Hundreds Killed in Nigeria’s Religious and Ethnic Violence
The New York Times reports that “a weekend of vicious ethnic violence” left as many as 500 members of a Christian ethnic group murdered and thousands injured in Nigeria “near the city of Jos, long a center of tensions between Christians and Muslims.” On Sunday, March 7, as early as three o’clock in the morning, Hausa-Fulani Muslim attackers “planted nets and animal traps outside the huts of the villagers, mainly peasant farmers, fired weapons in the air, then attacked with machetes,” the Los Angeles Times writes. According to the BBC, “the latest violence is thought to be revenge for similar clashes in January when days of deadly violence in the central Plateau State left more than 300 dead, most of them Muslims.” President of Civil Rights Congress Shehu Sani noted that “the latest violence strongly resembled the killings in January” when Kuru Karama, a predominantly Muslim village, “was virtually wiped out, and bodies were thrown into pits and latrines,” the New York Times reports. Sani visited the villages where the attacks occurred and interviewed dozens of survivors, The Los Angeles Times writes. Sani noted that the attacks this year are more sinister: “they are carefully planned and brutal, with hundreds of villagers killed—including babies, the elderly and anyone else unable to flee.” Times Online reports that frightened Christians are leaving their villages in central Nigeria after receiving threats of further attacks from those responsible for the massacre on the 7th of March.
Update: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/africa/11nigeria.html?emc=eta1
- Patricia Silas, a resident in a neighboring village who left after receiving threats of further attacks, stated that “the threats came from Fulanis forced out by the violence in January . . . ‘They are saying they want to avenge their loss.’ ” How can a cycle of revenge be stopped?
- When there is a cycle of revenge, how do you decide who is responsible and who should be held accountable? Why is accountability important?
- What would justice look like? In the aftermath of this cycle of violence, what would need to happen for there to be justice? Who would need to be involved?
- What is the responsibility of the international community when human rights are being violated across the globe? Who should be held accountable?
- Pope Benedict XVI is quoted by Times Online as saying that “ ‘violence does not resolve conflicts but only increases the tragic consequences.’ ” Why do you think people sometimes resort to violence, even if it does not resolve conflicts? What other means might be effective in resolving deep-seated conflicts?
