WOROBE, ETHIOPIA (ANS) — International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on Thursday, April 21, 2011, four Muslims beat an evangelist to death and assaulted his pregnant wife in Worabe, Ethiopia, an area that is 97% Muslim.

An ICC spokesperson told the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net), that the Muslims lured Evangelist Abraham Abera from Kale Hiwot Church, his home and place of ministry, at 9:30 p.m. They told him that his friend was sick and needed his immediate attention. Abraham left with the men; they turned on him and began to beat him with rods. The minister’s wife, Birtukan, saw the men attack her husband and ran to intervene, but the Muslims beat her as well.

Abraham died on the spot and his wife, who sustained a severe head injury, was left unconscious in the street. She was found and taken to a hospital in Butajira, where she regained consciousness on April 22nd and was able to recount the details of the attack. Birtukan spoke with an ICC source and said that she knew two of the attackers. She said that as the Muslims were beating her and her husband, they told them, “You (Christians) are growing in number in our area. You are spreading your message (the gospel). We will destroy you.”

The ICC spokesperson went on to say that though Birtukan did suffer injuries to her mid-section, her unborn baby did fortunately survive the attack.

The attackers still remain at large. A Christian leader in the area told ICC that the men may not be arrested because the local officials are also Muslims.

“Christians in Worabe and its surrounding areas are persecuted at the hands of Muslim radicals, and the local government officials, who are Muslims, don’t protect Christians. We urge the higher government authorities [state and federal officials] to intervene and protect us,” said the Christian leader.

“The brutal killing of Evangelist Abraham and the beating of his wife, Birtukan, is deeply troubling. We urge the federal government authorities to investigate this latest attack as well as reports of persecution against Christians in the Silte zone,” said Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa.

ICC is urging readers to please call Ethiopian Embassies in your country and ask the Ethiopian authorities to bring the perpetrators of the attack against the Christian couple to justice.

Ethiopian Embassies:
USA (202) 364-1200, Canada 416 482 6637, Germany 493077206, UK 020 78383897/020 7838 3898

MOYALE, ETHIOPIA (ANS) – Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that a Christian near Ethiopia’s southern town of Moyale said suspected Islamic extremists on March 29 burned down his two thatched-grass homes.

Evangelist Wako Hanake of the Mekane Yesus Church told Compass he had been receiving anonymous messages warning him to stop converting Muslims to Christ. The Muslims who became Christians included several children.

CDN went on to say that the incident in Tuka, five kilometers (nearly three miles) from Moyale in southern Ethiopia’s Oromia Region, happened while Hanake was away on an evangelistic trip. A neighbor said he and others rescued Hanake’s wife and children ages 8, 6 and 2. Church leaders said neighbors are still housing Hanake and his family.

An area church leader who requested anonymity told Compass that Christians in Moyale are concerned that those in Tuka are especially vulnerable to a harsh environment in which religious rights are routinely violated.

“The Ethiopian constitution allows for religious tolerance,” said another area church leader, also under condition of anonymity, “but we are concerned that such ugly incidents like this might go unpunished. To date no action has been taken.”

The story concluded by saying, “Tuka village, on Ethiopia’s border with Kenya, is populated mainly by ethnic Oromo who are predominantly Muslim. Hostility toward those spreading faiths different from Islam is a common occurrence in predominantly Muslim areas of Ethiopia and neighboring countries, area Christians said, adding that they are often subject to harassment and intimidation.”

WASHINGTON, DC (ANS) — Twenty-five Muslims are reported to have burned down 10 Christian homes, leaving 80 Christians homeless in Goda district of Jimma, Ethiopia.

According to ICC (International Christian Concern) www.persecution.org , the attackers, who were led by a local government militia, also set fire to Christians’ barns killing their animals and destroying their harvest on July 15 at 8 PM local time.

“The assailants asked the Christians to leave their homes and told them, ‘We will show you what we are going to do to your homes and if you inform this to anyone we will burn you the way we burn your homes.’ Then they set the Christian homes on fire and began celebrating by singing near the burned homes,” said a Christian leader in an interview to ICC.

ICC says the attackers then prevented the victims from leaving the village for 16 days.

Finally, one of the Christians managed to escape and report the attacks to district officials after walking for 16 hours.

The police temporarily arrested the person who led the attack and a local official. But they were later released on bail. The Muslims have prevented the Christians from rebuilding their homes and the Christians now live under trees.

ICC explained that this is not for the first time that Christians have been attacked in Jimma.

In October 2006, a Muslim mob killed six Christians. In June 2010, Muslims destroyed coffee farms belonging to two Christian converts from Islam. According to a 1994 national census, 82.57 percent of the population in Jimma is Muslim. Christians complain that Muslim officials in Jimma deny them land for building churches and cemeteries.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said “We are deeply concerned about the attack by Muslims against Christian villagers in Jimma. We call for thorough investigations of the attack and urge Ethiopian officials to bring all the perpetrators to justice.”

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (ANS) — Islamic extremists beat Mr. Ibrahim Yusuf [name changed for security reasons], a 35-year-old Somali church leader, on September 20 in the neighborhood Saris in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org , says Mr. Yusuf, who lives in another neighborhood in Addis Ababa, went to Saris to pick up documents that were left behind by his good friend David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali.

