The west African nation of Niger, a majority Muslim country of about 26 million, suffers a growing number of attacks from radical Islamists in bordering countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, VOM said.
In addition to the four countries new to the list of hostile nations, the guide designates as hostile Burkino Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Colombia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Israel including the West Bank and Gaza, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Mexico (Southern), Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Uganda.
In its annual prayer guide since 1997, VOM has included hostile and restricted nations as populations for whom Christians should pray.
Restricted nations are Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Comoros, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen.
Among VOM additional prayer resources are the new VOM app providing daily prayer prompts, and the web site icommittopray.com, providing a weekly email of prayer requests and allowing Christians to post specific prayers online. Founded in 1967 by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM is a nonprofit, interdenominational missions organization serving persecuted Christians in the world’s most difficult and dangerous places to follow Christ.
This article originally appeared on BaptistNews.com.
