 25 March 2008

TURNING POINT

Support for Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion, declined during 2008 as the free world started to realise the degree to which freedom was being threatened.

March 2008. Resolution 2005/3 passes in the UNHRC: 21 for (down from 24 in 2007); 10 opposed; 14 abstain.

November 2008. Resolution 2005/3 passes in the UN GA: 85 states for (down from 108 in 2007), 50 opposed; 42 abstentions.

But then, failing to read the signs, the OIC started arrogantly overplaying its hand. In November 2008, at the UN GA 63rd session, several OIC members asserted that Islamophobia is a "new form of racism" that is "incited" by "defamation of religion" which is a "misuse" of the right to freedom of speech.

See: The OIC & the UN: Islamophobia and "defamation of religion"
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 14 Nov 2008

Then, at the UN World Conference against Racism (Durban II) in April 2009, the OIC launched its new strategy to have defamation recast as incitement as per the ICCPR Article 20.2: "Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law."

The OIC maintained that Islamophobia -- "a new form of racism" -- must be eliminated in order to preserve peace and prevent a Muslim "holocaust".

See: The OIC & the UN: defamation of religions as incitement
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 21 Nov 2008

April 2010. Resolution 2005/3, Combating Defamation of Religion, passes in the UNHRC, but by the slimmest margin in the history of the resolution: 20 for; 17 opposed; 6 abstentions. The abstainers were becoming opposers.

GAME'S UP !
-- NEW STRATEGY ESSENTIAL

In March 2011, after discussions with the US held in wake of the blasphemy assassinations of the governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, and Minorities MP, Shabbaz Bhatti , Pakistan presented the UNHRC with a new resolution.

24 March 2011. The UNHRC passes HR Resolution 16/18: "Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief."

The resolution was presented by Pakistan for OIC under Agenda item 9 pertaining to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related form of intolerance, follow-up and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

The resolution was immediately hailed as a "huge achievement" -- a breakthrough for human rights.

Excerpts: UNHRC Resolution 16/18 (emphasis mine)

The Human Rights Council,

(1) Expresses deep concern at the continued serious instances of derogatory stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of persons based on their religion or beliefs, as well as programmes and agendas pursued by extremist organizations and groups aimed at creating and perpetuating negative stereotypes about religious groups . . .

(3) Condemns any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence [NOTE: exact wording of ICCPR Article 20.2], whether it involves the use of print, audio-visual of electronic media or any other means . . .

(5) . . . call[s] on States to take the following actions to foster a domestic environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect, by:
(e) Speaking out against intolerance, including advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence [NOTE: exact wording of ICCPR Article 20.2];
(g) Understanding the need to combat denigration and negative religious stereotyping of persons, as well as incitement to religious hatred . . .

(6) Calls upon all States:
(d) To make a strong effort to counter religious profiling, which is understood to be the invidious use of religion as a criterion in conducting questionings, searches and other law enforcement investigative procedures;

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Presumably this resolution would permit a critic to assert that "fundamentalist Islam is inherently violent", while making it unacceptable for an employer or security officer to suggest than an Islamic fundamentalist should not be employed at this school or that airport, or that they should be watched or investigated or searched -- for that would be negative profiling based on religion.

Meanwhile, though the language of "defamation" has been eradicated, a critical / offensive comment such as "fundamentalist Islam is inherently violent", would doubtless be viewed as incitement. In fact anything that could have been deemed "defamation" under Resolution 2005/3 will doubtless be deemed incitement under Resolution 16/18.

This shift in focus from "defamation" to incitement -- something the OIC has been pursuing since April 2009 -- is hugely significant as the ICCPR specifically mandates that incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence be prohibited by law (ICCPR Article 20.2).

DIALOGUE BEGINS

In line with Item VII, point 4 of the OIC's 10 year plan, Article 9 of Resolution 16/18 "Calls for strengthened international efforts to foster a global dialogue for the promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace at all levels, based on respect for human rights and diversity of religions and beliefs . . ."

The first meeting pursuant of Resolution 16/18 took place in Istanbul on 15 July 2011 and was co-chaired by OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"The test would lie in the implementation", said Ihsanoglu, adding that there was a delicate balance between freedom of expression and incendiary speech. "We continue to be particularly disturbed by attitudes of certain individuals or groups exploiting the freedom of expression to incite hatred by demonizing purposefully the religions and their followers."

See: OIC, West pledge to combat intolerance
arabnews.com 16 July 2011

ArabNews reports: "Speaking of the United States, Clinton said: 'We have seen in the United States how the incendiary actions of just a very few people can create wide ripples of intolerance, so we are focused on promoting interfaith education and collaboration, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, protecting the rights of all people to worship as they choose, and to use some old-fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming so that people don't feel that they have the support to do what we abhor.'"

The next meeting to discuss the implementation of Resolution 16/18 will held in Washington in the coming months.

The International Islamic News Agency (IINA) reports (1 Aug): "According to informed sources in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the two sides, in addition to other European parties, will hold a number of specialized meetings of experts in law and religion in order to finalize the legal aspect on how to better implement the UN resolution.

"The sources said that the upcoming meetings aim at developing a legal basis for the UN Human Rights Council's resolution which help in enacting domestic laws for the countries involved in the issue, as well as formulating international laws preventing inciting hatred resulting from the continued defamation of religions."

IINA quoted OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu being quick to exploit Anders Behring Breivik's 22 July 2011 Oslo massacre, a tragedy Ihsanoglu cited as evidence of the danger posed by institutionalised Islamophobia. ("OIC/ Islamophobia: OIC Observatory warned wince 2009 against the growth of the extreme right in Europe, Washington plans to host a meeting on resolution opposing defamation of religions." IINA, 1 Aug 2011. NOTE: article has been removed.))

And so, while it is being hailed in the West as a victory for free speech, Resolution 16/18, "Combating intolerance . . .", is even more dangerous than resolution 2005/3, "Combating Defamation of Religion". It is in no way an OIC back-down or a breakthrough for liberty. Rather, the change in focus from defamation to incitement is not only totally consistent with OIC strategy since early 2009, but it actually advances the OIC's primary goal: the criminalisation of criticism of Islam.

Zimbabwe: Chief Justice grants excommunicated Kunonga control over Anglican properties

2011-08-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe's Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku has just released an interim order -- valid until the matter is finalised in the Supreme Court -- confirming Bishop Chad Gandiya as the Bishop of Harare, but upholding the 24 July 2009 High Court ruling granting renegade Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga control over all Anglican Church assets in Harare.

As these properties belong to the Church of the Province of Central Africa, from which Kunonga was excommunicated in 2007 on the grounds of schism, Bishop Gandiya is right to ask, "How can he [Kunonga] be given custodianship of properties of an organisation of which he is not a member?"

Kunonga gets control
The Zimbabwean, 12 Aug 2011

Supreme Court gives bishop Kunonga custodianship of Anglican Church’s assets
By William Matsvimbo, for Religion in Zimbabwe, 12 Aug 2011

Kunonga gets custody of church property
by Irene Madongo, for SW Radio Africa, 16 August 2011

Bishop Gandiya has told the Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) that the diocese and the Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA) are waiting to see what will happen next. While the ruling means that Kunonga's legal challenge to Gandiya's installation as Bishop of Harare is finally over, the ownership of Anglican properties remains in the hands of the Supreme Court. "If the Supreme Court does not return the properties to our church then we will have no way of appealing the decision," Gandiya said.

In a letter to his supporters, Bishop Gandiya writes: "All along he [Kunonga] has been abusing church members and misusing church properties with the support of some in the Zimbabwe Republic Police and nobody stopped him. [Background] We thought that the laws of the land would stop him but now we see the law legitimising his impunity. We have tried to engage various responsible authorities but to no avail.

"We believe that this is setting a very dangerous precedent in the country. Dr Kunonga is claiming ownership of properties that do not belong to him. This is daylight robbery now with the support of the law. We continue to hope for the time when reason will prevail to the glory of God."

Bishop Gandiya expressed concern over what the ruling might mean for Anglican clergy. "You can well imagine the distress and chaos this is likely to result, especially for our priests who are living in rectories. I am very concerned about the likely disturbances to my priests and their families."

EVICTIONS BEGIN

On 16 August the Anglican Communion News Service reported the first eviction.

"The Rev. Dzikamai Mudenda, his wife and their extended family were forced to leave St. James Anglican Church in Mabvuku, Diocese of Harare, in the wake of a High Court judgment that Kunonga had interim custody of church properties.

"Other priests living in parish rectories have received stamped copies of the High Court judgment from supporters of Kunonga who, in one case, were accompanied by the police. The priests, including Friar Joshua from Bishop Gaul College, have all been told to move out.

"Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare said Aug. 15 that alternative accommodation has been found for Mudenda and that they are preparing for the eviction of other priests.

"'Our parishes are busy finding alternative accommodation for them,' he said. 'We don't know who he [Kunonga] is going to put in these houses. This is not going to be easy at all. It will disrupt their family life and ministry. I have been busy this evening getting in touch with my priests and encouraging them.'"

As eviction of Anglican priests begins, Harare bishop prays 'God help us'
By ACNS staff, 16 August 2011

Michael Chingore, registrar for the Anglican Diocese of Harare, confirmed to the Episcopal News Service (ENS): "The Rev. Dzikamai Mudenda and his family left after they were threatened by people from the Kunonga group who came with copies of the court judgment. They have been going around the vestries and parishes dropping copies of the judgment and demanding that the church officers leave."

The global head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will visit Zimbabwe in early October. He is pressing for a meeting with Robert Mugabe, but the President's Office has not as yet confirmed an appointment.

Rowan Williams has appealed to Robert Mugabe previously -- unsurprisingly, to no avail.

On the other hand, the universal head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, does not need Mugabe's permission for anything. The Church must intercede for the persecuted church in Zimbabwe.

-------------------

Another article of interest:
Zimbabwean Churches Told to Support Ruling Party—or Else
Mugabe regime violently targeting wide spectrum of congregations.
George Conger, for Christianity Today, 10 Aug 2011

Nuba Genocide: US House Committee hears testimony

2011-08-09T23:14:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 4 August 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights held an emergency hearing on Sudan to receive testimony on the Nuba genocide.

(For background on the Nuba genocide, see:
Sudan: Nuba Genocide Resumes.
By Elizabeth Kendal for Religious Liberty Monitoring, 24 June 2011.)

The emergency hearing, entitled "Southern Kordofan: Ethnic Cleansing and Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan", was called by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ).

As noted in Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 120, (10 Aug 2011), for some two months now the Sudanese army has being carrying out mass killings of civilians in Kadugli and a sustained aerial bombing campaign targeting Nuba populations across the Nuba Mountains. On top of this, Khartoum has closed the area off to humanitarian aid so as to engineer a famine.

This is not the first time that Khartoum has chosen to use starvation as a weapon of mass destruction. Khartoum has used this tactic before: in the early 1990s in the Nuba Mountains, in 1998 in Bhar el Ghazal (South Sudan), and more recently in Darfur. Now, as then, Khartoum will deliberately starve its own people while receiving food aid, exporting food and sending famine relief abroad.

For more on the Government of Sudan's use of starvation as a weapon of mass destruction see:
Why is Akobo hungry?
By Elizabeth Kendal for Religious Liberty Monitoring, 9 April 2010.

The three witnesses who spoke to the US House Committee were:

* Mr Bradford Phillips, the founder and president of Persecution Project Foundation and Sudan country director for Voice of the Martyrs. Mr Phillips, who has recently returned from 12 days in the Nuba Mountains, is an eye-witness to the devastation and terror. He expressed grave concern over the looming humanitarian crisis and gave chilling testimony of Christian pastors being targeted for arrest, horrific torture and execution as enemies of the state.

* Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail, the Anglican Bishop of Kadugli, South Kordofan, Sudan. He was in the US receiving medical treatment when conflict erupted on 5 June. His "flock" at the now ransacked, looted and torched Cathedral has been totally shattered.

* Dr Luka Biong Deng, president of Kush Inc. a Sudanese NGO working on peace and security issues in Abyei and the border regions.

A video recording of the 2 hour hearing is available on the CSPAN website.

Transcripts of testimonies are also available:
Brad Phillips
Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail
Dr Luka Biong Deng

Further to this, CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) interviewed Brad Phillips on 6 August. That 7 minute interview can be accessed here:
Crisis in Sudan Threatens Christian Community
Tracy Winborn, CBN News Producer, 6 Aug 2011

A call for action.

Like other Sudan advocates, Brad Phillips is calling for military action that would see Khartoum's Antonov bombers neutralised / destroyed. Phillips says, "We know where the planes are that are bombing civilians . . . they're in El Abed. It wouldn't take much to solve that problem and it would cost a whole lot less than what we've done in Libya."

This is also the position of Sudan analyst Eric Reeves, who wrote on 22 July: "Khartoum should be put on notice that any aircraft implicated in attacks on civilian or humanitarian targets will be destroyed on the ground, by cruise missiles or drone attack aircraft. This minimizes the chances for collateral damage, and provides a steady ratcheting up of pressure on Khartoum. Some of its aircraft, e.g., MiG-29s, are very expensive, running to $30 million each. But the ageing Antonov 'bombers' should be the first target, since they are doing the most damage to civilian lives and livelihoods in the Nuba.

"The call for an Iraq-style 'No Fly Zone', while understandable, is impracticable on a number of counts, given the geography of South Kordofan; and it would be hugely resource-consumptive. Threatening to destroy culpable aircraft on the ground would soon have the effect of creating a NFZ, but very simply and at low cost."

As Phillips says, we (the US) should at least be "siding with the victims" and "demanding that the UN declare an emergency so that humanitarian access is allowed".

Congressman Frank R Wolf, (R-Va.) gave a powerful and impassioned 7 minute appeal during the closing moments (from 1:44:30). "The UN has failed!" he raged. "China is the problem. . . You have to remove Bashir. . . This has been going on for over 21 years! They are war criminals. . . It is time for our government to do something about it."

As Reeves notes, "The alternative is to accept the continuing, indeed accelerating ethnically targeted human destruction of the Nuba people. This is not a morally intelligible alternative."

Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, "Behold, we did not know this,"
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?
(Proverbs 24:11-12 ESV)

Nigeria: the Boko Haram threat

2011-07-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

By Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Monitoring

-- Al-Qaeda supports Boko Haram expansion
-- The Abuja bombing
-- The threat to the Church
-- Terror campaign slated for end-of-July anniversary

[For an UPDATE to this post see Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 116. Nigeria: Boko Haram Strikes.]

Boko Haram, also known as Jamaatul Alissunna lid da a wa wal jihad and the "Nigerian Taliban", was founded in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's most north-eastern state of Borno, in 2002 by a religious teacher named Mohammed Yusuf.

The name Boko Haram comes from the Hausa word boko, which means animist, Western or simply un-Islamic education and culture, and the Arabic word haram, which means forbidden.

For Boko Haram, boko is fitna: i.e. something that can shake the faith of Muslims and lead to apostasy. For this reason, boko must be haram.

----------------------

On Sunday 26 July 2009, around 150 armed Boko Haram militants attacked a police station in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, in retaliation for the arrest of one of its leaders. After slitting the throat of a policeman on guard, they went on a rampage, torching homes and vehicles owned by police to cries of "Allahu Akbar". They also attacked Maiduguri New Prisons where they killed the two gate wardens before breaking open the gates and liberating the prisoners. As Nigerian security forces counter-attacked, the conflict escalated and spread.

On Tuesday 28 July 2009, Nigerian security forces besieged and shelled the home of Boko Haram leader, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, where dozens of militants had congregated. They also stormed a local mosque known as a Boko Haram stronghold, spraying it with gunfire. According to the Red Cross, when the fighting was over, some 780 bodies were gathered up off the streets of Maiduguri for burial in mass graves.

By Thursday 30 July 09, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf was in custody after being arrested at his in-law's house. By Friday 31 July 09, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf was dead.

On 9 August 2009, Boko Haram issued a statement in which they pronounced "Mallam Yusuf" a martyr, along with "over 1000 of our [martyred] members killed by the wicked Nigerian army and police mostly of Southern Nigeria extraction". Furthermore, they declared that they had "started a Jihad in Nigeria". Declaring their intention to render the country ungovernable, they warned that Nigeria would be Islamised by force.

AL-QAEDA SUPPORTS BOKO HARAM EXPANSION

In mid June 2010, Boko Haram formalised its links with al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Furthermore, adds terrorism analyst Yossef Bodansky, AQIM is receiving aid and intelligence from Sudan and Iran "who are operating jointly in the Sahel" (Strategic Policy 8, 2010).

According to Bodansky, AQIM leader Abu Mousab Abdel Wadoud has pledged that the international jihadist movement will assist Boko Haram with weapons and training to enable al-Qaeda to gain "strategic depth" in sub-Saharan Africa and the solid foothold in Nigeria required for operations in West Africa. Bodansky warned (Aug 2010) that the AQIM link could lead to the emergence of "spectacular terrorism" al-Qaeda-style -- such as suicide-bombings -- hitherto unknown in Nigeria.

THE ABUJA BOMBING

On Monday 13 June 2011, in response to overtures from the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, Boko Haram laid down its preconditions for dialogue. In a letter made available to newsmen in Maiduguri, Boko Haram unapologetically demanded that before any dialogue with the government could take place, Sharia Law must be implemented across Northern Nigeria where Muslims form a majority, and the security officials implicated in the 31 July 2009 death in custody of Boko Haram leader, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, must be prosecuted.

On Tuesday 14 June, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim -- who was in Maiduguri to officially receive the donation of 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) and 10 Toyota Hilux vehicles donated to the police by the state government -- warned Boko Haram members that their days were numbered. He boasted that the police were now poised to wipe them out, adding, "No stone will be left unturned, until the menace of Boko Haram is unravelled."

Boko Haram responded with defiance: "Very soon, we would wage Jihad on the enemies of God and his messenger," they threatened. "We want to make it known that our Jihadists (warriors) have arrived [in] Nigeria from Somalia where they got serious training on warfare from our brethren who made the country ungovernable and forced the interim government to relocate to Kenya.

"We want to assure all security agencies that we would frustrate their efforts. By the grace of God, despite the armoured carriers that they are boasting of, they are no match with the training we acquired in Somalia".

While in Maiduguri, the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Abubakar Ringim, met with a man -- possibly someone offering himself as an informant. That man then joined the motor convoy that travelled back to Police Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday 16 July. Fortunately, as he tried to follow Ringim's car in through the main security perimeter, he was stopped by attendants who directed him to an adjacent car park. It was there that he detonated his explosives killing eight, wounding dozens and destroying 77 vehicles. Had he been permitted to follow the Inspector General's car into the central parking bay, many more people would have been killed.

Boko Harman wasted no time in claiming responsibility: "We are responsible for the bomb attack on the police headquarters in Abuja which was to prove a point to all who doubt our capability."

By attacking Louis Edet House, headquarters of the Nigerian Police, Boko Haram has indeed declared war on the government of Nigeria.

THREAT TO THE CHURCH

While Boko Haram has been busy assassinating police, MPs and traditional leaders; and bombing beer gardens, markets and police stations; it has also been busy terrorising Christians, killing pastors and bombing churches.

As reported in Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 088 (29 Dec 2010), on Christmas Eve 2010, Boko Haram militants perpetrated almost simultaneous attacks on two churches in Maiduguri. Three militants armed with guns and petrol bombs attacked the Sinimari Church of Christ in Nigeria, riddling the walls with bullet holes and killing the security guard, while some 30 jihadists descended on Victory Baptist Church on the other side of the city. Shouting "Allahu Akbar", they dragged out and executed Rev. Bulus Marwa (37) and shot dead Christopher Balami (50), Philip Luka (22), Paul Mathew (21) and Yohanna Adamu (26). Twenty-five other worshippers were wounded as the jihadists razed the church to the ground.

On the night of Saturday 1 January 2011, about 10 jihadists stormed the Victory Christ Church at Gawo Mai Lamba in London Cinki area of Maiduguri and set the church on fire, destroying part of the building. Fortunately no-one was killed.

On Tuesday 7 June, Rev. David Usman and the assistant secretary of his church were shot dead in their church -- Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) in Maiduguri -- by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram. The gunmen reportedly arrived on motorcycles as the church was concluding a meeting. They shot the assistant secretary and ordered that someone phone and inform the pastor. Rev. David Usman ran to the church unaware that he was running into a trap. As he arrived, the pastor was gunned down by the waiting gunmen.

A Bomb-scare at a Maiduguri church on Sunday 26 June reveals the level of danger Christians face, confirming that security cannot be relaxed, not for a moment. The plot only failed because police, already on high alert, are maintaining rigorous security protocols.

A security officer at Maiduguri's already twice bombed Saint Patrick Catholic Church told James Bwala (reporting from Maiduguri for the Nigerian Tribune): "The stop and search became necessary following the recovery of some explosives in the bag of a female worshiper in one of the churches in town. The lady had on the fateful day asked her mother and siblings not to go to church for no convincing reason, but luck ran out on her when the curious mother called the attention of some church officials alongside security operatives, who quickly intercepted the lady and her co-evil plotters at the car park of the church."

Major General Jack Nwaogbo, the Commander of the Joint Task Force, confirmed that on Sunday 26 June, security operatives picked up two people "who pretended to be going to church to be converted but were discovered to have a different motive". Both remain under arrest.

BOKO HARAM THREATENS END-OF-JULY ANNIVERSARY TERROR

The Abuja suicide bombing and the bomb plots targetting the Church come in the context of Boko Haram's threat to mark the 31 July anniversary of Mohammed Yusuf's death in a "big way".

On Saturday 9 July 2011, the Saturday Tribune reported that sources close to the administration have confirmed to them that more than 100 trainee-jihadists have returned from Sudan and Somalia ready to be deployed in a massive terror campaign timed to commemorate the 26-31 July 2009 crisis, in particular the 31 July 09 death in custody of Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf. The trainee-jihadists have reportedly each received three-months training under the supervision of al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Government sources confirmed to the Saturday Tribune that the attacks are being planned for a number of states including Borno, Katsina, Kaduna and Yobe.

Sources told the Tribune, "The operations of this sect [are] getting deeper than many people know. The international dimensions are overwhelming."

According to the Tribune, there is an exodus underway out of Maiduguri, with many people selling their homes and farms for a pittance.

On Wednesday 6 July 2011, Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff took steps towards appeasement and issued an apology to Boko Haram over his role in the brutal military crackdown on the radical Islamist sect.

In an advertorial published in local newspapers, Ali Modu Sheriff grovelled: "I wish to publicly tender my apology to the Jama’atul Ahliss-Sunnah Ladda’awaiti Wal Jihad and any other group I might have offended in the course of discharging my duties as the Executive Governor of Borno State. It is human to err and divine to forgive."

But in a subsequent statement issued by Boko Haram spokesman Abu Zaid, the group said would only accept Governor Ali Modu Sheriff's apology if he was to dissociate himself from "anti-Islamic activities".

With that, Ali Modu Sheriff resigned from office and fled the city.

Sheriff was not the only governor to be "grovelling" to Boko Haram. Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje, also apologised, as did Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda. The central government has done its share of grovelling too, for in line with one of Boko Haram's preconditions for dialogue, the police implicated in the 31 July 09 death in custody of Mohammed Yusuf have been indicted to face "terrorism" charges.

Concerning Boko Haram's threat for an end-of-July anniversary terror campaign, the Saturday Tribune reports: "The sect members warned all Muslims to stay away from Christians, security agents, government institutions and functions or face death, maintaining that, 'since the present Federal Government is not Islamic, every [one] of its employees is considered an infidel marked for elimination'." (emphasis mine)

The group concluded their lengthy statement on a confident note: "We are not in doubt that we are going to win this war. So far, we have an upper hand. Even if it means bringing external forces, we will fight to win. History has shown that when you are fighting in the cause of Allah, there will be a divine intervention . . ."

After asserting that their cause is "purely religious", Boko Haram warns Muslims not to hinder or undermine their activities lest the jihadists find it necessary to turn on them also.

It is ironic that after declaring that all infidels are marked for elimination; and after warning Muslims that the consequence of dissent will be death, Boko Haram sect leader, Muhammadu Abubakar Shekau, posted a statement to the internet in which he claimed that Boko Haram was fighting for "freedom of worship and assembly".

