The Voice of the suffering in Africa

The Catholic Diocese of Kontagora has reported a violent overnight attack on St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Niger State, Nigeria, resulting in “the kidnapping of pupils, students, teachers, and school personnel, as well as a security guard who was badly shot.” According to the statement sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the armed assailants invaded the school premises between 1:00 A.M and 3:00 A.M. on November 21, causing “fear and distress within the ...

An estimated 128,000 people have had to flee the affected region, according to UN estimates. At least four Christians were murdered by jihadists in northern Mozambique over the past days, in the latest wave of attacks of an insurgency which began in 2017. Although the insurgency began in Cabo Delgado province, it also affects the province bordering Cabo Delgado to the south, Nampula, where the latest violence has taken place. The situation has been particularly dire in the district of ...

The attack represents “a major blow to the education of young girls, which is already quite rare in these parts of the country,” say local sources. The abduction of about 25 students from the Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Kebbi, has plunged the community into deep shock. A local source consulted by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) explained that the attack caught residents off-guard, at a moment when violence in the ...

The west African nation has been classified as suffering from severe, systematic, and ongoing religious freedom violations. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has received an official communication from the Archdiocese of Kaduna, Nigeria, reporting the abduction of a priest following a violent attack on the community of Kushe Gugdu in the Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State. In the early hours of Monday, November 17, armed assailants attacked the residence of Fr. Bobbo Paschal, parish priest of ...

Archbishop Séamus Patrick Horgan, Apostolic Nuncio to South Sudan, has just completed a diplomatic mission through the places in the region most badly affected by the current civil war in Sudan. Over several days, the archbishop expressed Pope Leo’s solidarity and closeness with the Christian community, which has struggled to keep its faith in the midst of the conflict.    Speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Fr. Jorge Naranjo, a Spanish missionary with a long track ...

International Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) expresses its deep concern for and solidarity with the families of the victims of a brutal attack carried out on September 8-9 in Ntoyo, in the parish of Saint Joseph of Manguredjipa, in the province of North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The attack has been attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). According to local sources close to the charity, the massacre left at least 64 dead, ...