UPDATE ON THE SUFFERING CHURCH

THE MALUKUS & SULAWESI, INDONESIA

A bomb exploded in a busy street in a Christian area of Ambon city, Maluku, on 3 April killing seven people and leaving over fifty injured. Enraged by this incident angry crowds mobbed the governor’s offices setting them ablaze. In Sulawesi there are serious concerns that Christian refugees returning to their villages in the Poso area are facing violence from Islamic militants and Muslim villagers in situations which are still unsafe. In Toini and Malei villages stones were thrown at Christian villagers, whilst in Tagolu some 500 Muslims are reported to have entered the village on Sunday 17 March whilst local Christians were in the church. The mob used microphones to shout aggressive messages, scrawled graffiti on walls and threw stones.

Much more encouraging has been the announcement of the voluntary surrender of around 38,000 weapons from the Poso district of Sulawesi and the confiscation of some 4,000 more. In Ambon 550 weapons are reported to have been voluntarily surrendered. In the Malukus the military has delayed the deadline for the handing in of weapons by a month until the end of April.

So, two months after the signing of a peace agreement for the Malukus, and nearly four months after a similar agreement was reached for Sulawesi, peace seems to be generally holding, despite the incidents described above. However the determination of the authorities and the military to enforce the peace agreements in Sulawesi and the Malukus and to confront and disarm gunmen from the Laskar Jihad Islamic militant group, still active in both areas, has not yet been tested.

Pray for Christians in the Malukus and Sulawesi. Pray that the two peace agreements for the regions will continue to hold. Ask that the Lord will heal the wounded and comfort the bereaved. Pray that the authorities will be just and diligent in enforcing the law, and disarming Islamic militants.

PAPUA & ACEH, INDONESIA

Whilst tension builds, but relative peace holds, in the Malukus and Sulawesi, Laskar Jihad is sending its Islamic militants to the Indonesian provinces of Papua (Irian Jaya) and Aceh. Laskar Jihad volunteers in majority-Christian Papua (said to number anywhere from 200 – 3,000) are believed to be engaged in “propagating Islam”, education, preaching aggressive sermons, the circulation of provocative pamphlets and news-sheets, and the distribution of videotapes containing footage of the Jihad’s holy war against Christians in the Malukus. In the staunchly Islamic province of Aceh the group says it has come to “teach Muslims there to interpret Islam correctly”.

The more likely primary motive for the group’s presence in these two provinces at opposite ends of the Indonesian archipelago is to oppose local separatist movements. Laskar Jihad believes in a united Indonesia under Islamic Shari’ah law. Locals fear that the Indonesian army may use the group to fight against the Islamic separatist movement in Aceh and the ethnic Melanesian Christian independence movement in Papua in a similar way to its notorious use of militias in East Timor. Already there are reports that Laskar Jihad are training the pro-Indonesian Islamic militia Muri Putih in Papua, and on 17 April police announced that they had arrested two Laskar Jihad members in the province for carrying firearms. The group’s presence in Aceh and Papua has been utterly rejected by local Christians and other community leaders who have called for them to leave the provinces. Christians in Aceh are also facing additional pressure under Islamic Shari ’ ah law that was implemented as ! part of significant autonomy measures awarded as concessions to the province by the Indonesian authorities.

Pray for an end to tension and lasting peace in both Papua and Aceh. Pray that the Laskar Jihad will be frustrated in their efforts to export their ‘holy war’ to these provinces.

AZERBAIJAN

A Christian woman from the Greater Grace Church in Baku has been deported. Three other members of the congregation have been fined. Meanwhile a district court has ruled that another church in Baku is to be liquidated. These examples demonstrate that Christians in Azerbaijan are facing increasing hostility from the authorities in a general crackdown, which seeks to isolate Azerbaijanis from exposure to Christians and other minority religious groups. There have been a number of other incidents of harassment of Christians and churches. A re-registration of religious groups has been ordered by the authorities. So far only eleven Christian groups have had their applications for re-registration approved.

Pray that the churches in Azerbaijan will continue to have the freedom to meet and worship without hindrance from the authorities.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Council has ruled against several proposed amendments to the country’s laws which would have severely affected local Christians. The proposed amendments would have allowed unregistered religious groups to be banned, and required all missionaries to be registered. Reports indicate that President Nursultan Nazarbayev is not going to appeal against this decision. This would mean that the previous law on religion remains in force. Church leaders and human rights campaigners have welcomed this decision, although some fear it may prove to be only a temporary respite and that the process of amending the country’s law on religion could begin all over again.

Thank God for this decision and pray that freedom of worship in Kazakhstan will be maintained.

Central Asian news from Keston News Service

PHILIPPINES

A bomb blast in the mainly Christian city of General Santos in the Southern Philippines on 21 April killed fourteen people and injured scores of others. The bomb was left in a motorised tricycle outside a department store. There were also reports of other explosions in the city but there were no other casualties. The militant Islamic group Abu Sayyaf claimed that it carried out the bombing. Police have arrested five Islamic militants in connection with the attack. Abu Sayyaf has been responsible for the kidnapping of a number of Christians in the past and is currently holding two American missionaries and a Filipina nurse. Militant Islamic groups are seeking to establish a separate Islamic state in the South of the Philippines.

Pray that Christians will be protected from attacks by Islamic extremists and that those kidnapped will soon be released.

FOCUS ON

‘END THE SILENCE’ PETITION SUBMITTED

Members of the Barnabas Fund staff travelled to Geneva in April to present the ‘End the Silence’ petition to the United Nations. The petition, sponsored by the Barnabas Fund, received support from 124,066 signatories in more than seventy different countries. It calls on the United Nations to support the proposal that Christian communities in Muslim-majority countries be given the same rights and freedoms as those enjoyed by Muslim minorities living in Europe and the West.

The petition was received by a representative from the secretariat of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights on 11th April. It will be forwarded to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General; to the Council of Europe; to the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance; and to the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s Representative for Asia, based in Bangkok. The two large boxes containing the list of signatures of the petition will be kept in the Commission’s archive for three years. Barnabas Fund staff were also able to meet with the ambassadors of various countries and the representatives to the Human Rights Commission of several Christian denominations. This helped to promote the requests made in the petition.

We at the Barnabas Fund are extremely grateful to everyone who signed this petition. The level of response was truly remarkable and it has served to focus attention on the issues raised. It was encouraging that the petition received a warm reception by the United Nations representative and that it will be forwarded to other bodies concerned with the rights of religious minorities.

Please pray with us that this petition may be effective in raising the issue of Christian minorities in Muslim countries.

Pray that it will influence key decision makers and that the important issues it raised will be high on their agendas.

UPDATE ON THE SUFFERING CHURCH is produced monthly by The Barnabas Fund, The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire, SN9 5DB tel: 01672-564 938, fax: 01672-565 030, e-mail: website: http://www.barnabasfund.org (Compiled 26.4.2002) [35 (67)]

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