Ouagadougou, 13 November, 2024 / 11:30 am (ACI Africa).
The Pontifical charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, has launched a “solidarity campaign” targeting its benefactors in Portugal, appealing for partnerships in reaching out to victims of jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso, where Christian persecution has reportedly hit an all-time high.
There has been an increase in Islamist violence in a number of African countries especially in West African nation of Burkina Faso, leading ACN to conclude that the epicentre of militant Islamist violence has “shifted from the Middle East to Africa.”
In the letter announcing the “solidarity campaign” to help Christian victims of the attacks, ACN notes that violence in Burkina Faso “is reaching disturbing proportions and Christians, despite being a minority, are one of the targets of armed jihadist groups that now control practically half of the country.”
“The ACN Foundation, which has been receiving dramatic stories of people fleeing, survivors and families in distress, has just launched a solidarity campaign for these Christians here in Portugal,” the ACN November 8 appeal for solidarity reads in part.
In the “solidarity campaign” appeal, ACN’s Director of the Portuguese Secretariat, Catarina Bettencourt, is quoted as saying, “We cannot remain indifferent to so much suffering.”