November, 2008
SOMALIA: A FIERY FURNACE, YET CHRIST IS THERE
It is very easy to despair over Somalia as being no more than a land of war, chaos, lawlessness, hopelessness, tribalism, barbarism and Islam. The international community and the mainstream media seem to have largely abandoned Somalia, not least because it is simply too dangerous to visit. But Christians must in true counter- cultural fashion see Somalia through spiritual eyes. Yes, it is a fiery furnace but Jesus is there within and for his Church.
Actually there is nothing the Church can do but pray. Praise God that his power is made perfect in our weakness! (2 Corinthians
12:9,10)
Until the early 1960s, northern Somalia (Somaliland and Puntland) were British protectorates while southern Somalia was colonised by Italy. After independence, tribalism and the differences that had evolved between north and south made reunification difficult.
Governance issues were further complicated by famines and by wars led by irredentists* seeking to establish a Greater Somalia encompassing the Somali-populated regions of eastern Ethiopia (Ogaden), north-eastern Kenya and Djibouti. From the mid-1960s to 1978, Somalia was allied to and funded by the Soviet Union. After losing its Soviet patron, Somalia descended into dire poverty.
Then, when clan-based warlords overthrew the socialist dictator in 1991, Somalia became captive to warlordism. While self-declared independent Somaliland and semi-autonomous Puntland have found some degree of stability, southern Somalia has remained wracked by devastating conflict.
In mid-2006, Somalia's UN-appointed Transitional Federal Government
(TFG) was forced to flee the capital, Mogadishu, for Baidoa (near the Ethiopian border) after a union of Islamist groups (ICU) seized power in a coup. The ICU is led by Sheik Aweys, an al-Qaeda-linked designated terrorist, irredentist and veteran of the failed 1977 Ogaden War against Ethiopia. In December 2006, Ethiopian troops entered Somalia to protect the TFG and crush the Islamists who are a real threat to Ethiopian national security. The Ethiopian victory was swift and some 3000 militant Islamists took off their uniforms and melted back into the civilian population. However, the Islamists are in the ascendant once again due to the lack of international and regional military assistance to maintain stability.
Today the southern port city of Kismayo is controlled by the Taliban-style Shabaab group. Earlier this month, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow (13) complained to a Shabaab-run Sharia court that she had been kidnapped and gang-raped. The court found her guilty of adultery and sent her to the local stadium where she was buried up to her neck in sand and then stoned to death before a 1000-strong crowd. As reported in RLP 503 (IDOP updates), Shabaab militants recently publicly beheaded a humanitarian aid worker named Mansuur Mohammed (25) in a village near Baidoa because he converted to Christianity in 2005. This was shown by mobile phone video across the region. Early on Sunday 9 November, armed Islamic militants conducted a cross-border raid into the town of El Wak in the Mandera District of north-eastern Kenya and kidnapped two Catholic nuns. The Italian nuns -- Maria Teresa Olivero (60) and Caterina Giraudo (67) -- were working on hunger and health programs with the 'Contemplative Missionary Movement of Father de Foucauld'. The gunmen are holding them captive in Somalia.
[* irredentist: n. One who advocates the recovery of territory
culturally or historically related to one's nation but now
subject to a foreign government.]
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR --
* the ever-present Christ (Matthew 28:20; John 14:16,17) to build,
sustain and sanctify his Church in Somalia by his Spirit, and
protect her with his authority over all earthly and spiritual
powers (Ephesians 1:22; 1 Peter 3:22).
* the martyrdom of Mansuur Mohammed to be used by God to achieve
exactly the opposite planned by Islamists: may many be repulsed
by their hatred and barbarity and attracted instead to the grace
and inner peace displayed by the Christian martyr named
Mohammed.
* the two Catholic nuns and other aid workers presently held in
captivity; may the Spirit of the Living God comfort and encourage
all national and expatriate Christians in Somalia, so they
experience his fellowship and protection amidst this fiery
furnace, and may all the people see it. (Daniel 3)
* the God of creation, who created light, order and beauty from
darkness and emptiness (Genesis 1), to bring transforming light
and harmony to Somalia.
'And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.' (Ephesians 1:22,23 NLT)
