Burkina Faso (West Africa): Christians Targeted by Islamic Jihadists

The following is an unedited press release from International Christian Concern (ICC). Please check out their website at www.persecution.org for more on the persecution and genocide of Christians around the world. 

Christians Targeted by Jihadists in Burkina Faso

11/08/2021 Burkina Faso (International Christian Concern) – Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has received anonymous reports detailing the plight of Christians in Burkina Faso.

“A group of 147 Christians – including children, elderly and eight pregnant women – fled from two villages, on the Niger border, at the end of October, to Dori, the capital of the Sahel region, as extremists sought to kill them,” reported the news source.

ACN was able to speak to one of the Christians who fled, who stated: “The terrible thing is that when someone gave us refuge, we were denounced as Christians, and this put the person who had accommodated us in danger. We have to sleep at a distance from the villages.”

“Not all the Christians in the area have been able to flee. We are concerned about the fate of our sons and wives who remain there.”

Sources told ACN that the terrorists enter the villages, asking cattle herders whether they are Christian or Muslim, and then Kill the Christians.

One of the sources said: “If the owners were Christians the attackers didn’t consider it necessary to count their animals, because they said that they didn’t just want to take their animals, but also to kill the owners.”

Bishop Laurent Birfuoré Dabiré, Bishop of Dori, told ACN: “[There are] attacks, kidnapping, and murders in the whole country. The terrorists are kidnapping whoever they want to, executing some and liberating others.”

He said: “Last Sunday (31st October) the terrorists turned back the regular buses which were on the way from Dori to Ouagadougou, saying that from now on the road was blocked.”

The bishop added: “Although the army afterwards patrolled the road, the people are afraid because this is only intermittent, and the terrorists can come back at any moment.”

While Burkina Faso was once seen as a harmonious nation of religious tolerance, a jihadist uprising has plagued the country as well as the rest of Africa’s Sahel region since 2015. Civilians are subject to grave acts of violence and human rights violations at the hands of extremist groups, who often target Christians, their leaders, and places of worship.

Please continue to pray for Burkina Faso and for the end of Islamic extremism. Pray for those who engage in horrendous crimes against humanity, that they will experience the love of Jesus and be guided from darkness to light. Please also pray for the Lord to protect and strengthen the persecuted church, and to provide healing to all of those affected by violence.

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