What was once a table of nourishing, flavorful dishes has been reduced to hurriedly plucked weeds boiled in hot water. As war and famine take hold of the land, Sudan’s people face daily survival, desperate for help.

Greg Kelley from Unknown Nations says, “There are literally millions of people that are living on the threshold of starvation.”

Photo courtesy of Faruk Tokluoğlu via Pexels

Reports show many survive on just one meal of millet porridge a day, while others fill their stomachs with wild plants and weeds. In North Darfur, some have resorted to sucking on coal to ease hunger.

“And always, — says Kelley, — the unfortunate thing in these situations, always, those are the weakest that suffer the most — the women, the children, the people that can’t fight for themselves, provide for themselves. And so that makes a huge percentage of the country.”

In Sudanese areas where people rely on farming for their livelihood, ongoing fighting and shortages of farming resources are steadily shrinking the available agricultural land. In areas where certain food is available, prices are skyrocketing.

According to the World Health Organization, 25 million people face acute food insecurity, and nearly 100,000 cholera cases have been recorded since last July. This year, approximately 770,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition.

“Nearly 50% of the country is utterly dependent upon foreign aid of some kind, whether it’s through the UN or through NGOs,” says Kelley.

Yet many in desperate need remain unreachable. “There are cities that have been surrounded for over a

year now, and cities with approximately 300,000 people in them that you can’t penetrate, you can’t get into them because they’re surrounded by militia groups,” Kelley explains.

This crisis calls urgently for the global community to unite in prayer and strategic action for the Sudanese people, as they suffer from both famine and spreading disease.

“The church needs to look at these kind of opportunities as a situation where the suffering is present, but we can respond with a cup of cold water, with a hand of help, and minister to them in the name of Jesus,” says Kelley.

Visit Unknown Nations to learn more about the way you can help Sudanese people. Lift up in prayer the ministries serving Sudanese in conflict zones. Pray also for the 1% of local believers to persevere in faith and bring hope to others.

Header photo courtesy of Tom Rogers via Unsplash.

Thursday, March 6, a band of Alawite fighters from the old regime killed more than a dozen soldiers in the coastal town of Jableh affiliated with the new government. 

But it might not have “started” on Thursday. Samuel* with Redemptive stories says, “They killed, the reports say, 16 to 20 soldiers related to a dispute…. There [are] suspicions that there was some act done even before that, which then this [attack on soldiers] was recompense for that previous act.”

Syrian citizens celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, December 2024 (Photo courtesy of Shvan Hark via Unsplash)

In response, the government sent in troops and a massacre began. The numbers are still coming in, but reports are saying hundreds of fighters and civilians were killed. Christians were among those slain. However, the chief targets were Alawites, a minority sect of Shia Islam that Syria’s former president belongs to. (Amid misinformation regarding this event, read a detailed analysis here.) 

Samuel explains the killing happened “primarily in areas that were hubs for Alawite fighters, or Alawite military personnel historically. But then they were killing quite indiscriminately — killing families, young people who had nothing to do with [it]. I mean, they were part of the previous regime, [by] the fact that they were Alawites, but it was more of an ethnic cleansing as retribution for what was done [in Jableh].” 

The fallout from these horrific killings has already begun. “Some say over 10,000 have crossed into Lebanon, trying to seek refuge there,” Samuel says. 

But there’s another, deeper issue in the fallout.

“The new government is showing their inability to form systems of society that are needed in order to be able to govern its people,” he says. “They’re working towards it, but still, there seems to be a disconnect, as you can tell by the goon-ery of their troops and this massacre that occurred.”

Photo courtesy of Ahmed Akacha via Pexels

Another example of this lack of structure is that security checkpoints in Syria are haphazard, not clearly regulated. One of Samuel’s teammates was in Syria recently. He says checkpoints during al-Assad’s rule were clearly marked with flags and different uniforms signifying which factions had charge of them. 

“Now you get to a checkpoint, [our partner says, and] you have no idea who these people are. They’re just wearing this regular old camo. They might have a new flag on it, but there’s no marking that these are military personnel, police officers or civil defense,” Samuel explains. 

“So they’re still lagging behind in their ability to create the structures necessary for a flourishing society. The honeymoon period is over, and the true colors seem to be coming out more and more.”

That’s not the full story though. Samuel says that in the midst of deep suffering, there are opportunities for believers to step in with gospel hope and help. At the same time, this kind of hardship “also exacerbates already [existing] issues, like fear, the ability to do meetings, to connect together, to meet together.” 

