Across Nigeria, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Christian communities are facing killings, abductions, displacement and attacks by Islamist extremist groups. But how much of Africa’s religious violence is the world actually seeing? There are stories that dominate the global news cycle for days, and there are stories that seem to disappear almost as quickly as they emerge. For Christian communities across parts of Africa, that silence has become part of the crisis. In a new report, South African Friends of Israel’s Bafana Modise argues that the continent is witnessing a sustained campaign of violence against Christians, particularly in areas where Islamist militant groups have established or expanded their influence. The claim is stark. The evidence behind the broader concern is difficult to ignore. According to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List, 4,849 Christians were killed because of their faith during its reporting period. Of those deaths, 4,491 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 93% of the global total recorded by the organisation. Nigeria alone accounted for 3,490 of those deaths. The numbers point to a crisis that extends far beyond a single country. “This cannot just be left unabated” In the interview, Modise describes what he sees as a pattern stretching across Nigeria, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and the DRC. “Families are displaced. Women are raped. Some are taken into slavery. Some are brutally murdered for just being Christians.” The reality on the ground is more complicated than a simple Christian-versus-Muslim narrative. Africa’s conflicts involve terrorism, organised crime, ethnic tensions, political instability, weak governance and competition over land and resources. But religious persecution is undeniably part of the picture in several of the continent’s conflict zones. Open Doors’ 2026 research identifies 14 sub-Saharan African countries among its 50 countries facing the most severe Christian persecution. Collectively, those countries contain more than 721 million people, nearly half of whom identify as Christian. The organisation says violence scores across those countries have more than doubled over the past decade. Three countries received the maximum violence score in the 2026 assessment: Sudan, Nigeria and Mali. That is not a marginal problem. It is a continental security and humanitarian crisis. Nigeria: The epicentre of the violence Few countries illustrate the problem more starkly than Nigeria. The country has spent more than a decade battling Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, commonly known as ISWAP. But the violence affecting Christian communities is not attributable to a single organisation. In Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Christian farming communities have also faced repeated attacks by armed Fulani groups and other militants, while criminal gangs and bandit networks have contributed to kidnappings and displacement. Open Doors recorded 3,490 Christians killed for their faith in its 2026 reporting period, up from 3,100 the previous year. The scale of the violence is illustrated by the June 2025 attack on the farming community of Yelwata in Benue State. Open Doors reported that more than 200 people, mostly women and children, were killed during a four-hour attack. And the violence has not stopped. In May and June 2026, Open Doors reported a new wave of attacks in northern Nigeria, including killings and mass kidnappings targeting Christians and children. The organisation said at least 50 Christians had been killed over a two-month period, while schools, homes and churches were also attacked. The result is not simply a rising death toll. It is the destruction of communities. People abandon farms. Families flee ancestral homes. Churches close. Children lose access to education. Villages become empty. For those who remain, the threat can become a permanent part of daily life. The girl whose name became a symbol Perhaps the most haunting story referenced in the report is that of Leah Sharibu. In February 2018, Boko Haram-linked militants abducted 110 girls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, northern Nigeria. Most of the surviving girls were eventually released. Leah was not. According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Sharibu was retained because she refused to renounce Christianity and convert to Islam. Her story became an international symbol of religious persecution. The girls who returned reportedly told Leah’s parents that she had refused demands to declare herself Muslim. As one account of the kidnapping reported, Leah’s response was essentially that she could not claim a faith she did not believe in. Eight years later, her fate remains one of the most enduring questions surrounding Nigeria’s Christian persecution crisis. “Eight years later, as the Christian world, we must call for her release.” Her story matters because it reduces an enormous statistical crisis to one huma