At least three Christians have died and several others have been injured in attacks with machetes and other weapons since June, clergymen said. They said the attacks began after the death in May of Dr. Ali Olukade, head of a local group of Islamists called Tibliq, possibly patterned after the worldwide Tablighi Jamaat missionary movement.

The followers of Dr Olukade blame his accident on prayers of Christians upset after Muslim protests disrupted a 2004 evangelistic campaign.

When the local Tibliq leader was injured in the car crash in 2006, Rev. [Cornelius] Fawenu [secretary of the Kwara chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria] said, “The members of his Muslim sect went on rampage, demonstrating against America and the state of Israel, over claims that it was the prayers of Christians over the aborting of the gospel event of 2004 that caused their leader to be involved in an auto crash. Dr. Olukade, the Muslim sect’s leader, died in May 2008, and since then Muslim fanatics have embarked in serial killings and attacks on Christians in the city.”

The dead Christians were attacked as they went to or returned from evening worship services.

Ironically, the Kwara State Government website carries the slogan “The Place of Harmony”.  They need to do more work on that, apparently.

Previous related posts:

• Muslims riot after Christian woman rejects Muslim suitor
• Muslims riot in northern Nigeria over alleged blasphemy

Liverpool resident, Linda Lane was shocked to discover a person trying to rent her home on Brookdale Crescent through an advertisement in the Queens County Advance was posing as the actual homeowner.

“A girl I work with was looking for an apartment, so she emailed this gentlemen,” through the contact provided in the advertisement, said Lane. “He emailed her back. He just talked about the house and that he’s a missionary in Africa.”

In the letter Rev. Kelvin King requests $400 as a damage deposit and would like someone to move in right away because he is on a missionary call in Africa. He wants the money transferred through Western Union to Nigeria, Africa. The secret question for the transfer is 'Who do you believe in?' The answer is God. At that point, he promises to send the keys to the apartment.

Queens County Advance editor Mark Roberts e-mailed Rev King and inquired about the house/apartment for rent.  The reverend, who claimed to be in Africa, had this to say.

Thanks for your interest in my property. I am Rev. Kelvin King and i own the property you seek.I am on a missionary call to West Africa and thats why am looking for a responsible person that can take a very good care of it.I am not in particular about the money,all I need is a God fearing person that will see my property as his or her own.

He gave his address as St Peter Catholic Church, Lagos, Nigeria.  Asked if he had ever served in a local church, the “reverend” claimed he had ministered “briefly” at St Gregory’s Roman Catholic Church, Liverpool.  The reporter later spoke with parish priest Father Brian Murphy, who contradicted that claim.

On Friday 20 June rioting erupted in Nazla as Muslim villagers went on a looting and destruction rampage against Copts’ homes, businesses, and cars following news that Dimiana—known as Dalia Mohamed since she converted—together with her 10-month baby Seif al-Islam, had run away from her husband a day earlier while on a visit to Cairo.

The rioting started on Friday afternoon when Muslims roaring Islamic slogans began to attack Copts’ houses and shops. Although local security officials had anticipated the rioting and called for extra forces from the neighbouring village to stop any attack, they could neither prevent the attack nor stop it once it started. They finally resorted to the use of tear gas to disband the rioters, and were able to control the main streets but not the side streets.

Even the village church and the priest’s home were attacked. The rampage lasted until the early hours of dawn of the following day. Security officials imposed a day-long curfew and attempted to hold a reconciliation meeting after they had found Dimiana and returned her to her husband. But the Copts refused to reconcile without the payment of indemnity for their lost and damaged property.

The mob of 4000 Muslims shouted “Kill the infidels” as they ran amok. Only 15 rioters were arrested, 11 of whom were quickly released by prosecutors.

It is common knowledge that Dimiana had fled a husband she did not wish to live with. She stayed away for some two days then, hearing of the riots in her village and the great harm inflicted upon the Copts, and that her uncles had been questioned by the police, she handed herself in on Friday evening.

Dimiana unexpectedly went missing from her home two years ago.  Her family was later informed that she had become a Muslim and been married to a Muslim and that they could have no further contact with her.

h/t: International Christian Concern

Previous related posts:

• Egyptian Christian sentenced to 10 years for marrying Muslim convert
• In Egypt, only Muslims enjoy freedom of religion
• 4th-century Egyptian monastery attacked by armed Muslims
• Egyptian Christian girls kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam

Charmyn is able to blog irregularly and has posted some great photos of her new friends and surroundings.  The blog is named “All that is not given is lost”.  Check it out!

The photographs were reportedly taken in the West African nation of Nigeria, although there is no independent way of confirming it. It is clear, however, that the images were taken somewhere in Africa.

Sustaining the source's allegation that these pictures were shot in Nigeria is the fact that first; there is indeed a large Shiite minority in Nigeria with whom Hezbollah would find a natural ally, and second; there is a large Lebanese Shiite immigrant community in that country who settled there in the 1960s and 1970s, coming mostly from south Lebanon.

