People profile

Muslim expansion in the 7th century led to successive local Berber Muslim kingdoms controlling the region for more than a thousand years. French, Spanish, and Italian colonial powers dominated from the 18th century until the modern nation states became independent after World War II.

North Africans are amazingly friendly, open, hospitable, and resilient people. They are mostly Mediterranean peoples who share much in common ethnically, culturally, and historically with the peoples of southern Europe. There are still millions of indigenous people – the Berbers – despite the early dominance of the region by Arabs.

Youth unemployment in many North African countries remains among the highest in the world, with rates exceeding 30% in places like Tunisia and Libya. Educated young people are especially affected, leading to frustration and disillusionment. Libya and Mauritania struggle the most.

Strategic prayer

  • No country in the region has a surviving Christian community that originated before the arrival of Islam. The strength of the underground church varies.
  • Since the 1990s, Algeria—especially among the Kabyle Berbers—has seen a powerful move of God. While thousands have come to Christ, recent government crackdowns have forced many churches to close. Even so, believers continue to meet in homes and spread the Gospel.
  • In recent decades, reports of dozens of house church plants in Morocco and Tunisia provide great encouragement, but very little is happening in Libya and Mauritania—yet.
  • Satellite TV and internet ministries operating outside the region are bearing increasing fruit.