Please, pray for the minority church in Syria. Pray for those who are fleeing to Lebanon and believers who will receive them there.

“We’re just praying for our brothers and sisters on the ground that they can find that balance of still being able to engage people and particularly help them in their season of fear and concern,” Samuel says. “This is an opportunity to care for Alawites. Also in Lebanon, for the refugees that are coming there, [pray] for the church to engage to help them there.”

*Pseudonym

Header photo courtesy of Alexas_Fotos via Pixabay.

“It has now been almost 17 months that we have seen this violence between the militant Meiteis, who are predominantly Hindus, against the tribal [Kuki people] of the state of Manipur. The tribal [people] are predominantly Christian,” says John Pudaite with Bibles For The World. 

“This has been going on since May 3, 2023 almost non-stop, but it has really escalated in the last three weeks.” 

The escalation came from a report (proved to be false) which said that 900 trained Kuki fighters might be crossing over the border from Myanmar. Although false, the report did its damage. It stirred up fears and led Meitei forces to attack.

“Fortunately, in and around that September 28 date, there was only one front in which there were attacks. That was the western front near the border town of Jiribam, which is on the Assam border,” Pudaite says.

Hospital in Manipur State (Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World)

The government-controlled army was able to stop those attacks, but there was significant mortar shelling of the tribal villages. 

“There really is a peacekeeping force just trying to keep some of these buffer zones and front lines peaceful,” Pudaite says. 

According to Pudaite, the war has dominated peoples’ attentions. It’s been difficult to get momentum going in ministry. Supply chains have been broken, making relief a challenge to distribute, and Bible For The World’s seminary enrollment has dropped drastically. Not so for the hospital, though. 

“Our hospital has been busy non-stop during this time as we’ve been treating the internally displaced people who are in about 105 relief camps within 20 miles of our hospital,” Pudaite says. 

The best response is to pray. There are Christians on both sides.

Pudaite says about the tribal Kukis, “They have been living in these villages, in these hill areas for hundreds of years, and now they’re being called outsiders, intruders, illegal immigrants and [others are] using that as a reason to drive us out of the area. So we need to pray for them.

“We have village volunteers on the front line who are defending their villages and their land, and we need to pray for strength for them.”

Pray for supernatural unity and a resolution to this clash between Kukis and Meiteis. 

Header photo of Bibles For The World hospital in Manipur State courtesy of Bibles For The World.

Now in its eighth month, Sudan’s war has displaced over six million people, and at least 12,000 have died. Read our full coverage here.

International aid groups targeted by warring factions struggle to reach those in need. Traditional aid distribution methods aren’t working, so organizations are pivoting to adapt.

As explained here:

The current crisis in Sudan demonstrates the importance of exploring alternative pathways toward the provision of life-saving assistance. Relying on fighting factions to provide for the safe passage of aid is, at a certain point, naive given the pattern of violence that has emerged in the fighting thus far.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Starkie/Unsplash)

John*, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan, says larger organizations are “trying now to distribute small amounts of aid through local groups on the ground in Sudan.”

In some locations, because many local aid groups or “committees” are Islamic, “when they find that someone has come to Christ out of Islam, they won’t give them food… whether it (the food) came from the U.N. or some other group,” church partners tell John.

“The view they (Islamic groups) have doesn’t include any compassion for someone who has left Islam, so withholding food is their duty.”

Gospel workers are coming to the rescue. “200 graduates from our school of mission, from 25 tribes, are part of the teams in six locations where refugees are,” John says.

Believers are distributing small amounts of food aid and encouraging people who’ve lost everything. “We’ve been doing that since the beginning of the war through the 28 networks of house churches,” John says.

“They don’t have a lot [of aid], but they (displaced people) may get one meal.”

John adds, “We just sent some money to our team in one of these locations to feed a new group of Christians who come out of Islam because the aid around them is being denied.”

Send help through John’s organization here. Or, “if you’re connected through your denomination to a church in Sudan, try to get a hold of the pastor, who may be a refugee, and say, ‘How can I help?’” John suggests.

*Pseudonym

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of combonianos_brasil/Pixabay.

As global attention remains riveted on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Sudan’s atrocities go unnoticed. Hastily-dug mass graves confirmed by satellite imagery hold proof of genocide in Darfur.

