Praying for Peace During Holy Week
IRIN news agency maps all major active conflicts across the world.
Image courtesy of www.irinnews.org.
The terrorism incidents of recent weeks in the UK, Sweden and Egypt, along with the ongoing war in Syria have placed a renewed spotlight on the wars in our world and how peace can be achieved.
IRIN News, set-up in 1994 following the genocide in Rwanda, reports on humanitarian stories which are often forgotten, under-reported or misunderstood. Last week, IRIN News shared information on thirty eight ongoing conflicts in our world, which have been active for between three and sixty eight years.
It lists two conflicts in the Americas, sixteen in Africa, eight in the Middle East and Black Sea regions, with a further twelve in the wider Asian continent. IRIN also reported:
- Of the sixteen ongoing conflicts in Africa, the dispute over Western Sahara isone of the oldest. This conflict commenced in 1970 between Algeria and Morocco.
- Al-Qaeda has led a campaign in recent years to 'rid' Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast of 'insufficiently Islamic governments and Western influence'. In northern Mali, Tuareg rebels have been joined by ISIS as they battle for autonomy.
- In Nigeria, it is estimated that 17,000 people have lost their lives as Boko Haram continue their push for a caliphate in the north. However, recent gains by the Nigerian have weakened the insurgency.
- Since the 'Arab Spring' of 2011, Egypt has seen increased acitvity by Islamic State which has led to increased persecutions of Christians, including the recent bombings in Tanta and Alexandria.
- Other conflicts continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic.
Interreligious dialogue, justice and peace are central to the OLA mission in Ireland and across the world. As the Christian world enters Holy Week, we pray that peace will prevail in our world:
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