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Johannesburg: Millions of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), celebrating Christmas under the perceived threat of harassment, kidnapping, sexual violence and, in some cases, death from Islamic terrorists, have seen Friday’s US strikes on Islamic State militants in Nigeria as a real sign that President Trump is serious in his efforts to stop the killing of Africa’s Christians.
It is estimated that more than 16 million Christians have been displaced from their homes throughout the region. The reported release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren in Nigeria this week has done little to ease fears as many on the continent try to worship at Christmas.
But this year, Fox News Digital has highlighted the devastation coming from Africa on several occasions. The situation has led to calls from Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Representative Chris Smith, R-N.J. And finally the violence has been highlighted by senior members of Congress, including President Donald Trump, who threatened to send ‘guns-blazing’ US troops into Nigeria, the worst-affected country, to stop the killing of Christians.
Lawmakers raise concerns as violence increases in Nigeria ‘most dangerous place on earth to be a Christian’
There are reportedly little signs of improvement so far this Christmas in Africa. “The extremist Islamist attack in the SSA is the global catastrophe facing us,” Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland, told Fox News Digital this week.
Open Doors is a global Christian charity that supports Christians who are persecuted for their faith.
Blythe added, “The past year has seen a steady stream of reports from sub-Saharan Africa. (Including) reports of extremist Islamic groups brutally attacking defenseless Christian communities, among others.”
“At Open Doors, we are sounding the alarm through our Arise Africa campaign. We have repeatedly prayed that the campaign of terror reaches public awareness.”
“There’s no sign that this is over in 2025,” says Open Doors’ Blythe, referring to speeches, articles and posts against violence and violence in Nigeria and the thousands of Christians killed there each year.
Members of St. Leo Catholic Church lead a procession in celebration of Palm Sunday in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, April 13, 2025. (Adekunle Ajayi/Getty Images)
“The global outrage and lack of action on this issue is a moral outrage,” Dr. Warren Goldstein, South Africa’s chief rabbi, told Fox News Digital. He added, “It is as if black lives don’t matter when they are murdered by Islamists in Africa. The persecution of Christians in Africa must be seen in its global context. It is part of a multi-continental jihadist war on ‘infidels’ – Jews and Christians – and Western values.”
He added, “This is a world war, with Israel at the center of fire from the jihadist forces of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and others. The Islamic war on Christians in Africa is another front in this world war that stretches from Sudan in the north to Mozambique in the south.”
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Fox News Digital highlights where oppression hits hardest in Africa in 2025:
Nigeria
According to Open Doors, the continent’s most populous country saw the worst abuses in Africa in 2025, with ‘persistent stories of deadly attacks and kidnappings’ in Nigeria’s northern and middle belt – with many villages burned, civilians raped, abducted, shot and beheaded.
Pope Leo XIV spoke out against the killings of Muslim Fulani tribesmen in Nigeria’s Benue state in June this year, saying “about 200 people were murdered with extraordinary cruelty”.
Christians hold signs as they march through the streets of Abuja during a prayer and penance for peace and security in Nigeria on March 1, 2020 in Abuja. – Nigeria’s Catholic bishops gathered together with the faithful as well as other Christians and lay people to pray for the safety and condemnation of the barbaric killings of Christians and persistent cases of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria by Boko Haram insurgents. (Photo by Kola Suleiman/AFP via Getty Images)
Bishop Wilfred Anagbe’s Makurdi Diocese in north-central Nigeria is almost exclusively Christian. But continued and increasing attacks by Islamist Fulani militants forced him to testify at a congressional hearing in Washington in March. Back in Nigeria, he was threatened and about 20 of his parishioners were murdered.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
A screen shot shows villagers inspecting the damage left by jihadist militants who killed 49 Christians in DR Congo in late July. (open the door)
is a war torn country 95% Christians, yet loyalists, are being targeted by jihadists. In February, Islamic State-linked militants from the so-called ADF group, which wants to turn the eastern part of the country into a Muslim caliphate, rounded up 70 Christians and reportedly beheaded them in a church. In September, at least 89 Christians were killed at a funeral and in nearby fields, reportedly by jihadists.
Sudan
The estimated 2 million Christians in Sudan constitute an estimated 4% of the country’s population,
Like the rest of Sudan, they face chronic food shortages and the horrors of years-long war. But Christians have reportedly been held responsible for discrimination and persecution by both sides in the conflict.
The Evangelical Church in Omdurman was bombed, even though it was not in a war zone or used by any of the warring forces. (open the door)
A senior Sudanese church leader told Fox News Digital that in the Darfur city of El Fashar, “Now Christians are eating animal feed and grass. No wheat, no rice, nothing can come in.”
cameroon
As Open Doors reports, civil conflict and weak governance have allowed armed terrorists to step into the law and order void. In the far north, Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province regularly conduct overnight raids on villages, killing, kidnapping and destroying villages. Thousands of people have left their homes and gone to displacement camps.
“It never ends. I want it to end, but it doesn’t. We must sleep in the mountains for safety,” said Ali, a villager.
mozambique
Mozambique, located in the south-west of the continent, has a predominantly Christian population. 55%Islamic State is wreaking havoc in Mozambique’s far north, targeting Christian communities, burning their churches and destroying homes, Murders have increased manifold this year and thousands of people are fleeing their homes, 1.3 million Those who have already been displaced.
Christian villages targeted in Mozambique (Middle East Media Research Institute)
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In a mass attack on the village of Nepala in October, Open Doors reported that militants killed 20 Christians and displaced about 2,000. A local priest described how four elderly sisters were tied up inside a house and burned to death.
On the airstrikes in Nigeria, Henrietta Blythe of Open Doors told Fox News Digital, “Such a military campaign will not provide any kind of quick fix to decades of violence. The Nigerian government must pursue lasting solutions that ensure peace, security of civilians, and religious freedom for all.”
Chief Rabbi Goldstein concluded, “The West can only win this war if it can find the moral clarity to call it by its name and see all theaters of war as part of a single battle.”