“Sudanese are being killed, tortured, and displaced by their own people. The influx of refugees and displaced [people] has overwhelmed humanitarian systems. Aid workers are being killed; trucks of aid are being looted before they even get to a destination,” says John*, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan.

“That inevitable nexus – war, displaced people, lack of food, lack of water – is coming to a head.”

Yet the world remains indifferent. John describes three possible reasons why Sudan remains in the shadows. First, ignoring Sudan’s crises “is kind of a historical thing. Sudan went through two genocides by the government of Omar Bashir, and they didn’t get in the news either,” John says.

Secondly, “Sudan is not an international political figure. They’re not a greatly developed country, like Egypt or even Kenya,” he continues.

“The third thing is that the world is becoming war and refugee-weary.”

Arab militia known as Janjaweed are terrorizing Masalit communities in Sudan, particularly in the Darfur region.
(2004 U.S. State Department photo)

Will you speak up for Sudan? Genocide isn’t the only atrocity taking place, according to John’s Sudanese partners.

“The warring factions are taking this opportunity to try to eliminate the church on the ground in Sudan,” John says.

“When and if peace comes, they’re trying to make it so the church does not survive. They’re targeting and bombing significant church buildings, purposely destroying them, or confiscating them for their headquarters.”

Send relief aid through John’s organization here. Praise the Lord for sustaining hope as only He can.

“This war has driven Christians and Muslims into the same geographical areas,” John says.

“Those geographical areas are not Islam-dominated, so they (Sudanese people) have the freedom to think outside of Islam. And God is doing some absolutely amazing things.”

*Pseudonym

Header image courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA.

Finding a peaceful resolution won’t be easy, explains Greg Kelley, CEO of World Mission. “You’ve got Islamic/Christianity conflict, which would represent the two main groups; you’ve got historical tensions that goes back decades; you’ve got people group or ethnic, specific aspects going on in there; and then you’ve got this overarching issue of corruption. So when you bring all those things together, you have got a mess.”

In pursuit of justice

In the past, the wheels of justice moved slowly. However, in the capital city of Bangui, workers are in the process of overhauling a courthouse. It signals the launch of the Special Criminal Court (SCC), created to deal with war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Trials should begin in 2021.

(Photo courtesy of Pierre Holtz/UNICEF/Flickr/CC)

(Photo courtesy of Pierre Holtz, UNICEF/Flickr/CC)

It also indicates a shift in CAR. People now acknowledge the trauma that changed the face of the nation. “Every two seconds, someone in the world is newly displaced because of war, violence or persecution, and the Central African Republic is at Ground Zero in many ways, especially on the continent of Africa,” Kelley says. 

That displacement added to the lack of infrastructure and stability makes it tough for churches to connect. “Traditionally the Church has said, ‘Let’s wait for things to stabilize and settle and get more peaceful so that we can go in and begin dealing with the wounds and the trauma that people are dealing with.'” The problem is, “What we’re realizing is that you may wait ten years, you may wait 20 years for that stability if it ever does come.”  

Hope returns in the Central African Republic

The question then became ‘How do we get the Gospel to the displaced?’ followed by ‘How can we begin dealing with the trauma these people survived?’ The answer, Kelley explains, was to take the Gospel to the people rather than wait for people to come to Gospel workers.

“Organizations like the American Bible Society, who we partner with, have come up with something called a ‘Trauma Healing’ message. They’ve said, ‘we can’t wait. It’s just way too important, what these people have endured.'”

It’s a Bible-based model that leads to sustainable trauma care in any context, he adds. “We load it on our solar-powered audio Bible, in the language of the people, and it’s going into these camps so that people are listening. It’s the Spirit of God through the Word of God, and through this training that is healing them right where they’re at, in their displaced situation.”

Attracted by hope in a message spoken in their heart language, people flock to the listening groups. “There are about three to four thousand participants (in CAR) right now, in our listening groups. And just in the last couple of weeks, we’ve heard of 250 people that have made decisions for Jesus just by going through this. The American Bible Society put it together, and World Mission is loading it on our solar-powered audio Bible in the native tongue of the people.”

Strategic prayer for the CAR

Kelley invites us to pray with him for the Central African Republic and its neighboring countries of South Sudan, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “It’s the most chaotic part of the entire continent of Africa. Let’s just be praying for God to bring restoration. Jesus said in John 17, ‘I pray they would be one so that the world would know the Father has sent the Son.'” 

