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Forty-eight people were hacked to death in Yelwa, Nigeria, by armed Muslims, many during an early-morning prayer service on Tuesday, Feb. 24. This was the worst single incident in an upsurge of violence in the country's southern Plateau state that has claimed more than 100 lives in recent weeks. Armed Muslims invaded the service and ordered the congregation to lie face down and proceeded to "machete and axe them to death in their house of worship," reported the Christian Association of Nigeria. The victims included women and children.

The Yelwa incident was preceded by an attack on Tunka in which 18 people were killed, including four policemen who were murdered in an ambush. The deaths of the policemen, who had been assigned to the area to maintain peace, caused many to flee their homes. A local source said the attacks were being carried out by as many as 400 heavily armed Muslims who shouted "Allah u Akhbar" (God is great), wore red-and-black uniforms and moved with military precision. As government reinforcements arrived in the area to stop the violence, the attackers reportedly adopted hit-and-run tactics, striking Christian areas and moving on before troops could engage them.

Within two days there were reports of similar violence in Shendam Town, Mikang, Langtang South and Langtang North. There were also unconfirmed reports of reprisal attacks by ethnic Tarohs on Hausa Fulanis. Joint army and police action eventually managed to enforce an uneasy peace. More than 10,000 people have died in religious violence in Nigeria since 1999 when several northern states decided to implement Islamic law (sharia) in defiance of the country's secular constitution. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

BOMBINGS IN IRAQ INCREASE SECURITY CONCERNS FOR MISSIONARIES

Bombings in Iraq last week have resulted in security concerns for many missionaries as they try to help the people and share the gospel. At least 181 Shiite Iraqis and Iranians were killed on the holiest day of the Shiite calendar, Tuesday, March 2, during multiple explosions in Karbala and Baghdad. The bombings were particularly deadly as they targeted sacred Shiite shrines as thousands celebrated Ashura Day. Shiites form a majority of Iraq's population while Sunnis held most of the positions of power under the former regime. World Vision reports that its work continues in northwestern Iraq. Projects include rehabilitation schools and health clinics, providing medical equipment and supplies to hospitals, helping communities develop clean water systems, and providing relief supplies to Iraqis who have been displaced from their homes by the war and its effects. As the work continues, security is a priority. Keeping a low profile, World Vision retains minimal staff in the communities in which it works. Instead the organization is hiring local Iraqi experts for much of their relief work. World Vision spokesman Andrew Lanyon in Amman, Jordan, said that workers are helping ensure that Iraqis have access to basics such as clean water, appropriate medicines and schooling for children. Safety is key to continuing ministries in the area, he says. (Mission Network News)

WORLD HELP BRINGS FOOD AID TO HAITI AS POLITICAL CRISIS CONTINUES

Haiti's Prime Minister Yvon Neptune declared a state of emergency even as rivals took steps toward resolving the leadership crisis. A new joint commission, comprising one member from the government, one from the political opposition and one from the United Nations, began selecting a seven-member "council of wise men" that will name a new prime minister and government. More than 2,000 troops deployed ahead of a larger U.N. stabilization force. World Help's Eric Vess says the ministry's partners remained active through the worst of the crisis, but they have concerns about what is yet to come. "World Help is directly involved in helping to fund a feeding program among pastor Estivene Dieusell's 250 children attending his Christian school in Cite Soleil," he says. "Our only question in our minds right now is, 'Will the cost of food double or triple because of this problem or will it be a short-term issue?'" As poverty and food shortages were severe before the road blocks and riots, there are concerns that the post-riot scenario spells disaster for food prices. Vess adds that the second phase of the Haitian project is finishing the building where the work takes place. Both the school and the church now meet in a cinderblock shell. World Help is helping to finish the building. (Mission Network News)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., are working with OMS International to establish a satellite radio network, based at 4VEH outside the city of Cap-Haitien, that will deliver programs to FM stations nationwide. Downlinks have been installed in Turtle Island and Pignon, and at least three more are planned when the situation stabilizes. Meanwhile, 4VEH continues to broadcast a message of hope from an AM station and two FM stations. HCJB World Radio also helped partner World Gospel Mission with a small station in Port-au-Prince.

FRENCH PARLIAMENT PASSES BILL BANNING CONSPICUOUS RELIGIOUS GARB

A controversial government bill that bans the wearing of conspicuous religious insignia in state schools cleared its final hurdle with ease in the French parliament despite loud protests inside and outside the country. Senators of both left and right voted 276-20 in favor of the bill, ignoring demonstrations by angry Muslims claiming they are being discriminated against and brushing aside a recent warning from Osama bin Laden's right-hand man who accused France of "crusader enmity." Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin told senators before the vote in the upper house that the law did not aim to discriminate against religions but to "send a powerful and quick signal. . . . Our vision of secularity is not opposed to religions. Everybody has the right to express his faith as long as he respects the laws of the republic inside the Republic's schools. We do not feel or claim to believe that all's been settled with this bill." (Religion Today/Voice of the Martyrs)

COURT DATE SET FOR MARCH 18 IN NEPALI MISSIONARY CASE

On Thursday, March 18, the case of Manja, a Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary, will be heard before a full panel of judges in the Supreme Court of Nepal. Last year the imprisoned Nepali missionary had two unsuccessful appeal hearings before the Supreme Court. Judges deciding Manja's verdict came to different conclusions last November, so Manja remains in his prison cell, shining the light of Christ to the people around him. Manja, who had started a growing church in a previously unreached community, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on false murder charges. His wife continues to reach out with Christ's love to other Nepali women and children. (Gospel for Asia)

* HCJB WORLD RADIO HELPS TRAIN 30 CHRISTIAN RADIO OPERATORS IN PERU

More than 30 evangelical radio station operators in southwestern Peru attended workshop Feb. 13-15 that covered themes such as radio techniques and strategies for stations to more effectively reach listeners for Christ.

The workshop, held in the Peruvian town of Huanta (30 miles southeast of Lima), was organized and taught jointly by personnel from HCJB World Radio's Education Division and the Institute of Studies in Communications. Participants studied key elements such as production of radio communication in the context of Christian values.

Many attendees related how radio played an important role during violent political upheaval in that area of Peru (between 1980 and 2000), encouraging peace and unity. "After almost 20 years of living with political violence, the residents of this region still feel the need to heal the many wounds and rebuild what the violence has destroyed, both at a family level and a community level, " said Education Division Director Carlos Pinto, an HCJB World Radio missioanary.

"Out of that theme emerged an interesting dialogue regarding the challenge to Christian communicators in presenting the gospel to the public via radio and bringing healing and reconciliation on both the family and community levels."

At the close of the event, the two organizations and Radio Amauta of Huanta made a joint commitment to develop a permanent process of equipping Christian communicators in the area. Radio Amauta is the oldest evangelical radio station in Peru and a member of the National Radio Coordinators as well as the Quechua Radio Network.

Pinto assured the assembly that HCJB World Radio is mobilizing its personnel and equipment in order to share the ministry's long experience of more than 70 decades of radio work in Latin America. (HCJB World Radio)

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