Tag: West Africa

Burkina Faso: 2 years on, thousands call for release of ‘doctor of the poor’ by Al-Qaeda offshoot

January 17, 2018 Burkina Faso Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Burkina Faso, Djibo, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, Soum, West Africa

Thousands took to the streets of Djibo, a northern town in Burkina Faso, on Monday (15 January) to call for the government to secure the release of an Australian doctor, Ken Elliott, kidnapped two years ago. The abduction was claimed by the ‘Emirate of the Sahara’, a branch of Al-Qaeda . . . Read More

Nigeria: Boko Haram survivor and her baby ‘shamed’

December 1, 2017 Nigeria Acid attacks, Boko Haram, Borno, Converts, Gwoza, Islamic extremism, Nigeria, Rape, Trauma, UN, West Africa, Women

Boko Haram survivor Esther*, holding her daughter Rebecca in her arms. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

As Islamic extremist group Boko Haram continues to hold young women captive in West Africa, some have been rescued only to return to their homes in shame, finding themselves labelled “Boko Haram women”. Until October 2015 Esther* lived the normal life of a 17-year-old in Gwoza, a town in southern . . . Read More

Mauritania: death penalty for blasphemy ‘even if they repent’

November 21, 2017 Mauritania Apostasy, Blasphemy, Mauritania, West Africa

Mauritania announced on Friday (17 November) that showing repentance will no longer be a reason to repeal a death sentence handed out for blasphemy and apostasy. The government of the West African nation said in a statement it would introduce a new bill to “harden up expected sentences for blasphemers”, . . . Read More

Niger: pastor’s daughter kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants

October 17, 2017 Niger Boko Haram, Charlie Hebdo, Diffa, Lake Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Sahel, West Africa

Street scene in Zinder, Niger's second biggest town, where thousands of people fled to after Boko Haram first attacked Diffa in February 2015. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The teenage daughter of a pastor was kidnapped on 16 October in Diffa, south-eastern Niger, in what appears to be the first targeted kidnapping of a Christian by Boko Haram-affiliated militants in the West African nation. Aphodiya Garba Maida, 17, daughter of a pastor with the EERN (Église Évangélique de . . . Read More

5 Things to know about violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Iran, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Taraba, West Africa

A village head inside his destroyed home in one of the villages in Southern Kaduna that were attacked by Fulani herdsmen, in May 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

In northern Nigeria, targeted violence against Christians comes not only from the Islamic militants of Boko Haram. Clashes with militants among the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen have claimed thousands of Christian lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt – the handful of states straddling the pre-colonial line dividing Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north from . . . Read More

‘There will never be peace for Nigeria’s Middle Belt unless there’s equality and justice’

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nigeria, Sahel, West Africa

Obscured by Boko Haram’s headlines, violence has also raged further south, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt: a less reported, years-long campaign which experts now believe has been responsible for more deaths than Boko Haram. Militants among the ethnic Fulani, a predominantly Muslim and nomadic population of cattle herders, are suspected of targeting . . . Read More

Church leader seriously injured in Fulani attack in Nigeria’s Nasarawa state

July 6, 2017 Nigeria Benue, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Joseph Kurah, Middle Belt, Nasarawa, West Africa

When Ibrahim Maisaje, a pastor of an ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) church in Panwasa Mada village, went to his farm with his family on 26 June, he was full of joy and expectation. It was mid-season, the crops had grown well and the harvest season was looking promising. But . . . Read More

Deadly conflict tearing Nigeria apart (and it’s not Boko Haram)

June 15, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Middle Belt, Nigeria, West Africa

In Nigeria, it’s not only the northeast regions, stronghold of the radical Islamic sect Boko Haram, that have been the scene of severe violence. The Middle Belt of the country is also the scene of ever-continuing attacks on Christian farmers by mainly Muslim Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, as a report from IRIN . . . Read More

Chibok parents relieved: ‘Grace is out!’

May 11, 2017 Nigeria Chibok girls, Gwoza, Muhammadu Buhari, Trauma, West Africa

Some of the girls who were released from Boko Haram captivity on Saturday. They are still being held in a centre in Abuja for screening and rehabilitation. Photo: Getty Images

The 82 Chibok girls who were released on 6 May by the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, have not returned to their families yet, but are held in a centre in the capital Abuja for screening and rehabilitation. However, Peter Pogu, father of one of the girls, was overjoyed . . . Read More

Unicef: Boko Haram increasing use of child suicide bombers

April 13, 2017 Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Chibok girls, Children, New York, Niger, Nigeria, West Africa

As it torments West Africa, Boko Haram is increasingly turning to children to carry out its crimes. One of every five suicide bombers deployed by Boko Haram in the past two years has been a child, usually a girl, according to a report released on Tuesday (11 April) by Unicef. . . . Read More

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