Unsurprisingly that freedom was immediately qualified and defined as freedom "for everybody to believe in Allah . . . jettison modern democracy and embrace Islam as their religion".

Essentially Boko Haram is pursuing an Islamic freedom -- i.e. freedom from fitna (anything that could shake the faith of a Muslim) -- a freedom that is essentially no freedom at all.

Christian mission and persecution

2011-07-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

Why the new rules for Christian witness will not solve the problem of persecution.

By Elizabeth Kendal,
Religious Liberty Monitoring, 6 July 2011

The Church is slowly waking up to the reality that we are living in days of escalating persecution. Global trends such as booming population growth, rapid urbanisation and mass migrations are converging, producing fierce competition for land, resources and power; creating societies that are increasingly difficult to govern, especially where institutions of governance were not already established. Add to this volatile mix the trend of escalating religious tension -- the result of converging religious trends -- and we have an incendiary environment.

This reality provides the context for the document:

Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World
Recommendations for Conduct
World Council of Churches
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
World Evangelical Alliance
28 June 2011

The WEA press release states: "This historic document is in part a response to criticisms levelled at Christians by some religious communities in what they perceived to be a use of unethical methods. In some case these objections have led to anti-conversion laws and violence."

Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), said the text "will help us reduce unnecessary tensions and present the truth of God in a credible way to the world around us".

However, it is highly unlikely that the "Recommendations for Conduct" -- a document which provides Christians with principles to follow "as they seek to fulfil Christ's commission in an appropriate manner, particularly within interreligious contexts" -- will have their desired effect. While the document might be a handy tool in the hands of those engaged in "quiet diplomacy", it will not change the reality on the ground because the Church and her accusers are speaking totally different languages. As such, interpretations will continue to differ, and accusations will continue to fly. In fact the very existence of this document might lead to the situation where the Church will be expected to hold Christian evangelists, missionaries and humanitarians accountable for violent persecution.

The reality is: the intense hostility the church is facing in the early 21st Century has been building for decades. A mighty flood is upon us for which there is no quick fix and only one real solution.

NO QUICK FIX

On 21 August 2007, the UN's Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diene, presented his report on Islamophobia and defamation of religion to the sixth session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). A profound anti-Western and anti-Christian bias was evident from the outset.

See UNHRC: Watershed Days
By Elizabeth Kendal, for WEA RLC, 19 Sept 07

According to the report, "defamation" of Islam produces Islamophobia which expresses itself as hatred of Muslims which in turn generates "extremism". As such, those who "defame" Islam should be held accountable for Islamic extremism (violence and terror).

Likewise, Christian missionaries were accused of having exploited freedom of expression to defame Hinduism, thereby creating militant Hindutva. According the UN report, "Christianophobia" is a consequence not of escalating intolerance, but of the "aggressive proselytism of certain evangelical groups".

The UN Special Rapporteur's report recommended therefore that international human rights covenants be reinterpreted and amended, and that "complementary standards" be adopted on "the interrelations between freedom of expression, freedom of religion and non-discrimination".

After much inter-religious dialogue, the World Council of Churches, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the World Evangelical Alliance appear to have taken the lead in the adoption and promotion of such "complementary standards".

Recommendations for Conduct

The document affirms Christian humanitarian service, but with the complementary proviso that exploitation of situations of poverty and of vulnerable people has no place in Christian outreach.

In reality it is virtually impossible to provide charitable services in hostile environments without being so accused. Think about it. How can a self-giving Christian humanitarian who in love desperately wants to ease the sufferings of the poor, downtrodden, infirmed and marginalised, avoid an accusation of exploitation?

Actually, the only way to avoid the charge of exploitation is to refrain from all Christian witness while serving impoverished, infirm and "vulnerable" people. Christians would have to refrain from witnessing to youths (children and teenagers). Christian aid workers would have to totally refrain from witnessing to the poor and marginalised. Christian pastors, doctors and nurses would have to totally refrain from witnessing to the sick and dying.

This of course, is precisely what the apostaphobic religious dictators of this world of want. "Yes please," they say. "Feed our poor, treat our lepers, dig our wells and build our schools, only don't threaten our authority by presenting an alternative truth."

And while it is fine to denounce the offering of allurements and rewards, one needs to understand that in some hostile environments a meeting place with seating is considered an allurement, and the offer of heaven a fraudulent reward.

Christians are also called to "reject all forms of violence, even psychological or social, including the abuse of power in their witness". But this will not appease India's Hindutva protagonists who regard conversion as violence. It will not appease those who accuse evangelical Christianity of cultural terrorism. Even Doudou Diene, the UN's Special Rapporteur, warned in his Aug 07 report that the "legitimate expression of ideas" could in reality be "ideological violence" or "intellectual violence". Is it psychological violence to warn of judgment? What is abuse of power in witness?

Along with this, Christians are also called to "reject violence, unjust discrimination or repression by any religious or secular authority, including the violation or destruction of places of worship, sacred symbols or texts".

While this fine statement presumably leaves individuals with the liberty to dispose of their own property -- idols, juju, shrines, texts -- as they see fit, those who have no understanding of the separation of church and state, those who don't understand liberty and only understand dictatorship, will expect religious and secular authorities to control and be held accountable for the deeds of individuals.

The text recommends that "churches, national and regional confessional bodies and mission organizations, and especially those working in interreligious contexts . . . [deepen] their knowledge and understanding of different religions, and to do so also taking into account the perspectives of the adherents of those religions", adding, "Christians should avoid misrepresenting the beliefs and practices of people of different religions".

The reality is however, that anything that is said about a religion or belief will misrepresent someone's personal perspective of that religion or belief. This strategy which recommends inquiring of the "street" over an examination of the texts is promoted primarily by Muslims keen to hide intolerant pro-Sharia, pro-jihad, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian fundamentalist Islam under a cloak of liberal, nominal, folk or secularised Islam.

The only way to deepen knowledge and understanding of a religion is to study its texts and then examine history in that light. And while "taking into account the perspectives of adherents" might be of value in revealing immense diversity of belief, it must be acknowledged that many, if not most adherents of religion are quite nominal, ignorant as to the contents of, and the demands made by, their own sacred texts.

Finally, a quote from the May 2006 consultation found in the Appendix (point 3), confirms the degree to which this document is influenced by world trends, while demonstrating the ultimate adoption of "complementary standards".

"We affirm that, while everyone has a right to invite others to an understanding of their faith, it should not be exercised by violating others' rights and religious sensibilities. Freedom of religion enjoins upon all of us the equally non-negotiable responsibility to respect faiths other than our own, and never to denigrate, vilify or misrepresent them for the purpose of affirming superiority of our faith."

Note: Christians are called to refrain from any exercise of religious liberty that might violate another's "rights and religious sensibilities". Does "rights" include the right not to be offended -- a now routine feature of contemporary anti-discrimination and equal opportunity law? What are "religious sensibilities" and how are they violated?

Furthermore, Christians are called to "respect faiths other than our own". Really? Must we respect Islam? Must we respect Hinduism? Must we respect Buddhism? Must we also respect Shinto? Where can we draw the line? Must we respect Aum Supreme Truth? Must we respect Voodoo? This language mirrors that of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference's "Combating Defamation of religions Human Rights Resolution 2005/3". Is the church really being called to follow in the OIC-led UN which now protects religions more fiercely than it protects humans, in particular the human's fundamental right to proclaim, pursue and receive truth?

This pulls the rug right out from under Principle 7, which affirms freedom of religion and belief while denouncing religious persecution and calling upon Christians to "engage in a prophetic witness denouncing such actions". For while this is a fine statement, to which all Christians should give a loud AMEN, how does one "engage in prophetic witness denouncing [religious persecution]" without being accused of arrogance, condescension and disparagement (principle 3); false witness (principle 10); disrespect, denigration, vilification and misrepresentation (Appendix 3); and of course "defamation" of religion (as per UN Resolution 2005/3, which expresses "deep concern that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism Islam with human rights abuses, violence or terrorism" (emphasis mine)).

The reality is, it is not possible today to denounce persecution without being so accused.

ONLY ONE SOLUTION

There is little doubt that at the root of most persecution in the world today, is hostility towards Christian witness / evangelism / mission. However, Christian witness / evangelism / mission provides the only solution to the problem of persecution.

"And they will do these things [hate you, persecute you] because they have not known the Father, nor me" (John 16:3 ESV).

Christians must step out in faith with the word of God, at the direction and in the power of the Holy Spirit, to seek to make the triune God known. And while we are cautioned to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves", we are also encouraged to commit ourselves to the Lord's care, and trust HIM (Matthew 10).

No matter how much integrity we practise, hatred, false accusations and persecutions will continue. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 ESV). Indeed if we are to truly imitate Jesus Christ, as the document asserts (Principle 2), then we must be prepared to suffer as he suffered.

The Principles for Conduct will do little to reduce religious tensions and persecution. All we can do is prayerfully walk by faith, not fearing man, with eyes fixed on Jesus -- our means, our goal and our role model (Hebrews 12:1-3) -- remembering the paradigm of Isaiah 2:1-4: that spiritual transformation is the foundation, not the consequence, of peace.

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV).

North Korea: tensions mount as hunger hits army.

2011-06-29T05:06:00.000-07:00

Jiro Ishimaru has been continuously observing food and economic conditions in North Korea for more than 15 years. He regards the present situation as the worst he has seen since the famine of the late 1990s.

Ishimaru organised secret filming of conditions inside North Korea. The footage confirms what we already know: there is poverty, starvation, despair and fear; there are scavenging, homeless, orphans whose parents have died either of starvation or in concentration camps; and work is being done by malnourished slave labourers.

However, the footage also reveals something quite new. Many uniformed soldiers are weak from hunger and malnutrition. This is significant, because if the regime cannot sustain its "military first" policy -- feeding its military to secure its loyalty -- then the regime's grip on power could be tenuous.

As Ishimaru notes: "This footage is important because it shows that Kim Jong-il's regime is growing weak. It used to put the military first, but now it can't even supply food to its soldiers. Rice is being sold in markets but they are starving. This is the most significant thing in this video."

As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Mark Willacy rightly observes: "Kim Jong-il's grip on power depends on the military and if some of its soldiers have growling, empty bellies that's bad news for the dictator and his hopes for a smooth transition to his son."

See:
North Korea Food Shortage:
Not a matter of absolute shortage, a matter of distribution and access
ISHIMARU Jiro/Chief Editor/Rimjin-gang, 20 June 2011

N Korean children begging, army starving
By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, 27 June 2011
includes a slideshow of still images from the footage.

Tensions escalating

Traditionally, whenever North Korea needs aid, it threatens war or acts belligerently and then offers to negotiate. But South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is tired of playing Pyongyang's game.

See:
North Korea threatens 'sacred war' against South
AP, 29 June 2011
AND
South Korea braced for North Korean 'provocation' as tension mounts
South Korean military preparing new rules of engagement for troops as Seoul threatens tough response to any attack.
By Julian Borger, The Guardian, 28 June 2011

The Guardian quotes long-time North Korea analyst Andrei Lankov, a Russian professor at Seoul's Kookmin University, as warning: "We are now in the most dangerous moment in Korean history over the last 25 years," said. "South Korea has already committed itself to a strong reaction to a future North Korean provocation so many times and so loudly that if they don't do it they will lose elections and be shamed.

"So they will probably react. North Korea is not getting what they want [diplomatically] so they will probably use their usual trick of rising escalation. [. . .]

"Both sides are afraid of war and if they see that the probability is real they will go to a lot of highly humiliating concessions to prevent it," Lankov said.

"That is because North Korea knows that it is going to lose, and South Korean knows it is going to win but at a cost that is unacceptable, and it doesn't know what to do if it does win."

Under the Kim regime, hundreds of thousands of Korean Christians suffer the some of the most severe expressions of religious persecution known.

SUDAN: NUBA GENOCIDE RESUMES

2011-06-24T02:08:00.001-07:00

ALSO:
- Abyei seized
- Unity State bombed

The Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan are populated by some 50 African tribes collectively known as Nuba. A marginalised and long-suffering mostly Christian people, the Nuba only narrowly survived a genocidal assault in the early 1990s. Today, as Southern secession looms, it appears that the genocidal regime of indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir may be set on completing the genocide it did not quite manage to effect during the civil war.

"Once again," laments the Rt. Rev. Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of the Episcopal Diocese of Kadugli, "we are facing the nightmare of genocide of our people, a final attempt to erase our culture and society from the face of the earth."

When Vision Dies

Despite his best efforts when negotiating the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), South Sudan's visionary leader, Dr John Garang, had not been able to get the Government of Sudan (GoS) to agree to a referendum on self-determination for the Nuba. Garang, however, assured the Nuba that if the CPA was implemented then the racist, Islamist regime would be finished and a "New Sudan" would emerge. And so the Nuba signed the CPA despite their immense dissatisfaction at the lack of a referendum on Nuba self-determination.

When Dr John Garang signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on 9 January 2005 on behalf of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), he never intended that Southern secession should be the outcome. In fact Dr Garang regarded the disintegration of Sudan as "something at all costs we must avoid".

See: TEXT: Garang’s speech at the signing ceremony of S. Sudan peace deal
Sudan Tribune, Monday 10 January 2005

The CPA's provision of a referendum on Southern self-determination was included primarily as a confidence measure to help the traumatised, jihad-ravage Southerners support the CPA. Secession was never part of Dr Garang's vision, for Garang was acutely aware that all Sudan's non-Arabs and non-Muslims -- not just those residing in the South -- needed an end to the crippling racial and religious discrimination and violent persecution they were suffering: they all needed a New Sudan. Doubtless after oil was discovered in the south, Garang would also have realised that the North would never let the South just walk away with 80 percent of the state's oil reserves.

Dr Garang saw Sudan as home to some 500 different ethnic groups speaking more than 130 different languages; an ancient land with a 5,000 year history of diversity and flux. He believed that at the root of all Sudan's troubles were the regime's efforts to create a monolithic Arab-Islamist State. According to Garang, Sudan's problems could only be solved by Sudanese accepting their history, embracing their diversity, and committing themselves to the establishment of an all-inclusive New Sudan; a state "in which all Sudanese are equally stakeholders irrespective of their religion, irrespective of their race, tribe or gender". "Sudan", he said, "belongs equally to all the peoples that now inhabit the country and its history, its diversity and richness [are] the common heritage of all Sudanese."

Garang proposed a devolution of power to the various regions, and free and fair democratic elections through which a truly representative National Assembly could be formed. He believed that if these could be achieved, then unity would become attractive and a nightmarish war of disintegration could be averted to the benefit of all. The CPA provided a window of six years -- from 9 Jan 2005 (CPA) to 9 Jan 2011(referendum on Southern self-determination). Of course Garang could not do this alone: such a feat would require oppositional unity and Khartoum's cooperation to ensure full CPA implementation.

But tragically Dr John Garang (born on 23 June 1945) died in a helicopter crash on 30 July 2005. He had led the SPLM/A for 22 years. From that point onwards the National Congress Party (NCP, formerly the National Islamic Front (NIF)) regime of President Omar al-Bashir did everything in its power to frustrate the implementation of the CPA.

See: Southern Sudan: On the path to war
Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC. 3 Oct 2007
and
Sudan's elections: already totally compromised.
Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 8 April 2010

During these years, it was profoundly unfortunate that the "international community" chose to do little more than equivocate and appease the NCP/NIF regime. Ultimately however, it was supremely unfortunate that the SPLM -- under the leadership of Salva Kiir and long-time pro-secessionist Riek Machar -- succumbed to the "divide and conquer" strategy of the duplicitous al-Bashir. On the eve of the April 2010 elections, Kiir and Machar struck a deal with al-Bashir: the SPLM would pull their presidential candidate and guarantee al-Bashir the presidency in exchange for guarantees from al-Bashir -- a brutal dictator who is driven by racial and religious hatred, who lies compulsively and is an indicted war criminal -- that the referendum on Southern self-determination would proceed peacefully. This was a profound strategic blunder, a moral travesty and a failure of faith: a "covenant with death" indeed!

See: SPLM - NCP alliance: a "covenant with death".
Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 14 May 2010

Now, with the South due to secede on 9 July 2011, the regime in Khartoum is doing exactly what dedicated Sudan-watchers feared it would do. It has invaded, ethnically cleansed, occupied and annexed the contested, traditionally Dinka Ngok-populated border region of Abyei. It has recommenced its genocidal war against the African, predominantly Christian tribes of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan (North Sudan), and it is bombing SPLA positions in the oil fields of Unity State (South Sudan), doubtless ahead of an invasion.

ABYEI SEIZED

The hotly contested, fertile and oil-rich province of Abyei, straddles the north-south divide. Traditionally, northern pro-Khartoum Misseriya Arabs drive their cattle through the southern Dinka Ngok-populated regions of Abyei annually. The CPA mandated that Abyei should get its own referendum to determine whether it would be part of the south or the north after secession.

In July 2009, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Abyei be delineated in such a fashion as to reduce its size (most notably in the east). The ruling put the highly productive Heglig and Bamboo oil fields in the North, under GoS (Khartoum) control. Naturally the GoS welcomed the fact "that the oilfields are now excluded from the Abyei area". While the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) was disappointed, it accepted the ruling as "final and binding". The ruling left the new, redefined Abyei even more predominantly populated by Dinka Ngok. Despite all this, the GoS continued to frustrate the formation of a referendum commission, while insisting that northern Misseriya Arab nomads be granted voting rights in Abyei, despite the fact that they are not residents. Ultimately the referendum did not take place.

Speaking on Wednesday 27 April 2011, to a rally of mostly Misseriya Arabs in neighbouring Southern Kordofan (North Sudan), President Omar al-Bashir rendered a referendum void declaring: "Abyei is located in North Sudan and will remain in north Sudan."

On Thursday 19 May, Khartoum accused the Southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of attacking a convoy of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Dokura north of Abyei town. While the SPLA denied responsibility, the government responded with force.

After several hours of bombing and shelling, SPLA troops retreated and Abyei's remnant 20,000 southern Dinka Ngok residents fled south as SAF tanks and thousands of troops moved in -- their numbers having been built up weeks in advance. The MSF hospital in Agok, 40 km (24 miles) south of Abyei, had received 42 wounded by early Saturday morning. By Sunday it was being reported that Khartoum had seized and annexed Abyei.

Southern Sudanese leaders have accused the north of "an act of war", something Khartoum denies, saying it was merely removing illegal elements so as to improve security and ensure peace and stability. Abyei, now under the control of Khartoum, has since been thoroughly looted and torched.

Meanwhile, though Abyei has clearly and obviously been violently ethnically cleansed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was too early to call it ethnic cleansing. According to Ban Ki-moon, ethnic cleansing can only be said to have occurred if the Dinka Ngok do not return.

See: Sudan's invasion of Abyei: Is it ethnic cleansing or isn't it?
By Colum Lynch for Foreign Policy. 6 June 2011

See ALSO: Eric Reeves.
An Abyei Timeline: The Long Road to Khartoum’s Military Invasion

NUBA GENOCIDE
-- Khartoum's final solution?

North Sudan's South Kordofan state is defined by the Nuba Mountains. While the plains of South Kordofan are populated by pro-Khartoum Arab Misseriya Baggara nomads, the Nuba Mountains are populated by some 50 non-Arab, predominantly non-Muslim African tribes collectively known as Nuba. Long isolated, the Nuba are famous for their unique culture.

In 1968, Khartoum started acquiring large tracts of land for mechanised farming. As the Baggara nomads gradually lost more and more of their traditional pastures, they started grazing their cattle on Nuba land, destroying crops and occupying wells in the process. Tensions soared, exacerbated through the 1970s by drought. By 1983, the Baggara were raiding the Nuba at will and with impunity.

Meanwhile, Dr John Garang had united South Sudan's various rebel forces to form the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). In June '83 the SPLM published its Manifesto calling for a united, secular, democratic Sudan with equality and rights for all Sudan's diverse peoples. Khartoum responded by imposing Sharia Law. The South would not submit. The civil war was on.

In 1984, senior Nuba leaders who likewise wanted an end to marginalisation and Islamisation, joined the SPLM/A.

In 1985, a local SPLA taskforce chased a band of Misseriya Baggara raiders to the outskirts of the Nuba Mts, killing 60. Khartoum responded by training and arming Baggara militias, known as Murahaliin, for use in a proxy jihad against the Nuba. When in 1986 an SPLA taskforce came seeking recruits, young Nuba men flocked to enlist. At that point the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) invaded the Nuba Mountains, purging Nuba villages of anyone they suspected of SPLA sympathies.

In 1989, Lt-Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir seized power in an Islamist-backed military coup. Al-Bashir brought the Baggara Murahaliin under government control, rebranded them as the Popular Defence Forces (PDF) and commissioned them to enact genocide in the Nuba Mountains.

The SAF and PDF eliminated the Nuba elite, razed Nuba villages, burned Nuba crops, and shut schools and medical clinics. The areas that survived under SPLA control were then blockaded -- closed to all trade and humanitarian aid. Amidst this, the GoS established "Peace Camps" (concentration camps) where submission to the regime and conversion to Islam and would win a family GoS food-aid. Hundreds of thousands of Nuba perished in the Government of Sudan (GoS)-engineered famine of 1990-93 rather than submit. If it had not been for corruption -- i.e. Arab smugglers -- Nuba civilisation would have been annihilated.

See: Facing Genocide: The Nuba of Sudan
African Rights, 1995

Today genocide has returned to the Nuba Mountains. Violence exploded in South Kordofan on 5 June 2011, as SAF and SPLA troops clashed in the capital, Kadugli. Subsequently, SAF and Baggara Arab militias have been conducting door-to-door sweeping operations in the cities and towns, killing everyone they suspect of SPLA sympathies. In a report entitled, "Genocide in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan" (22 June 2011), long-time Sudan analyst Eric Reeves reports: "Many of these people are hauled away in cattle trucks or summarily executed; dead bodies reportedly litter the streets of Kadugli."

While South Kordofan is the only state in the North with oil, this conflict is not primarily about oil; it is about extreme racial hatred and Arab supremacism. "The real issue," explains Reeves, "is not political identity but Nuba ethnicity." Reeves quotes aid workers and Nuba who report that the Arab militias have orders to "clear" the region of "blacks".

Reeves writes: "Yet another Nuba resident of Kadugli ('Yusef') told Agence France-Presse that he had been informed by a member of the notorious Popular Defense Forces (PDF) that they had been provided with plenty of weapons and ammunition, and a standing order: 'He said that they had clear instructions: just sweep away the rubbish. If you see a Nuba, just clean it up'. He told me he saw two trucks of people with their hands tied and blindfolded, driving out to where diggers were making holes for graves on the edge of town."

According to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of the Episcopal Diocese of Kadugli, "churches and pastors were directly targeted".

Christians have told Compass Direct News that they have witnessed clergy being shot and killed by the sword before their eyes, to shouts of Allahu akbar. Rev Lual was dragged out of his church and tortured for two days. In Kadugli, the Catholic, Episcopal and Church of Christ churches have been looted and torched.

The Bishop believes that President al-Bashir is declaring to the world that that Sharia will be the law of the land for the north, while demonstrating that he will never recognise the legitimate presence of the Christian minority. "Please pray and fast with us as you are able for a solution to this crisis," he pleads.

Further to this, Khartoum is once again blockading all humanitarian assistance to the Nuba people. The SAF has bombed and totally destroyed the Kauda airstrip which was critical for humanitarian transport. Consequently, the UN can no longer deliver humanitarian aid. As Reeves notes, "The airstrip has no military value, as the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) forces have no aircraft. The concerted bombing, with high-explosives producing enormous craters, is simply to deny the Nuba food, medicine, and shelter."

Reeves reports: "The same assault on humanitarian efforts is underway in Kadugli and other towns under Khartoum's military control. The UN World Health Organization warehouse and offices in Kadugli have been completely looted, as have those of other UN humanitarian agencies. The Kadugli airport has been commandeered by Khartoum's military forces, and all humanitarian flights into South Kordofan have been halted. The World Food Program has announced that it has no way to feed some 400,000 beneficiaries in South Kordofan. As in Darfur, Khartoum intends to wage a genocide by attrition -- defeating the Nuba by starving them."

