christian post
Photos from the article in Greek
Ο άγνωστος διωγμός των χριστιανών στη Νιγηρία
Over 1,000 Christians have been killed this year in Nigeria as attacks led by Fulani extremists continue to plague rural farming communities in the Middle Belt, according to an estimation published by the U.K.-based nongovernmental organization Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust.
HART, a nonprofit founded by U.K. member of Parliament Baroness Caroline Cox to “support people suffering from conflict and persecution,” released a report last month sharing details and testimonies from a recent fact-finding mission to Nigeria.
The Nov. 18 report is titled “Your Land or Your Body: The escalating persecution and displacement of Christians in northern and central Nigeria.” A copy of the report was obtained by The Christian Post.
“Islamist Fulani militia continue to engage in an aggressive and strategic land grabbing policy in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna and parts of Bauchi state,” the report reads. “They attack rural villages, force villagers off their lands and settle in their place — a strategy that is epitomized by the phrase: ‘your land or your blood.’”
Fulanis are a predominantly Muslim nomadic people group of about 20 million across West and Central Africa. They have long come under tension with farming communities as the scarcity for land gets greater and the human populations get larger.
While farmer-herder clashes are nothing new, the violence carried out against farming communities has increased in severity as thousands have been killed in the last several years.
While the report states that the exact death toll for 2019 is unknown, “Preliminary data suggests that over 1,000 Christians have been killed since January.” HART estimates that there have been more than 6,000 Christians killed since 2015 and as many as 12,000 displaced from their villages.
“I have visited many of the affected areas and seen the tragedies of death and destruction,’” Cox said in a statement. “In every village, the message from local people is the same: ‘Please, please help us! The Fulani are coming. We are not safe in our own homes.’”
There was a rise in Fulani extremist attacks in the Kaduna state in 2019 after Christians were accused of a reprisal attack on a Fulani settlement that killed as many as 131 in February.
A dozen Christian villages in Nigeria wiped out in four-day killing spree
open doors (2018)
At Open Doors, one of our core values is prayer—prayer for God’s people who face persecution and prayer for Damascus Road awakenings for those who persecute. Please join us in praying for sub-Saharan Africa. The world’s second-largest continent—including 1.2 billion people, thousands of ethnic groups and 54 internationally recognized countries—is currently on fire with persecution. The widely reported story below chronicles an attack in Nigeria in June 2018. But the reports of persecution are ongoing from our teams working with churches and ministries in Africa. For example, late last week our team shared news of a recent attack on a largely Christian village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Please join us as we pray and work to strengthen the church in sub-Saharan Africa–to equip and empower God’s people to be light in the darkness.
Most
of the victims were in their homes sleeping when the attacks began …
when Muslim Fulani militant herdsmen began their killing spree in Nigeria that lasted four days, Thursday through Sunday evening and into Monday.
In only days, a dozen villages in Nigeria’s Plateau state were wiped out. The affected communities surround the city of Jos—known as the epicenter of Christianity in northern Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
According to our on-the-ground sources, as many as 200 Christians had been killed, however, some residents fear the death toll may be even higher, as more bodies are yet to be recovered, while others were burned beyond recognition. On Sunday, 75 of the victims were buried in a mass grave.
We are still gathering information about the violence, but the details we have from our sources on the ground so far reveal the scale and brutality of the attacks, in many cases more extensive than have been reported elsewhere:
His wife’s family was decimated. The assailants killed 14 members of her family, including her mother and sister. Others who had come to visit them were also killed. In total, 27 people lost their lives in the same house. They were all burned to death. Only one person—his wife’s younger brother—survived, as he managed to escape through the roof.
World Watch Monitor reports that on the day of the attack in Nghar, only two soldiers and one policeman were in the village, but they reportedly ran for their lives when the herdsmen launched their attack.
In only days, a dozen villages in Nigeria’s Plateau state were wiped out. The affected communities surround the city of Jos—known as the epicenter of Christianity in northern Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
According to our on-the-ground sources, as many as 200 Christians had been killed, however, some residents fear the death toll may be even higher, as more bodies are yet to be recovered, while others were burned beyond recognition. On Sunday, 75 of the victims were buried in a mass grave.
We are still gathering information about the violence, but the details we have from our sources on the ground so far reveal the scale and brutality of the attacks, in many cases more extensive than have been reported elsewhere:
- 120 people who were attending the funerals of an elderly member were hacked to death as they returned home.
- In another attack, in Gana Ropp village, a pastor, Rev. Musa Choji, was killed, as were his wife and son.
- In Gidin Akwati, the whole community was burned down. Local sources say that some of those displaced are still hiding in the bush, as they haven’t yet been able to find their way to a safe haven.
- A pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) denomination, who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, said that following an attack on Saturday, his entire village was reduced to ashes, and more than 100 people lost their lives.
His wife’s family was decimated. The assailants killed 14 members of her family, including her mother and sister. Others who had come to visit them were also killed. In total, 27 people lost their lives in the same house. They were all burned to death. Only one person—his wife’s younger brother—survived, as he managed to escape through the roof.
World Watch Monitor reports that on the day of the attack in Nghar, only two soldiers and one policeman were in the village, but they reportedly ran for their lives when the herdsmen launched their attack.
Attacks were peak of ongoing violence
Reportedly, the violence in the attacked areas has been happening for the last two weeks. Over the weekend, the violence reached a peak. Pastor Steve Kwol, chairman of the Pentecostal Federation of Nigeria for Plateau North, which includes the attacked areas, said that herdsmen were ambushing people going to their farms or traveling on their motorbikes.
Since Thursday, the herdsmen militants had launched “very serious attacks” on the whole communities, he said. Despite the current dusk-to-dawn curfew and the presence of military, the attacks are still ongoing, he says. Two villages—Kwi and Dorowa—were badly damaged on Monday.
In Dorowa, most of the properties were burned down, including four church buildings. The adjoining buildings, such as pastors’ houses, were also destroyed by fire.
In Kwi, a number of buildings, including churches, were also set on fire. The exact number of people killed there is not yet known, but many were displaced and are now living in camps in neighboring villages.
“We’ve been living peacefully with [Fulani herdsmen]” Pastor Kwol said. “Since this crisis started in Plateau in recent months, our people have not killed one Fulani man. Instead, they have been killing our people one by one. We just buried them and carried on.” he said. As a result of the ongoing insecurity, there are places where people can no longer go to farm,” he said, “because when they go, the Fulani will come and take their cows, or attack them.”
“Just two weeks ago, they shot my wife’s young brother. But he survived. He was discharged on Wednesday and had returned home on Thursday, only to get killed in the last attack, on Saturday.”
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