Tha South African government has remained “indefensibly silent” about widespread and escalating anti-Christian violence across Africa, says Bafana Modise national spokesman of South African Friends of Israel.
“In SAFI’s first quarterly report and statement on Christian Massacres & Persecution in Africa, the organisation can confirm that over 200 000 African Christians were brutally murdered, raped, abducted or forced to flee their homes and businesses from April 2025 – March 2026,” he says in a press statement released on April 21.
“Working from Reuters, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Open Doors, Vatican News, and relevant U.S. State Department reporting, SAFI’s conclusion is sobering: the true death toll may be far higher than any incident-by-incident media count can show, although conservative records already confirm that Christians across Africa remain under sustained lethal pressure from extremist Islamist groups and their aligned counterparts.
Roughly 501 Christians have been killed in the last year alone,” says SAFI.
Modise says the humanitarian crisis in Africa is driven by militant Islamist movements and Islamic State-linked networks. He also says that “Iran remains internationally associated with the arming and sponsorship of these proxy forces and the regional destabilization that ensues”.
“Whatever Pretoria’s diplomatic rationale may be, a posture of strategic comfort with Tehran is simply unforgivable today.
“The persecution of African Christians is not an anecdotal issue, and it is not receding. For South Africa, this should not be treated as a distant tragedy. Christians across Africa are being murdered, displaced, abducted, and terrorized by movements rooted in Islamist extremism. That makes Pretoria’s indulgent posture toward regimes and networks associated with Islamist militancy and destabilization morally indefensible. South Africa should be standing clearly with the victims of jihadist violence on this continent, not blurring the line between democratic solidarity and political accommodation of forces that nourish extremism. South Africa should join forces with Israel, the world’s frontline defender against the same Islamist extremism, in condemning Iran’s proxy terror networks and supporting Christian communities through intelligence-sharing, humanitarian aid, and anti-jihadist coalitions.”
SAFI’s press statement highlights examples of anti-Christian violence across Africa during its reporting period: “Some specific instances that were highly publicised include more than 180 Christians reported killed in April 2025 in Nigeria’s Middle Belt by Barnabas Aid; around 200 killed in Yelwata, Benue State, in June 2025; 38 worshippers killed in a church attack in Komanda, eastern DRC, in July 2025; 20 Christians killed in Napala, Mozambique, in October 2025; two killed in a church attack in central Nigeria in November 2025; one Christian teacher, Stephen Musili, killed in Kenya in January 2026; and 17 Christians killed in Ituri, DRC, in March 2026. This follows the latest attack on Palm Sunday this year by Boko Haram terrorists, in North Central Nigeria, in which 53 Christians were slaughtered.
“Sadly, the crisis extends far beyond the immediate loss of life. Across multiple regions, extremist groups are systematically destroying churches, displacing Christian communities, and imposing conditions designed to force religious submission. In areas of the Sahel and Central Africa, Christians are increasingly confronted with ultimatums to convert, flee, or pay punitive religious taxes, signalling a broader effort to erase Christian identity from these territories.
“Equally disturbing is the growing use of abduction and forced marriage as a weapon of war. Women and girls are being taken and absorbed into militant structures, a tactic that not only devastates families but also serves a long-term objective of demographic and cultural transformation. This pattern reflects a deliberate strategy to weaken and ultimately eliminate Christian communities over time” states Bafana Modise, National Spokesperson for SAFI.
“The wider benchmark is even more alarming. Open Doors’ World Watch List 2026 (WWL), which covers the 12-month reporting period from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025, recorded 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith, with 4,491 of those deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and 3,490 in Nigeria alone.
“Pastor Sore from Burkina Faso is one of thousands of Christians in Africa who have been displaced due to violence, and is now forced to live in isolated and harsh conditions: ‘When the terrorists come to churches and find Christians praying, they tell them the time for Christianity is over, and we have to flee for our lives,’ he says. His comments were secured from an undisclosed location — which took him and 17 other displaced Christians over 4 days to reach on foot. His broader video testimony is available here.
“Modise adds that these terrorist groups often cite specific Quranic verses to justify violence against Christians, frequently demanding conversion or payment: ‘These groups, particularly in Nigeria, are known to quote verses like Surah 9:5 (“kill the disbelievers wherever you find them”) and Surah 9:29 regarding submission, often to force Christians to convert or face death’.
“Open Doors reported that in the WWL 2026 period, 17,609 Christian properties were attacked, 8,185 shops or businesses were attacked, and 201,427 Christians were forced to leave their homes or go into hiding in-country for faith-related reasons. The same reporting period recorded 3,302 faith-related abductions and 4,055 cases of rape or sexual harassment targeting Christians: indicating that the campaign against Christians in Africa is therefore not merely episodic violence, but also a strategy of attrition. These reports have been confirmed repeatedly by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
“’These are not isolated incidents. What we are witnessing is a coordinated ideological campaign against Christian communities across Africa,’ adds Modise. ‘The forces driving this violence are not loosely organised militias, but structured Islamist networks operating across regions. Groups such as Boko Haram and ISWAP in West Africa, ISIS-affiliated factions like the ADF in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and al-Shabaab in East Africa are pursuing clear ideological objectives. Their aim is not only territorial control, but the imposition of a rigid religious order in which Christian communities are either subordinated or eliminated.’
“On a like-for-like annual benchmark, the last four Open Doors cycles show no meaningful relief.
- In WWL 2026, 4,849 Christians were killed worldwide for their faith, including 3,490 in Nigeria and 4,491 in sub-Saharan Africa.
- In WWL 2025, the global figure was 4,476, with 3,100 in Nigeria.
- In WWL 2024, the global figure was 4,998, with 4,118 in Nigeria and at least 4,606 Christians killed in the sub-Saharan countries on the list.
- In WWL 2023, the global figure was 5,621, with 5,014 in Nigeria, and Open Doors described sub-Saharan Africa as the epicenter of violence against Christians.
“These figures come from rolling 12-month reporting windows and remain the best multi-year benchmark for comparison because they apply a consistent methodology across time.
astor Hamza from Cameroon experienced a similar attack to Pastor Sore: ‘When they entered, they said ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar!’ They burned the churches, they killed 7 people, and if you ran, you were killed with a gun. If they caught you with their hands, they would slit your throat with a knife,’ he shares.
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