Persecution of Christians around the world has stepped up a level – these three countries are just the tip of the iceberg.
China
China has announced new rules, taking effect from 1 September, to limitallreligiousactivities to official venues only and prevent the display of religious symbols outdoors. All religious activity will have to be supervised by the state to make sure it supports China’s Communist Party.
The CCP wants to control all aspects of religion, and this is an attempt to ‘suffocate’ the burgeoning unofficial church, which is made up of Christians who have been driven underground to seek freedom of worship.
China’s policy of Sinicization is attempting to make China more Chinese by removing all symbols of religions, including Christianity. Over 1500 crosses have been torn down from authorised churches in Zhejiang province alone.
The new measures even seek to control what may be preached in churches. They require that the content of Christian sermons must reflect China’s politics and the core values advocated by Chairman Xi Jinping, rather than religious doctrines. And clergy members who refuse face disqualification from preaching.
These new rules apply ostensibly to officially registered and state-controlled churches. Yet they will also impact the growing underground church in China, where Christians seeking freedom of worship are forced to gather in secret. These new restrictions will put a further obligation on those who host those venues.
Yet,Paul Robinson of Release International claims that “by every account Christianity in China is growing. The number of Christians in China has long surpassed the membership of the Communist Party.”
Siege in Sudan
On 15 April 2023 conflict erupted in Khartoum between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as the two forces commenced a battle for supremacy. The conflict quickly spread to the non-Arab periphery. Genocide is again being perpetrated in Darfur, and full-scale civil war looms over South Kordofan (home to over a million Christians; most of whom live in the Nuba Mountains; many of whom are genocide survivors).
In early June, with the SAF distracted, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (al-Hilu faction, which defends the interests of South Kordofan’s non-Arab, non-Muslim, predominately Christian Nuba tribes) exploited the opportunity to take over several SAF compounds around South Kordofan’s capital, Kadugli.
On 12 June the SAF launched its first air-strikesontheNubaMountains since 2016. By mid-August the SPLM-N had taken around 10 bases from the SAF, alongwiththeKarakayaoilfacilitysouthofDilling, meeting very little resistance. In the process the SPLM-N (Hilu) has expanded its territorial control of the state from roughly half to about 60 percent.
Children and families are living in near-siege conditions in Kadugli in southern Sudan and have run out emergency food supplies, with fighting blocking access to several major roads and medical services at a standstill, according to SavetheChildrenstaff based in the town. Every vehicle on the road is considered a military target.
Those who remain and are injured will not get the medical treatment they need to survive. There is a very real risk that children will start dying from hunger… The international community needs to recognise and treat the conflict in Sudan as the large-scale emergency that it is, and act accordingly.
Another siege in Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) is a mountainous Armenian Christian enclave inside Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan. Prior to November 2020, Artsakh – i.e. N-K and its surrounds – was autonomous and protected by Armenia. However, on 27 September 2020, Azerbaijan – with support from Turkey and sophisticated weapons from allies Turkey, the US and Israel – launchedawar to seize control of Artsakh.
Whilst a Russia-brokered ceasefire, signed on 10 November 2020, did halt the Azeri-Turkic advance, it left the 120,000 Armenians of what remained of N-K in an exceedingly vulnerable position. With all the lowlands contiguous with Armenia lost, the only link between Armenia and N-K was the LachinCorridor, which would be monitored by Russian peacekeepers. ‘Is this a case of genocide averted or genocide postponed?’
On 12 December 2022 fake ‘eco-activists’ sponsored by the Azerbaijani government blockadedtheLachinCorridor essentially besieging the Armenian Christian enclave [RLPB 677 (25 Jan 2023)]. Eventually, on 15 June, Azerbaijan officially closed the Lachin Corridor and set up a military checkpoint to enforce the siege, severing all access to food, water, medicines, fuel, gas, electricity etc. RLPB warned: ‘thestageisbeingsetforgenocide’ .
On 7 August Luis Moreno Ocampo, a former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)releasedareportinwhichheargues that the blockade of the Lachin Corridor ‘should be considered a Genocide against the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh under Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention: “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.” …
‘Starvation,’ he said, ‘is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.’ Multiple convoys loaded with humanitarian aid remain holed up at the Lachin Corridor checkpoint having been denied entry into N-K.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo [who championed the cause of Asia Bibi] accompaniedtheFrenchconvoy. Shewrites (30 Aug): ‘Here at the Lachin Corridor, we testify that no humanitarian aid can enter Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] in total violation of human rights. Our 10 humanitarian aid lorries were blocked. A humanitarian crisis is underway, it is urgent.’
The siege is entering its final stage. Peoplehavestartedtodieofmalnutrition, while miscarriages and stillbirths have risen by a reported 30 percent. Hospital and supermarket shelves are all bare. Bread (ifyoucangetit) isrationed at 200g per person per day. State reserves of flour and fuel are almost totally depleted. Winter approaches. Genocidelooms.
Please pray
Praise God that the church is growing in China despite efforts to quench it.
Praise God that in response to the petitions of concerned Christians (CFFpetition: www.cfaithfreedom.org) Australia has joined the US, UK, Canada and the European Parliament to support the unimpeded movement along the Lachin corridor, as directed by the UN International Court of Justice.
Pray that God will end the starvation and death caused by the blockades in both Sudan and Azerbaijan. And that international pressure in these countries may result in life for these communities.
Aira Chilcott is a retired secondary school teacher with lots of science andtheology under her belt. Aira is an editor for PSI and indulges inreading, bushwalking and volunteering at a nature reserve. Aira’s husband Bill passed away in 2022 and she is left with three wonderful adult sons and one grandson.
Aira Chilcott's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/aira-chilcott.html