The final thought comes from a question Kelley posed at the conclusion of the interview. He asked, “Can you imagine the impact not only that will have in Africa, but also in the world when we see peace and stability come to a place like the Central African Republic? The ripple effect can touch the entire continent of Africa and even the world!”

Headline photo courtesy of P.A.S. HOPFAN NGO via Flickr

Tom Malinowski
(Photo credit State.gov)

Burma (MNN) — Mixed signals surround Burma at the start of 2015.

First of all, the top U.S. human rights official, Tom Malinowski, just wrapped up a six-day visit that included talks with Burma’s government.

“His visit could signal a more decisive change in the United States’ posture toward doing business with Burma, and that in turn could mean increased access, and perhaps increased movement, toward freedom,” notes Partners Relief and Development founder and CEO Steve Gumaer.

Malinowksi’s tour coincided with a ten-day visit by the UN Special Rapportuer for Myanmar (also known as Burma), Yanghee Lee. According to some experts, Lee’s visit holds great importance for the country’s ethnic people as she’s the only one who can “speak out, condemn, and prevent” grave human rights abuses.

Whatever positive potential the officials’ visits held for Burma dimmed quickly following comments issued by Malinowski.

International concern

“We expressed a concern that the use of religion…to divide people– whether it is done for political or any other purposes–is incredibly dangerous, particularly in an election year,” Malinowski said, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

(Image courtesy Partners)

Buddhist nationalism is reportedly rising rapidly, presenting a new threat to democratic progress and religious minorities in Burma. In addition, a new law that could limit evangelism is in the works.

The Associated Press reports that new legislation–which forbids interfaith marriage and limits religious conversions–has been introduced to the parliament and is soon expected to pass into law.

In addition, nothing about the government’s current human rights violations is changing or being addressed.

“The consistent denial of fundamental justice to the people of Burma continues to this day,” shares Gumaer.

“The regime is really trying to erase from the planet an ethnic group called the Rohingya people.”

Regardless, Partners has big plans for 2015.

The silver lining

Through holistic action, we demonstrate God’s love to children and communities made vulnerable by war in Burma.
(Caption courtesy Partners; Photo by Ryan Roco)

The work of Partners Relief and Development is poised for Gospel growth in 2015, Gumaer reports. With God’s blessing and the support of a dynamic national and international network, Partners helped 250,000 marginalized people last year in the areas of relief, sustainable community development, and child trafficking prevention.

“2014 was a tremendous year for us, and we expect to build on that to reach an increasing number of people in 2015,” he says.

“[The] Rohingya people [were] a massive part of our efforts in 2014 and will continue to be in 2015.”

Right now, Gumaer is in the U.S. raising support for Partners’ work and awareness of the plight Burma’s ethnic groups face daily.

The Rohingya people’s dilemma is perhaps the most dire; Gumaer describes some of the abuses issued by Burma’s government:

• Burning down entire villages and cities to erase any evidence that the Rohingya had been there
• Denying right of marriage/travel/childbirth to the Rohingya
• Forcing 150,000 Rohingya people to live in barbed-wire enclosures

“That is, for lack of a better word, genocide,” Gumaer states. “That is not ethnic cleansing: that is genocide.”

This year, Partners wants to increase their ministry efforts and reach more of Burma’s ethnic minorities.

(Image courtesy Partners Relief & Development)

“These are people, made in the image of God, who are suffering–not just because they’re poor. They’re suffering because of the country that they live in,” says Gumaer. “In two of the ethnic states, these are Christian people.

“All of them require, according to the words of Christ, our compassion. And,all of them compel us to engage, to get involved, and to demonstrate the lordship and love of Christ–not just with our words, but with our actions.”

You can help Partners achieve their mission here.

You may have heard recently that the European Union (EU) lifted trade sanctions on Burma, a sign that the country is making progress. The restrictions, designed to economically bind Burma, were temporarily lifted last year following the election of new leadership.

When sanctions were suspended, the EU communicated four prerequisites for permanent removal: all political prisoners must be released, aid must be allowed into Burma, ethnic uprisings must be resolved, and life for the Rohingya people must be improved.

Earlier this week, all EU sanctions except the arms embargo were lifted permanently.

While the international audience applauds progress and a "changed" Burma, Human Rights Watch (HRW) paints a different picture.

It uses terms like ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in a report also issued earlier this week to describe Burma's Rakhine state. It says Burma's authorities took part in driving 125,000 Rohingya from their homes.

We talked with Dyann Romeijn of Vision Beyond Borders to see what's really going on.

