UN aid chief calls for immediate release of hostages in Israel-Hamas war
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The head of the United Nations humanitarian relief agency on Tuesday called for the immediate release of all people who have been taken hostage in the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants. Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kabul, Afghanistan, […]
“She’s a strong lady”: Family of abducted elderly Israeli plead for her release
Luzit, Israel Reuters Soon after Hamas gunmen invaded Israel’s villages videos began to emerge of seized Israelis being dragged away into Gaza. One showed an elderly woman, a defiant expression on her face, driven on a golf cart into the Palestinian enclave. The family of the bespectacled grey-haired woman, wrapped in a pink blanket and […]
“Alarming” rise in rape and abduction from Sudan war – aid agencies
Reuters The conflict between military factions in Sudan has caused a surge in cases of rape and the abduction of women and girls, some as young as 12, aid agencies and officials said. Teenage girls are being sexually assaulted and raped by armed combatants in “alarming numbers”, Save the Children said in a statement on […]
Gunmen abduct more than 100 in Nigeria’s Zamfara state; German priest kidnapped in Mali
Maiduguri, Nigeria Reuters More than 100 people, including women and children were abducted when gunmen raided four villages in Nigeria’s north-eastern Zamfara state on Sunday, the information commissioner and residents said on Monday. Kidnapping has become endemic in north-west Nigeria as roving gangs of armed men abduct people from villages, highways and farms and demand […]
Joy as parents reunited with kidnapped Nigerian students
Maiduguri, Nigeria Reuters Ninety children abducted from a school in Nigeria were reunited on Friday with their parents after being held captive for nearly three months, part of a wave of mass kidnappings by armed gangs that have spread fear across the north of the country. “Today is the happiest and most joyful day for […]
Nigerian state government confirms 136 children abducted in Niger state
Minna, NigeriaReuters Gunmen abducted 136 students from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger on Sunday, a state official said on Wednesday, lower than the estimate of 200 previously offered by the federal government. An armed gang on motorcycles attacked the town of Tegina in the state on Sunday. State government officials […]
Parents of Nigeria kidnap victims plead for government help
Kaduna, NigeriaReuters When Linda Peter last spoke to her daughter, the brief phone call left her relieved the teenager was alive but distraught because she could not pay any ransom demanded. Peter’s 18-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was among 39 students abducted by gunmen on 11th March from a forestry college in the north-western Nigerian state of […]
Essay: Praying for breakthrough in Nigeria in 2021
ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, calls for Christians to join in prayer for the strife-torn nation of Nigeria where Christians are the target of escalating levels of violence which some are saying increasingly looks like genocide…
Essay: Uganda – how to bring justice for thousands of children born of war
In an article first published on The Conversation, TONNY RAYMOND KIRABIRA and LEILA CHOUKROUNE, of the University of Portsmouth, argue that unless crimes against children in the 20 year long civil war in Uganda are dealt with, the world risks another generation of alienated young people…
Brazilian police want to test new tactic in war against child trafficking
Thomson Reuters Foundation As part of an effort to fight human trafficking, the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro plans to create an alert system that can be activated whenever a child goes missing, a state secretary said last week. Mobile phones in the area surrounding where the child disappeared will receive messages with the […]