The photographs show an unidentified Shiite mullah (his religious affiliation is easily identified by his dress) being given full military honors during a parade complete with uniformed militiamen and hundreds of Hezbollah yellow flags as well as giant posters of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
. . .
"The link between the Islamist movements in the Middle East and Islamist networks in Africa is not to be underestimated," said Walid Phares, director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.

Hezbollah is known to receive logistical and financial support form Syria and Iran, and it is suggested that Hezbollah is in Africa for the purpose of spreading the Iranian Islamic revolution.

h/t: International Christian Concern

Previous related posts:

• Muslims riot in northern Nigeria over alleged blasphemy
• No al-Qaeda or Taliban in my country: Nigerian Sultan
• Al-Qaeda agents arrested in northern Nigeria
• Nigerian Taliban

The government has ordered over half of the country’s Protestant churches to close, in accordance with a 2006 law, only now being enforced, that restricts worship by non-Muslims.

In addition to church closures, Protestants have been arrested in western Algeria as they travel between cities or exit religious meetings, and Catholics have been prevented from regular ministry activities outside their church walls.

Such restriction of religious freedoms has coincided with a barrage of antagonistic articles in Arabic newspapers, heightening tensions between Christians and Muslims in the Islamic Mediterranean nation.
. . .
“This is the most pressure Christians have faced in Algeria,” said Farid Bouchama, an Algerian televangelist living in France. “Before it was discrimination from families or jobs, but this is the first organized pressure from the state.”

In Tiaret, western Algeria, Habiba Kouider, a 35-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity, has been charged with practicing her faith without a licence after she was found carrying several Bibles in her hand bag.  The prosecutor told her he would drop the charge if she returned to Islam.  She refused and now faces a possible three-year jail term.  Her lawyer maintains the charge has no basis in Algerian law.

The state prosecutor in Tiaret is also demanding that six other Muslim converts be given two-year sentences and heavy fines.  The six were arrested at a prayer meeting and originally charged with “distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims”.  A further charge of illegally practicing non-Muslim worship was added at a court hearing earlier this week.

One of the defendants asks a reasonable question:

“How can six people shake the faith of 40 million unless the court is convinced that the faith of the 40 million is not based on strong foundations?” said Djillali Saibi, one of the Christians on trial, referring to Algeria’s majority-Muslim population. Christians, mostly converts, make up less than 1 percent of the country’s people.

Reason, unfortunately, seems to be in short supply among Algerian authorities these days.  The irrational reaction to Muslim conversions to Christianity indicates the condition previously identified as apostaphobia.

Previous related posts:

• Algerian Muslims turning to Christ in record numbers
• Islamic extremists consumed by “apostaphobia”

Mr Tsvangirai and his supporters in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have long maintained that he won the election outright with over 50 percent of the vote, but the ZEC appears to have short-circuited that claim by selectively leaking the results.

[T]he presidential election candidates or their agents yesterday met Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) officials to tackle the crisis triggered by the withholding of results — more than a month later — due to a demand by President Robert Mugabe for a recount of the votes.

Yesterday’s emergency meeting took place against a backdrop of a fresh problem sparked off by ZEC’s leakage of official results to defeated Zanu PF leaders who in turn passed them on to the international media in a bid to sustain their pursuit for a run-off.

ZEC and Zanu PF were anxious to ward off mounting pressure for results to come out and build a case for a run-off, especially against a background of MDC’s claims that Tsvangirai had won the election outright.

MDC claims that the ruling Zanu-PF party and state security forces have already unleashed a campaign of violence and intimidation in hopes of bolstering Mugabe’s chances in the run-off.

The run-off election must be held within 21 days of the official announcement of first-round results.

Previous related posts:

• It’s official: Zimbabwe’s ruling party has lost Parliament
• Zimbabwe opposition claims victory

The case has prompted renewed calls by the twelve states to incorporate a national law against blasphemy in constitutional revisions now under discussion.

With sharia (Islamic law) in force in Kebbi and 11 other states in northern Nigeria – though supposed to be applied only to Muslims – the high court judgment has further prompted Muslim calls for legislation against “blasphemy.” The National Assembly has begun amending the 1999 constitution.

Muslim leaders in northern Nigeria’s Kano state have called for a national law on “blasphemy,” leaving Christian leaders with the fear that Islamic law could be used to arbitrarily put Christians to death. The secular court convictions for the murder of Umaru are in part behind the agitation for “blasphemy” legislation, they say.

Bauchi state Gov. Mallam Isa Yuguda has called for sharia to be enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. Besides Bauchi and Kano, other northern states enforcing sharia are Gombe, Niger, Yobe, Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara.

Christian leaders oppose an anti-blasphemy law, fearing that it would be used to legitimate unjust attacks on Christians.  Anyway, says Samuel Salifu of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Islam needs to clean up its own act.

“Why should Muslims complain about blasphemy when their holy book, the Quran, blasphemes Jesus Christ?” he said. “The Quran says Jesus is not the son of God, and is this not blasphemy? Muslims must learn to be tolerant and allow peace to reign in this country.”