"It's not the large, massive genocide that you're seeing in Sudan or places like that," says Romeijn. "It's ongoing and it's continual.

"It's not just merely killing people in fighting, but a lot of times it involves torture, it involves trying to instill fear in these people so that they will surrender to the government."

Untold thousands are suffering as the government tries to purge Burma of different people groups. In the Kachin state, VBB says over 250,000 people are now displaced.

"The Burma army came into our village without warning; they burned and destroyed our village," one pastor told VBB's partners, Christian Far East Ministries. "Since we are all Christians, our church was immediately burned down, and we lost all the Bibles we had in there.

"None of us can or dare to go back to our village; it is surrounded by the Burmese Army. We heard that many land mines were placed around our village."

Approximately 90% of the displaced Kachin people are Christian. Pray that these Christ-followers will have opportunities to share the Gospel with other refugees.

The Burma Army fired four rounds of cannons on the Kachin village of Laiza.

Three people were killed and four injured. Among those injured were a 2-year-old girl and her mother, and an 8-year-old girl.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and Kachin sources, Laiza serves as the base for the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). This is the first time Laiza has been directly targeted.

The Burma Army also opened fire the same morning on villagers in Kahtan. The number of casualties and injuries is still unknown. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA)–the armed branch of the KIO–was not posted in Kahtan. There was no armed conflict in the area.

These Monday attacks come on the tail-end of three weeks of air strikes by the Burma Army with jet fighters and helicopter gunships.

Conflict between the KIA and the Burma Army has been raging since the broken ceasefire agreement. Burma’s military broke the 17-year-standing ceasefire in June 2011 when they began a military offensive against people in Burma’s northern state of Kachin. The Kachin want autonomy.

Over 100,000 Kachin people have fled since the turmoil started. Among the human rights violations attributed to the Burma Army are rape, torture, murder of civilians, looting, and destruction of churches and villages.

CSW calls for international action. They have written to the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. CSW urges her to bring the situation to attention as an urgent matter with Burma’s government.

The issue was raised in the British House of Commons last week. The United States and United Nations are on alert.

Please pray for believers who just lost their pastor in the Kachin state. Pray for them not to falter with the message and hope of the Gospel. Pray for the safety of the Kachin people.

Many of the Karen people are Christians, and it has become apparent that the ethnic cleansing taking place at the hands of the Burmese government is a direct attack against Christians. Patrick Klein of Vision Beyond Borders says once the military has finished off the Christians, they will likely move on to Buddhists.

"We could see, in the next couple of months or a year, a huge genocide of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people slaughtered, because the government wants to present this image that everybody in Burma is supportive of the military government; that is not true," says Klein. "The only ones that support it are the military."

Klein says reports show that over 500,000 have already been killed either as a direct result of military violence or from lack of medical care afterward. 150,000 Burmese refugees wait anxiously in Thailand while another million are stuck at the border of Myanmar and Thailand.

Thailand has not been keen on housing Burmese refugees in the past and has previously attempted to push them all back to Myanmar, where cleansing strategies await. However many refugees simply have nowhere to go after watching their villages go up in flames.

"UN employees reported that over 3,300 villages have been burned to the ground," says Klein. "It's surpassing what happened in Rwanda and Darfur, and yet nobody seems to notice."

Despite the nearly unprecedented conditions, the Word of God continues to permeate through the region. Klein says that even children in the Vision Beyond Borders orphanages pray for the soldiers that killed their families. Klein says the Lord is in fact using this time to draw many away from witchcraft and animism, and instead toward Christ.

"Even in the midst of [so many] horrific things going on, the Gospel is going forth, and many people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ."

Klein is excited that the Gospel is moving forth, but he urges the Christian world to do something for their suffering and ignored brothers and sisters.

"A lot of these Karen people feel like they've been abandoned. They wonder where is the world? Where is the Church that's standing up for them and trying to stop this genocide?"

There are two major things to be done to bring safety to Burmese believers. The first is to pray and ask the Lord to intervene. The second is to start calling senators and representatives to make them aware of the massive genocide going on in Burma. Klein says they are often unaware that anything is taking place, as are most of the people in Burma due to a media block.

Contact your senator or representative today, if only to make them aware of the issue. Click here for a list of U.S. representatives to contact, and here for U.S. senators.

"The Karen people just want to go back to their villages; they want to serve God in peace; they want to raise their families and provide for their families. Instead, they're living as refugees, a lot of them in Thailand. There's no hope for them as refugees."