Especially since the advent of colonialism, tensions between Muslims and Christians in Africa have been one of the more prominent issues of the region. We can see this demonstrated in the Central African Republic’s civil war, in Nigeria, in Mali, in Sudan, and most recently in Burkina Faso.. This unresolved tension will continue to grow in the future, as religion retakes a prominent societal role to coincide with the global trend of rising nationalism.
In Burkina Faso, for example, the country is majority Muslim, with 60% of the population following Islam, most of which are Sunnis. The remaining 40% are split between Catholics, Protestants, and traditional Animist faiths. However, it should be noted that religious statistics are hard to track due to the prevalence of syncretism between Islam/Christianity and traditional religions. Recently, Christians in Burkina Faso endured a church bombing, leaving 4 dead and many others wounded. This, shortly following a different attack which left 6 dead. Evidently, this is not an isolated incident, and is a manifestation of long-standing tensions in the country.
However, some of the most intense conflicts between Christians and Muslims in Africa are not between Catholics and Sunnis, nor Protestants and Sunnis. Rather, the Christians who most often end up in this fight – whether they want to or not – are Copts (and similar Christian sects), Christians who elected to split from the main church at the Council of Chalcedon in the 5th century AD. Though they primarily reside in Egypt and Libya, they also have a very strong presence in Sudan and Ethiopia. In all of these countries, they exist as a minority, frequently persecuted as a result of their faith.
Religious tension in Africa is difficult to track, and even more difficult to analyze. However, it does to some extent seem to mirror the historical rivalry between European Christians and Arab/Turkish Muslims, with both racial/ethnic disputes and religious tensions playing in to the matter.