As all long-time Sudan watchers know, Khartoum has considerable experience in engineering famine and using starvation as a weapon of mass destruction.

On Sunday 12 June, the governor of North Kordofan declared jihad on the mostly Christian Nuba. Meanwhile, the governor of South Kordofan, Ahmed Haroun -- recently installed by Khartoum by means of a fraudulent poll -- is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.

Excellent article:
Fear Pervades Nuba Mountains That Sudan Government Intent on Genocide
BY SAMUEL TOTTEN, a genocide scholar based at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. 13 June 2011

See also:
Sudan's Nuba people 'targeted by army' (youtube)
Video footage by Aljazeera

UNITY STATE BOMBED

Further to this, tens of thousands of Southerners have been forced to flee the aerial bombardment of oil regions in South Sudan's Unity State. Clearly the regime is aiming to seize as much of the South's oil-rich territory as possible before secession takes place on 9 July.

See: Sudan bombs Unity state 'to control oilfields'
By Simon Martelli (AFP), 10 June 2011
and
Over 2,000 displaced by North Sudan’s bombing of Unity State - officials
By Bonifacio Taban Kuich, Sudan Tribune, 17 June 2011

For the best Sudan Research, Analysis, and Advocacy
See: Eric Reeves http://www.sudanreeves.org/

ZIMBABWE: Churches targeted for political violence

2011-05-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

-- Churches targeted for political violence.
-- The scandal of Nolbert Kunonga.
-- Bringing an end to power-sharing.

Churches targeted for political violence.

On Saturday 9 April, some 500 Christians -- including 4 bishops and 46 pastors from Harare, Mutare, Bulawayo and Gweru -- gathered in the Church of Nazarene in Glen Norah, a densely populated suburb of Harare, for a special 'Praying for Peace to Save Zimbabwe' church Service.

Their prayer for peace was shattered however, when a truckload of some 20 armed rioted police descended on the gathering. After firing tear gas into the church, the riot police stormed the sanctuary wielding batons and brandishing AK 47 rifles. Ironically, the organisers of the prayer service had also planned to commemorate the 11 March 2007 'Save Zimbabwe Prayer Rally' in which police shot one participant dead and arrested over 100. As with the March 2007 prayer rally, the April 2011 prayer service had been organised in response to a sharp escalation in political violence ahead of elections.

See: Police brutally disrupt prayer for peace
By Esther Gomo, Nehanda Radio, 11 April 2011.

According to Gomo, after the riot squad had emptied the church, they "went on to fire the tear gas canisters indiscriminately at several churches in the vicinity, as well as the general residential area around the church and Chitubu Shops.

"At the time of writing [11 April], 4 clergymen, including 2 Bishops (Bishop Paul Isaya and Bishop Paul Mukome – who heads the Church of Nazarene, Pastor Nemukuyu and Pastor Caroline Sanyanga) had been arrested. In addition 5 other congregates, including Shakespeare Mukoyi, who is also the Deputy Chairperson for Harare Youth Assembly in the Movement for Democratic Change Led by Morgan Tsvangirai, were also arrested.

"Several injuries were noted from the worshipers, and are being attended to at a local clinic."

Gomo also notes: "The church service was initially scheduled to be held at St Peters Kubatana Centre but congregates had to relocate after the Riot Squad barricaded the main entrance and refused access to worshipers. [. . .]

"The heavy-handed disruption of the church services is a shameful violation of the constitution of Zimbabwe, which allows for freedoms of religion and worship."

See also: Police violently suppress prayer for peace

According to Sokwanele's Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch: Issue 27 (25 May 2011), the "Zanu-PF has instructed the police to target church services and the clergy for their implicit opposition of President Mugabe’s violent, authoritarian rule".

Sokwanele reports that, only about a week after the attack on the "Praying for Peace" service, Father Mark Mkandla, a Catholic priest in Lupane, was arrested after a special church service organised to pray for national healing and reconciliation. Ft Mkandla delivered a powerful sermon against violence only to be subsequently arrested.

Insidiously, not only are church leaders are being offered land in exchange for loyalty, but officials from President Mugabe's Zanu (PF) have been using an anti-sanctions petition to split churches. Regime officials visit churches with the aim of forcing members of to sign the petition. Pastors who resist find their congregations split, with pro-Mugabe members being offered Zanu (PF) support to start new churches where Zanu (PF) slogans are chanted.

See: Party abuses churches --- Bishop
By Zwanai Sithole, The Zimbabwean, 17 May 2011

Yet as the Zimbabwean notes: "In reality there are no sanctions on Zimbabwe but restrictive measures on Mugabe and his cronies. Mugabe and his comrades are restricted from making shopping trips to London on the grounds of gross human rights violations."

Further to this, Zimbabwe's Deputy Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, Lazarus Dokora, has condemned unregistered schools and called on the police (a pro-Mugabe force) to investigate them.

Unregistered schools mushroomed in Zimbabwe during the economic meltdown, as striking, underpaid government teachers earned income by giving private classes. But what began as private classes, gradually developed into a network of unregistered independent schools and colleges, many of which are housed in churches.

Peter Chinyadza runs a school of some 50 students in Chitungwiza, some 30km south of Harare. While he is in the process of seeking registration, the school -- which operates out of All Saints Anglican Church -- is as yet unregistered and under investigation.

See: Govt descends on unregistered schools
By Pride Gonde, Newsday correspondent, Harare. 24 May 2011

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean Catholic bishops feel they have been undermined and the faithful have been scandalized by the Vatican's warm and friendly embrace of Mugabe at the 1 May beatification service of the late Pope John Paul II.

Gunther Simmermacher, editor of an independent South African Catholic journal, noted that no formal invitations were issued to heads of state, and "international diplomacy sometimes requires unpalatable things of its practitioners."

But as he notes: the "televised sight of the tyrant being warmly embraced by a broadly smiling prelate" was "embarrassing for the courageous bishops of Zimbabwe, and to the clergy, religious and laity who strive for a peaceful transition to an equitable and accountable democracy.

"Shortly before departing on his 'absolutely heavenly' Vatican sojourn, Mr. Mugabe described the Zimbabwean bishops as 'so-called men of God who lie' and 'mere puppets of Western countries. In that light particularly, Mr. Mugabe's reception in the Vatican has created an impression, surely inaccurate, that the Vatican sides with him against the bishops of Zimbabwe."

See: Catholic paper: Dictator's Vatican welcome undermined Zimbabwe bishops
Catholic News Service, 19 May 2011

The Scandal of Nolbert Kunonga

Just as Mugabe is violently confiscating white-owned farms in the name of 'indigenisation' and 'anti-colonialism', his thug-stooge bishop, Nolbert Kunonga is violently confiscating Anglican properties under the same pretence. Kunonga was defrocked by the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa in Nov 07 on the grounds of heresy, schism, and suspicion that he was complicit in the murders of ten Anglican clergy.

(For background see: 'We are being persecuted'. By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, 27 June 08)

Kunonga now controls 40 percent of all Zimbabwe's Anglican churches -- including 30 churches in Harare alone. The doors are unlocked on Sundays, but only to pro-Mugabe supporters who have torn down the colonial artefacts and broken up pews bearing memorial plaques. The overwhelming majority of Zimbabwe's Anglicans now worship in any facility that will open its doors to them.

Further to this, Kunonga's wife Agatha controls the Anglican Church of Zimbabwe Mother's Union (ACZMU) and she is forcing its members to sign the so-called anti-sanctions petition.

Anglicans suspect Nolbert Kunonga of complicity in the Feb 2011 murder of Jessica Mandeya (89), a lay leader in the rural parish of Mashonaland East who was raped, mutilated and strangled after she refused to join Kunonga's faction. Kunonga denies he had anything to do with the murder, retorting that if he was going to kill anyone, it would be his nemesis, Bishop Chad Gandiya, who was elected by the Anglican Church to replace Kunonga as Bishop of Harare.

According to Bishop Gandiya, five bishops are on Kunonga's hit list for "elimination".

"We're all being followed", said Julius Makono, the bishop of Manicaland, one of the five.

Godfrey Tawonezvi, bishop of Masvingo, another of the five, was recently visited by two of Kunonga's men. "They had all our phone numbers, our home addresses", he said.

See: Mugabe Ally Escalates Push to Control Anglican Church
By Celia W. Dugger, New York Times. 29 May 2011

ALSO: Zimbabwe's Anglicans forced to worship in pubs
By Peta Thornycroft, Harare and Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg.
The Telegraph, 25 Mar 2011

Bringing an end to power-sharing

Mugabe has recently called for early elections in order to end the power-sharing government, in spite of the fact that the "Global Political Agreement" (the power-sharing agreement stitched together by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) after the 2008 elections) mandates that before the next elections can be held, a new constitution must be approved by referendum, and a new voter registry must be drawn up. It is unlikely these conditions will be met because the police, the judiciary and the Zimbabwe Election Commission are all partisan and rule of law has collapsed.

See: How Zanu-PF plans to steal the Zimbabwe elections
British-South African journalist and historian RW Johnson discusses Zimbabwe's grossly rigged electoral register. 29 May 2011

RW Johnson writes: "Despite clear and binding international agreements to the contrary, evidence now available shows that President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF is again planning to steal the next elections with the help of a grossly rigged electoral register."

According to Johnson, Zimbabwe's electoral register, drawn up by outspoken Zanu-PF supporter Tobaiwa Mudede, "was notoriously full of dead and fictional voters - who always voted Zanu-PF." Johnson writes that Mugabe has always maintained the register is a 'state secret'. When an NGO did manage to secure a copy, it was found to contain at least twice as many voters as was plausible. Despite this, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has never upheld any complaint against the register.

See also: S. African Institute Calls for a New Zimbabwe Voters Roll Before Elections
Voice of America, 30 May 2011.

As far as Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba is concerned, the Zanu (PF) will win the next elections and "ensure stability".

VOA reports: "Prime Minister Tsvangirai immediately condemned Nyikayaramba’s remarks, saying such utterances put the country in an 'unnecessary war mode' and clearly show that elements in the military want to usurp civilian authority.

"Retired Zimbabwe National Army officer Martin Rupiya, director of the African Public Policy and Research Institute, told VOA reporter Blessing Zulu that Nyikayaramba’s remarks show that the service chiefs remain intransigently partisan.

"Political commentator Bhekilizwe Ndlovu called Nyikayaramba’s statements reckless."

Farmer reportedly crucified in Ivory Coast

2011-05-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

On 30 May 2011, Ivorian.net published a piece by César Etou who reports that on Saturday 28 May, pro-Ouattara gunmen crucified a farmer in Ivory Coast village of Binkro, Oumé Subprefecture, Central-western Ivory Coast.

The militants reportedly nailed the poor peasant's hands and feet to a plank in the form of cross as "the example of Christ". According to sources, UN forces called to the rescue arrived too late to save the man.

Représailles contre les populations Un paysan crucifié à Oumé
Notre Voie-30 May 2011

UPDATE: Christian advocacy group Barnabas Fund (BF) reported on 8 June that actually two men had been crucified -- peasant brothers Raphael Aka Kouame and Kouassi Privat Kacou. Both men were accused of hiding weapons and savagely beaten before being crudely nail to crosses with steel spikes despite their pleas of innocence.

According to the BF report, Ouattara’s men subsequently conducted an extensive search of Binkro but found only a store of medical equipment and supplies, which they looted. Despite there being no evidence of weapons, the seriously wounded pair were then taken to prison in Oumé, where Raphael died in the night.

--------------------------

If this seems unbelievable, I recommend the Human Rights Watch report:

Côte d’Ivoire: Gbagbo Supporters Tortured, Killed in Abidjan
Rampant Reprisals by Pro-Ouattara Forces Mar New Presidency
2 June 2011

This report details numerous gross human rights abuses committed by pro-Ouattara militia: ethnic cleansing, torture, rapes, summary executions, mass graves . . .

Human Rights Watch is calling for Pres. Ouattara to end the impunity.

Ivory Coast: Darkness & terror; Freemasonry link; Watching Ghana.

2011-05-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

Darkness and terror

Below are a few youtube clips that reveal something of the nature of the pro-Ouattara forces that have seized control of Ivory Coast.

1) This footage dates back to 2002. It shows pro-Ouattara, northern New Forces rebels at their base in Bouake. Though they had failed to capture all of Ivory Coast, they celebrate their seizure of the north with the ritual slaughter of an Ivorian constable, in the presence of French troops.

Sources report that when the rebels were confronted with this footage, they acknowledged that the constable was indeed ritually slaughtered. However they claimed to have later used their occult powers to resuscitate him.

2) This excellent, highly informative site has been set up to provide information on Ivory Coast's Presidential Conflict.

In the CBN film clip dated 8 April 2011, Gary Lane interviews missions Pastor Ted Jensen. This film clip contains truly horrific footage of civilians (allegedly members of predominantly Christian tribes that support Laurent Gbagbo) being kicked and shoved into a fiery mass grave where they can be seen burning to death.
UPDATE/CORRECTION: it is been pointed out that while pro-Gbagbo supporters have been burned alive in Ivory Coast, this footage is not from Ivory Coast March-April 2011. While people can be heard crying 'Allahu Akhbar' in the background, the footage is also on the internet as witch-burning in Kisii Nyamataro, Kenya, 2009.

In the CNN film clip dated 14 April 2011, Laurent Gbagbo's step daughter, US-based lawyer Marie-Antoinette Singleton, defends Gbagbo, explains the election fraud and talks about the terror gripping native and non-Muslim Ivorians.

The speeches and press conferences by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, are excellent value.

The Freemasonry link

The following article -- written to explain why so many francophone African presidents are supporting neo-colonial France vis-a-vis African nationalist Laurent Gbagbo -- exposes the role Freemasonry plays in the perpetuation of exploitative and criminal neo-colonialism in Africa.

According to the author, "It is impossible to understand how Françafrique works without reference to the Masons."

West African Leaders On The Square Against Gbagbo
By Dr. Gary K. Busch, for ocnus.net 5 Jan 2011

Busch writes: "The French Masons represent the elite of French business and politics. [. . .] Freemason lodges maintain a formidable, covert influence within the French judicial and police structures. [. . .]

"Just as in France, Freemasonry is ubiquitous at the very top in many African states. Denis Sassou Nguesso, the Congolese president, is Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Congo Brazzaville linked to the National Grand Lodge of France; President Mamadou Tanja of Niger; Chad's Idriss Deby and Francois Bozize of the Central African Republic are among at least twelve African presidents linked to the Masons. In November 2009 Ali Bongo, the new Gabonese President was ordained as the grand master of the Grand Lodge of Gabon (GLB) and the Grand Equatorial Rite, the two predominant Freemason orders in Gabon.

"In Congo-Brazzaville, both the current president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and the former president, Pascal Lissouba, are freemasons, although they belong to different chapters of the order. Mr Lissouba is an initiate of the Grand Orient of France while Mr Sassou Nguesso belongs to a Senegalese lodge affiliated to the French Grand National Lodge. Most of these African presidents, but not exclusively, are francophone: Paul Biya, president of Cameroon , Blaise Campaore, president of Burkina Faso; Robert Guei, former head of Cote d'Ivoire; John Kuffuor, former president of Ghana, to name but a few. There are scores more at Cabinet level and who are staffing African regional organisations and banks.

"The Masons have always provided the leaders and the staff of French colonialism. . ."

Busch protests the Colonial Pact by which means France maintains control over the economies of the African states. "It took possession of their foreign currency reserves; it controlled the strategic raw materials of the country; it stationed troops in the country with the right of free passage; it demanded that all military equipment be acquired from France; it took over the training of the police and army; it required that French businesses be allowed to maintain monopoly enterprises in key areas (water, electricity, ports, transport, energy, etc.). France not only set limits on the imports of a range of items from outside the franc zone but also set minimum quantities of imports from France. These treaties are still in force and operational."

According to Busch, this immoral, exploitative Colonial Pact endures because, "Unlike in ordinary democracies, the French version of democracy is a special case. By tradition in France, foreign affairs are the French president's private domain. The foreign affairs minister only applies his policies. France is the only Western country where foreign policy is not a debating topic in the national legislative bodies. The sovereignty of the French people does not count for anything even if it has elected the president directly. The Parliament has no checking powers and is quietly relegated to domestic matters."

Watching Ghana

While both President Ouattara and Prime Minister Soro have cleared Ghana of providing military aid to pro-Gbagbo forces during the conflict, PM Soro is now accusing Ghana of providing refuge to pro-Gbagbo subversives.

However, Ghana President John Evans Atta Mills "has assured the international community that Ghana will not allow any group of persons who have wicked intentions to use the country as a base to cause mayhem in Cote d'Ivoire".
See: Ghana can't be used to destabilize Cote d'Ivoire - Mills
Ghanaweb 17 May 2011

Soro's New Forces warn Ghana
The Statesman, 18/05/2011

"In spite of assurances this week from President JEA Mills to the outgoing pro-Gbagbo Ivorian ambassador to Ghana, Emmanuel Auguste Ackah, that Ghana 'will not tolerate any group of persons to use Ghana as a base to create trouble for our neighbours,' les Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire (the New Forces), the main military force in the Republican Forces which led the recent military action to overthrow Laurent Gbagbo has accused Ghana of hosting pro-Gbagbo men who are allegedly planning to destabilize Cote d'Ivoire.

"President Mills' denial of rebel activities in Ghana was in direct response to a report in pro-Ouattara newspaper, Le Patriote, last week. But, this subsequent accusation from the feared New Forces raises serious regional security issues for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire."

[NOTE: Guillaume Soro is Ivory Coast's Prime Minister, Defence Minister and head of the Republican Forces army which overthrew Gbagbo. He also controls the "feared" New Forces rebel coalition that fought against the south in the 2002 Civil War. The New Forces have recently been incorporated into the Republican Forces under Soro's command.]

According to Soro, pro-Gbagbo forces sheltering in Ghana are preparing a counter-coup. While daring them to imagine themselves overthrowing Pres. Ouattara, he warns that should any attempt be made to destabilise Ouattara's government they will meet "their worst nightmare", adding that it would also be "suicidal for any nation that supports this path".

"The New Forces warn that Ghana would 'inevitably get its fingers burnt,' if it continues to fail to act against the alleged subversive activities."

Battle for Kirkuk looms

2011-05-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

Kirkuk is a hotly contested city in northern Iraq's "disputed territories". Home to Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrian-Chaldean Christians, oil-rich, hugely strategic Kirkuk is essentially Iraq in miniature.

The looming Battle for Kirkuk looms could well turn out to be the mother-of-all-wars. Turkey, regional Shi'ites, and regional Sunnis all have strong interests. Recently, the United States Institute of Peace identified Kirkuk the greatest threat to Iraq's stability. As the US withdrawal approaches, tensions are escalating and the stakes are being raised, leaving Christians exceedingly vulnerable.

See: Kirkuk’s Conundrum in the Wake of the American Withdrawal
by Mohammed A. Salih, for Rudaw. 10 May 2011

Background

After the 1968 revolution, Saddam Hussein consolidated Sunni Arab and Baathist control over Kirkuk's vast oil reserves through a policy of "Arabization". From the early 1970s onwards, hundreds of thousands of non-Arabs (mostly Kurds) were driven out of Kirkuk and replaced with loyal Arabs. This process was accelerated after the failed uprising of 1991.

However everything changed after the regime fell in 2003, and the process essentially went into reverse. Article 58 of Iraq's new constitution stipulated that all non-original residents of Kirkuk province (i.e. Arabs imported by Saddam Hussein) must return to their places of origin, and all displaced families (predominantly Kurds) must return to the province and claim their properties. This later became Article 140, which further mandates that a census be conducted ahead of a referendum to determine whether Kirkuk will be annexed to autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan or remain under federal control from Baghdad. The spectre of a referendum on status has only inflamed ethnic tensions. The situation is highly volatile.

But Kirkuk is not coveted by Arabs and Kurds alone. Kirkuk is also historically and strategically important to neighbouring Turkey, to pan-Turkists, and to Iraqi Turkmen. Turks do not want to see the Kurds further empowered, for not only do Iraqi Kurds provide sanctuary to Turkish Kurd PKK terrorists, but a strong Iraqi Kurdistan could fan Kurdish regional ambitions.

Meanwhile, the Turks would very much like to see Kirkuk's oil flowing north through Turkey rather than south through Baghdad and Basra.

See: The Challenge in Iraq's Other Cities: Kirkuk
By Lionel Beehner, Council on Foreign Relations. 30 June 2006

Claims in Conflict
Reversing Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Iraq
Human Rights Watch, 2 August 2004

Negotiating Kirkuk
Posted By Denise Natali, to Foreign Policy, Friday, 6 May 2011

After the city of Kirkuk fell to Kurdish forces on 10 April 03, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) moved its headquarters from Arbil to Kirkuk. Arabs, many of whom had lived in Kirkuk for 30 years and more, were driven out at gunpoint, forced to leave all their possessions behind.

During the 2010 elections, in order to challenge the ruling Kurdish bloc, the ITC entered a coalition with Ayad Allawi's secular parliamentary bloc, Al-Iraqiyya, which is strong in the "disputed territories". A UN-sponsored meeting on Kirkuk scheduled to be held in Baghdad on 5 May, had to be cancelled after Arab and Turkmen representatives refused to attend unless the Kurds were denied participation. Kirkuk Arabs are requesting protection, claiming an escalation in Kurdish aggression against them. Distrust and hostility abound.

As Mohammed A. Salih noted in his article for Rudaw: "The Kurds dominate the police force, internal security, and most of the government departments, while the Arabs have a tight grip on the army and their powerbase is strong in the surrounding villages and towns. These two wings of Iraq’s official forces charged with keeping the country safe have never concealed their distrust towards each other.

"Recently, Kurdish security forces and soldiers from the Iraqi army came into armed clashes in the center of Kirkuk in broad daylight where two Kurdish security officers were killed. Insurgents on the other hand, have targeted the city’s population with car bombs and the police with roadside bombs whenever they have had a chance.

"An Iraqi security official told the Arabic-language, Baghdad-based daily Almada, on condition of anonymity, that the American withdrawal is 'a dangerous threat' to Kirkuk."

On 12 May, less than two weeks after Erşat Salihi became the head Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) Member of Parliament and ITC Kirkuk City President, Salihi's heavily -guarded home in Kirkuk was attacked with explosives while the family were all inside. While no-one was hurt -- the attack was clearly designed to send a political message -- this attack and the subsequent attack on investigating police, were highly organised. This marks the first time a Turkmen leader has been specifically targeted in Iraq, further raising the stakes.

See: Why violence against Turkmens in Iraq is increasing
By Hasan Kanbolat, Today's Zaman. 16 May 2011

IRAQ'S BESIEGED AND IMPERILLED REMNANT CHRISTIANS

Underneath it all, normally ignored by the media, is the smallest and most vulnerable of all Kirkuk's constituent groups: the Assyrian-Chaldean Christians. Indigenous to the Nineveh Plains of Upper Mesopotamia, they now constitute a mere remnant, comprising less than 1 percent. Consequently they are politically and militarily inconsequential: a threat to no-one. To Islamic fundamentalists, however, they are infidel 'dogs': i.e. unclean, undesirable and unwanted.

On Saturday 14 May 2011, terrorists abducted Ashur Issa Yaqub (29) -- a Chaldean Christian construction worker, husband and father of three -- demanding an unobtainable US$100,000 ransom.

On Monday 16 May, police found Yaqub's mutilated body, dumped in the open. According to provincial health chief Sadiq Omar Rasul, the body "carried traces of torture and the bites of dogs". But 'traces' of torture is a gross understatement. The torture that was inflicted upon this young man is beyond comprehension: his eyes had been gouged out, his ears cut off and his face skinned. He had also been attacked by dogs and partially beheaded.

Kirkuk: young Christian abducted, tortured and beheaded
AINA 16 May 2011

See: Iraq Assyrian Killed, Mutilated in North Iraq (WARNING: graphic)
AINA 16 May 2011

The gruesome murder -- which the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk, Mgr Louis Sako, labelled an "inhuman act" -- has sent shockwaves of terror through Kirkuk's remnant Christian community.

Archbishop Sako spoke to Compass Direct News from Rome. Compass reports: "While noting that the murder was unusually brutal, the archbishop said it was probably the work of criminal opportunists trying to make money, and that Yaqub was not necessarily targeted as a Christian."

