Affrontements meurtriers à Jos – avril 2010
Pastor, Wife Killed in Northern Nigeria
crosswalk.com
April 22, 2010
LAGOS, Nigeria (Compass Direct News) – Suspected Islamic extremists last week abducted and killed a Church of Christ in Nigeria pastor and his wife in Boto village, Bauchi state in northern Nigeria.
The Rev. Ishaku Kadah, 48, and his 45-year-old wife Selina were buried on Saturday (April 17) after unidentified assailants reportedly whisked them from their church headquarters home on Tuesday (April 13) and killed them. Their burnt bodies were found hours later.
On Jan. 22, suspected Islamic extremists had set fire to their church building days after Christians displaced by violence in Plateau state had taken refuge on the church premises.
« This is yet another case of unprovoked killing of Christians, which we condemn, and demand that the law enforcement agents must fish out the perpetrators of this act, » Bishop Musa Fula, state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Bauchi state, told Compass.
Police have reportedly arrested two suspects and have launched a man-hunt for several other accomplices. Authorities are not releasing the names of the suspects.
Boto is located in the predominantly Christian Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi state, which has a history of Muslim attacks on Christians.
« Police claim they are working on it and we want to believe them, » Fula added. « We need assurance that our people are safe. We will soon meet later on the matter to decide our next line of action on these kind of attacks. »
The murdered couple’s son, Simeon Kadah, said an eyewitness who had come to the church premises to collect some rented chairs saw men dragging the pastor and his wife out of their house. Kadah said the men asked the eyewitness if he was a Muslim, and when he told them that he was, they told him to leave the area and tell no one what he had seen.
The Rev. Ladi Thompson of the Macedonian Initiative, an organization fighting anti-Christian persecution, decried the killing of the pastor and his wife, saying it is an indication of the great dangers Christians are exposed to in the predominantly Muslim north.
« This kind of mindless killing follows the same pattern that we have been campaigning against, which many state governments in northern Nigeria are not paying due attention to, » Thompson said. « The government cannot afford to continue to pay lip service to protecting Christians when some people in the name of religion can take the laws into their hands. Unless we get to the root of cases like this, there will be no end to it. »
Following attacks on Christians near Jos in Plateau state in January and March, sporadic killings of Christians reportedly continue. Previously hundreds of Christian villagers were struck with machetes and burned to death on March 7 in Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Rastat, three villages in Jos South and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas.
On March 17, Muslim Fulani herdsmen assaulted two Christian villages in Plateau state, killing 13 persons, including a pregnant woman and children. In attacks presumably over disputed property but with a level of violence characteristic of jihadist method and motive, men in military camouflage and others in customary clothing also burned 20 houses in Byei and Baten villages, in the Riyom Local Government Area of the state, about 45 kilometers (29 miles) from Jos.
On Jan. 17, two pastors and 46 other Christians were killed in an outbreak of violence in Jos triggered when Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church. Police estimated over 300 lives were lost in subsequent clashes, in which 10 church buildings were burned.
Violence In Central Nigeria Kills Nine, Tensions High
REUTERS
April 21, 2010
JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) – Sporadic violence in Nigeria’s central Plateau state has killed at least nine people this week, police and residents said, as tensions remained high weeks after hundreds died in sectarian clashes.
Seven bodies were found on Tuesday in shallow graves in the Riyom area, around 30 km (20 miles) south of Jos. Residents say they were killed after stopping at a road block set up by a local gang.
In a separate incident, security forces killed two Nigerians suspected of planning an attack in a village near Plateau state’s capital Jos, which lies at the crossroads of the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.
« The roads to Jos are not safe, » said Muhammad Tanko Shittu, a senior mosque official in Jos. « We are telling our youths not to hold any protests over these attacks because it may lead to further killing. »
Security forces have been on high alert for any violence in the state, fearing a repeat of clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs that led to hundreds of deaths in January and March.
Fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between Christian and animist indigenous groups and Muslim settlers from the north have repeatedly sparked violence in central Nigeria’s « Middle Belt » over the past decade.
Security forces say they have the situation under control, maintaining a night curfew in Jos.
« Things are very calm now. There are no problems. People can come to visit now with no problem, » said Gregory Anyating, spokesman for the state police.
Residents agree that violence has subsided in Jos, but believe it is still dangerous in remote villages that are more difficult to police.
« I won’t say that things are back to normal. They aren’t normal, » said Henry Garba, a property developer in Jos. « There have been a lot of attacks between the (Muslim) Hausas and Christian Beroms. »
Police have arrested more than 160 people over their roles in this year’s sectarian clashes, but few have been prosecuted.
Politicians, diplomats and rights groups have urged the authorities to punish the community leaders and gangs responsible for the fighting to prevent future conflicts.
(Additional reporting by Yinka Ibukun; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Nine killed in renewed Nigerian violence
hindustantimes.com
Abuja, April 21, 2010
At least nine persons were killed as fresh clashes erupted in Nigeria’s northern state of Plateau where hundreds have already died in recent sectarian conflict between the Muslims and Christians.
Yesterday, about seven bodies were exhumed from a shallow grave in Riyom in the neighbouring town of Jos which has been severely affected by the killings.
The present death toll have put security operatives on high alert once again and non-residents have been warned that the area is not safe while most residents are relocating to other towns.
The police have not been able to establish the identity of those behind yesterday’s killing but locals say the murderers mounted a roadblock before their attack.
The military task force, set up to monitor crisis said they will bring the recent outbreak under control and placed a curfew to that effect.
The clashes between Muslims and Christians has been described by Nigeria’s Acting President Goodluck Jonathan as more of a conflict between indigenous people and settlers.
His argument is hinged on the fact that fierce control of farmland between indigenous Beroms and Fulani settlers had sparked previous riots that has claimed more than 300 lives, mostly Muslims early this year while a reprisal attack has caused over 500 casualties.
Since 2001, more than 2000 casualties have been recorded in the religious and ethnic violence in the town of Jos, capital of Plateau State of Nigeria .
Ethnic Berom and Fulani live together but Beroms who are mostly Christians consider Fulani who are predominantly Muslims as settlers.
In the most recent clashes, the government sent troops to stop the two communities but the Berom accused the army of taking side though this has not been proved.
Although the violence takes place largely between Muslims and Christians, analysts say the underlying causes are economic and political.
Nigeria’s 150 million people are evenly distributed between Muslims and Christian and in some states they live side by side without conflict.
anthropologie du présent 