Also, Christians are not prone to butchering Muslims for blasphemy.

Previous related posts:

• Sharia alert, Nigeria: Convicts sentenced to death by stoning
• Muslims riot in northern Nigeria over alleged blasphemy
• Nigerian Christians murdered after call for jihad

Zimbabwe’s official election commission has confirmed that the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), the party which has ruled the country for nearly 30 years, has lost its parliamentary majority, news agencies report.
. . .
Reuters reported the ZEC as announcing that President Robert Mugabe’s party had won 94 of the 210 seats in parliament.  With only seven results outstanding, the party could not win the 106 seats it would need to control parliament.

The combined opposition parties reportedly took 105 of the 207 contested seats. Of those, 96 were won by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). It thus appeared that the MDC faction headed by Arthur Mutambara could hold the balance of power in Parliament.

The MDC claims that Morgan Tsvangirai has won the presidential race with more than 50% of the popular vote.  An absolute majority is required to avoid a run-off election between the top two vote-getters, which would have to be held within 21 days.

Most observers think a run-off will prove necessary, and that it would almost certainly result in a decisive defeat for Mugabe.

With official results still unreported in the separate presidential race, which was held alongside parliamentary balloting Saturday, Mugabe, in power all the 28 years since independence from Britain, may be focused on a runoff to try to extend his increasingly autocratic rule. An independent election observer said a ruling party official had told her the party would use every weapon in his considerable arsenal to ensure a runoff victory.

The opposition claimed outright victory for leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential race, but the state-controlled newspaper predicted a runoff. The newspaper report was the first official admission that Mugabe had not won re-election. Mugabe has been silent and has not appeared in public since the vote.

The big fear is that a head-to-head contest between Mugabe and his long-time arch-enemy Tsvangirai will be marred by violence such as was seen in the 2000 and 2002 elections.

Previous related posts:

• Zimbabwe opposition claims victory
• Will Mugabe steal the Zimbabwe election?

MDC supporters are overjoyed but, even if President Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party have lost the vote, the outcome remains far from certain.

A party atmosphere of joy and celebration is spreading across this country this afternoon, as the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe are beginning to believe that at last this election has given Robert Mugabe the universal thumbs-down.

Church services have been cut short as people crowd around radios to listen to early unofficial results, almost all of which indicate gains for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and in particular those candidates allied to the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

Victory parties may be premature, however.  It is now being reported that military leaders have ordered the ZEC to announce that Mugabe has won.

The MDC US Representatives are reliably informed that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will, within the next 2-4 hours declare Robert Mugabe the victor of Zimbabwe's Presidential election.

The military brass in Zimbabwe met earlier today and decided to instruct the ZEC to declare Mugabe the winner. This is being done despite results showing that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has won a great majority of the parliamentary seats and its Presidential candidate is ahead in the already counted votes by about 68%.

The ZEC was given 2-4 hours to allow the military to deploy in all the major urban areas to crush any potential revolt by Zimbabweans.

Polls closed over 24 hours ago.  The prolonged delay in issuing official results has heightened fears that the fix is in.

Previous related post: Will Mugabe steal the Zimbabwe election?

Voting has closed in the most crucial election in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, with many Zimbabweans desperate to end the misery of economic collapse under veteran President Robert Mugabe.
. . .
[T]he opposition says Mr Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party planned to steal victory through multiple balloting by its supporters.

Some sources report that voting was surprisingly light at polling stations in rural areas, where opposition to Mugabe is generally stronger.

For the first time, people are voting for a new president, parliament, senate and local government councils simultaneously. Two opposition candidates – Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change and Simba Makoni, an independent – are challenging Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled the country since 1980.
. . .
The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network says that voter turnout has been good so far.

However, some commentators said they were surprised to see that so few voters lined up in rural areas where 60 percent of the population lives.

Zimbabwe-born Norman Geras, now Professor Emeritus in Politics at the University of Manchester, lists ten reasons for doubting that the election will be fair.

If none of the three candidates receives a majority, a run-off will be held between the two with the most votes.

The Zimbabwe Independent reported yesterday that Mugabe has already fixed the election.

A SECRET taskforce of security and electoral personnel has been put in place to ensure embattled President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF win an absolute majority in tomorrow's high-stakes elections.

The team, headed by Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives tasked to ensure Mugabe "wins power, stays in power, and keeps power", will heavily influence the already flawed electoral process to secure a predetermined result, well-substantiated information obtained this week shows.

Speaking from the far side of the world, I think Mugabe will arrange to be proclaimed the winner.  He has too much to lose if he leaves office, his pride and lust for power will not allow him to concede to either of his opponents, and he has a long track record of despotism and thuggery.  The real question, in my view, is how the people of Zimbabwe will react to another Mugabe “victory”.  Will they accept continued oppression and misery or will they take to the streets in numbers large enough to destabilise the government?

Thanks to Binks for the Pajamas Media link.

Previous related posts:

• Mugabe’s going to win, so election observers are not needed
• Planeloads of Zimbabwean currency, hot off the press
• Mugabe was a thug from Day One