Attacks on Nigerian Christians spur protests

A herdsmen attack that killed two priests and at least 15 other worshippers during a Catholic Mass in Nigeria’s Benue State has sparked anger across the country and triggered calls for the president to step down.

Armed gunmen on April 24 attacked St. Ignatius Catholic Church in the state’s Gwer local government area as parishioners gathered for an early morning Mass. The dead include the Revs. Joseph Gor and Feliz Tyolaha.

The Rev. Wilfred Anagbe, the bishop of the diocese, said in a statement released Sunday that the attackers shot Gor three times during the Mass then dragged him outside the church and brutally murdered him. The gunmen also killed Tyolaha as the church prepared for the burial of a parishioner.

Changing environmental conditions have driven herdsmen toward central Nigeria’s diverse Middle Belt region in search of grazing pasture for their cattle. The move intensified clashes between the Muslim Fulani herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers in the region. Last month, Akpen Leva, chairman of the state branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said the herdsmen attacks have displaced more than 170,000 people in the state and destroyed about 500 church buildings.

In a Facebook post on Jan. 3, Gor said the community was living in fear. “The Fulanis are still around here in Mbalom,” he wrote. “They refuse to go. No weapons to defend ourselves.” A day after the church attack, suspected herdsmen killed at least 39 people and destroyed more than 160 houses in attacks on three villages within the same local government area.

Alice Terwase, who lives in one of the villages, told Morning Star News the attackers dressed in military camouflage and arrived with automatic rifles. “The herdsmen destroyed more than 60 houses in our village, and three members of my community were also killed during the attack,” she said. Earlier in January, another attack in the state killed 80 people and displaced about 80,000 others.

The Christian Association of Nigeria condemned the killings as “a state of immorality” and called for peaceful protests across the country on Sunday. Anagbe encouraged Christians “not to take revenge, but continue to focus on Christ who was also killed in order to secure salvation for mankind.”

Following the attack, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the violence was “calculated to stoke up religious conflict and plunge our communities into endless bloodletting.” The Nigerian Senate summoned Buhari on Thursday to address the killings before a joint session of the National Assembly.

In a statement, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria said the president failed to take more drastic steps to address the killings in the country despite repeated calls for action.

“If the president cannot keep our country safe, then he automatically loses the trust of the citizens,” the statement read. “He should no longer continue to preside over the killing fields and mass graveyard that our country has become.”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday talked with Buhari in his first official meeting with an African leader. Trump promised further investment in Nigeria if Buhari creates a level playing field and also commended the Nigerian leader for his efforts to combat the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. But Trump called for increased efforts to end religious attacks.

“We’ve had very serious problems with Christians who have been murdered, killed in Nigeria,” Trump said. “We’re going to be working on that problem, and working on that problem very, very hard, because we can’t allow that to happen.”

Burmese churches rescue hundreds displaced by conflict

Fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Kachin Independence Army in Kachin state continues to threaten and displace civilians.

The UN estimated roughly 3,000 people had fled since April 7. Almost one-third were from the villages of Kasung and Zup Mai and fled to Namti Town after military airstrikes on April 20.

With the military’s permission, two Catholic churches and a Baptist church rescued 900 civilians, providing shelter and aid. One priest told UCA News that people from Zup Mai walked for three days.

“At present people can’t go back to their villages as it is not safe for them because more fighting could erupt. Church groups will continue providing humanitarian assistance,” the Rev. Awng Tu said.

David Baulk of Fortify Rights told Voice of America that much of Kachin State is a war zone. He criticized the government for blocking humanitarian groups from the area.

An official denied the allegation and said the government supported humanitarian efforts for displaced Christians in Kachin.

The same week, a coalition of Kachin civil society groups urged the UN Security Council to refer Myanmar, also known as Burma, to the International Criminal Court, Frontier Myanmar reported.

“Our people have been subject to numerous violations of international law, including executions, torture, forced displacement, forced labor, rape and other forms of sexual violence, confiscation of property, arbitrary arrest and detention, and denial of humanitarian assistance,” the coalition statement said. —Julia A. Seymour

Immigration scandal in Britain

Britain’s Interior Minister Amber Rudd stepped down Sunday following the mislabeling of Caribbean immigrants as illegal migrants.

The group is known as the Windrush generation after the name of a ship that brought Caribbean nurses, skilled workers, and their families to Britain to help rebuild after World War II. The Guardian first reported that some of the migrants recently were denied medical care and employment and were threatened with deportation on grounds that they couldn’t show paperwork to prove their right to remain in the country.

The discovery comes amid Britain’s efforts to further clamp down on illegal migration. Rudd told lawmakers last week that the government had no deportation targets. But a leaked letter between Rudd and Prime Minister Theresa May revealed the minister discussing plans to increase deportations by 10 percent. “I feel it is necessary to do so because I inadvertently misled the Home Affairs Select Committee over targets for removal of illegal immigrants,” Rudd told May.

Rudd and May both apologized for the scandal and promised the government will give British citizenship and offer compensation to those affected. –O.O.

British-Iranian activist detained

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard arrested a British-Iranian professor known for his activism against foreign interference in the country, Fars News Agency reported.

Authorities apprehended Abbas Edalat and accused him of belonging to an “infiltration network affiliated with Britain,” according to Fars. The group led protests in 2009 during the disputed reelection of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Center for Human Rights in Iran said Edalat was visiting Iran for an academic workshop at the time of his arrest. The professor works at Imperial College London and also founded the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran.

Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi on Sunday confirmed Edalat’s arrest “on security charges” but refused to give any additional information. Iran currently holds Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Kamal Foroughi, both British-Iranians imprisoned in the country since 2016 and 2011, respectively. The dual nationals are among several others Iran detains as opportunities for political leverage with the West. —O.O.

Mexican priest killings continue

Authorities in Mexico this week confirmed the death of a Catholic priest kidnapped earlier in April. The Rev. Moises Fabile Reyes, 83, was the third priest found dead within a week.

Reyes was abducted April 3 in the city of Cuernavaca. His family members paid more than $100,000 in ransom, but prosecutors said he likely died of a heart attack. Earlier in the week, gunmen shot dead a priest on the outskirts of the city of Guadalajara, and attackers stabbed another outside Mexico City. “It is time to take a hard look at our culture and our society, to ask ourselves how we lost respect for life, for all that is sacred,” the Mexican Council of Bishops said in a statement following the latest string of attacks. —O.O