"This work is a vital test of our determination to find new ways of managing conflict in the new world order".
The Bishop of London
Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme Director gives Pope John Paul II lecture in Rome
Syrian President Basher Assad isn’t the only target of Syrian rebels as Syria’s Orthodox Christian Church reports “ongoing ethnic cleansing of Christians” by al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant groups in the embattled Syrian city of Homs.
The report from the Vatican news agency Fides says Brigade Faruq, which has links with elements of al-Qaeda in Iraq and Islamist mercenaries from Libya, has expelled 90 percent of Christians living in Homs, nearly 50,000 people.
Reportedly, the armed Islamists went door to door in the Christian neighborhoods of Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan informing the homeowners that if they did not leave immediately they would be shot. Then pictures of their corpses would be taken and sent to al-Jazeera, along with the message that the Syrian government had killed them.
Dear Friends,
The UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) seeks to reduce tensions across cultural divides that
threaten stability and peace among and between communities and societies.
The Alliance welcomes efforts by states, civil society, and other actors to build trust and respect among diverse communities – including among religions.
In this regard, I welcome the UN General Assembly’s unanimous adoption on October 20th, 2010, of a Resolution establishing the World Interfaith Harmony Week, upon an initial proposal by H.M. King Abdullah II of Jordan on September 23rd 2010. Its intent is to be broad and inclusive, bringing together people of all religions, faiths, and beliefs.
I therefore invite members of the Alliance of Civilizations, partners, civil society organizations, faith communities, universities, youth, and other sectors to visit the website established by the
Jordanian government at www.worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com to learn more about the initiative and investigate ways in which they may promote the initiative, support it or get involved.
Islamist insurgents kill over 178 in Nigeria's Kano
(Reuters) - Gun and bomb attacks by Islamist insurgents in the northern Nigerian city of Kano last week killed at least 178 people, a hospital doctor said on Sunday, underscoring the challenge President Goodluck Jonathan faces to prevent his country sliding further into chaos.
A coordinated series of bomb blasts and shooting sprees mostly targeting police stations Friday sent panicked residents of Nigeria's second biggest city of more than 10 million people running for cover.
The scale of the carnage makes this by far the deadliest strike claimed by Boko Haram, a shadowy Islamist sect that started out as a clerical movement opposed to western education but has become the biggest security menace facing Africa's top oil producer.
"We have 178 people killed in the two main hospitals," the senior doctor in Kano's Murtala Mohammed hospital said following Friday's attacks, citing records from his own and the other main hospital of Nasarawa.
Christians in Sudan and newly created South Sudan face possible detention, beatings and even death amid a "deteriorating humanitarian situation" with thousands of people being killed this year alone, aid workers and Christians said in statements obtained by BosNewsLife Sunday, January 22.
"Jonglei State in South Sudan...severe inter-tribal warfare has caused an estimated 3,000 deaths and displaced over 100,000 people in the last two weeks," reported Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which has been investigating the situation.
The region was reportedly a disaster zone by President Salva Kiir. "Tensions over cattle-raiding are common between tribal groups, However the violence in Jonglei constitutes the worst internal violence since South Sudan gained its independence," from Sudan in July 2011, CSW added.
"Christians in Sudan are among those being targeted by Islamic authorities, rights groups say."
As such, the men, women and children — denied by the Islamists from taking any of their belongings — were forced to flee to mountain villages 30 miles outside of Homs, their homes occupied by the militants who claimed the owners’ possessions as “war-booty from the Christians.”
According to reports by Barnabas Aid, a relief agency assisting Syrian Christians, the forced Christian exodus from Homs has been ongoing since the beginning of February when armed Islamists murdered more than 200 Christians, “including entire families with young children.”
At that time a representative of Barnabas Aid pleaded, “Christians are being forced to flee the city to the safety of government-controlled areas. Muslim rebel fighters and their families are taking over their homes.” -Source