This is wishful thinking on the Archbishop's part, for as Compass also reported, Ashur Issa Yaqub had already been singled out by al Qaeda militants who had pressured his employer to fire him precisely because he was a Christian.

Furthermore, while the kidnappers had demanded US$100,000 ransom, they could not even wait more than 48 hrs before they succumbed to their hatred and tortured this young Christian husband and father to death. Their hatred clearly could not be constrained, not even by the prospect of ransom monies.

If/when war erupts, Islamic jihadists will doubtless seek to exploit the chaos to eliminate the Christian presence, and not only in Kirkuk.

The Battle for Kirkuk could well be the last straw for Iraq's besieged and imperilled remnant Christians.

SYRIA: Christians vulnerable

2011-05-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Flavia Krause-Jackson, diplomatic and UN correspondent for Bloomberg News, has written a daunting article entitled, Syrian Christians Say ‘Arab Spring’ Changes Could Hasten Extinction (13 May 2011). She hits the mark with her opening line: "As the Arab Spring protests reach Damascus, Syrian Christians look warily at a future without a time-tested autocrat to protect them from religious intolerance."

Krause-Jackson quotes Archbishop Cyril Aphrem Karim, leader of a U.S. branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, who observes: “History has proven to us that Christians [in the Middle East] have always had more secure lives, better treatment by people who may be looked on as dictators, like Saddam Hussein. [In Syria], our feeling is, if the regime falls, the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood will seize power and that is bad news for us.”

Syria pivotal as regional struggle for balance of power escalates

When US-allied dictators fell in Tunisia and Egypt, the Shi'ite revolutionary regime in Iran scoffed while the US-allied dictators in the House of Saud trembled. Everything changed, however, when Bahraini and Saudi forces, with the tacit approval of the US, crushed the "pro-democracy" protests at Bahrain's Pearl roundabout.
(See: Bahrain topples its own people
By Pepe Escobar for Asia Times online, 11 May 2011)

While the media have been confused by what they regard as "mixed responses", this is only because they fail to realise that who falls is far less important than who rises.

In Bahrain the protesters were Shi'ites; their success would have been Iran's gain. When, in Bahrain, Sunni power crushed Shi'ite dissent, the "Arab Spring" transformed into a struggle over the regional balance of power.
See: Bahrain and the Battle Between Iran and Saudi Arabia
By George Friedman for Stratfor Global Intelligence, 8 March 2011

For decades, the US - Sunni Arab axis prevailed.

Then the Iraq War opened the way for Shi'ite Iran to gain the ascendancy.

Now, as the struggle for the regional balance of power heats up, Syria becomes absolutely pivotal; for while Syria is majority Sunni Arab, it is integral to the Iran-Hezballah axis and central -- both geographically and strategically -- to the "Shi'ite Crescent".

SYRIA

The fate of Syria's minority Christians is, to a large extent, tied to the fate of Syria's ruling minority Alawites. For, as Reva Bhall reports for Stratfor Global Intelligence, "Rather than exhibiting a clear Sunni-Shi'ite religious-ideological divide, Syria's history can be more accurately described as a struggle between the Sunnis on one hand a group of minorities on the other."

In her excellent report, entitled Making Sense of the Syrian Crisis (Stratfor, 5 May 2011), Bhall examines the rise of the once impoverished, marginalised Alawite minority: from persecuted peasants to ruling elite and hegemonic power in only 50 years.

"The Alawites", she explains, "are frequently (and erroneously) categorized as Shiite Muslims, have many things in common with Christians and are often shunned by Sunni and Shiite Muslims alike. Consequently, Alawites attract a great deal of controversy in the Islamic world. The Alawites diverged from the mainstream Twelver of the Imami branch of Shiite Islam in the ninth century . . . Their main link to Shiite Islam and the origin of the Alawite name stems from their reverence for the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali. The sect is often described as highly secretive and heretical for its rejection of Shariah and of common Islamic practices, including call to prayer, going to mosque for worship, making pilgrimages to Mecca and intolerance for alcohol. At the same time, Alawites celebrate many Christian holidays and revere Christian saints."

According to Bhall, non-Sunni Muslims (mostly Alawites) comprise about 13 percent of the population, Christians about 10 percent and Druze about 3 percent. She describes the Alawites as "a fractious bunch", historically divided along tribal lines. She also notes that they have often embraced taqqiya -- lying about or hiding their religious affiliation -- as a means of avoiding discrimination and persecution at the hands of the majority Ottoman-backed Sunnis.

Between 1920-1946, when Syria was under the French mandate, France supported and empowered the minorities, particularly the Alawites, as a counterweight to Sunni power. During this period, the internal balance of power in Syria shifted as France reversed Ottoman policies, and encouraged the minorities to take up posts in the military, police and in intelligence.

Furthermore, France convinced the "Nusayris" (as the Alawites were then known) to change their name to "Alawites", so as to accentuate their link to Shi'ism.

By the time the French pulled out of Syria (1946), the lower ranks of the military had been flooded with Alawites, thereby setting the stage for the coups to come. In 1947, the Baath Party was formed. With a platform of secularism, socialism and Arab nationalism, the Baath Party both appealed to the minorities and split the Sunnis, who became divided (therefore weakened) between pro-Baath secularists and anti-Baath Islamists.

Years of coups and counter-coups eventually culminated in the bloodless coup of 1970 that brought to power Gen. Hafiz al-Assad (father of the current president Bashar al-Assad). The only Alawite leader capable of uniting the Alawite tribes, he consolidated Alawite hegemony, built strong ties with the Druze and Christian minorities, co-opted the secular Sunni elite, repressed Salafi Sunni fundamentalism, and ruthlessly crushed all dissent.

Yet the Sunnis were still the majority, and regionally, the Alawites were still regarded as heretics. Needing regional allies, President Hafiz al-Assad forged close bonds with Musa al-Sadr, the most prominent Shi'ite leader in Lebanon. His efforts were rewarded, for in 1973 al-Sadr issued a fatwa recognising Lebanon's Alawites as Shi'ites.
(See: The Shiite Turn in Syria
by Khalid Sindawi, 23 June 2009
Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, vol.8. Hudson Institute)
And so Syria, though less than one percent Shi'ite, was brought into the Shi'ite fold for domestic and regional strategic purposes. This was a coup for the Alawites, providing them with regional allies without whom they would have always remained vulnerable. But more than this, it was a massive coup for the region's Shi'ites, for without Syria there would be no "Shi'ite Crescent".

In 1980 the Assad regime formed a strategic alliance with Iran. Since then, Iranian Revolutionary Guards have served alongside the all-Alawite Syrian Republican Guards, protecting the Assad regime. Dissent was not tolerated. The 1982 crackdown in Sunni stronghold of Hama -- which resulted in tens of thousands of Sunni deaths and drove the Muslim Brotherhood deep underground -- remains deeply etched in the Sunni memory.

The alliance has also resulted in Iranian Shi'ite missionaries having free range in mostly Sunni Syria. In 1997, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Zaydan al-Ghazali, converted to Shi'ism and forcibly took control of the Abi Talib Mosque in Dar'a. Armed with Iranian funds (inducements), and promoting "temporary marriage" (sacralised prostitution), he converted many; and because he was supported by Syrian Security, anyone who opposed him ended up in prison (Sindawi 2009).

Relations with Iran have only grown stronger since Bashar al-Assad came to power in 2000. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian and Iraqi Shi'ites have since been naturalised as Syrian citizens.

However, nothing has drawn Syria's Sunni masses to the Iran-Hezballah axis as did Hezballah's 2006 war against Israel. While Syria is still only around one percent Shi'ite, Shi'ism has been popularised to the extent that analysts talk of "Shi'itization" (NYT , Current Trends).

Naturally this horrifies the Muslim Brotherhood and the US-Saudi axis. While Israel, the US and the Saudis don't actually want to see the Assad regime fall, they would love to prise Syria out of the Iran-Hezballah axis. Meanwhile, Iran and Hezballah -- if they are to remain ascendant -- cannot afford to lose Syria. For if Syria was to realign, then Hezballah -- the belligerent, anti-Semitic Iranian proxy terrorist organisation that dominates Lebanon -- would lose its supply lines and its strategic depth.

Consequently today, Iranian forces are aiding the Assad regime while Salafi jihadists from Saudi Arabia are aiding the Syrian opposition. As such, Syria risks being torn apart by an Iraq-style sectarian conflagration over the regional balance of power. Should this eventuate, Syria -- like Iraq -- will drown in blood.

SYRIA'S CHRISTIANS

In Baath Party-ruled Syria, repression has been political, not religious, and so Christians have enjoyed a greater degree of religious freedom in Syria than those in other Muslim states where Sharia is observed (it was the same in Baath Party-ruled Iraq). As Krause-Jackson (Bloomberg) notes, under the Assad dynasty, Syrian Christians have swelled the ranks of a professional middle and upper class, enjoying secure lives while accounting for only one-tenth of the population.

Most Syrian Christians are deeply concerned that if the regime loses control, they will suffer immensely in the resultant chaos. Consequently, Syrian Christians are maintaining a very low-key approach both politically and religiously. They kept their observance of Easter very quiet this year, cancelling traditional public processions and celebrations.

The Melkite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Gregory III Laham, noted in late April, that the riots were not as yet sectarian, being rooted as they have been in grievances that are social (repression and inequality) and economic (unemployment plus massive fuel and food price hikes). However, he cautions, criminals have become involved now and weapons are flooding in. What is more, he adds, there are fundamentalist Muslims calling for jihad.

See: Syria: Melkite Patriarch on fears of a future of chaos and fundamentalism
Interview with Gregory III Laham, Melkite Patriarch of Damascus.
by Bernardo Cervellera, AsiaNews 29 April 2011

On 11 May, Barnabas Fund reported that as "demonstrations against the Syrian government intensify, Christians are coming under increasing pressure to join the uprising - or leave.

"In one Christian village outside the southern city of Deraa a home came under fire by a group of masked men on motorbikes, while Muslim residents in the village of Hala have issued an ultimatum to their Christian neighbours either to join the demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's regime or to leave. Their demands are making life extremely difficult for the Christians, who have closed their shops and are considering what course of action to take. Churches have also received threatening letters."

Archbishop Cyril Aphrem Karim told Bloomberg correspondent Flavia Krause-Jackson that during recent protests in Damascus, he spotted banners bears slogans such as: “Christians to Beirut, Alawis to the grave.”

As Krause-Jackson notes: "Karim’s Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Egyptian Copts and Iraqi Chaldeans are among the myriad Christian communities that originated 2,000 years ago in the Middle East. . . Still, a history that predates Islam won’t guarantee the communities’ survival."

Most tragically Archbishop Karim is forced to lament: “I don’t feel the U.S. is really concerned by Christians in the Middle East. They listen, they show interest, but we don’t see, especially from the State Department, tangible signs they are worried and want to do something for them. There is just not much sympathy.”

There are about 1.4 million Syrian Christians in Syria, comprising 6.3 percent of the total Syrian population (Operation World). On top of this number, Syria hosts some 1.2 million Iraqi refugees, including hundreds of thousands of Assyrian and Chaldean Christians and thousands of Mandaeans.

Who will protect them from religious intolerance as this wave of majoritarianism (as distinct from democracy) sweeps over the region?

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
(Psalm 118:8-9 ESV)

---------------------

UPDATE: excellent article
Syria Christians fear for religious freedom
By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT | Wed 18 May 2011
(Reuters) - Syria's minority Christians are watching the protests sweeping their country with trepidation, fearing their religious freedom could be threatened if President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic but secular rule is overthrown. . .

UPDATE: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 137
Syria: Christians fear for their future | Wed 07 Dec 2011

Ivory Coast: church attacked; refugees suffering; lawyers refused; Mbeki speaks.

2011-05-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 4 May 2011, after weeks of fighting, Yopougon district -- Abidjan's last pro-Gbagbo stronghold -- fell to Alassane Ouattara's Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI) .

It appears however, that the FRCI may have perpetrated a massacre in Yopougon at a Baptist Church which has been sheltering more than 2,500 refugees. The UN is investigating.

Background: Ivory Coast's churches filling up -- with refugees
By Elizabeth Kendal, for Religious Liberty Monitoring, 24 April 2011,

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports: "On 3 May, the Baptist Church where 2500 Internally Displaced Persons [IDPs] have sought refuge in Yopougon neighbourhood was attacked by armed men [reportedly FRCI]. 54 persons were said to have been taken away toward the Shell petrol station not far from Institute of the Blind in Yopougon. Thev[church's] offices including emergency medicines supplied to MSF [Doctors without Borders] were looted.

The OCHA was able to report that: "2500 IDPs currently sheltered at the Baptist Church in Yopougon are being assisted by MSF CH and UNICEF with medical treatment, medicines, child delivery kits, antibiotics and water treatment tablets kits, emergency medicines, antibiotics and water treatment tablets."

The OCHA report also notes that the 27,000 refugees still holed up in the Catholic mission in Duékoué have finally received food from the WFP (World Food Program) after a delay of two weeks. However, the 895 refugees currently staying at the UEESO (Fellowship of Evangelical Churches) church in Duékoué have not received WFP food assistance since the end of March. Fortunately the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been able to distribute 750 kg of rice, 10 cartons of sardines, 68 litres of cooking oil, and 5 kg of salt to the UEESO church.

According to the OCHA report, refugees sheltering in St. Bernard's Church Abidjan face eviction "this week" (i.e. first week of May); but the report does not say who is evicting them or why.

Clearly the humanitarian and security situation for Ivory Coast's Christian remains dire.

VICTOR'S JUSTICE

In Abidjan on Friday 6 May, Alassane Ouattara was sworn in as President of Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, deposed president Laurent Gbagbo is being held under house arrest in the far-northern town of Korhogo nearly 600 kilometres (370 miles) due north of Abidjan. His wife, Simone, is being detained at a separate location, in Odienné in the far northwest.

Also on Friday 6 May, two prominent Paris-based lawyers -- Jacques Verges and Marcel Ceccaldi -- arrived to represent Laurent Gbagbo at his hearing in the northern city of Korhogo. They did not get far however, as they were forced to return to France after their visas were refused at Abidjan airport. A third lawyer, the Franco-Cameroonian lawyer Lucie Bourthoumieux, was able to pass through passport control as she had rights of residency. However, she elected to return to Paris with her colleagues. According to the statement issued by Paris law firm Bourthoumieux on behalf of the three lawyers, "The three lawyers were turned away in circumstances that resembled a trap."

Jacques Verges regards this as evidence that the authorities in Ivory Coast did not want the former president to receive a proper defence. "I am very pessimistic about the future of a regime which treats lawyers in such a way," he said.

Marcel Ceccaldi added: "If Laurent Gbagbo does not want to be heard without the presence of his lawyers, there cannot be any hearing according to Ivorian law."

See: Gbagbo grilled over Ivory Coast unrest, 6 May 2011

On Saturday 7 May, Ivory Coast's state prosecutor, Simplice Kouadio Koffi, began the formal questioning of Gbagbo, despite the absence of his lawyers.

"Laurent Gbagbo has been questioned in the presence of his personal doctor," Koffi told AFP. "I will travel to Odienné Sunday to begin questioning Simone Gbagbo," he added.

"So this is why they wanted to stop us coming," French lawyer Marcel Ceccaldi said Saturday from Paris. "On the one hand, they announce they are setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Committee and on the other they start proceedings against the president. That is going to accentuate the faultlines inside the country." (AFP)

Ceccaldi plans to take up the matter with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Meanwhile, Marie-Antoinette Singleton -- Laurent and Simone Gbagbo's US-based lawyer-daughter -- is concerned that her parents have been "kidnapped as war booty, without any legal mandate". She has written a letter to French president Nicolas Sarkozy in which she laments that her family has had no news of her parents and Alassane Ouattara has not responded to her request to be allowed to visit her father.

None of this should not surprise anyone, as the stated goal of Ouattara's rebellion was always control of Ivory Coast, not justice. Guillaume Soro, former leader of the northern rebel forces Forces Nouvelles (New Forces), now Prime Minister of Ivory Coast, was quite unambiguous in May 2004 when he declared the rebels' intentions: "Why should we content ourselves with Bouake? We want all of Ivory Coast!"

See: Cote d'Ivoire: "We want all of Ivory Coast" (rebels).
By Elizabeth Kendal for WEA RLC, Friday 11 June 2004

MBEKI SPEAKS

In an article entitled, What the World Got Wrong in Cote D'Ivoire, published in Foreign Policy magazine on 29 April 2011, Thabo Mbeki asks the most important question of all: "Why is the United Nations entrenching former colonial powers on our continent?"

Mbeki's article is an immensely important one for anyone who still needs convincing that only things ignoble -- such as betrayal, megalomania, greed and abuse of power -- lay behind the profound crisis gripping Ivory Coast; a crisis that will not easily be resolved.

Mbeki wonders why the "international community" (i.e. the UN and the West) insisted that Ivory Coast hold presidential elections when the conditions simply did not exist to conduct free and fair polling. According to signed agreements, the country should first have been unified and the rebels disarmed. Neither of these conditions had been met. Despite concerns, Gbagbo was pressured into holding elections that could never have been free and fair (particularly in the rebel-held north) and could only ever have consolidated the crisis.

As Mbeki notes, the very people who were insisting on rule of law as fundamental to democracy, acted illegally to recognise the electoral commission's provisional results, despite the fact that the Constitutional Council, which had been investigation numerous election irregularities (mostly in the rebel-controlled north), is the only body constitutionally empowered to announce results.

Mbeki notes that as both Gbagbo and Ouattara laid claim to the presidency, Gbagbo proposed that in order to resolve the matter, an international commission should be established to verify the election results, with the important pre-condition that both he and Ouattara should accept the determination of the commission.

"This proposal was rejected by the international community," laments Mbeki, "despite the fact that it would have resolved the electoral dispute without resort to war . . .

". . . Clearly the independent international commission proposed by Laurent Gbagbo could have been established and empowered to make a definitive and binding determination about what had happened. Time will tell why this was not done!"

Furthermore, notes Mbeki, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General then chose to "exceed his mandate" and declare Ouattara the winner, making the UN Mission in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) "a partisan in the Ivorian conflict, rather than a neutral peacemaker". From that point, the UN, along with France, militarily intervened to open the way for the northern rebels (the Forces Nouvelles) to defeat the Ivorian Armed Forces and capture Laurent Gbagbo "under the shameless pretence that it was acting to protect civilians".

Mbeki deplores France's Françafrique policies, with which the neo-colonial power advances its own interests at Francophone Africa's expense.

He notes that President Gbagbo had no possibility to act on his own to reunify the country and achieve reconciliation amongst the peoples. (In this regard it is important to remember that when Pres. Gbagbo did attempt to reunify the country in Nov 2004, France intervened to prevent it.) Mbeki asserts that President Ouattara will not be able to realise those objectives either, outside of an honest agreement with the Ivorian population represented by Gbagbo.

Mbeki also quotes US ambassador in Ivory Coast, Wanda L. Nebsit, who, in July 2009, expressed concerns about the role being played by Blaise Compaore, the president of neighbouring Burkina Faso.

Finally, Mbeki concludes that the events in Ivory Coast have "exposed the reality of the balance and abuse of power in the post-Cold War era, and put paid to the fiction that the major powers respect the rule of law in the conduct of international relations, even as defined by the U.N. Charter, and that, as democrats, they respect the views of the peoples of the world.

"We can only hope that Laurent and Simone Gbagbo and the Ivorian people do not continue to suffer as abused and humiliated victims of a global system which, in its interests, while shouting loudly about universal human rights, only seeks to perpetuate the domination of the many by the few who dispose of preponderant political, economic, military and media power."

What the World Got Wrong in Cote D'Ivoire
By Thabo Mbeki,
Foreign Policy, 29 April 2011

Ivory Coast: churches filling up -- with refugees.

2011-04-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

While Ivory Coast seems to have disappeared out of the news, the situation for Christians remains absolutely dire.

Here are just a few articles that describe something of what Christians are facing in the new Françafrique Côte d'Ivoire.

Abidjan

On 8 April, the BBC reported that some 1,800 people were holed up inside Abidjan's St Paul's Cathedral.

Father Augustin Obrou, spokesman for the archdiocese of Abidjan, described the situation inside:

"There are almost 1,800 people here, among them women and children who live locally, civil servants and employees who have been unable to return home because of the violence and have nowhere else to go.

"We've had no running water for a week now, and we have babies here, as well as people who have been shot and pregnant women. . . But we are not alone in this situation - other local churches have a similar number of refugees.

"People can't leave because there is no transport. Even if you have a car you are afraid of being shot at, and if you go on foot you can also get attacked. Also people can't be sure that their houses haven't been looted, and many neighbourhoods are too dangerous right now. Generally people are traumatised, so they don't speak much . . .

". . . we are coping by digging water out with long pipes, but it's difficult and people come to fill their buckets from the only pipe working. Those who came with food eat, and those who are from this area rush out and look for whatever food they can get and rush back to the cathedral. And as priests we share, but we only eat the bare minimum to survive.

"It's a very difficult humanitarian situation.

"The other problem is that we have no medicines, and many are unwell, but we can only watch them suffer."

Here is how Daniel Howden, in Abidjan for The Independent, reported the situation on 14 April (nearly one week later).

"Abidjan's cathedral rises like a white harp from the hillside above the city's lagoon. While fighting raged all around it for the past fortnight in the Plateau district more than 2,400 people sheltered inside.

"Now the war is supposed to be over but most of the refugees have chosen to remain. There has been no water for two weeks and almost no food either. Wounded people lie untreated and the old and sick are without medicine.

"Father Jean Baptiste Akwadan is surprised that there hasn't been more help: 'There's been nothing from the government or international agencies,' he says. . .

"Agnes Yaba, a young woman from the war-torn neighbourhood of Abobo, gave birth among the Cathedral pews two days ago. She named her new son Paul, and he now faces an uncertain future."

San Pedro

As mentioned in the previous post A Cry from Abidjan, some 5,000 residents of the southern port city of San Pedro -- Bete, Guere and other tribes that support Gbagbo -- having escaped pro-Ouattara militias, had taken refuge in the Cathedral of St Pierre.

Meanwhile in Duékoué

Some 27,000 ethnic Guéré (a western tribe that supports Laurent Gbagbo and is predominantly Christian) remain holed up the Catholic mission in Duékoué. According to Father Cyprien Ahouré, head of the mission, the mission desperately needs assistance, for they are only really capable of caring for about 1,000 people.

These people survived the 28-29 March ethnic-religious cleansing by pro-Ouattara ethnic Malinké and Baoulé Muslim militias -- a pogrom in which an estimate 800 civilians were slaughtered. Now however, their children are dying of diarrhoea and other treatable diseases while a cholera outbreak looms. And as if things could not get worse, it is simply too dangerous to leave the compound to bury the dead. Women with shaved heads are everywhere.

COTE D'IVOIRE: Mourning and fear in Duékoué
IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Reporting from DUEKOUE, 15 April 2011.

Bah Bonao Sidonie's (41) one-year-old grandson recently died at the mission after a short bout of diarrhoea. IRIN reports: "Bah had already shaved her head when her grandson died. Three of her brothers had also been killed in Duékoué’s Carréfour neighbourhood in March 'when the soldiers [anti-Gbagbo forces] came'. She buried the child herself, alone.

" 'I asked people living here at the mission, as well as the blue helmets, to accompany me to bury my grandson, but I went hours without getting any help,' she told IRIN. 'The youth here at the mission risk being attacked by the Dioula [Malinké] so they can’t go out. I put the child’s body on my back and walked to [the cemetery near] Carréfour; only God accompanied me. I prayed to God to protect me,' she added. 'I dug a hole with a `daba’ [traditional hoe], buried the child, said a prayer and came back.'"

A report from the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, tells of the plight of other survivors who, after escaping pro-Ouattara militias, fled towards the Liberian border.

Alarming IDP conditions in western Côte d'Ivoire; reconciliation needed
Briefing Notes, 15 April 2011

"In western Côte d'Ivoire, and with the security situation apparently calming, our staff are reporting large groups of internally displaced people (IDPs) living in alarming humanitarian conditions. . .

