Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Worse

Reports out of Somalia today indicate that Islamist militia claim to have taken complete control of the capital, Mogadishu. It is unlikely that this will mean the end of the violence that has wracked this city. Many residents, however, told reporters that they hoped that a semblance of peace would result as the city's eleven Shariah courts vowed to re-establish order under Islamic law.

For Somalia's tiny Christian population, such a development is, indeed, foreboding. Islamists have gone on record as saying that a Somali Christian is a dead Somali. Christians are forced to worship in complete secrecy and reports of martyrdoms have leaked out intermittently over the past few years from this chaotic country. In our April 2006 newsletter, The Voice of the Martyrs published the testimonies of Somali Christians who had fled to Ethiopia because of the intense persecution that they received from their own families when they accepted Christ.

Remember to pray for our suffering brothers and sisters in Somalia. Please pray for us here at The Voice of the Martyrs, as we seek to find ways to let them know what they do not face this persecution alone.