From: Assistcomm@cs.com
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 14:12:21 EDT
To: AssistUS@sheperd.com
Subject: Nigeria violence
ASSIST
News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126,
Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA
E-mail: assistcomm@cs.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net <http://www.assistnews.net/>
Wednesday, August 6, 2003
UP TO FIFTEEN PEOPLE KILLED IN RIOTS IN NIGERIA AFTER STABBING OF STREET
EVANGELIST
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
NUMAN, NIGERIA (ANS)
-- Up to fifteen people have been killed in the town
of Numan, north-eastern Nigeria, after a woman evangelist was stabbed to death
by a Muslim.
According to the UK-Based Barnabas Fund, a Muslim man stabbed Mrs. Esther Ethan
to death on June 9th after she had been engaged in street evangelism.
"An enraged Christian mob chased the killer, who took refuge in a police
station," said a spokesman for Barnabas Fund. "Thwarted in their attempts to
catch him, they directed their anger against Muslim individuals and property."
"After Mrs. Ethan finished her evangelistic activities she walked the short
distance to her home with the man following close behind. Local police and the
media claim that she had disagreed with the itinerant water seller over the
price of a jerry can of water; however her children, who saw him emerge from the
house moments later carrying a knife dripping with blood, have denied this,
saying that they never heard any argument. The family insists that the media and
police have distorted the story and that their mother's killing was religiously
motivated.
"A group of Christians gave chase to the man after the alarm was raised, but he
was able to run to the local police station to take refuge. Unfortunately the
thwarted mob targeted their anger against other Muslim individuals and their
property; the Muslim community, a minority in Numan, responded to this violence
in a like manner. After at least two days of total disorder, during which many
citizens fled the town, up to 15 people were killed and four mosques and three
churches razed to the ground."
The spokesman went on to say, "Since the establishment of Shari'a [Islamic law]
in twelve states of northern Nigeria, relations between Christians and Muslims
in Nigeria have become very tense. The Christian community in the Muslim
majority Shari'a states have both lost accustomed freedoms and had harsh new
punishments imposed on them. Numan is in the state of Adamawa, which does not
have Shari'a, but the Muslim population is growing with an influx from further
north. Thus is not inconceivable that Adamawa may eventually adopt Shari'a.
"In the face of widespread application of Shari'a the Church's call for a
non-violent response is usually heeded, although when they face attacks from
Muslim extremists Christians do often take up arms to defend themselves. What is
unusual is for mob violence to be initiated by Christians. Sadly, but
understandably, many Christians in Numan resent the immigrant Muslim population
as they have no wish to live under shari'a like their co-religionists in the
twelve northern states."
The spokesman then asked for prayer for the situation, with the following points
for prayer:
* Pray that peace would be restored between the Muslim and Christian communities
in Numan.
* Pray that Christians would not respond to any situation with violence.
* Pray for the Ethan family and everybody who has lost family members in the
violence; pray for all those injured and the thousand or so made homeless."
Barnabas Fund works to support Christian communities mainly, but not
exclusively, in the Islamic world where they are facing poverty and persecution.
_____________________________________________________
Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern
California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of
ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times). Wooding is also a syndicated
columnist, and was for ten years a commentator on the UPI Radio Network in
Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 41 books, one of which is "Blind
Faith" which he co-authored with his 93-year-old mother Anne Wooding, who was a
pioneer missionary to the blind of Nigeria in the 1930s. Copies of this book are
available from the ASSIST USA office at PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA
92842-2126. His writings are on the ASSIST Website at: www.assistnews.net
<http://www.assistnews.net/>
** You may republish this story with proper attribution.
Send this story to a friend. <http://sheperd.com/assist/SendFriendJava.asp?aURL=http://www.assistNews.net/stories/s03080010.htm&aTitle=UP%20TO%20FIFTEEN%20PEOPLE%20KILLED%20IN%20RIOTS%20IN%20NIGERIA%20AFTER%20STABBING%20OF%20STREET%20EVANGELIST>
------ End of Forwarded Message
------ End of Forwarded Message