". . . a UNHCR team recently visited the department of Zouhan-Hounien and one of its sub-prefectures, Bin Houye, near the border with Liberia, They met more than 1,000 displaced people mainly originating from Guiglo, Blolequin and Toulepleu [towns also attacked by pro-Ouattara militias]. Some were staying on the premises of a Catholic church and the Ivorian Red Cross in Zouhan-Hounien. . .

"Meanwhile, nearly 6,000 Ivorians have crossed into neighbouring Liberia's Grand Gedeh county since Monday. As supporters of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, these ethnic Guéré refugees – who had been waiting on the border for weeks – said they crossed into Liberia by foot following news of Gbagbo's arrest and reports of reprisal [read: ethnic-religious] attacks in Abidjan. Some arrived in Liberia malnourished. . .

"With this week's new influx, there are now more than 150,000 Ivorian refugees in Liberia, in addition to over 13,000 hosted in other West African countries.

A CRY FROM ABIDJAN -- Christians imperilled

2011-04-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

A cry emerges from Abidjan. A cry of desperation, it emerges only to be suffocated by the din of Western media celebrating the restoration of "democracy" and the return of "normalcy".

A CRY FROM ABIDJAN
-- from a Christian family trapped in Abidjan

"We living in great penury and fear to be looted or even killed like hundreds or even thousands of families in Abidjan. What is going on is beyond imagination: a pure genocide is currently performed right in the eyes of the French and UN troops and the international humanitarian NGO's, targeting entire ethnic groups, as well as a category of people based on their political affiliation or work. Whosoever is suspected to be from the Dan, Wê, Bété (Gbagbo's tribe), Akyé, Abbey, Ebrié -- basically all the western and southern tribes -- is targeted. Militaries, policemen, customs, all men in arms are tracked and killed, along with their families. In some extreme cases, people are killed only because they are not from the north and not Muslims."

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CHRISTIANS IMPERILLED

Before Laurent Gbagbo was captured -- Amnesty International published this warning:
Côte d’Ivoire: Warning of ‘human rights catastrophe’ as forces reach Abidjan
Amnesty International 31 March 2011

"Côte d’Ivoire civilians are at immediate risk of massive human rights violations Amnesty International warned today, as forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara reach the country’s commercial capital Abidjan. [. . .]

"Local sources have told Amnesty International’s delegation currently in Côte d’Ivoire that dead bodies are still lying in the streets of Duékoué [in western Ivory Coast], and tens of thousands of civilians are still sheltering in the Catholic Mission without adequate food, water, sanitation and medical care."

[NOTE: the massacre in Duékoué of around 1000 civilians by pro-Ouattara forces on 28-29 March, occurred in the presence of some 1000 Moroccan U.N. peacekeepers. In its defence, the U.N. has said the majority of the force was deployed around the Catholic mission, defending some 30,000 civilians who had sought refuge there. See report from Salesian Missions official news service. ]

Amnesty continues: "On 29 March, the Republican Forces killed civilian Jean Louana, election campaign director of one of the current ministers appointed by Laurent Gbagbo. They also shot down a Pastor of an evangelical church along with eight members of his congregation."

Quite rightly, Amnesty's report lists abuses from both sides. However, like virtually all Western media it insists on referring to the ethnic massacres perpetrated by pro-Ouattara forces (Republican Forces) as reprisal attacks. This is incongruous considering the fact that the pro-Ouattara forces are the aggressors, the invading forces.

The day after regime change was effected, Amnesty International released this plea:
Reprisal attacks against Gbagbo supporters in Côte d'Ivoire must stop
Amnesty International 12 April 2011

"Perceived supporters of former Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo are at risk of violent reprisals, despite President Alassane Outtara’s call for Ivorians to 'abstain from all forms of reprisals and violence', Amnesty International warned today.

"Today in Abidjan, armed men, some wearing military uniforms, have been conducting house-to-house searches in neighbourhoods where real or perceived supporters of Laurent Gbagbo are living, including Yopougon and Koumassi.

"One eyewitness told Amnesty International how a policeman belonging to Laurent Gbagbo’s ethnic group was taken from his house this morning and shot dead at point blank range in front of him.

"'Dozens of young people are going into hiding in Abidjan out of fear for their lives. In the western part of the country people suspected of being pro-Gbagbo are also terrified. Many are hiding in the bush after their villages were burned down and they need to be protected,' said Véronique Aubert, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Africa.

"Amnesty International has learned that the village of Zikisso, 300 km west of Abidjan, has been attacked several times, including last Sunday, by armed forces allegedly loyal to President Alassane Ouattara. The village chief, Gnagbo Matthias, was abducted by these forces on Monday and is reportedly being held in the town of Lakota.

"Humanitarian conditions are rapidly deteriorating in a Catholic mission in Duékoué, 600 km west of Abidjan, where 27,500 people took refuge after hundreds of people were killed on the basis of their ethnic origin or presumed political affiliation. . . "

An independent report from the Associated Press (AP) also confirms that ethnic-religious-political killings are taking place in the south and western regions.

Reprisals rock Ivory Coast after strongman deposed
AP 13 April 2011

"GUIGLO, Ivory Coast (AP) — The young man in civilian clothes didn't have the right answers for troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara and they suspected he was a fighter backing his rival for the presidency. So one of the soldiers kicked the man in the teeth.

"Fifteen minutes later, an Associated Press reporter saw his body, the chest torn open by bullets, dumped outside this western town.

"Reprisal killings erupted as Ouattara's fighters made a lightning assault to force his rival Laurent Gbagbo from power. And although Gbagbo was captured Monday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's commercial capital, suspected Gbagbo supporters are still being rounded up in cities and villages, especially in western Ivory Coast.

"Parishioners are reporting the kidnappings of dozens of young men in San Pedro, said a Catholic priest in the cocoa-exporting port city in southwestern Ivory Coast. He asked not to be named, explaining: 'We are all in danger'. . ."

AP reports that some 5,000 ethnic Bété and Guere refugees (predominantly Christian tribes loyal to Gbagbo) are holed up in San Pedro's Cathedral of St. Pierre, surrounded by pro-Ouattara forces who recently shot open the gate and fired into the crowd, killing one and wounding several.

"A woman at the cathedral who was too scared to give her name said her neighbor, the headmaster of the Catholic primary school, was killed Monday night at his home because he belonged the wrong tribe.

"'We have a very toxic and explosive mix here of political, ethnic, religious and land rivalry,' the priest said. 'The recent tumultuous events have brought long-simmering conflicts to a head. Who knows where this will end'."

See also:
COTE D'IVOIRE: Accounting for atrocities
IRIN 14 April 2011
A quote concerning Abidjan: "Kouamassi, south of the lagoon, and Yopougon, one of the most densely populated parts of the city, with strong pockets of support for Gbagbo, have remained tense. Residents in these areas have talked of man hunts and executions, of incoming troops targeting Gbagbo supporters, with the young particularly vulnerable. They paint a damning picture of the operations and general behaviour of the Forces Républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI), troops loyal to President Alassane Ouattara. . ."

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NOT ALL AFRICA CELEBRATING
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GHANA's former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, has described the arrest of Cote d’Ivoire’s President Laurent Gbagbo as a repetition of the tragedy of DR Congo’s Patrice Lumumba, who was popularly elected in 1960 on a platform of independence and resistance to neo-colonialism only to be assassinated in 1961 in the service of Western interests.

Rawlings laments: “Fifty years down the road, with Africa still groping for freedom and justice, Black Africa repeats the tragedy of Patrice Lumumba, while next door fellow Arabs are fighting and dying for their freedoms. Whither are we bound?”

(see: Patrice Lumumba: the most important assassination of the 20th century
Guardian, 17 Jan 2011 (50th anniversary of assassination))

Mr Rawling was scathing concerning the humiliation and "violent manhandling" that accompanied the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo, his wife, and family.

He also expressed grave concern over the verifiable reports that the rebels were conducting house-to-house "cleansing" operations in Abidjan, wherein men have been executed and women and young girls abducted.

Rawlings told myjoyonline.com that “Reports by the Red Cross and other international organisations of the massacre of 800 in Duekoue by the advancing rebel forces and the failure to lay the blame where it belongs by the international community further exposes biases in the Ivorian crises.”

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FINALLY: All Elizabeth Kendal's work on Ivory Coast dating back to the Sept 2002 coup, have now been uploaded to the blog.
http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com/search/label/Cote%20d%27Ivoire

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IVORY COAST: where Islamic and Western interests converge

2011-04-07T17:19:00.000-07:00

Ivory Coast is an ethnic-religious fault-line nation. The north is predominantly agrarian and Muslim, while the south, which is more urbanised, industrial and administrative, is predominantly Christian and animist.

Decades of mass Muslim immigration helped make Ivory Coast prosperous, as workers flooded in from neighbouring poor Muslim states to work in Ivorian industries, in particular cocoa. But rapid population expansion eventually resulted in land stress, while subsequent economic downturn resulted in rising unemployment.

It was into this tense climate that presidential aspirant Alassane Ouattara, an ambitious former Prime Minister and Northern Muslim, came playing the race and religion cards for political gain. While his ploy has won him popular backing amongst Ivory Coast's Muslims and immigrants, it has fuelled tensions and aggravated divisions -- as racial-religious politics always does.

Ouattara has campaigned for the naturalisation of all immigrants; something that would give Ivory Coast -- which is politically secular and officially 30 percent Muslim -- an instant Muslim majority. All objections to this scenario -- objections that generally arise from native, secular and non-Muslim Ivorians -- are met with cries of "'Islamophobia", "xenophobia" and "racism".

Precisely because he is a Muslim who is prepared to play the immigrants-and-Muslims-as-victims card for political gain, Ouattara has the backing of most (but not all) African states. Islamic states support him as he advances an Islamic agenda. Meanwhile, to those regimes in poor African states desperate to maintain the inflow of remittances from Ivory Coast, Ouattara represents maintenance of the status quo.

More importantly, precisely because he is prepared to sell-out Ivory Coast's sovereignty and her immense agricultural (coffee, cocoa) and mineral (diamonds, oil) wealth in exchange for power, Ouattara has the backing of resource-hungry Western powers, in particular the neo-colonialist hegemon: France.

In this regard, the international media does largely misunderstand the situation in Ivory Coast. For the high stakes in Ivory Coast relate not only to race ('Ivorite' vs 'immigrant') and religion (Christian vs Muslim), but also to Ivorian independence vs French neo-colonialism.

To this end, Alassane Ouattara is essentially France's man in Ivory Coast. He is France's guarantee that their exploitative monopoly and neo-colonialist hegemony over Ivorian amenities -- including water and telecommunications and banks -- will remain. The colonial pact brokered in the 1960s mandates that 65 percent of the foreign currency reserves of former French colonies in Africa go into the French Treasury, while a further 20 percent of reserves go to cover "financial liabilities". Did you ever wonder why Francophone Africa was so poor? And while this is revenue that France clearly cannot afford to lose, it is revenue that Francophone Africa obviously cannot afford to give.

See: SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME: CFA franc

It is this poverty-perpetuating French neo-colonialism that staunch nationalist Laurent Gbagbo has been fighting for decades. This is why France particularly is so keen to see regime change in Ivory Coast.

And France is not alone. Since 9/11 the US has been keen to lessen its dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf. Present tensions in the Middle East have only deepened that resolve. Consequently, the US is actively seeking to increase its control over the oil reserves in the Gulf of Guinea. Oil from the Gulf of Guinea is not only of a higher quality than that of the Persian Gulf, it is also (or at least it portends to be) more secure.

In late 2010 the Atlantic Council, the preeminent pro-NATO think tank co-released a report entitled "Advancing U.S., African, and Global Interests: Security and Stability in the West African Maritime Domain." It proceeds from the fact that "The Gulf of Guinea is at the brink of becoming a greater supplier of energy to the United States than the Persian Gulf and is therefore of far higher strategic importance than has historically been the case."

See: Militarization Of Energy Policy: U.S. AFRICOM And Gulf Of Guinea
by Rick Rozoff, 8 January 2011

To this end, it is important to note that Ivory Coast, on the Gulf of Guinea, is one of only five African states (a group that includes Libya) not subordinated to US Africom. Africom is essentially US "boots-on-the-ground" in Africa. It is military cooperation on humanitarian projects, or as Horace Campbell, professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University puts it, Africom is "fundamentally a front for US military contractors like Dyncorp, MPRI and KBR operating in Africa".

See: There's no business like war business
By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times online, 30 March 2011

Sustaining and advancing neo-colonialism against nationalist forces.

At the end Cold War, NATO lost its reason for existence. And so it was that the "humanitarian intervention" was born.

A "humanitarian intervention" invariably involves entering an asymmetrical civil conflict on the side of the weaker force, allegedly for the purpose of saving lives. This however, rarely achieves the desired humanitarian result. Rather "humanitarian interventions" normally culminate in frozen conflicts; or in the empowering of forces that could never have achieved power in their own right, and therefore will never be able to sustain power in their own strength, and therefore will require the assistance of a "stabilisation force" or of "peacekeepers" -- in other words, "boots-on-the-ground" (what some might call an occupation).

It is little wonder that sceptics view the "humanitarian intervention" as little more than opportunistic neo-imperialism or neo-colonialism. NATO's humanitarian interventions in Yugoslavia and Kosovo (at the expense of many hundreds of thousands of displaced Serbs), and Russia's humanitarian interventions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia (at the expense of the some 200,000 displaced Georgians) are classic examples. France's "humanitarian intervention" in Ivory Coast is destined to go down in history as yet another appalling example of outright neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism, this time at the expense of native, secular and non-Muslim Ivorians.

The following reports make good background reading:

Cote d'Ivoire: Tearing Apart.
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC
Thursday 17 October 2002

Cote d'Ivoire: The Foreign Muscle Behind the Rebellion .
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC
Tuesday 5 November 2002

IVORY COAST: Christians anxious as war threatens.
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC
WEA Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin - No. 298 - Wed 17 Nov 2004

From this point -- Nov 2004, after France's violent and destructive "humanitarian"/military intervention to prevent President Gbagbo from reunifying the state -- the conflict in Ivory Coast was essentially frozen.

In democracy we trust

The West insisted that Ivory Coast could be reconciled, reunified and essentially saved by means of democratic elections, such is their faith in "democracy" and the inherent goodness of man. In reality however, Ivory Coast's divisions are so profound and the stakes are so high that, unless genuine reconciliation occurred first, elections could only trigger conflict.

See: IVORY COAST: on the brink of war.
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 085
By Elizabeth Kendal. Wed 08 Dec 2010

Ivory Coast (IC) went to the polls on 28 Nov 2010, despite the fact that the northern rebels, in violation of all agreements, had not disarmed.

In Ivory Coast, as in most democracies, an electoral commission manages the mechanics of an election while a constitutional council or court investigates complaints before proclaiming the definitive result. On 2 Dec 2010, Ivory Coast's electoral commission (which is dominated by Ouattara supporters by a margin of 20-2) illegally pre-empted the constitutional council's decision and broadcast via French TV from Ouattara's headquarters that Ouattara had won the election. When Ivory Coast's Constitutional Council, which had been investigating irregularities, announced on 3 Dec 2010 that Gbagbo was the winner, a political stalemate ensued.

See: STATEMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF IVORY COAST
BASIC FACTS SURROUNDING THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE NOVEMBER 28 ELECTIONS
20 DECEMBER 2010

Despite the fact that this was a political problem that warranted a political solution, Alassane Ouattara, bolstered by the support of the "international community", moved to seize power by force.

Virtually all of Ivory Coast's state institutions, including the army, are loyal to President Gbagbo, as is at least half the registered population (concentrated in the south). As such, Abidjan will not yield willingly.

In fact this would be a totally asymmetrical conflict were it not for foreign interference. The rebels would never be able to seize or retain power without Western support. Fortunately for them, in Ivory Coast, Islamic and Western 'interests' converge once again.

In fact France is so keen to see regime change in IC that it has sent attack helicopters against the Presidential Palace and Ivorian military barracks -- in the name of "humanitarianism" of course -- and this despite that fact that these facilities not only house whole families, but they also abut residential areas.

While UN and French helicopters were attacking Ivorian positions in Abidjan, northern militias allied to Alassane Ouattara were pressing south. Some 800 were massacred last week in the south-western town of Duekoue when it came under attack from northern militias. Subsequently, UN peacekeepers found themselves guarding tens of thousands of civilians seeking refuge in a Duekoue church.

SEE:
Echoes of Rwanda in Ivory Coast killing fields
By Dan McDougall, 11 April 2011

Misery afflicts Ivory Coast's west after killings
DUEKOUE, Ivory Coast (AP) 11 April 2011

Côte d’Ivoire: Ouattara Forces Kill, Rape Civilians During Offensive
Human Rights Watch, 9 April 2011

While for Ouattara this is primarily about personal power and personal wealth, for many of those allied to him, this conflict is nothing short of Islamic jihad.

VALE

In 1913 William Wade Harris of Liberia crossed into Ivory Coast preaching the power of Christ over spirits. Dressed in white and carrying a cross, a Bible and a bowl, he baptised around 120,000 and, according to Dr Elizabeth Isichei (1995), 'permanently rewrote the religious geography of the Ivory Coast'.

But permanence can never be assumed. That which is good must be treasured and preserved. What Harris achieved, greed and mass Muslim immigration have undone. Once the most free, safe and prosperous country in all West Africa, Ivory Coast may never recover. Religious liberty and Christian security, once a given, will be tenuous now.

PRAYER: India -- 2 million Hindus and tribals and social kumbh

2011-02-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 095 | Wed 16 Feb 2011

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INDIA: TWO MILLION (EST.) HINDUS AND TRIBALS AT SOCIAL 'KUMBH'
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Christians described as blood-sucking bed bugs that must be killed.

By Elizabeth Kendal

The Sangh Parivar (combined Hindu nationalist forces) held their second 'Samajik Kumbh' (social gathering) on the banks of the Narmada River in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, on 10-12 February 2011. In the preceding two weeks some 28,000 volunteers from the RSS (a Hindu nationalist paramilitary) distributed literature to some 80,000 families across all 19 districts of
the neighbouring Mahakoshal region, home to Madhya Pradesh's largest city, Jabalpur. According to one priest, many Christians were forced to sign forms declaring their intention to accept Hinduism. Alarmed by the abundance of the virulent anti-Christian propaganda, Christian leaders in Mandla petitioned the High Court for protection and the weekend church services were held under police guard.

An estimated two million tribals and Hindu devotees drawn from all over Mahdya Pradesh and central India attended the event. According to Christian eye-witnesses, speeches delivered on the final day particularly vilified Christianity and Christian 'missionaries'. Using familiar language, one speaker raged: 'Christians are like bed bugs, who hide under the guise of so called missionary work, and drink the blood of the innocent vulnerable people and bed bugs should be killed or else they will continue drinking blood.' (AsiaNews, 14 February 2011)

The social Kumbh is a key element in the Sangh's strategy to advance Hindutva (fascist Hindu nationalism) through the tribal belt for political gain. According to the Sangh's propaganda, India's national security, territorial integrity and sovereignty are under threat from foreign forces seeking to divide and weaken India. The only solution, according to the Sangh, is national unity through Hindu solidarity. To this end the Sangh tells the indigenous, non-Aryan, non-Hindu, traditionally Congress Party-voting tribals that the only reason they do not know they are Hindus is because secular governments have neglected to educate them. Fortunately (so the propaganda goes) the Sangh is there to 'inform' and 'enlighten' the tribals so they can 'return' to their Hindu roots, join the Hindu mainstream and (literally) fight for mother India.

The first social Kumbh was held in February 2006 in the tribal district of Dangs, Gujarat, a long-time Congress stronghold known for its sizable Christian minority. According to the Sangh it was a great success because, they claim, the pace of 'reconversion' of Christians to Hinduism subsequently gathered momentum in the area. According to local RSS chief, Sharad Dhole, about15,000 Dangs Christians 'returned to the Hindu fold'. Also some 70 pastors are said to have embraced Hinduism and are now active in the service of the Sangh, holding reconversion ceremonies every 25th December (Indian Express 12 February 2011). Furthermore the BJP (Hindu nationalist) candidate Vijay Patel won the Dangs seat in the December 2007 Assembly elections by more than 11,000 votes, defeating Madhu Bhoya of the Congress. Then, in Gujarat's October 2010 municipal polls, the BJP fielded five Christian candidates on its Dangs ticket and swept the district. According to Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, Christians in Dangs support the BJP because of its 'development politics'. However, this is a Sangh deception. The equity, liberty and national salvation the Sangh holds out as sweet-smelling bait to the hungry, poor and marginalised will never materialise under Hindutva.

The next social Kumbh will be held in Chhattisgarh, drawing in tribals and Hindu devotees from across Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. According to the Sangh's website this social Kumbh 'will accelerate the work of Sri Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati', who, it falsely claims, 'was brutaly (sic) murdered in 2008 by Christian missionaries.' (The Sangh used the August 2008 Maoist assassination of Swami Laxmanananda as an excuse to launch a massive communal pogrom against Christians. Hundreds died and some 500,000 were displaced, many of whom still languish in camps. The Sangh lumps Christians and Maoists together because they both seek an end to the inequities of the Hindu caste system.)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD WILL --

work powerfully in all Christians who are being pressured, threatened or seduced by the Sangh Parivar, enabling them to discern between truth and lies and to remember the awesome greatness and faithfulness of their Lord, looking to him and trusting him with steadfast hearts.
defuse the communal reaction potentially ignited by the Sangh through the recent Mahdya Pradesh social Kumbh; may tribals and Hindus reject all provocation to hatred, intolerance and violence, and may they too be given discernment.
use the Kumbh's focus on Christianity to achieve the exact opposite of what the Sangh intended: may the Kumbh ignite mass curiosity for the gospel along with an appreciation of the ministry and witness of believers in Mahdya Pradesh.

Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11 ESV)

Ethiopia: persecution escalates in Muslim areas

2011-02-09T22:39:00.000-08:00

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 094 | Wed 09 Feb 2011

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ETHIOPIA: PERSECUTION ESCALATES IN MUSLIM AREAS
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By Elizabeth Kendal

The simplistic portrayals of Ethiopia as 'Orthodox Christian' or 'a Christian island surrounded by hostile Muslim neighbours' are misleading. These descriptions ignore the reality that Ethiopia is the legacy of a Christian empire that incorporated many diverse peoples. The Tigray- dominated north and the Amhara-dominated central highlands comprise the Christian heartland. These two Semitic tribes together comprise 45 percent of the population and most of the elite. The periphery is highly diverse and includes many animist and Muslim peoples. Unity is fragile and divisive forces are strong.

Before the Communist Revolution of 1974, Ethiopia was an Amhara-dominated kingdom. After Mengistu's Marxist regime fell in 1991, the new Tigray-led government federalised the state, controversially devolving power to nine autonomous, ethnic regions (just as Tito did in Yugoslavia and as has recently been done in Kenya). By enabling a degree of self-determination, ethnic federalism was supposed to prevent Amhara domination, end cultural conflict and diminish divergent forces. In reality (as in Yugoslavia) it has had the opposite effect: it has weakened the state while magnifying ethnic differences and interests. The largest ethnic group, the Omoro (about equal Muslim / Christian), complain of Tigrayan domination and want to secede. In September 2009 the International Crisis Group lamented that the international community was neglecting 'the increased ethnic awareness and tensions created by the regionalisation policy and their potentially explosive consequences'.

Ethiopia's Constitution (adopted in December 1994) states: 'The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Any law, customary practice or a decision of an organ of state or a public official which contravenes this Constitution shall be of no effect' (Article 9.1). Complicating ethnic tensions is the trend of rising Islamic intolerance. According to the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, Saudi-funded entities are exacerbating tensions between traditional Sufis and new Wahhabis, as well as between Muslims and Christians. In recent years Christians living in Muslim-dominated areas have been subjected to escalating persecution and application of Sharia law. To maintain 'harmony' and to appease restive Muslims, the Federal Government made religious incitement and religious defamation criminal offences in 2008. While Article 27 of the Federal Constitution guarantees 'Freedom of Religion, Belief and Opinion' it also provides that religious freedom may be limited by law in the interests of public safety.

