Summary including – Nigeria bombings, Russian election, Japan anniversary, Oxfam warns of West Africa crisis
Nigeria: Boko Haram – More Complicated Than You Think
All Africa – Nothing in Nigeria is what it seems. Beneath a confusing, disorderly surface lie networks of association and obligation of which outsiders, and sometimes insiders, are unaware. Money is chopped (stolen), people paid off, budgets looted and shared. Power, political and financial, is never transparent.
In other nation states a citizen’s obligations to the state or employer, trump friendship or family connections. In Nigeria the state and institutions often rank far lower than personal affiliations. Outsiders are often shocked at the way public institutions are looted and distributed to buy personal loyalty or simply given to family and friends. The state is not a revered institution serving all citizens. It is a treasure house of power and money to be captured and looted.
This, rather than Islamic fundamentalism, is the context of the tragic deaths of Chris McManus and Franco Lamolinara in a bungled rescue bid in Sokoto on Thursday. A group calling itself Al-Qa’ida in the Land Beyond the Sahel claimed responsibility and it is said to be part of Boko Haram. Officials say that the demands they had made for the release of the hostages were confused.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201203091186.html
Church targeted in Nigeria attack
BBC – A suspected suicide car bomber at a Roman Catholic church in the Nigerian city of Jos kills at least three people, officials say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17331707
Nigeria: 10 killed in church bombing
Christian Today –
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/nigeria.10.killed.in.church.bombing/29457.htm
Russian election sparks debate in Orthodox Church
ENInews – Vladimir Putin’s election to a third term as Russian president has spurred debates about civil society and church-state relations within the Russian Orthodox Church since charges of vote fraud set off mass protests following last December’s parliamentary elections. Andrei Desnitsky, a theologian who supports demands for fair elections, said that growing political activism among Orthodox Christians is a positive outcome of the situation.
http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5527
A grieving Japan marks disaster anniversary
ENI – Tokyo, 12 March. A nation paused in grief on 11 March as Japan marked the one-year anniversary of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident that took 19,000 lives and triggered a continuing reconstruction crisis.
http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5530
Upon the First Anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake
ACNS – Letter from Archbishop of Japan – On the 11th of March this year Japan marks the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. We, members of the Anglican Church in Japan, gather together and pray for those who have suffered a great deal of difficulty since the disaster that totally changed their lives. We also pray for the lives lost and the devastated areas, and for their earliest recovery.
http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/3/12/ACNS5063
European tourists packing the pews at Harlem’s historic black churches
BeliefNet –Gawking European tourists are paying to stand in long lines to get to enjoy a unique New York City experience — church. Having to turn away crowds of international visitors are black evangelical churches, particularly in Harlem — especially those with joyous choirs, sermons delivered in dramatic traditional cadence and unabashed congregations that enjoy the full experience of worshiping Jesus. “Experience the soul-stirring power of Gospel at a church worship…
Oxfam warns of West Africa crisis
BBC – Urgent action is needed to stop drought in the Sahel region of West Africa turning into a humanitarian disaster, the charity Oxfam says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17308913
Seventy per cent of world face severe restrictions on religious practice
ICN – Approximately 70 per cent of the world’s population live in countries with high restrictions on religious practices, with religious minorities paying the highest price – so said Archbishop Silvano M Tomasi CS in an address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Archbishop Tomasi, Vatican Observer to the UN, said: “in general, rising restrictions on religion affect more than 2.2 billion
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=20007