Nigerian Christian villagers flee threats of fresh attacks by Mulims
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Mar 10, 2010, 7:31:19 AM3/10/10
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Faith Under Fire........
From The Times
March 10, 2010
Nigerian Christian villagers flee threats of fresh attacks by Mulims
A burned out home in Ku-got, Nigeria
Witnesses said that gangs waited at main entry points to the villages while others went from house to house, setting the homes on fire
Frightened Christians streamed out of villages in central Nigeria yesterday after threats of new attacks from Muslims responsible for a weekend massacre in which at least 500 people were killed.
Under the gaze of troops rushed into the area, burials for the victims of the violence — believed to be in revenge for Christian killings of Muslims in late January — took place near the city of Jos, the provincial capital of Plateau State. Thousands have been killed in similar religious clashes in recent years.
Goodluck Jonathan, the acting President, yesterday sacked the country’s national security adviser, Sarki Mukhtar. However, critics said that he would have to tackle the root causes of the violence, including a dangerous power vacuum created by incompetent local government and army officials that is being filled by extremists.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, urged “all parties to exercise restraint”. Human Rights Watch said that no one had been held accountable for previous attacks and that it was time “to draw a line in the sand”.
Soldiers patrolled the the three mainly Christian villages where members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group embarked on their killing spree early on Sunday.
Residents in neighbouring villages told local reporters that they had received new threats. Patricia Silas, 30, left her village of Tin-Tin with a 6-month-old baby strapped to her back, saying that she would not stay to become another victim.
“We are fleeing our village because we are afraid we might be the next target of attack by these Fulani,” she told the French news agency AFP. “They have been making phone calls warning they are going to attack. We take these threats seriously; we don’t want to be caught off guard.”
Ms Silas said that the threats came from Fulanis forced out by the violence in January, in which at least 326 people died. “They are saying they want to avenge their loss,” she said.
Survivors and human rights organizations said that more than 500 people — many of them young children from an ancient ethnic Christian group known as the Berom — were hacked to death with machetes, axes and daggers in the villages of Dogo Nahawa, Ratsat and Zot by killers chanting Allahu akbar (God is greatest).
Witnesses said that gangs waited at main entry points to the villages while others went from house to house, setting the homes on fire. Those who fled were killed at the exit points. Others were slaughtered after being caught in animal traps and nets as they ran in the dark.
Ben Kwashi, the Anglican Archbishop of Jos, said that he had visited one of the villages. “I could see kids from age 0 to teenagers, all butchered from the back, macheted in their necks, their heads. Deep cuts in the mouths of babies. The stench. People wailing and crying,” he said.
From The Times
March 10, 2010
Nigerian Christian villagers flee threats of fresh attacks by Mulims
A burned out home in Ku-got, Nigeria
Witnesses said that gangs waited at main entry points to the villages while others went from house to house, setting the homes on fire
Frightened Christians streamed out of villages in central Nigeria yesterday after threats of new attacks from Muslims responsible for a weekend massacre in which at least 500 people were killed.
Under the gaze of troops rushed into the area, burials for the victims of the violence — believed to be in revenge for Christian killings of Muslims in late January — took place near the city of Jos, the provincial capital of Plateau State. Thousands have been killed in similar religious clashes in recent years.
Goodluck Jonathan, the acting President, yesterday sacked the country’s national security adviser, Sarki Mukhtar. However, critics said that he would have to tackle the root causes of the violence, including a dangerous power vacuum created by incompetent local government and army officials that is being filled by extremists.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, urged “all parties to exercise restraint”. Human Rights Watch said that no one had been held accountable for previous attacks and that it was time “to draw a line in the sand”.
Soldiers patrolled the the three mainly Christian villages where members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group embarked on their killing spree early on Sunday.
Residents in neighbouring villages told local reporters that they had received new threats. Patricia Silas, 30, left her village of Tin-Tin with a 6-month-old baby strapped to her back, saying that she would not stay to become another victim.
“We are fleeing our village because we are afraid we might be the next target of attack by these Fulani,” she told the French news agency AFP. “They have been making phone calls warning they are going to attack. We take these threats seriously; we don’t want to be caught off guard.”
Ms Silas said that the threats came from Fulanis forced out by the violence in January, in which at least 326 people died. “They are saying they want to avenge their loss,” she said.
Survivors and human rights organizations said that more than 500 people — many of them young children from an ancient ethnic Christian group known as the Berom — were hacked to death with machetes, axes and daggers in the villages of Dogo Nahawa, Ratsat and Zot by killers chanting Allahu akbar (God is greatest).
Witnesses said that gangs waited at main entry points to the villages while others went from house to house, setting the homes on fire. Those who fled were killed at the exit points. Others were slaughtered after being caught in animal traps and nets as they ran in the dark.
Ben Kwashi, the Anglican Archbishop of Jos, said that he had visited one of the villages. “I could see kids from age 0 to teenagers, all butchered from the back, macheted in their necks, their heads. Deep cuts in the mouths of babies. The stench. People wailing and crying,” he said.
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