In August 2010 Tamirat Woldegorgis (early 30s and father of two), a Protestant Christian in Ethiopia's southern town of Moyale, Oromia region, was arrested after a Muslim co-worker accused him of inscribing 'Jesus is Lord' on a cloth. The accuser changed his statement several times before the local imam testified that Woldegorgis had written the offensive words on a Quran. Despite the absence of evidence, Woldegorgis was sentenced on 18 November 2010 to three years in prison for allegedly defiling a Quran. He was then transferred to Jijiga Prison in Ethiopia's Somali Region Zone Five which is governed according to Sharia. Consequently his life is greatly imperilled. Two friends who recently brought him food were fined for supporting a criminal imprisoned for defaming Islam. Authorities have reportedly offered to release Woldegorgis if he will convert to Islam (Compass Direct News, 29 November 2010).

International Christian Concern (ICC) has reported several violent attacks on Christian leaders in recent months. Of great concern is the report that harassed and persecuted Christians in the southern city of Besheno, Oromia region, have recently had notices posted on their doors warning them to convert to Islam, leave the city or face death. According to ICC, three leading Christians from an evangelical Christian community of about 30 believers have been forced to flee and two have been forcibly converted to Islam.

Intolerant, repressive, fundamentalist Islam is spreading, exerting itself and testing the limits in Ethiopia's autonomous ethnic regions. Are minority Christian groups in restive Muslim-dominated areas going to be protected according to the Federal Constitution, or will they be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency, stripped of their constitutional rights and handed over to the dictators of Islam in exchange for promises of 'harmony' and national unity?

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:

* protect Tamirat Woldegorgis and deliver him safely back to his family; may the family all know the sustaining presence of the Lord, their provider.

* protect the Christians living in restive Oromia and Islamic Somali, particularly the persecuted and threatened Christians in Besheno.

* grant Christian leaders great wisdom to know how to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matthew 10:16 ESV).

* give the Federal Government much wisdom, strength and courage to tackle the issue of constitutional rights and the supremacy of the Federal Constitution over regional Islamic courts.

Please pray for Ethiopia, a state of immense geo-strategic value in the Horn of Africa.

BURMA (MYANMAR): SEVERE PERSECUTION OF ETHNIC CHIN

2011-01-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

Nobel Prize winning Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has just released an important report entitled "Life Under the Junta: Evidence of Crimes Against Humanity in Burma's Chin State".

Burma's ethnic Chin minority is virtually entirely Christian, and Christianity is integral to the culture of Chin State. This report from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) presents evidence of systematic human rights abuses against the Chin on ethnic and religious grounds. (The junta advances ethnic Burman and Buddhist supremacy.)

The abuses are perpetrated by regime officials, most of whom are soldiers. Nearly 92 percent of all households interviewed had experienced at least one episode of a family member being conscripted for forced labour (enslavement). Nearly 15 percent of all those interviewed had experienced beatings, rape and/or torture at the hands of junta officials.

Life Under the Junta: Evidence of Crimes Against Humanity in Burma's Chin State
Physicians for Human Rights (Jan 2011)

IRAN: REGIME HITS OUT AT APOSTASY -- 70 ARRESTED

2011-01-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 090 | Wed 12 Jan 2011

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IRAN: REGIME HITS OUT AT APOSTASY -- 70 ARRESTED
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By Elizabeth Kendal

Ethnic Armenian and Assyrian Orthodox Churches in Iran may exist in peace as long as they do not proselytise (i.e. seek converts). It is illegal to preach Christianity in Farsi (the Persian language) just as it is illegal for Muslims to reject Islam (apostasy). The penalty for apostasy is death. So when Muslim Farsi-speaking Iranians convert to Christianity, they must meet and worship in illegal 'underground' fellowships.

Early on 25 & 26 December 2010 armed plainclothed agents from the infamous Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) raided the homes of Christians known to be converts from Islam and/or active in witnessing to Muslims. As well as confiscating CDs, Bibles, religious books, computers and personal documents, they arrested 25 Christians. Sixteen other Christians listed for arrest were not home at the time of the raids and remain unaccounted for. Further to this there are unconfirmed reports that as many as 50 other mostly young believers have since been arrested. Amongst those detained are five married couples, one of whom has been separated from their two-year-old child and another from their breast-feeding infant. The detained Christians are being interrogated and coerced. Eleven have since been released after signing documents promising to refrain from Christian activity. The detained believers are virtually all converts from Islam.

The governor of Tehran province, Morteza Tamadon, describes Protestants and evangelicals as 'corrupt and deviant' and also accuses them of conducting an 'enemy cultural invasion'. 'The leaders of this movement,' he declared, 'have been arrested in Tehran province and more will be arrested in the near future. Just like the Taliban, who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, [evangelicals] have crafted amovement with Britain's backing in the name of Christianity. But their conspiracy was unveiled quickly and the first blows were delivered to them.'

In June 2010 Protestant pastor Youcef Nadrkhani and his wife Fatemah were arrested in the northern city of Rasht. According to court documents, Nadrkhani has been convicted of apostasy, organising meetings, proselytising, establishing a house church, baptising people, and openly expressing his distaste for Islam. For these crimes he has been sentenced to death while Fatemah has been sentenced to life in prison. The couple have two young children. In September 2010 a court of appeals upheld the death sentence, which is being delayed to give MOIS more time to try to coerce Pastor Nadrkhani to return to Islam. Pastor Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani, also arrested in June 2010, has likewise been indicted for apostasy and similar 'national security' offences. Nine other believers arrested with him, including his wife, have been released but he has not yet been sentenced.

In October 2010 Iran's intelligence minister said his agents had discovered hundreds of underground church groups, including 200 in the Muslim holy city of Mashad. According to iranfocus.com, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an October speech that Iran's enemies were behind the underground churches. The director of the Toronto-based Iranian Christian News Agency, Saman Kamvar states, 'Since officials gave these comments, pressure has increased on our community, and the crackdowns have taken a more organised shape.'

It would be a mistake to think only politically about this as it is essentially a spiritual battle.

PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL:

* demonstrate his supremacy over a belligerent regime that increasingly regards itself as supreme (see Isaiah 37:21-29 where God pronounces judgement on Sennacherib, king of Assyria); may God's hand, God's glory and God's supremacy be evident to all.

* continue his powerful work inside Iran and amongst the Iranian diaspora by his irrepressible Holy Spirit, graciously drawing Iranians out of darkness and despair into light and joy; may revival erupt, transforming the landscape.

* restrain violent hands, shield believers, provide for families, bring the schemes of the wicked to nothing (Psalm 146:9) and may what was meant for evil produce glorious fruit.

* flood the hearts of all Iranian Christians -- particularly those detained, threatened and imperilled -- with the supernatural peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

IVORY COAST: ON THE BRINK OF WAR

2010-12-08T22:52:00.000-08:00

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 085 | Wed 08 Dec 2010

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IVORY COAST: ON THE BRINK OF WAR
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By Elizabeth Kendal

Like Sudan and Nigeria, Ivory Coast is divided by a volatile ethnic-religious fault-line. Whilst the less-developed North has long been predominantly Muslim, the South -- Ivory Coast's economic and political engine -- has historically been predominantly Christian and African Traditional Religion (ATR). Decades of mass immigration (1960-1993) from the neighbouring Muslim states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea might have been great for the economy, but they have tipped the demographic balance so that Ivory Coast -- officially about one-third Muslim -- is actually
majority Muslim.

The civil war that erupted in September 2002 was portrayed by the international media as a crisis of democracy and human rights caused by Southern xenophobia and Islamophobia. In reality, Ivory Coast's crisis is the consequence of decades of Muslim mass immigration coupled with political ambition and an internationally-sponsored Islamic agenda. The civil war was fought essentially between those who want all Ivory Coast's Muslim immigrants naturalised -- giving Ivory Coast a Muslim majority overnight -- and those who do not. Though he denies it, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, a Northern Muslim, was doubtless behind the September 2002 failed coup that triggered the war. Ouattara and his party, the Rally of the Republicans (RDR), have been playing the race and religion cards for political gain. Ouattara's intent has been to have all the Muslim immigrants naturalised (over 4 million: estimated to comprise between 30 and 40 percent of the total population) so that he (their champion) can dragnet the Muslim vote. Ouattara has long had his eye on the presidency.

The civil war left Ivory Coast totally polarised, split between a virtually ethnic-religiously cleansed, rebel-controlled Muslim North and a government-controlled predominantly Christian, non-Muslim South. Since the war the North has been in serious decline with AIDS, poverty and lawlessness increasing exponentially. In November 2004 Ivory Coast's Christian president, Laurent Gbagbo, launched surprise airstrikes against rebel positions in the North in an attempt to reunify the country. However, former colonial power France (which backs the rebels for economic gain) intervened, razing all IC's airforce planes, destroying runways and sending tanks against the Presidential Palace, around which loyalists formed a human shield.

The West had insisted that Ivory Coast could be reconciled, reunified and essentially saved by means of democratic elections, such is their faith in 'democracy' and the inherent goodness of man. In reality, the divisions are so profound and the stakes are so high that, unless genuine reconciliation occurred first, elections could only trigger conflict. Elections were held on 28 November 2010, with both Gbagbo and Ouattara claiming victory. The US, European Union and African Union have recognised Ouattara as the winner and called for Gbagbo to respect democracy and step down. Russia meanwhile is blocking a UN statement that would recognise Ouatarra, saying that this is not the UN's role. Ivory Coast's non-Muslims are traumatised, fearing that their homeland -- once the most prosperous 'Christian' nation in West Africa, home to the region's largest cathedral, home-base to most of West Africa's regional Christian ministries -- is about to come under Muslim political domination.

(COMMENT: Ivory Coast's crisis -- the consequence of decades of Muslim mass immigration -- is a foretaste of what several states in democratic Europe may be facing in a generation or two.)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO:

* give Ivory Coast's Christian leaders -- pastors and politicians --
great spiritual wisdom and authority.

* bring revival to the Church in Ivory Coast so believers will be
compelled to go out with the gospel in boldness, empowered by the
Holy Spirit, so that Ivory Coast might be spiritually transformed.
For only then will the peoples 'beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks . . .' (Isaiah 2:4 ESV)

* intervene in the tense climate by interposing a spirit of restraint,
compelling the people to seek a negotiated solution as a means of
averting another destructive civil war -- a war that would certainly
attract international jihadists.

Iraq & Egypt: al-Qaeda declares war on Christians over the myth of Camilia

2010-11-17T19:24:00.000-08:00

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 082 | Wed 17 Nov 2010

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IRAQ & EGYPT: AL-QAEDA DECLARES WAR ON CHRISTIANS
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BACKGROUND IN EGYPT: In July 2010 Camilia Shehata Zakher disappeared after a quarrel with her husband, a Coptic priest in Minya Governorate. Unaware that she was with relatives in Cairo, he reported her missing and accused Muslims of abducting her for forced conversion, a fate not uncommon for Coptic girls in Egypt.

When Egyptian Security Forces found Camilia in Cairo and returned her to her husband, Muslims protested, claiming that Camilia was now Muslim and was being held by the church against her will. One fundamentalist sheikh claimed to have heard her say the shahada, the declaration of Muslim faith. Digitally edited photos purportedly of Camilia in full Islamic dress started appearing on the web. Islamic militants urged that Christian tourists be kidnapped and killed in retaliation. On 1 September a Mauritanian cleric issued a fatwa permitting the killing of Egyptian Copts. Camilia has come to personify the Muslim fantasy of Coptic girls converting to Islam and of the church as a principle cause of fitna or persecution.

Then on 8 September Camilia appeared on national TV denouncing the rumours of torture, drugs and captivity. 'I am appearing,' she said, 'in order to defend my husband, my child, my church and my religion which is Christianity.'

Fundamentalist sheikhs subsequently claimed the woman on the TV was not Camilia, but her 'double'. Egyptian State Security immediately refuted this and the Chairman of the Committee of Declaration of Islam at Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Saeed Amer, stepped in and denied that Camilia ever came to Al-Azhar or that her case ever came before him. Islamist propagandists subsequently asserted that Camilia was kidnapped by State Security forces while on her way to Al-Azhar to formalise her conversion. The Islamists claim therefore the State actually prevented her conversion to Islam.

The truth is: Camilia is a Christian who never converted to Islam. The Camilia of Islamic fantasy -- the convert to Islam who is suffering persecution at the hand of the church -- is a myth. Nevertheless this totally debunked myth is being used as incitement and as an excuse to kill Christians.

INCITEMENT IN EGYPT; DEADLY CONSEQUENCES IN IRAQ.

On 15 September, as religious tensions soared, the former secretary-general of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, Muhammad Salim al-Awwa, raged on Aljazeera international TV, falsely accusing Egypt's Copts of 'stocking arms and ammunition in their churches and monasteries' in preparation for war against Muslims. He also perpetuated the lie that the Coptic Church was holding female Coptic converts to Islam captive in desert monasteries (RLPB 079, 27 Oct 2010).

As the rhetoric escalated, riots multiplied, forcing the government to urge media restraint for the sake of national unity. Then on 31 October ten al-Qaeda militants in Iraq laid siege to a Syrian Catholic Church in Baghdad. Fifty-eight died and more than 70 were wounded in the subsequent massacre. In claiming responsibility, the al-Qaeda-linked 'Islamic State of Iraq' gave Egypt's Coptic Church 48 hours to release from captivity Camilia Shehata and Wafa Constantine, an almost identical case from 2004. Otherwise jihadists would retaliate against Christians everywhere (RLPB 080, 3 Nov 2010). The incitement in Egypt being linked to the massacre in Baghdad and the threat from al-Qaeda shocked Egypt, prompting restraint there and temporarily settling the situation somewhat.

Nothing, however, has settled in Iraq. On 9 November three Christian homes were bombed at night in the suburb of Mansour, western Baghdad. The following morning two Christian homes in al-Dora were hit by mortar fire. Bombs also exploded outside a church in Kampsara and outside about a dozen Christian homes across Baghdad. At least four Christians were killed and dozens were wounded and terrorised. The targeted homes could be seen to be Christians because of funeral notices and visible Christian insignia.

Then on Monday evening 15 November Islamic militants in the northern city of Mosul stormed two adjacent homes of Christian families in the eastern al-Tahrir neighbourhood and killed the two male heads of those households, a Syrian Catholic and an Armenian. Almost simultaneously a bomb exploded outside a Christian home in central Mosul. The next day a Christian man and his daughter aged six were killed by a car bomb in Mosul.

This terror has led to a surge in Christians fleeing Iraq. They will join the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians struggling to survive as refugees in Syria, Turkey and Jordan. They no longer see any reason to risk their lives for a state where, even if they survive, they will be condemned to live as second class citizens (dhimmis).

In Egypt, the lives of Copts are conditionally 'protected' as dhimmis. This means they will not be killed and plundered provided they submit to the injustice, persecution and humiliation inherent in abject subjugation under superior Islam. After years of impunity for attacks on Copts, their security is now extremely tenuous.

On Monday 15 November 22 homes, two commercial shops, a bakery, and livestock, all belonging to Copts, were burnt when Muslims -- reportedly nearly 1000 -- rioted in the Upper Egyptian village of el-Nowahed after hearing a rumour that a Christian boy was in a relationship with a Muslim girl. (According to the rules of Islam, a Christian boy may not approach a Muslim girl but must convert to Islam first.)

Due to years of radicalisation and the re-establishment of dhimmitude, the situation in Egypt is now pre-genocidal. Meanwhile the situation in Iraq is undoubtedly genocidal, partly because Iraq has become a base for foreign-sponsored sectarian Islamic militias. Additionally there is the factor that, as a Western experiment in Islamic democracy (like Lebanon previously), the West doesn't want to see or admit failure in Iraq, especially as that would challenge the West's firmly held belief that democracy -- as distinct from the Gospel of Jesus Christ -- is the solution to noble (rather than sinful) humanity's problems.

The West must end the denial and take some responsibility for securing and rescuing Iraq's Christian remnant. Once US troops withdraw and the 'real' war begins, it will be too late.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO:

* level the paths, open the doors and provide safe passage for all Iraqi Christians fleeing Islamic terror and genocide for what may be an extended period of exile.

* draw the hearts and minds of all Iraqi Christians to him, that they might put their faith in him alone, for he is their only hope.

'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me . . . Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one the least of these, you did not do it to me.' (From Matthew 25:40,45 ESV.)

* intervene in Egypt, to still the brewing storm; may all Egypt's Christians -- Copts and Arab converts -- look to Christ and put their faith in him alone, for he is their only hope.

* frustrate the plots and programs of the wicked, while pricking the conscience of the alliance states to Christian duty and moral obligation that they might respond with commitment and generosity to the humanitarian catastrophe that is befalling Iraqi Christians.

Christianity in China: the repression and the propaganda

2010-09-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

The situation regarding religious freedom in China is complex. While the phenomenal growth experienced in China's state-sanctioned, registered (i.e. legal) churches is encouraging and truly inspiring, the regulations imposed on these churches are for many, simply unacceptable and prohibitive.

Rather than submit to what they regard as unacceptable levels of regulation, the overwhelming majority of Chinese Christians risk serious persecution in order to worship freely. Meeting and worshipping in unregistered (i.e. illegal) house churches -- without Chinese Communist Party (CCP) permission, without CCP supervision, defying CCP restrictions on movement and evangelism etc -- they risk fines and "administrative detentions" (no charge or trial required) of up to15 days in prison or up to three years in Mao's laogai (a "gulag" of more than 900 state-owned, CCP-administered slave labour camps. Of course this is one reason why "Made in China" is so cheap.)

Propaganda Alert!

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is presently engaged in a strategic global propaganda campaign. The CCP wants everyone to know that it is today a party of suits, not fatigues; advancing prosperity, security and Chinese culture, not revolution.

The CCP's aim is doubtless to bolster nationalistic zeal, delegitimise both domestic and international criticism, and obscure the fact that China remains a totalitarian state.

See: The (propaganda) empire strikes in China
By Kent Ewing, Asia Times on Line, 24 Aug 2010

Included in this propaganda campaign are efforts to present China as a land of great religious liberty where Christianity flourishes, despite regulations.

Chinese authorities recently gave the BBC "unprecedented access" to China's state-sanctioned churches and religious institutions, including Amity House where some 12 million Bibles are published each year (at least 40 percent for export).

Of course the BBC subsequently released a glowing report on the Chinese Communist Party's "commitment to supporting the development of Christianity".

See: China invests in confident Christians
By Christopher Landau BBC News, China, 23 August 2010

"Three decades ago, China's Cultural Revolution saw some of the most dramatic restrictions on the practice of religion ever seen in the modern world.

"But today's communist rulers have radically altered their views about religion and have granted substantial freedom to Christians prepared to worship within state-sanctioned churches.

"Within these boundaries, Christianity is growing in China as never before - and doing so supported by millions of dollars of government funding. . . "

ALSO:
HEART & SOUL, on BBC radio.
Christianity in China
• Episode 1
• Episode 2

The BBC report was of course picked up by others and quickly multiplied -- its message echoing many times over across the globe.

As exciting as church growth in state-sanctioned churches is, this is not the whole story, indeed, it may be little more than a facade, erected to hide totalitarian repression.

In March 2010, I a highlighted an important lecture by Richard Madsen who comments on the fact that while CCP methods of control have evolved, the CCP still demands the church accept the "government master, religion follower" formula of Imperial China's sacral hegemony.

This is indeed the sense we get from listening to the BBC radio programs. The CCP is clearly more than happy to have the church exist as a "servant" to the state, filling in gaps in social services, helping to keep the masses satiated and pacified. However, the CCP is definitely not willing to have the church to act as "prophet".

Meanwhile, along with its interest in exploiting Christian service, the money-idolising CCP is also seriously interested in seeing if it can exploit the link between Protestant Christianity and economic prosperity. Maybe they are gambling that a carefully measured and closely supervised dose of medicinal Christianity will make CCP-ruled China rich. Of course it is absolutely imperative that this medicinal Christianity be "carefully measured" and "closely supervised", for the CCP is fully aware of the problems that could be triggered by an overdose.

In August, the state-funded Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) released its Annual Report on China's Religions.

See: Academy releases report on religion
Source: Global Times, 13 August 2010

According to the CASS report, China currently has 23.05 million Protestant Christians, of which almost one-third converted since 2003. Furthermore, 60 percent said they turned to Christianity after they or family members suffered from illness, while more than half of Chinese Protestants have not received secondary schooling.

Of course many would dispute those statistics. Fan Yafeng (41) a researcher with the Zhongfu Shengshan Institute and ex-CASS researcher flatly rejects CASS's findings as "ridiculous". A house church member for 13 years, Fan asserts that there are at least 500,000 Protestants in Beijing alone -- five times the figure asserted by the CASS -- and that a lot of them are well-educated professionals and intellectuals.

The aim of the CASS report is doubtless to elevate the role of the CCP in the alleged recent explosion of Christianity -- thereby establishing the church's debt to the regime -- while diminishing the Christians themselves as needy and under-educated, i.e. weak and vulnerable, i.e. not the sort of crowd with which any strong, intelligent and influential individual might wish to identify.

Preserving the CCP

Jamestown's China Brief has published a hugely significant study (in two parts) by Arthur Waldron, in which Waldron analyses an eight-part television series in which Chinese social scientists analyse the fall of the Soviet regime. The series is called "Preparing for Danger in Times of Safety -- Historic Lessons Learned from the Demise of Soviet Communism".

According to Waldron the series attributes the demise of the Soviet regime, not to openness or restructuring, but to very specific failures of the Soviet Union Communist Party (SUCP). Decade-long research has determined that the Soviet regime failed "because," reports Waldron, "it gave up the dictatorship of the proletariat, ceased to practice democratic centralism, criticized Stalin, was beguiled by western concepts such as democracy, and also tripped up by Western propaganda and other operations."

The series adulates Lenin and Stalin, while demonising Khrushchev and Gorbachev. Waldron quotes Chinese social scientists Zhou Xincheng and Guan Xueliang who maintain: "The disorders of the 1980s and 1990s in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe all have a conspicuous characteristic, which is that they were all set in motion by negation of and attacks on 'the Stalin model'." They regard Khrushchev's "secret speech" of 14 February 1956 -- "On Personal Worship and its Consequences", in which he denounced Stalin before the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union -- as the beginning of the end. Waldron notes that even today, no criticism of either Stalin or Mao is permitted in China, although Mao is the subject of considerable public criticism regardless.

The Chinese analysts firmly believe that the situation in the Soviet Union could have been salvaged had the Soviets adopted the path subsequently followed by China: adhered to Marxist-Leninist theory and paths while correctly solving its problems and conflicts, correcting mistakes with courage. They conclude that the Soviet regime fell because, in its attempts to make the system more "humane", it failed to maintain a comprehensive dictatorship. "The consensus is," writes Waldron, "that Gorbachev was beguiled by the siren song of 'humanitarian socialism'."

"Such" writes Waldron," is the Chinese official -- it must be stressed official -- diagnosis of the Soviet failure, and from the diagnosis will flow the policy solution. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that party discipline and unity are at the top of the list of issues being stressed publicly in China today, and simple repression is regularly employed as a means of dealing with tensions, while relatively less emphasis is placed on how to cope with the vast challenges posed to any authoritarian government by a dynamic, growing, and ever-differentiating society."

Waldron regards China's "concealed history" as a ticking time bomb. "It is a good bet," he reckons, "that someone in [the next] generation of leadership will make a Chinese 'secret speech' and turn to the ideas of humanity in socialism, even though they are today officially excoriated in analyses of the disintegration of the Soviet Union."

Chinese Analyses of Soviet Failure: The Party
Publication: China Brief Volume: 9 Issue: 23
November 19, 2009 By: Arthur Waldron for Jamestown

Chinese Analyses of Soviet Failure: Humanitarian Socialism
Publication: China Brief Volume: 10 Issue: 11
May 27, 2010, By: Arthur Waldron

No matter what happens, the CCP does not have the last word on Christianity in China.

Antonio Weiss writes in the Guardian:"With the state now actively financing Christianity, China could well become the largest Christian country in the world."

Weiss' assessment is only partly correct.

For "Yes", China is set to emerge as the world's largest Christian country. Indeed, China is destined to become the greatest missionary-sending nation the world has ever seen.

