Africa’s Hot Spots
1 The Great Lakes War. This became Africa’s first major international conflict
a) African and international peacemakers
b) The warring factions and their leaders
c) The millions of refugees
d) Recovery through repentance of perpetrators, justice for the offended, forgiveness given and received and the long process of reconstruction for ruined lives, families and countries
2 The Horn of Africa was the scene of terrible events in the 1990s
a) Somalia descended into anarchy with humiliating failures for the UN and the USA in finding solutions
b) Ethiopia and Eritrea’s unexpected, unnecessary war in 1998-2000 between two largely Christian nations led to heavy casualties
3 The West African debacle of Liberia’s civil wars in the last decade has resulted in the immense destruction of lives, property and mass exploitation of children as soldiers
4 The Maghreb conflicts — the Algerian civil war with its unending bloody massacres of civilians, and the unresolved conflict about the future of the Western Sahara occupied by Morocco since 1974
5 Sudan’s 40-year civil war with its Islamic jihad overtones in which the Muslim north is seeking to subjugate the largely Christian south and impose shari’a law and Islam
Peoples
Overview: Economy, Politics, Religion, Geography
African 77.9%; Arab 17.3%; Imazighen (Berber) 2.6%; European 1.1%; Mixed race 0.7%; Asian 0.4%.
Languages 2,110; 30.5% of the world’s total. Official languages Arabic in North Africa (7 countries). Elsewhere French (22), English (21), Portuguese (4), Spanish (1). The increasing use of European languages in education is at the expense of local languages. In only 6 nations is an African language officially used as the main means of conducting the nation’s business.
Bible translation Africa is the greatest remaining challenge for Bible translation with existing openings for missionary translators. Languages with Scriptures 130Bi 237NT 250por. There is work in progress in 373 and a definite need for translators in 297 more. This latter number could rise to 1,290 after careful field research.
Economy
Africa’s economy has stagnated for 40 years; many countries have become poorer, a few have made progress. HDI is a measure of the quality of life of 174 nations. Of the bottom 40 in this list, 33 are in Africa. Income/person $660 (2% of USA). Only 1.7% of the world’s GNP is generated in Africa.
Politics
Black Africa’s isolation from the rest of the world ended in the ‘Scramble for Africa’ by the European colonial powers in the 19th Century.
Religion
Religious freedom has increased over much of Africa during the 1990s, but persecution of Christians by Muslims has also increased in Egypt, Sudan, northern Nigeria and the Comores.
Religions Population % Adherents Ann.Gr.
Christian 48.37 379.4m +2.83%
Muslim 41.32 324.1m +2.53%
Traditional ethnic 8.74 68.6m -0.97%
non-Religious/other 1.15 9.0m +4.85%
Hindu 0.22 1.71m +1.42%
Baha’i 0.19 1.47m +2.32%
Jewish 0.01 96,400 +1.02%
Christians Denom. Affil.% ,000 Ann.Gr.
Protestant 1,927 12.59 98,768 +4.2%
Independent 13,137 9.99 78,360 +3.9%
Anglican 36 4.12 32,329 +5.2%
Catholic 63 15.10 118,423 +2.6%
Orthodox 54 5.96 46,727 +0.5%
Marginal 164 0.45 3,506 +6.0%
Unaffiliated 3.65 28,664 n.a.
Doubly affiliated -3.46 -27,119 n.a.
Missionaries from Africa
12,442 in 620 agencies with 3,126 in other lands.
Missionaries to Africa
17,737 expatriates in 620 agencies.
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Geography
Area 30,212,000 sq.km; 22.3% of the surface area of the world’s 238 countries.
Population (2000) 784,315,000 +2.41%AGR