The documents are about the persecution of the Somali churches. Mr. Ali was martyred in Somalia in April 2008 by Islamic militants. (See: www.persecution.org/suffering/newsdetail.php?newscode=7631 )

According to Yusuf, a Somali Muslim man entered the house where the documents had been safeguarded since Ali’s death and demanded to see them. Yusuf refused and the Muslim man left after threatening him.

ICC says that a few hours later, Yusuf left with the documents and was ambushed by five Muslim men who kicked and punched him repeatedly until he fainted and fell on the ground. Even after he fainted, the men continued their merciless assault for at least another fifteen minutes, according to the police report.

The attackers fled the scene when two policemen arrived. Yusuf was taken to Model Medium Clinic in Addis Ababa where he was treated and regained consciousness. He suffered lacerations and kidney and head injuries as a result of the attack.

ICC said two of the Muslim attackers were arrested on September 21. The rest are on the run.

The documents are now in safe hands.

Saris neighborhood is one of Addis Ababa’s “little Mogadishus,” populated by Somali refugees who have fled war-torn Somalia. The persecution against the Somali church has intensified since the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

ICC explains that Somalis are predominately Muslims, but, there are many Somalis who are becoming Christians as a result of the hard work of missionaries. Somalis who convert to Christianity face death. In the past year alone, five Somali converts to Christianity were killed simply for their faith. Even Somalis who live in neighboring countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya face persecution.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said, “It is unfortunate that Christian Somalis face persecution in countries where they live as refugees. We hope that Ethiopian authorities will take the necessary action to bring the perpetrators of the attack against Yusuf to justice.”

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church.

ETHIOPIA (ANS) — A mob of Islamic extremists stoned Seid Ahmed and Musa Ibrahim [names changed for security reasons] in Jijiga, a city on border with Somalia. The attack is the latest attack against Christians in Ethiopia where the spread of radical Islam is fueling the persecution of Christians.

ICC (International Christian Concern) www.persecution.org says that on July 19, 2008, Ahmed and Ibrahim were going to a church meeting when they were confronted by nine extremist Muslims yelling anti-Christian slogans. The extremists started hurling rocks at the two Christians.

Ahmed, who is a church leader, was hit by eight stones and suffered a severe concussion and injuries on his torso. He was admitted to Karamara Hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

Ibrahim escaped physical harm as he fled the scene to call the police who never arrived to stop the attack. The mob finally dispersed when Ibrahim ran in the direction of the local police station.

ICC says that Jijiga is the capital city of Somali Regional State, which is one of nine states in Ethiopia. The majority of residents in Somali State are ethnic Somalis who are majority Muslim.

According to ICC, this is not the first time that Christians have been attacked in Jijiga. On August 5, 2007, the Ethiopian Full Gospel Church in Jijiga was bombed. Though the church was packed with five hundred people, no one was hurt by the explosion. The same church was attacked by bomb five years earlier.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said, “Unless the growth of radical Islam is curbed in Ethiopia, the attacks against Christians will continue to rise. Ethiopian government officials, particularly local officials in Muslim dominated areas of the country, should be made accountable for failing to protect Christians against such attacks.”

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department.

ETHIOPIA (ANS) — Last week, Christians gathering at local churches in a southern region in Ethiopia were enjoying singing and worship when, without warning, hundreds of men armed with machetes and clubs leapt through the open windows and indiscriminately began attacking everyone present. The attackers barricaded the doors to try to prevent people from escaping.

Envoy Ministries (www.envoyministries.org ) says that when the carnage was complete, there were three Ethiopian church planters (missionaries) dead, one more person died March 9, and more than 70 were injured, with 40 people sustaining serious injuries. The death toll is expected to rise. Hundreds fled the area and are being cared for by Christians in other towns.

David Hunt, President of Envoy Ministries, says the attack occurred on March 3, when initially three people were killed. One person later died of wounds sustained in the attack, and seven people remain in hospital.

Hunt told ASSIST News: “Three days ago evangelists began flowing into a nearby town and in one day more than 30 evangelists begged to be sent back into exact area. Yesterday we committed to support the first ten with $60 monthly — today the 10 headed back to the area saying ‘We are ready to lay down our lives.’”

The Envoy Ministries website says that why such brutal attacks would take place is hard to understand, except that as the Gospel has flourished in Ethiopia and as people put their faith in Christ, others, violently opposed to the Gospel, do anything they can to stop the proclamation of the Gospel.

The site goes on to state: “However, Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.’ Truly we are seeing that being borne out in the Church in Ethiopia and in the lives of our brave brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Eight Muslims wielding razor-sharp machetes and knives broke into two village churches in southern Ethiopia earlier this month and began wounding worshipers, instantly killing one Christian.

Tulu Mosisa of Kale Hiwot church died after a machete blow nearly beheaded him, according to an eyewitness. Another two members of the Kale Hiwot and Birhane Wongel Baptist churches in the remote village of Nensebo Chebi both lost a hand each in the March 2 attacks, and a 5-year-old boy is still hospitalized after his arm was slashed to the bone.

A total of 23 Christians from the two congregations were injured before local militia officers drove off the attackers, who launched what one observer called “a seemingly well-planned,” simultaneous assault midway through Sunday worship services.

Read the full story at Compass Direct News.