But "No", it will not be on account of the Chinese Communist Party.

Rather, all the glory will be God's.
For HE alone is sovereign.
And HE is doing a great work in China.

"Hezballah's Christian allies": a "covenant with death" if ever there was one.

2010-09-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon -- the International Court set up in May 2007 by the UN Security Council to investigate the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 others -- will soon deliver its findings. Expectations are running high that the tribunal will indict Hezballah, Syria and heads of Lebanon's intelligence agencies.

Reports and movements on the ground in Lebanon indicate that if the tribunal does indict Hezballah, then Hezballah will stage a coup or a policy-reversing blitzkeig similar to the one it staged in Beirut in May 2008 in which it laid siege to the homes of Sunni leader Saad Hariri (son of the assassinated Rafiq Hariri) and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, and won, through force of arms, the right to share power and veto government decisions.

"What is beyond doubt," writes Zvi Mazel in the Jerusalem Post, "is that both Hizbullah and Syria will do all they can to prevent the court from fulfilling its mandate. If the court does not desist one way or another, fighting will probably erupt in Lebanon."

Tensions soar

If the Special Tribunal on Lebanon (STL) rules, as is expected, that Hezballah, Syria and the heads of Lebanese intelligence agencies are complicit in the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, then the issue of Hezballah's arms would most certainly be back on the table. As Elias Youssef Bejjani reports, Hezballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has vowed not to abide by the court's rulings, having tagged the tribunal an Israeli-American conspiracy and a tool of treason against Lebanon established on the fabrications of false witnesses in a bid to have the "resistance" cornered, framed, dismantled and disarmed. Nasrallah, determined to prevent any ruling that could lead to calls for Hezballah's disarmament, is threatening violence.

Once again, Lebanon teeters on the verge of civil war. The pressure has been such that Prime Minister Saad Hariri has been forced to retreat. Realistically, what else can Hariri do? For PM Hariri has no means to fight Hezballah, especially now the US has no influence in the region, Iran is ascendant, and Saudi Arabia (Hariri's natural ally) is more interested in improving ties with Sunni-majority Arab Syria in the vain hope that it can lure Syria out of Iran's Shi'ite-majority Persian embrace.

Even after his March 14 Alliance won the June 2009 elections, Hariri was forced to accommodate Hezballah by inviting them into a government of national unity. Thus Hezballah secured through terror, not only a share of power and the right to veto parliament, but control of the foreign affairs, health, communications, energy and industry portfolios as well.

The situation has not changed. In the absence of meaningful international support (i.e. something other than mere words), Lebanon's national security will remain dependent upon perpetual accommodation and appeasement of Hezballah.

In September, Syria's President Bashir summonsed PM Hariri to meet with him in Damascus. Upon his return, Hariri echoed the sentiments of Hezballah's Nasrallah and cast suspicions on the ability of the STL to make a right judgement. Hariri suggested that the tribunal had been deceived and that this had led to a deterioration of relations between Lebanon and Syria. Next month Hariri will play host Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Clearly, to a threatened man without means of resistance, the gravitational pull of the Iranian axis is irresistible.

Sami Gemayel, a Maronite Christian, is the son of former president Amin Gemayel, brother of assassinated MP Pierre Gemayel, and nephew of assassinated former president-elect Bachir Gemayel. As a strong Lebanese nationalist, he is a staunch critic of Hezballah. Consequently, Gemayel objected vehemently to PM Hariri's u-turn on the STL, going on to accuse Hezballah of collaborating against Lebanon's interests. Nasrallah responded by posting a grim threat on Hezballah's website -- the Islamic Resistance Forum -- in which he denounced the Christian leader as an Israeli spy and called for his "crucifixion on a pole in the Pride and Dignity Square in Beirut".

Hezballah's Christian allies

At the time of the 2005 elections, around 70 percent of Lebanon's Christians supported the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) of General (retired) Michel Aoun. On 6 February 2006, Aoun signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) with Hezballah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a ceremony in Mar Mikhail Church, just a few blocks from Hezballah's headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs. Doubtless Hezballah was seeking to secure Christian allies who could support their causes in parliament. Nasrallah may have even been betting that the March 8 opposition could ride to power on the FPM's coat-tails. Meanwhile, the highly ambitious Aoun had his eyes on the presidency (reserved for a Christian) and was doubtless betting (as were many Christians) he could secure political power, liberty and security for Christians through a pact/covenant with the toughest boys on the block.

Back in June 2006, after I wrote a piece entitled "Lebanon Falls" in which I was critical of Hezballah's May 2008 violent seizure of Beirut, I was chided by some well known Lebanese evangelicals who accused me of misrepresenting Hezballah. After commenting that they and virtually all Lebanese Christians shared Hezballah's anti-Israel stance, they insisted that Hezballah was most definitely not anti-Semitic, not anti-Christian, and not a terrorist organisation. On the contrary, they told me, Hezballah was in fact an ally in the quest for religious liberty, political power and equality, citing the MOU as "proof".

I said at the time, and still maintain today, that this alliance with Hezballah will be for Christians nothing other than a "covenant with death" (Isaiah 28:15-22).

By the time of the June 2009 elections, suspicion was simmering throughout the Christian heartland north of Beirut where Hezballah's establishment of military outposts was causing alarm. Consequently, a significant number of Christians deserted Aoun on polling day, and Aoun could not deliver to Hezballah the numbers he had projected.

Today, reports and movements on the ground suggest that Hezballah is preparing to stage a coup and co-opt its Christian allies to fight its Christian opponents.

Elias Youssef Bejjani reports: "Well-informed Saudi sources have confirmed to the 'Beirut Observer' that . . . information became available to them indicating that an imminent Hezbollah coup is in on the horizon." According to reports, Hezballah's strategy will be similar to that enacted in the May 2008 blitzkrieg, in that militants will simultaneously take control of roads, media and state institutions, and besiege the homes of government officials, effectively placing them under house arrest until they are subdued.

(Of course there will be no need to besiege Walid Jumblatt's home this time, as he switched sides after the June 2009 election in order to align himself with the ascendant force. For along with the fact that Hezballah has proved itself to be the strongest military force in the country, despite losing the election 70 to 58 seats, the Hezballah-led March 8 opposition did win 55 percent of the vote.
See: How will Jumblatt’s split affect March 14?
By Maya Khourchid, NOW Lebanon, 6 August 2009
AND: Walid Jumblatt in Closed-Door Meeting with Druze Sheikhs: 'We Have No Choice But to Coexist with the Shi'ites'. MEMRI June 2009. )

According to reports, Hezballah's Christian allies have conspired with Hezballah to this end, and have served as intermediaries enabling Hezballah to purchase real estate in Christian regions loyal to PM Hariri and the March 14 Alliance. It has been confirmed that Hezballah has deployed some 3,500 armed militiamen along the Mediterranean coast and throughout the Christian regions north of Beirut, including through the cities of Junieh, Tabarja and Batroun. These militants, having taken up residence in chalets and apartments deep inside Christian areas, simply await the green light. Consequently, in the event of conflict, Hezballah will be positioned to besiege the homes of Dr. Samir Geagea (head of the Christian Lebanese Forces Party) and Amin Gemayel (head of the Kataeb Christian Party) and subdue the Christian regions by force. As in May 2008, Hezballah is not expecting any resistance from the clearly partisan Lebanese Army.

Further to this, Hezbollah is reportedly counting on General Michel Aoun's military aid in the Christian regions, where Aoun's role allegedly will be to contain and abort by force any resistance from the Lebanese Forces and the Phalanges Parties.

This sets up a conflict scenario where Hezballah's Christian allies (backed by Hezballah of course) will be pitted against Hezballah's Christian opponents in a military conflagration where ultimately the only real winner can be Hezballah. A "covenant with death" indeed.

See also:
Hariri case 'could cause civil war'
Politician warns of sectarian violence if UN-backed tribunal indicts members of Hezbollah movement.
Aljazeera, 24 Sep 2010

Lebanon's hour  of reckoning
Claude Salhani, Khaleej Times, 25 September 2010

Syria, Saudi seek to calm tensions in Lebanon
By Rita Daou (AFP), 24 Sept2010

Fear and Loathing in the Levant
By Zvi Mazel for the Jerusalem Post, 21 Sept 2010.

Hezbollah's looming Coup Scenario
Elias Youssef Bejjani, International Analyst Network, 24 Sep 2010

Geagea accuses rivals of plotting 'coup' over STL
FPM raps LF chief’s ‘isolationist policy’
By Wassim Mroueh, Daily Star, 27 September 2010

Hizbullah reasserts right to defend itself against 'politicized' STL
By Elias Sakr, Daily Star, 27 September 2010

ALGERIA: arrest warrant issued amidst escalating repression

2010-09-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

A judge in the Algerian coastal city of Tizi-Ouzou has issued an arrest warrant for Ali Arhab, the Algerian-born director of the France-based Christian satellite ministry Channel North Africa.

What initially appeared to be a simple case of mistaken identity has developed into something decidedly more sinister. The concern is that the Algerian government might be wielding a false criminal charge against Mr Arhab as part of its anti-missionary, anti-fitna, Islamist-appeasement campaign, the effect being that Mr Arhab will be unable to return to Algeria without risking imprisonment.

Religious Liberty in Algeria

According to The Constitution of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (approved by Referendum on 28 November 1996) Algerian citizens are free to observe their own religion.

"Freedom of creed and opinion is inviolable" (Article 36).
"The right to create associations is guaranteed" (Article 43).

However, unlike Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 36 of the Algerian Constitution does not make any reference to an individual's right to change their religion. Furthermore, Article 2 states "Islam is the religion of the state", and Article 9 prohibits "practices that are contrary to the Islamic ethics and to the values of the November Revolution". Together these render religious liberty illusory. (NOTE: the "November Revolution" marked the beginning of Algeria's war of independence, the goal of which, according to the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), was the establishment of Algeria as an independent sovereign state "within the framework of the principles of Islam" (Front de Libération Nationale, 1 Nov 1954).

Moustafa Bouchachi, President of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, recently protested the criminalisation of eating during Ramadan on the grounds that "The Algerian constitution prescribes freedom of religion. . ." Yet clearly the reality is more complicated.

See: Algerian men put to justice for breaking the Ramadan fast
By David E. Miller / The Media Line, Jerusalem Post, 7 Sept 2010

As David Miller of the Jerusalem Post reports, police in the Algerian province of Bejaya, in the Kabylie region east of the capital Algiers, recently arrested ten young men as they sat in a closed restaurant, charging them with eating in public in violation of the sanctity of Ramadan. The police were allegedly responding to complaints from locals who, they claim, had reported the "public desecration".

The men faced court in the town of Akbou on Monday 6 September but the verdict will not be known until early November. If convicted, the offenders face up to 2 years in jail.

As Miller notes, the incident reflects the growing trend amongst Muslim governments to cater to devout public sentiment in the Muslim world. (See here for a report on Morocco's persecution of fast-breakers.)

Protesting the charges against the alleged fast-breakers, Moustafa Bouchachi, President of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights noted: "There is no law in Algeria prohibiting eating on Ramadan, only one banning 'mocking Ramadan'. We believe that this lawsuit is unfounded. The Algerian constitution prescribes freedom of religion, so we think this is an affront to people's basic right, which we condemn."

Mouloud Benkadoum, a lawyer representing the owner of the restaurant, claims his client is being unjustly discriminated against. "The large hotels serve alcohol and meals in broad daylight during Ramadan," he told reporters.

According to Sallah A-Din Belabes, executive editor of Al-Watan, the arrests are simply a means by which the Algerian government can display some Islamic zeal and score points with Islamic fundamentalists. He believes that the fact that the arrests took place in the region of Kabylie, which he describes as "less religious than other parts of Algeria" (i.e. less Islamic fundamentalist), is significant. Doubtless the men were arrested to make a point locally -- that Islam will be observed in the Kabylie region "willingly or unwillingly" (Qur'an Sura 13:15) -- while scoring points with Muslim fundamentalists everywhere.

UPDATE: (22 Sept 2010)

Two Christian construction workers appeared in the provincial court in Ain El Hammam (50 km south of Tizi Ouzou) on Tuesday 21 Sept, charged with in eating during the daylight hours of Ramadan.

Hocine Hocini and Fellak Salem, both in their 40s, had been working on a private construction site when they ate their "illegal" lunch on 13 August.

"I am optimistic... I have no regrets, I am a Christian" Hocine Hocini, told AFP. "We are innocent, we have not hurt anyone. We are Christians and we did not eat in a public place."

Meanwhile, lawyers defending the two men have demanded their acquittal. They argue that existing Algerian laws do not prohibit citizens from breaking the Ramadan fast.

The police however, argued in favor of legal provisions that protect religious precepts from being disobeyed.

See:
Algeria: A disturbing trial of Christians over Islamic Ramadan fast
Afrik-News, Wednesday 22 Sept 2010,

Christians and liberal Muslims repressed to appease Islamists

Appeasement of Islamists was doubtless the primary motive behind the draconian March 2006 religion law that imposes severe restrictions on non-Muslim worship and has seen several Algerian Christians dragged before the courts for praying together or possessing Christian literature.

Algeria's March 2006 religion law was adopted as a presidential order (without debate) less than six months after some 10,000 condemned Islamists were amnestied. Most probably the amnesty involved some quid pro quo wherein the government agreed to repress Christianity and advance Islamisation in exchange for "peace". If there was no quid pro quo, then the March 2006 religion law might simply have been the government's attempt at pre-emptive appeasement through the removal of a "provocation". Whatever is the case, it does appear that religious freedom may have been the price the government paid for peace with fundamentalist and militant Islamists.

See Algeria: severe new penalties for 'proselytising'
WEA Religious Liberty News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, 24 March 2006

Algeria: Christians and the extremist threat.
WEA Religious Liberty News & Analysis by Elizabeth Kendal, June 2007

And Christians in Algeria – witnessing in difficult times
Aid to the Church in Need, 27 Aug 2010

When the 300-member "Tafat" ("Light" in Kabyle) Fellowship in Tizi-Ouzou (100km east of Algiers) came under attack in December 2009, the Algerian government blamed the victim. Maintaining that Islam is inherently tolerant and peaceful, the authorities insisted that the violence must be due to factors other than Islam: such as non-compliance with the law, political opponents out to discredit or destabilise the government, foreign conspiracies, or provocative Christian evangelism.

See: Nous ne sommes pas contre la construction des églises
El Watan 29 Dec 2009. Translation (google)

ARREST WARRANT ISSUED IN ALGERIA FOR ALI ARHAB

In March 2010, Ali Arhab received a phone call in France from his parents in Algeria, alerting him to the fact that a judge in his home city of Tizi-Ouzou had issued an arrest warrant for "ALI ARAB" on charges of "fraud" (swindling). The warrant would have been of no concern to Ali Arhab if it had not been for the fact that his parents were named on the warrant.

After some investigation, a lawyer hired by Mr Arhab's parents determined that the warrant was doubtless intended for a building contractor by the name of Ali Arab who, it appears, has several complaints of swindling registered against his name. With this established, the lawyer pressed to have the case cleared only to be shocked when the authorities chose instead to amend the nationwide arrest warrant to read "ALI ARHAB".

The lawyer is concerned that the judge and the public prosecutor might be acting on behalf of higher authorities who might be plotting against Mr Arhab on account of his Christian activities in serving Algerian churches. Mr Arhab has reason to believe that he has been under surveillance ever since the Religion Law was passed in March 2006.

Turkmenistan: mounting repression

2010-09-08T03:25:00.000-07:00

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 072 | Wed 08 Sep 2010

---------------------------------
TURKMENISTAN: MOUNTING REPRESSION
---------------------------------

In 1985 USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev appointed a colourless Soviet apparatchik Saparmurat Niyazov to head the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. When Turkmenistan became independent in 1991, Niyazov -- who automatically became president -- transformed into an eccentric and reclusive megalomaniac. Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan became one of the world's most repressive and Stalinist states. The all-pervasive cult of Niyazov -- rivalled only by North Korea's cult of Kim -- led to jokes about 'Weirdistan'. But life under Niyazov was anything but a joke. Suffocating religious repression, backed up with violent systematic persecution, was the norm.

When Niyazov died suddenly on 21 December 2006, many Christians hoped that a new era had dawned. Initially the signs were positive, and relief mingled enthusiastically with hope. (Rigged) elections were held in February 2007. There was constitutional reform. The 'elected' president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (formerly Niyazov's dentist), was talking to the West. There was a new openness.

However, as time has passed it has become increasingly evident that the only difference between Niyazov and Berdimuhamedov is that Berdimuhamedov is a smarter politician. He immediately moved to erect facades and create illusions so as to attract investment and avoid sanctions. However, as new (post August 2008) geo-strategic realities kick in, he realises he no longer needs to play these games.

As Turkmenistan's President for life, Berdimuhamedov violates the constitution with impunity. According to Annasoltan, the 'neweurasia' chief blogger for Turkmenistan, the cult of Niyazov is being replaced with the cult of Berdimuhamedov. While the famous rotating gold statue of Niyazov was recently dismantled, a larger and more expensive new monument devoted to Berdimuhamedov will soon be erected in another part of the capital. Niyazov's portraits are being replaced with portraits of Berdimuhamedov, who presents himself as the divine saviour of all Turkmen. World leaders, he maintains, are insanely jealous. Accordingly, everything 'foreign' and non-traditional is treated as seditious.

Despite being gas-rich, the country is wracked with poverty. Yet Berdimuhamedov invests in grandiose building projects designed to create the illusion of success and prosperity. (Currently planned is a $2 billion Olympic Village in Ashgabat -- not that the Olympics are coming to Ashgabat any time soon.) Criticism is treason. All religion that is 'foreign', non-traditional and not centred on Berdimuhamedov is repressed and persecuted, most commonly through the imprisonment of religious leaders on false criminal charges. There can be no justice for, in violation of the constitution, Berdimuhamedov has personally appointed the judiciary to do his bidding.

Forum 18 reports that on 22 July Turkmen police raided a church-run summer youth camp in Sekiz-Yab, taking 47 Christians into custody on the pretext of investigating a local murder. Once inside Geoketpe police station the pretext evaporated, Bibles were confiscated and the believers were interrogated about who converted them and who funds their activities. They were photographed and fingerprinted while copies were made of their passports. After being detained overnight, the group left feeling greatly intimidated.

Also in July, members of a Baptist church in Dashoguz (or Dashhowuz) were pressured to sign statements that they would no longer attend the church. Elsewhere, two Protestant Christians were sacked from their employment because of their faith. On 27 August Protestant pastor Ilmurad Nurliev was arrested and charged with swindling more than US$2.4 million from three church members who were coerced into making false statements against him. Large-scale swindling attracts a sentence of up to five years' imprisonment. Another church member, Kristina Petrova, has been ordered to testify against Pastor Nurliev or else her husband (who is not a church member) will lose his job, leaving them destitute.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:

* provide Pastor Nurliev with words in court and in detention that will bring glory to God; may he know peace through trusting God, and may God bring justice and glory into the situation.

'You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.' (Isaiah 26:3 ESV)

* draw close all those Christians who have been threatened, intimidated and afflicted by the regime; may they grow in faith and sanctification as they find sanctuary in God's presence.

* use these situations, where injustice and cruelty are juxtaposed with innocence and grace, to awaken many Turkmen (89 percent Muslim) to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

* intervene and deal with President Berdimuhamedov and his repressive regime, that religious liberty might become a reality in long-suffering Turkmenistan.

RAMADAN & PROVOCATION IN THE U.S.A.

2010-09-01T16:30:00.003-07:00

RAMADAN . . .

Laylat al-Qadr (lit. Night of Destiny) is the anniversary of the night Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. While the Quran does not provide a specific date, Laylat al-Qadr is traditionally believed to be found in the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Most Muslims observe Laylat al-Qadr or 'Night of Power' on the 27th night of Ramadan. The Quran describes Laylat al-Qadr as, 'better than a thousand months', for on that night the angels and the Spirit have God's permission to come down in answer prayer (Sura 97). This year, the Night of Power falls on or around the night of 5/6 Sept.

Throughout Ramadan, Muslims are not permitted to eat, drink, smoke or have sexual relations between sun-up and sun-down. The rigors of Ramadan elevate stress, frustration and Islamic zeal. In lands with pre-existing religious tensions, the last days of Ramadan can be days of extreme tension.

In pre-Islamic times, Ramadan was officially a month of peace when caravans could travel unarmed. With the Muslims in decline, Muhammad decided to reverse his flagging fortunes by attacking an unarmed caravan during Ramadan. When the Arabs protested, saying that warfare in the sacred month was a 'great transgression', Mohammad had a 'revelation' and declared that fitna (anything that could shake the faith of a Muslim) was worse than bloodshed (2:216-217). According to Muhammad biographer Husein Haykal, 'This revelation brought the Muslims relief, and the Prophet accepted his share of the booty' (Haykal p 210). Henceforth, Islamic fundamentalists from Egypt to Pakistan to Indonesia; and jihadists from Algeria to Kashmir to Thailand, routinely emulate Muhammad by escalating their jihad during Ramadan.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT:

our LORD Jesus Christ will surprise many Muslims this Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Power) by revealing himself as the Way, Truth and Life (John 14:6)
our Sovereign God and Father will watch over and protect his children during these tense days, and 'frustrate the ways of the wicked' (Psalm 146:9 NIV).

. . . & PROVOCATIONS IN THE U.S.A.

This year, just as Ramadan reaches its conclusion, a church in USA, plans to hold an 'International Burn a Qur'an Day'. The day chosen for this event is 11 September, in commemoration of the thousands murdered by Islamic terrorists on 11 Sept 2001.

The church, Dove World Outreach in Gainesville, Florida, claims to be making a statement against Islam which it denounces as false religion, unable to save. While the statement is fine, the means is provocative in the extreme and not in the spirit of Christian grace. It is one thing for a Muslim convert to Christianity to burn his/her Quran as a sign of liberation. It is quite another thing for Christians to burn something precious and sacred to Muslims in the full knowledge that it will cause hurt and outrage. Muslims who have been spiritually searching will doubtless be repelled. Meanwhile, Muslims looking for a reason to kill Christians will be presented one on a platter.

There is already an enormous amount of momentum building for a violent response. Muslims have posted threats to jihadist websites expressing their intention to martyr themselves as bombers in the church. Members of the Al-Falluja jihadist forum (Iraq) have threatened to 'spill rivers of your (American) blood' and 'a war the likes of which you have never seen before'. In Indonesia, the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) has vowed to retaliate if the event goes ahead. On Friday 27 Aug, Muslims holding banners reading 'Destroy burners of the Quran' and 'Answer the Quran burning with Jihad', protested outside the US embassy in Jakarta. According to Roni Ruslan of Indonesia's Hizbut Tahrir, 'No one will be able to control this reaction.'

See:
International Protests Begin Ahead of Sept. 11 Koran Burning Event in Florida
FoxNews.com, 27 August 2010

Florida church plans to burn Quran on 9/11 anniversary
AFP, 1 Aug 2010,

FPI vows to retaliate over Koran burning
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Fri, 27 Aug 2010

Planned holy Quran burning protested by Indonesian Muslims
Ahlul Bayt News Agency, 29 Aug 2010

Also -- 2 appeals from INDIA:
"The MBMC, FMSA and AMU community strongly condemns the call given by the Dove World Outreach Centre, Florida which may throw the world into turmoil."
AND
Two Christian human rights activists in India, J. G. Anthony and RL Francis, have appealed to United States ambassador to India in New Delhi, urging that President Obama intervene to halt the Qur'an burning event, which they believe could trigger religious conflict around the world.

IkhwanWeb.com, the website of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), reports that Dr. Diaa Rashwan, the MB's expert at Egypt's Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, describes the Qur'an-burning event as "exceedingly dangerous", adding that "a serious crisis will arise and extremism will be initiated in the Muslim world. . ."

See: Burning of Quran evident aggression against Muslims
IkhwanWeb, The Muslim Brotherhood's Official English web site, 4 Aug 2010

Of course Dr. Rashwan's assertion that the event would be a violation the rights of Muslims is rubbish. There is no such right as the right not to be offended. The Qur'an-burning event will be wrong not because it violates Muslims' rights, but because it violates Christ's law of love.

