Somalia’s minority Christians still observed Pentecost, despite a spray of gunfire between  pro-government troops and Muslim militants causing 14 deaths.

The engagement occurred as the insurgent group al-Shabab advanced on the presidential palace overnight, but were stopped by government troops and African Union peacekeepers, according to BosNewsLife.

Somalia’s frail government faces unrest from two insurgent groups, al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam.  Although the two latter groups agree that they want a more strict Islamic state, they are also fighting each other, aside from both groups fighting the government.

As of now, much of central and southern Somalia and large parts of Mogadishu are under the control of insurgents.  The Sharif government controls small areas around the airport, seaport and presidential palace, with the help of African Union troops, BosNewsLife reported.

The Sharif government also struggles with internal conflict.  Last week President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed tried to fire the prime minister, but backed down this week, stating that he recognized the method of the firing was unconstitutional, according to BosNewsLife.

Both the Sharif government and the two warring insurgent factions would like to obliterate the Christians.   While the president proclaims himself a moderate, he embraces a sharia, or Islamic law, that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam, BosNewsLife reported.

On the other hand, both Al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam would like to rid Somalia of Christianity, and all non-Islamic culture, which they describe as barbaric.  It is believed that there are 1,000 Christians in Somalia, BosNewsLife said.

Al-Shabab recently shot and killed Christian leader Yusuf Ali Nur, 57 whom they suspected of being a Christian.  Nur was killed in Xarardheere, a small town 37 miles from the regional capital Jowhar.  Nur left behind a wife and three children, aged 11, 9 and 7, according to BosNewsLife.

Al-Shabab had also, before then, shot and killed Christian Mu’awiye Hilowle Ali in front of his house in the town of Afgoye, some 15 miles west of the capital Mogadishu.  Ali is survived by a wife and ten children, BosNewsLife said.

Over a dozen Christians are known to have been killed by militants within a year, according to Christian advocacy groups.  This troubled country has also seen tens of thousands of people killed in war, and over a million displaced in what aid groups call the most dire humanitarian situation in the world, BosNewsLife reported.

The president has met with the international community at a United Nations backed conference in Istanbul, Turkey, to shore up worldwide support for his fragile government, according to BosNewsLife.

On Saturday, May 22, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reportedly said that international support for the government is “the only way” to stabilize Somalia, which has not had a stable central government in nearly 20 years, BosNewsLife reported.

Somali pirates have earned well deserved notoriety for regularly attacking international ships, kidnapping their seamen and demanding ransom.

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A transition government struggles to stabilize itself, even as two Muslim extremist groups want to unseat it.  Plus, these two extremist groups want to obliterate each other–and all three of them would like to eradicate the Christians.

Christians face extreme hostility in Somalia

This is Somalia, where a transitional government led by President Sheikh Sharif Shei Ahmed claims to be moderate, yet embraces a death penalty for those who leave Islam, Right Side News reported.

The two warring factions, Al Shabaab ( allegedly linked with al Quaeda) and Ahlu Sunna Waljamer were originally allies but are now at war with each other.  Both groups want a more extremist Islamic government for Somalia.

After a two-hour battle between Shabaab and its rival Ahlu over a coastal town called Xarardheere,  Shabaab won out, and began a summary house by house search for Ahlu members.

In one of the houses they found underground Christian leader Yusuf Ali Nur, 57.  Shabaab has called for a jihad against Christians and vowed to rid Somalia of all of them.  Nur was on their list of suspected members of the underground church group.

Right Side News reported that upon finding Nur, one of the extremists said, “Oh!  This is Yusuf, whom we have been looking for,” then riddled him with bullets.  Nur had a wife and three children aged 11, 9 and 7.  This is the most recent from a long line of executions of suspected Christians in Somalia.  Others have been beheaded.

Shabaab controls sizeable areas of central Somalia, where they have barred music from radio stations and banished the use of bells in school for resembling the chimes of cathedrals.

Other Christians who have been executed in Somalia include:

• March 23:  Mu’awiye Hilowle Ali, who was shot at close range and killed in front of his home in Afgove by Shabaab members for spreading fitna (Arabic word for religious discord).  He was not allowed to be buried in a public burial place because the Shabaab said it was Muslim territory.  He had a wife and 10 children, according to Crosswalk.
• March 15.  Madobe Abdi was shot and killed by Shabaab members.  Abdi was not a Muslim convert.  He was an orphan who was raised as a Christian.
• January 1.  Mohammed Ahmed Ali, 41, was murdered by Shabaab members.
• 2009.  Some 15 Christians, women and children among them, were sought for and killed by Islamic militants.

Crosswalk said that the Somali church is arguably the most persecuted church in the world today.

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The U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) noted in its recent 2010 annual report that President Obama has fallen short of doing what he can to lobby for the protection of religious freedom in the world.

The report noted that until now, President Obama has failed to appoint an Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, a request that was made to him last month in a petition signed by lawmakers, scholars and human rights groups.

The same petition requested that the position be given equal level to other Ambassadors-At-Large who report directly to the Secretary of State, according to The Christian Post.

The USCIRF also noted that under Obama’s watch, no countries have been rated CPC, or “countries of particular concern” for having the worst religious violations.

Such a rating can prompt government action including trade restrictions, sanctions, embargoes, and withholding of military or financial aid, among others, The Christian Post said.

The same report said that the USCIRF, an independent US government commission, made these observations even as it said that with every year the issue becomes less and less important to the White House and the State Department.

The position of Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, for example, was created in 1998, but it had only been filled in its initial year, and has remained vacant since 1999.

The commission warned Obama that failure to fill the position sent a message to the international community that religious freedom is not an important issue to the American government, the Christian Post said.

The same report noted that USCIRF took issue with the fact that Obama rarely mentioned religious freedom when he visited Ankara and Cairo last year.

Furthermore, Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton replaced the words religious freedom with “freedom of worship.”

The commission said authoritarian governments could skirt the issue by noting that faiths that are okay with them can freely worship.

Credit:svilen001/sxc.hu

They could also permit only token houses of worship for minority faiths.

According to CNN, the USCIRF also reported that:

* Over 24 countries are religious freedom offenders and practice religious persecution.

* Forms of religious persecution may include imprisonment, murder, being fired from jobs, and being kicked out of universities; being forbidden to have bank accounts, driver’s licenses and even birth certificates, among others.

* 13 countries should be rated CPC or “countries of particular concern” because they have the worst religious violations. These countries include Myanmar (Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Suda, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

* 12 countries on the watch list are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.

* The report has five more countries under CPC rating than does the State Department’s 2009 report, which did not include Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan or Vietnam.

* 3 countries, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, should be closely monitored.

Specific Countries

* Egypt. Members of the Baha’I faith and minority Muslim sects are imprisoned, fired from jobs, kicked out of universities, and barred from having bank accounts, birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

* Nigeria. A decade of violence between Muslims and Christians in the Jos state recently culminated in 500 men, women and children hacked to death with machetes and dumped into wells.

* China. Cracked down on Uyghur Muslims in the west.

* Iran. Labeled domestic political opponents “enemies of God” which is a capital offense and can merit severing of the head.

* Eritrea. Harassment of Orthodox Church members and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

* Vietnam. Imprisonment of Buddhists and Protestants.

The USCIRF report urged the government to double its efforts to protect international religious freedom and to raise issues of abuse to the highest levels of the world community, the Christian Post said.

“Anything less betrays our history and values, and fails to leverage the extraordinary capacity we have as a nation to promote religious freedom and related human rights for all,” the report said.

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–Maurice Williams, the Underground, staff writer

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