African Churches Condemn Increasing Persecution on Eritrean Christians

Since last week, reports regarding a massive crackdown of churches in Eritrea by government authorities have been overwhelming. A Task Force related to the authorities is dedicated to ridding the country of targeted Christian denominations which are not recognised as "official" religions. While the number of affected Christians is rising, the All Africa Conference of Church (AACC) yesterday spoke out to defend the rights of Christians in a statement and condemned the Eritrean government.

Rev. Dr. Kasonga of AACC’s Theology and Mission Programs stated that religion should not be used to divide people but to foster harmony among individuals. He felt disappointed with the Eritrean government for orchestrating all the crackdowns.

Rev Kasonga lamented that the Christian church has always been a victim of persecution wherever it found itself as the minority, such as the early church, the Church in the Soviet Union, China and many other places across the world. They face hostility because of ideological differences or faith adherence.

Particularly, Rev Kasonga addressed the phenomena in Africa. Since the beginning of 2005 alone, over 200 Christians have been arrested in Ethiopia, pushing the total number of those so far arrested to 555. He added that religious conflicts are very common in Nigeria and Sudan, and that many innocent lives were claimed in tragic violence.

According to the latest reports from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a UK-based human rights group, 131 children aged between two and 18 were rounded up by a group of policemen as they were attending Sunday school on 19th February at the Medhanie-Alem Orthodox Church, Asmara.

Except those aged two to 14 who released on Monday with their parents, the remaining group of 30 children are still being detained and were transferred to other Police Stations.

From an article of Compass Direct, a Christian persecution watchdog, dated on 16th February, another 31 Eritrean Christians have been jailed over the first two weeks of February, making a total of 187 arrests for "illegal" Christian activities since the beginning of 2005.

Some 400 evangelical Protestant believers are currently in prison in Eritrea, including three very well-known Protestant pastors who were arrested in May 2004. They remain imprisoned for refusing to recant their faith. They are often tortured, incarcerated in metal shipping containers or underground cells.

CWS said according to reliable reports, a Task Force has been set up by the Eritrean government in an attempt to devastate all Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians by the end of 2005. Eritrea’s four recognised "official" religions are Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Islam. All worship and religious gatherings out of these four organisations are declared illegal. In May 2002 the Eritrean government ordered the closure of all independent Protestant churches.

The banned groups include indigenous Pentecostal and charismatic congregations, as well as Adventist, Presbyterian, Assemblies of God and Methodist-linked churches. Baha’is and Jehovah’s Witnesses are also targeted.

In the wake of violence and persecution targeted on blocking the Christian faith, Rev. Kasonga said, "The God we all worship does not want us to kill one another in his own name and we therefore should not use religion as a tool for manufacturing conflict but rather for peace making."

In the statement, AACC also echoed the voice from Eritrean Christians, "The Church in Eritrea has appealed to the international community to put pressure on the Eritrean government to stop persecuting it. It has sent an appeal to the Church in the United States of America to help in resolving the plight of Eritrean Christians."

AACC is an ecumenical fellowship representing more than 120 million Christians in 39 African
countries working to make a difference in the lives of the people of Africa through ministries of advocacy and presence on the continental, regional, and local levels.