FOR:
Jesus said: "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12).
AND:
when Lawyer asked Jesus, "'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?' . . . [Jesus] said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.'" (Matthew 22:36-40)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT:

* Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach, might be sensitive to the Spirit's call for means consistent with the gospel of grace -- for the sake of witness, and so that others might not have to suffer the consequences of his deliberately provocative action.

"For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'" (Galatians 5:14)

(Bible texts from English Standard Version)

By the way:

The guys from Acts 17 Apologetics have released a brilliant YouTube film entitled, The Original Burn the Quran Day which recounts the unconvential manner in which the modern Qur'an was compiled. Highly recommended.

Islamic intolerance is devouring Pakistan

2010-08-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

Islamic intolerance is escalating unchecked across Pakistan as Islamic fundamentalism emanating from mosques and madrassas cultivates hatred which is then fuelled by the impunity the persecutors enjoy.

As chaos and lawlessness escalate, religious intolerance and hatred are unleashed without restraint, and the situation for Christians deteriorates.

The following reports represent the tip of the iceberg. All are recent.
(Credit to Compass Direct News for their phenomenal reporting on the plight of Pakistan's minority Christians.)

KYBER PAKHTOONKHWA (formerly North West Frontier Province).

On 14 June, Samuel John, a Christian psychology professor at the University of Peshawar, was savagely bashed outside his home by a group of five students for refusing to convert to Islam. When his wife rushed to his aid, she too was beaten. Both required hospitalisation, with the professor in a critical condition. The police refuse to register a First Information Report (FIR), and John continues to be threatened with death unless he converts to Islam or leaves the University.

PUNJAB PROVINCE.

Sunil Masih, Shazia Masih and Nasir Naeem, three Christian 8th grade students in Danna village, southern Punjab, have long faced pressure from teachers to convert to Islam. On 16 June, after their parents complained, the principal backed his staff, agreeing that the students should convert to Islam or leave the school. When the police refused to help, the three Christian families fled the area.

On 19 June, Rehmat Masih (85), a Christian of Faisalabad district, was arrested and jailed after a hard-line Muslim named Muhammad Sajjid Hameed filed a false blasphemy charge against him. Hameed and Masih had both made application for the same parcel of land.

Christian policeman Jamshed Masih was recently transferred to the predominantly Muslim Mustafa Colony in Jhelum, south of Islamabad. However, local Muslims unwilling to have the Christian family living amongst them, immediately began conspiring against them.

On 21 June, a mob led by local Muslim religious leader Maulana Mahfooz Khan descended on the family's home after Masih had left for work. Sensing trouble brewing, Masih's wife, Razia, had already phoned her husband and asked him to come home urgently. Khan accused the eldest son (11) of blasphemy, drawing a crowd. As Razia pleaded for mercy someone in the crowd hit her on the head with a hard object, causing her to bleed and her children to cry. The agitated crowd began baying for blood, and by the time Jamshed Masih got home, his wife and four children lay murdered -- massacred. Masih tried to file a complaint, but the Station House Officer refused to register a FIR.

On 1 July Rev. Rashid Emmanuel (32) and Sajid Emmanuel (30), leaders of United Ministries Pakistan, were falsely accused of blasphemy. They were supposed to have written a blasphemous document and signed their names to it (a highly unlikely scenario in any case, except for someone with a death wish).

Over 10 and 11 July many hundreds of enraged Muslims marched through the predominantly Christian colony of Dawood Nagar. Spewing abuse and obscenities, they called for the immediate death of the two Christian brothers. According to Compass Direct News, while Islamic extremists led the protests, most participants appeared to be teenagers who pelted the main gate of the Waris Pura Catholic Church with stones, bricks and shards of glass and pounded the gate with bamboo clubs.

It was widely expected that the brothers would soon be exonerated as handwriting experts had notified police that the signatures on the papers denigrating Muhammad did not match those of the accused.

On 19 July 2010, the brothers were shot dead outside the Faisalabad courthouse by five masked men. The bodied of the slain brothers showed signs of torture. The killings have caused religious tensions in Faisalabad to soar.

In Farooqabad in eastern Punjab, on the night of 21 July, three Muslim co-workers of a Christian man allegedly raped his 16-year-old daughter at gunpoint. Then, on 29 July, after Masih complained to police, two other Muslims who work for his employer, kidnapped him and took him to the employer's farmhouse where they allegedly shackled and tortured Masih, leaving him in critical condition.

In Rawalpindi district, students from the local Jamia Islamia Madrassa have been harassing Christians in the villages around Gujar Khan. According to a local pastor, they routinely beat Christian children and throw stones at the church. 'They openly announce that "the Christians are our enemies, we should not talk to them, eat with them or do business with them".' (NOTE: the Qur'an repeatedly commands Muslims to maintain enmity towards and separation from Christians.) On 22 July, a 12-yr-old girl from a local Christian family was gang-raped by 7 or 8 madrassa students. A teacher who witnessed the incident overheard one of the 16-strong student-mob saying: 'We will teach these Christians a lesson they will never forget'.

When the girl's distraught parents subsequently went to the police station to file a complaint, the officer in charge refused to register it, yielding to local Muslim pressure. According to the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), 'Such vicious incidents are not being stopped by the government, and day by day the rate of rapes of Christian girls is escalating instead of plunging.' (As would be expected when rape is rewarded with impunity.)

SINDH PROVINCE.

On 13 July 2010, Dr. Abdul Jabbar Meammon, his driver, another Muslim doctor and two other men, beat, tortured and gang-raped Christian trainee nurse Magdalene Ashraf at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi, Sind Province. In an effort to cover up their crime, the three Muslim men then attempted to kill Magdalene by throwing her out of a window on the hospital's 4th floor. While Magdalene survived the attack, she is a critical condition with serious head and shoulder injuries.

Magdlene told the Christian Lawyers' Foundation (CLF) that a nurse named Sajjad Fatima had set her up, sending her to Dr Meammon's room on false pretenses. When Magdalene entered Dr Meammon's office, he grabbed her. “When I resisted and tried to escape, nurse Fatima slapped both my cheeks and pushed me into Dr. Jabbar,” Ashraf said. “I cried out but no one arrived there to rescue me. They not only gang-raped me, they also tortured me physically and ruthlessly beat me.”

Dr Jabbar Meammon, a known sexual predator, has been charged with attempted murder. No-one has been charged with rape or assault. Meanwhile, as Dr Meammon and his legal team work on his contrary story (where he the victim!), Ashraf's family is receiving threats.

On 15 July, Pastor Aaron John, Rohail Bhatti, Salman John, Abid Gill and Shamin Mall were shot dead -- massacred -- and six others were wounded when a dozen masked men opened fire on them as they exited their church property in Sukkur, Sindh Province.

Students from a local madrassa (Qur'anic school) have been threatening the church since 2008, and according to reports, while the gunmen had young physiques like those of students, their manner of attack indicated they were trained militants.

The church members had been meeting to discuss security in the light of a threatening letter the church had received in May from Islamic extremist group Sip-e-Sahaba warning the Christians to leave the area because they were not welcome and were polluting the land.

The police and ambulance took 45 minutes to arrive.

A church member told Compass Direct News that, not only had the police refused to register a FIR in relation to the threats, they have also yielded to Muslim pressure and refused to register a FIR in relation to the Sukkur massacre.

FLOODS

Pakistan's devastating floods are the result of unprecedented monsoonal rains AND bad governance, for Pakistan has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.

Pakistan today has less than 5 percent forest cover. (Five percent is the official government figure, but the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says forests only amount to about 2.5 percent of the country's total area.)

The floods have wiped out millions of homes AND, accord to TIME magazine, some 17 million acres of agricultural land have been submerged, and more than 100,000 animals have perished.
A humanitarian crisis of monumental proportions is unfolding.

Further to this, Bishop Humphrey Peters of Peshawar warns that aid is unlikely to reach marginalised minority Christians.

Meanwhile, the people's anger, hunger and desperation, combined with the government's virtual collapse in credibility, and the Army's diversion into rescue and relief, provides the al-Qaeda-Taliban with a phenomenal window of opportunity. As TIME magazine notes, it will be difficult -- suicidal in fact -- for the government to crack down on Islamic fundamentalist and militant groups -- like the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, an Islamic "charity" with alleged links to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba -- when these groups are extending aid and assistance to the displaced and are receiving donations from the "urban middle class of Punjab, who are turning increasingly to religious conservatism".

Is the battle for Pakistan essentially already over?

In a 4 Aug 2010 column for Dawn (Pakistan), Rafia Zakaria (a US-based attorney who teaches constitutional history and political philosophy) writes that while the Pakistani army might be having some military successes against the Pakistani Taliban, the Taliban's "social project of producing a radicalised Pakistan attracted to literal and intolerant interpretations of faith is flourishing. Examples of such societal radicalisation abound, a notable one being the lack of public outcry against the rampant persecution of minorities who do not fit into the idealised mould of the Sunni Muslim Pakistani citizen."

See: Everyday intolerance
By Rafia Zakaria, for Dawn, Wednesday, 04 Aug 2010

In lamenting the Islamisation of Pakistan, Zakaria notes not only the persecution of religious minorities -- Christians, Ahmadis and Hindus -- but also the banning of Facebook (deemed blasphemous, the ban was supported by 70% of Pakistanis), and the banning of Teray Bin Laden, a comedy film that pokes fun at Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and features Pakistani pop star Ali Zafar. "The affinity for bans suggests the increasing prevalence of a worldview that wants to eliminate perspectives that are repugnant, rather than develop intellectual arguments against them."

Zakaria deplores the Islamisation of college campuses, noting that some have banned "Western dress", and decries the rise of Islamic vigilantism.

Zakaria expresses a widely held fear that, "while the Pakistani military may be winning the territorial conflict, the war for the Pakistani psyche may already have been lost."

This post is an extended version of Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 069 | Wed 18 Aug 2010, "PAKISTAN: SITUATION CRITICAL".

PAPUA: evidence of human rights abuses

2010-08-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Video sheds light on Indonesia security forces
By ROBIN McDOWELL (AP) 5 Aug 2010

excerpts

The jumpy video shows a prisoner lying in a jungle clearing in eastern Indonesia moments after troops allegedly sliced open his abdomen with a bayonet, sending intestines tumbling from his stomach.

Using the little life he has left in him, Yawen Wayeni lifts his arm into the air, and says weakly, "Freedom! Papua ... Freedom!"

At the sound of his muffled voice, gun-toting, uniformed officers resting in the shade approach.

"Speak up," one taunts. "What? You all are never going to get freedom." [. . .]

The seven-minute video appears to have been made by the Korps Brigade Mobil, or Brimob, the paramilitary police who took part in the arrest. It too has a legacy of abuse in Papua.

It's not clear how the clip made its way to the Internet, and few here have seen it.

The troops caught up with Wayeni at his home in the jungle village of Matembu on Aug. 3, 2009.

Wayeni's wife told the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence that they tied his arms and legs to a log and forced him to chant "Free Papua!" before slicing him in the abdomen with a bayonet.

They all but ignored him as he stumbled to the ground, landing in a patch of rough grass and propping his head up on a log.

"Look, he's tired," one officer says as the prisoner's head lolls back, his eyes rolling.

The police ask Wayeni if he is an atheist and call him a "savage," saying his prayers will never be answered. They then ask how, in his condition, he thinks Papua will ever shake free of Indonesian rule.

"It's equally surreal and horrific watching as the grievously injured Yawan Wayeni answers teasing questions from uniformed Indonesia security forces about his political beliefs," said Phil Robertson, a deputy director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Getting medical help, he notes, seems the furthest thing from their minds.

Despite his suffering, however, the dying man refuses to give in.

"This land was promised by God to us, the Papuan people," Wayeni says. "God, the suffering of the simple people, there are so many! They are crying, oh God!"

NOTE: In the video the soldiers refer to Yawen as "orang kaffir". The translation incorrectly translates the term"kaffir" as "atheist". Yet clearly Yawen is not an atheist -- he is cyring out to God. The correct translation would be "infidel", the term used by Muslims of non-Muslims. Thus "orang kaffir" = "this person is an infidel".

Papuan Detainee in Gruesome Video Was Shot, Not Disemboweled: Police
By Farouk Arnaz & Banjir Ambarita, Jakarta Globe, August 06, 2010

The National Police have denied allegations that officers disemboweled a Papuan detainee with a bayonet and taunted him, saying his injuries were caused by a gunshot wound sustained during a firefight . . .

MEANWHILE: Rev Sofyan Yoman summonsed

Rev Sofyan Yoman, the chairman of the Central Board of the United Baptist Churches in Papua, has been summonsed to give an account to the police of a statement he recently made regarding actions of the army and police in Puncak Jaya. He is purported to have intimated that the Indonesian military (TNI) has committed human rights abuses and that it does not always report the truth.

"What I was reported to have said is not rubbish. There is good reason for us to have made that statement, we have the data and we have the experience. The government and the security forces misrepresent the situation and they fail to understand us. We are not an ignorant people
who are deaf, dumb and blind," he said.

Rev Yoman has declined the summons, saying that the church is not subordinate to the Indonesian government or the security forces. According to Rev Yoman, the church must always and at all times be the voice of its people who are voiceless and oppressed.

"We continue to be amazed that the acts of violence that have been happening since 2004 in Puncak Jaya have continued to this day. . . What we hope for is that the security forces should end this game that is going on in the Land of Papua. . ."

Rev Yoman appealed for the police to stop summoning indigenous Papuans. "Let's live together, side by side, as equals, respecting each other. Don't treat the creatures of the Lord like hunted animals, stigmatised, trivialising the people of God."

While Rev Yoman has rejected the summons, the police are saying they will force him to appear.

The director for criminal affairs Petrus Waine said that Rev Sokrates Sofyan Yoman had created the impression in his speech that the TNI/Polri were responsible for the shootings. He must take responsibility for his remarks, including those about the shooting of civilians and members of the security forces. "He needs to produce data and facts," he said, "and if he fails to do so, it is not ethical."

But according to Gustaf Kawer, a lawyer who closely follows legal affairs in Papua, "Yoman has not committed a criminal offence, and there's no need for a police summons. Criticisms from the people are quite natural in this era of democracy and should not be seen as violations of the law."

Kawer also said that it was within the rights of Sokrates to refuse to respond to a police summons.

See:

Socrates Yoman rejects police summons; Alleged OPM attack on civilian in Mulia
Bintang Papua, 8 August 2010
Translated by TAPOL

WPapua news: Police will force Sokrates to appear Articles in Bintang Papua
Translated by TAPOL with abridgements
Bintang Papua, 9 August 2010

The reality is, as with all Papuan human rights advocates, Rev Yoman's life is perpetually at risk.

Sharia-phobia?

2010-08-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Kenyans have voted and the new constitution has been accepted.

See:
Kenyans Approve New Constitution
By Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times, 5 Aug 2010

New constitution for Kenya as 'No' team concedes
By Tom Odula, Associated Press, 5 Aug 2010

No need to apologise, Moi tells clerics
By BEATRICE OBWOCHA and RENSON BULUMA, The Standard, 8 Aug 2010

2010 REFERENDUM PROCESS AND OUTCOMES
PRESS STATEMENT BY THE KENYA CHRISTIAN CHURCH LEADERS
Thursday, 05 August 2010

On the entrenchment of Kahdi Courts

Before the referendum, Kenya's retired Anglican Archbishop David Gitari, head of the Christians for Yes campaign, maintained that Christian fears over the entrenchment and legitimisation of Kahdi (Islamic/Sharia) courts were misplaced. "There is a lot of sharia-phobia in the Christian church," he said.

Sharia-phobia?

International Crisis Group's July 2006 report entitled "Islamic Law and Criminal Justice in Aceh", is worth revisiting, for Aceh can serve as a model for how Sharia not only divides Muslims, but has a tendency to expand once implemented.

The ICG report notes that the Muslim Acehnese have long been divided over Sharia. During Indonesia's battle for independence Acehnese elites clearly expressed their preference for Dutch-style secular administration. Even Aceh's ulama (religious scholars) were divided between those who favoured secular administration and those who wanted an Islamic State based on Sharia Law. ICG notes that for many, the issue had more to do with power than ideology - the elites did not want a religious bureaucracy established that could expand and threaten their authority, while the Islamists were determined to establish a formal religious bureaucracy from where they could expand and advance their influence and power.

ICG notes that the leader of the Acehnese Islamists, Daud Beureueh, led the Acehnese in jihad against the "kafir" Dutch occupier specifically with the aim of achieving an Islamic state. Sukarno courted and rewarded Beureueh with assurances that Indonesia would be built on Islamic principles and Aceh would have Sharia Law. This was radical as Sharia had no historic precedent in Aceh.

After Suharto's downfall, President Habibie offered Islamic Law to Aceh as a political solution to Acehnese unrest and disaffection, which really arose out of neglect and frustration. ICG reports that Jakarta regarded Sharia law as "something the Acehnese wanted (although how much was debatable - after the Indonesian parliament granted it, one Acehnese called it an 'unwanted gift', and he was not alone)". (ICG p 4)

Since Sharia has been legitimised and implemented in Aceh it has expanded considerably, for the religious bureaucracy tasked with codifying and implementing Sharia in Aceh is committed to "its own expansion; a focus on legislating and enforcing morality; and a quiet power struggle with secular law enforcement".

According to ICG, many Acehnese worry "that extension of Shari'a has been taken on as an agenda by conservative organisations. . . Women's organisations have been particularly active in raising questions about proposed changes to the khalwat qanun [laws on relationships between men and women] but in general, the conservatives, who support more extensive Shari'a application, are more vocal than those concerned about its consequences".(ICG p7)

The religious bureaucracy constantly extends the reach of Sharia by revising legislation and increasing the number of crimes that can be dealt with by the Sharia Courts. It has already been proposed that revisions be made to the laws covering khalwat (illicit relationships between men and women) so that any woman who alleges she was raped must follow Sharia protocols and produce four male adult Muslim eye-witnesses to support her claim in order to prove it. If she cannot, she will be found guilty of making a false accusation of rape, guilty of illicit sex, and caned accordingly.

In 2004, Aceh established the highly unpopular vice and virtue patrol, the wilayatul hisbah (WH), which is responsible for monitoring compliance with Islamic law. Not only did Aceh's WH grow from 13 members to 33 in one year, its powers are constantly increasing. What's more, the very presence of the WH is fueling the rise of hard-line Islamic vigilantism.

ICG also notes that as the religious bureaucracy expands it will rely more and more on young recruits who are motivated primarily by their contacts with intolerant radical foreign elements, in particular Wahhabis, jihadists, and groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

----------

Secular law and Sharia law are not parallel systems. Rather, they are conflicting systems that intersect continuously. The question eventually must arise, when the laws conflict, which is supreme?

In secular, free Malaysia the solution has been to give the Sharia Courts jurisdiction over everything pertaining to Islam -- including the right to leave Islam. (Sharia prohibits apostasy, so all requests to leave Islam must be denied.)

See: The Islamisation of Malaysia
By Elizabeth Kendal, WEA RLC New & Analysis, 7 June 2007.

Bid to nullify conversion fails
Straits Times, 4 Aug 2010

In Kano, in secular, free Nigeria, the Hisbah (vice and virtue Islamic police) constantly clash with state police overconflicting issues of morality, including the sale of alcohol.

See: Nigeria: The Battle for Shari'ah Supremacy
by Elizabeth Kendal, for WEA RLC News & Analysis, 20 March 2009

Kano State’s Islamic Police Destroy 80,000 Bottles of Beer
The Nigerian Inquirer, 4 Aug 2010

Now they are entrenched in the constitution of secular, free Kenya, the kadhi Courts are destined to grow in administration and influence. They will be divisive, and a force for Islamic expansion. What will be the situation now for Christians who are apostates from Islam? If a man converts to Islam will he be permitted to take a second wife? What will be the fate of Christian children deemed Muslim by khadi courts on account of the conversion of their father?

The rod of repressive Islam might not touch the flesh of Dr David Gitari, but it will certainly strike any Kenyan Muslim who puts their faith in Jesus Christ, and any Kenyan Christian caught up in the web of Islamic family law.

IRAN: PERSECUTION SURGES

2010-08-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 067 | Wed 04 Aug 2010

------------------------
IRAN: PERSECUTION SURGES
------------------------

Biblical revelation preaches freedom in love. Islam -- like all man-made religions -- demands submission to law. While the God of the Bible demands perfection in love, he freely provides a remedy for sin -- Jesus Christ -- and the Holy Spirit as helper. This is indeed Good News! On the other hand, while Islam demands submission to law, it provides no remedy for sin and so can only culminate in failure. Meanwhile, the dictators of Islam employ religious forces -- Revolutionary Guards, Basij, muttawa, hisba, taliban and others -- to police 'vice and virtue'. To protect their own privilege and hegemony they deny Islam's failure and deflect scrutiny from Islam by blaming the victims. Driven by apostaphobia, they strive to eliminate fitna (anything that could tempt a Muslim to doubt Islam). Sunni reformation (as in Saudi Arabia) and Shi'ite revolution (as in Iran) have only produced repressive, totalitarian police states wracked with poverty, cruelty, despair and disillusionment.

In Iran the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was set up to defend Islam. The Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) was established to eliminate all opposition and dissent which they virtually did through purges, terrors and serial killings. When President Khatami (1997-2004) pressed for reforms in the style of 'glasnost' (openness) and 'perestroika' (restructuring) , Ayatollah Khamenei engineered his removal. Through the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since 2005, the hegemony of the blood-stained IRGC and MOIS
hardliners of the 1980s-90s has been restored. The regime has just announced a massive boost in funding for the Basij (state-sponsored Islamic vigilantes) and will establish 7000 new Resistance Bases across Iran. All this is unsurprising, for whilst Christianity requires radical, personal, spiritual transformation, Islam merely demands the enforcement of Islamic law.

Persecution of the Church escalated through 2009, aided because the US no longer has leverage -- due to Iraq, the US now needs Iran more than Iran needs the US. As noted in RLPB 041 (3 Feb 2010), the regime is escalating repression to curtail unrest due to widespread social dissatisfaction and economic distress. A wave of persecution hit the Church in late December 2009 and early January 2010 when many Christians were harassed, interrogated, threatened and arrested. Whilst most have been released on bond, some remain incarcerated and others have been added to their number.

Pastor Behrouz (Marco) Khanjani was arrested on 11 January when he responded to a request from the authorities to come in for questioning in Chiraz. He was bailed on 17 March only to be re-arrested on 16 June. His wife, Fatemeh (Marie) Torkkajouri, was arrested the next day and placed in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. After informing Pastor Behrouz of his wife's fate, the authorities reportedly incarcerated him in 'Plate 100', a dungeon of the intelligence services in Chiraz. Their daughter Esperance is in the care of Muslim family members.

Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was arrested in Rasht on 13 October 2009 for protesting the regime's plans to force Islamic education on all children in violation of the constitution. He has reportedly been sentenced to death. Furthermore Pastor Yousef's wife, Fatemeh (Tina) Passandideh, was arrested on 8 June 2010 and is in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The authorities have threatened to put the couple's children, Yoel and Daniel, in an Islamic institution.

A group of 15 new believers were travelling by bus to the provincial town of Bojnoord on 18 July 2010. Security forces were informed and ambushed and arrested them in the city of Mashhad. After a week of harsh interrogation, believers who signed 'confessions' were freed on conditions including due payment of all bail. Mr Reza (48, also known as Stephen) and Mr Ehsan Behrooz (23) refused to co-operate and so remain incarcerated in the 901st branch of the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD WILL:

* fill Iranian believers with courage and faith to face persecution in a way that brings glory to God.

* fill persecuted Iranian believers with the inner peace and joy that comes from trusting the LORD, from assurance of salvation, and from the experience of God as 'sanctuary' (Isaiah 8:14a).

* give all Iranian Christians -- especially pastors -- great spiritual wisdom to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matthew 10:16 ESV).

* awaken multitudes of Iranian Muslims to the deficiencies of Islam (and not just Iranian economics and foreign policy) and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

* enlighten especially the Muslim relatives, friends and neighbours of Iran's persecuted Christians that they may be so shocked and challenged by Islamic injustice, and so surprised and moved by Christian grace, that they will seek love over law and find truth in Jesus Christ.