# The Sahel church burnings

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Sahel church burnings," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sahel-church-burnings/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of al-Qaeda affiliates and Boko Haram in Chad, Mali and Nigeria attacking schools and churches, opening fire on teachers and administrators, kidnapping children, and burning congregations alive, and his observation that none of it is covered in the American media.*

- **Where:** Chad, Mali and Nigeria, Cameroon less so
- **Who:** Al-Qaeda and associated groups; Boko Haram
- **Targets:** Christians especially; schools and churches
- **The school pattern:** Open fire, kidnap some of the children, shoot the teachers and administrators
- **The church pattern:** Herd people inside, set the church on fire, shoot anyone who tries to escape
- **American coverage:** 'It''s not being covered in the American media for some reason'

**The Sahel church burnings** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account, given on 31 October 2025 in answer to a viewer asking about Cameroon, of what he considers the graver situation next door.

Cameroon, he said, matters *"less so than Chad, Mali, and Nigeria"*, where the actors are *"al-Qaeda and its associated groups, Boko Haram. They're just slaughtering people, especially Christians."*[1][2]

He describes two settled patterns. In the schools, the attackers are *"just going into schools and opening fire. They're kidnapping some of the children and opening fire on the adults, the teachers, the administrators."* In the churches, *"they'll herd people into churches and then set the churches on fire and then shoot anybody who tries to escape from the burning church."*[2]

His closing observation is about the silence rather than the violence: *"it's not being covered in the American media for some reason."*[2][3]

The exchange came in a run of viewer questions about Africa that led both hosts to commit the following week's programme to the region, Kiriakou having already said of [Sudan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sudan-massacre) that they had been remiss.[4][1]

## See also

- [The Sudan massacre](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sudan-massacre)
- [The secret Sahel appropriations](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-secret-sahel-appropriations)
- [CIA attention to West Africa](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-attention-to-west-africa)
- [Origins of al-Qaeda](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/origins-of-al-qaeda)
- [The West Africa cocaine route](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-west-africa-cocaine-route)

## Sources

1. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 19:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=1186s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/
2. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 20:19. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=1219s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/
3. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 20:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=1252s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/
4. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 10:52. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=652s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sahel-church-burnings/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt