by Elizabeth Kendal  The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is estimated to be 92.2 percent Christian (of whom around half remain animist) and 1.9 percent Muslim. Islam entered DRC from East Africa’s Swahili Coast at least two centuries ago, as locals adopted the Arab beliefs, customs and Swahili language of the slave traders who settled in the region. While Islam is not new to DRC, fundamentalist Islam – which is pro-Sharia, pro-jihad and anti-infidel – is a recent phenomenon. For many years, the main jihadist group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF; formed in 1995), had been more ..read more

by Elizabeth Kendal  On 28 June, in what seemed to be an instantaneous and inexplicable reversal of fortunes, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – the Marxist organisation that dominated, terrorised and robbed Ethiopia for three decades – regained control of Mekelle (the Tigray capital).  The TPLF’s boast, that it had routed the far superior Ethiopian military, is pure propaganda, nothing but a lie.  Captives on parade. Photo by Finbarr O'Reillyfor The New York Times As it turns out, the TPLF entered Mekelle after the Ethiopian government announced a unilatera ..read more

This is a message to all who have signed up to receive Religious Liberty Monitoring posts by email. For many years now everything published to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) blog and the Religious Liberty Monitoring (RLM) blog has been delivered via email by FeedBurner (a free service provided by Google). However, from July, FeedBurner will no longer be running an email delivery service. Forced to make changes, and in consultations with colleagues, I have made the decision to streamline and simplify my own operations, and to merge the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) and ..read more

by Elizabeth Kendal  On Sunday 25 April a small detachment of Indonesian security personnel was patrolling a crime scene in Puncak Regency, in the Central Highlands of Papua Province, when it was ambushed by Papuan rebels. A firefight ensued and Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) provincial intelligence chief Brig. Gen. I Gusti Putu Danny Karya Nugraha was shot dead in what appears to have been a planned assassination.  Indonesian President Joko Widodo immediately called for retaliation.  On Thursday 29 April, police claimed to have killed nine Papuan fighters in Puncuk district on T ..read more

By Elizabeth Kendal General elections were held in Burma (Myanmar) on 8 November 2020. There were problems, mostly on account of on-going conflict and massive displacement. However, 95 percent of international observers deemed the process "good" or "very good" and a "democratic success".  NLD supporters celebrate with poster of Aung San Suu Kyi . As soon became clear, Myanmar’s ruling, pro-reform, National League for Democracy (NLD) party had won a majority of seats in parliament, increasing its gains at the expense of the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party ..read more

-- Royal assent secured; law will come into effect on 16 Feb 2022. The Victorian state government’s Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practises Prohibition Bill passed in the Legislative Council on the evening of 4 February 2021.   Despite a lengthy debate, the world’s most repressive LGBTQ+ anti-conversion bill passed without amendments, 27 votes in favour and 9 against. The nine opposing votes came from 7 of 12 crossbenchers, and 2 of 11 opposition members.  While the Bill’s focus is sexual orientation and gender identity, its similarity to religious anti-conversion laws in H ..read more

by Elizabeth Kendal When the Victorian parliament returns on 2 February, one of the first issues to be decided will be the fate of the government’s unprecedented and far-reaching Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020.   Premier Daniel Andrews. If passed, the Bill will – in the words of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews – ensure that “cruel and bigoted practices that seek to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity will be stamped out across Victoria”.  SEE: Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Daniel Andrews  Banning ..read more

by Elizabeth Kendal Uzbekistan’s repressive Religious Law is currently under review. The law – which has its roots in the Soviet era – was adopted in 1998 during the rule of Islam Karimov. A ruthless autocrat, Karimov ruled over the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic from 1989, before being elected as the first president of an independent Uzbekistan in 1991. Under Karimov, Uzbekistan was a Soviet-style police state where suffocating repression was enforced by a brutal security apparatus which was a law unto itself. When Karimov died in September 2016, the Supreme Assembly appointed Prime Minis ..read more

Yesterday, Religious Liberty Monitoring blog posted a report entitled - "Ivory Coast: church attacked; refugees suffering; lawyers refused; Mbeki speaks". The report is from 2011. . . it is not new. . .and it was re-sent in error. My apologies. That said . . . President Laurent Gbagbo (ousted in April 2011) was acquitted at the International Criminal Court in January 2019. An appeal against that acquittal is currently underway. With elections looming, tensions are rising. Consequently, I have been re-reading my past reports on Ivory Coast in preparation for fresh a report in the not-to-di ..read more

On Wednesday 4 May 2011, after weeks of fighting, Yopougon district -- Abidjan's last pro-Gbagbo stronghold -- fell to Alassane Ouattara's Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI) . It appears however, that the FRCI may have perpetrated a massacre in Yopougon at a Baptist Church which has been sheltering more than 2,500 refugees. The UN is investigating. Background: Ivory Coast's churches filling up -- with refugees By Elizabeth Kendal, for Religious Liberty Monitoring, 24 April 2011, The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports: "On 3 May, the Baptist Church whe ..read more