The Donald Trump-led United States Government has strongly condemned the brutal attacks targeting Christians in Nigeria and across sub-Saharan Africa.
The US administration described the violence against Christians as horrific, vowing to work with international partners to address the crisis.
The White House and the State Department have vowed to respond decisively.
“The Trump administration condemns in the strongest terms this horrific violence against Christians,” the White House said, according to Fox News, emphasising that religious freedom is both a moral duty and a U.S. foreign policy priority
The condemnation follows a series of deadly incidents in recent weeks, including the massacre of 27 Christians in the Nigerian village of Bindi Ta-hoss by Islamist Fulani militants.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of horror, with many victims, many of them women and children, burned alive while seeking refuge in a church.
“I lost my wife and second daughter in the attack,” survivor Solomon Sunday told reporters. “They were burned alive.”
In a separate incident on July 27, 49 Christians were butchered with machetes during prayers in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Authorities blame Islamist militants from the Allied Democratic Forces, a group affiliated with ISIS.
Across the region, Islamist extremists, including Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa, are accused of targeting Christians for killing, displacement, and land seizure.
Human rights organisations warn that the violence amounts to an ongoing campaign of “ethno-religious cleansing.”
John Eibner, president of Christian Solidarity International, told Fox News Digital that in Nigeria’s Plateau State alone, over 165 Christians have been killed in the last four months.
“Such grisly proceedings have become commonplace in central Nigeria,” John Eibner, president of Christian human rights organization Christian Solidarity International, told Fox News Digital. “It is part of a longstanding process of violent Islamization, of ethno-religious cleansing. Last Palm Sunday, 50 Christians were similarly slaughtered in nearby Bassa. Over 165 Christians have been killed in the last 4 months in Plateau State (one of Nigeria’s provinces) alone,” he added.
“Massacres of the sort that happen in central Nigeria are also happening with increasing frequency in predominately Christian places like Congo and Mozambique. There is no simple solution.”
“People are being killed like chickens, and nothing is being done,” added local youth leader D’Young Mangut.
According to Open Doors, more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined.
Over the past decade, jihadist violence in sub-Saharan Africa has claimed around 150,000 lives and displaced more than 16 million Christians.
In Plateau State, over 64 communities have been reportedly taken over by armed Fulani militants.
Religious leaders say the violence is systematic and unchecked. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, who lost 20 parishioners in a recent attack, accused militants of seeking to turn parts of Nigeria into an Islamic State, while victims’ families say they are “tired of condolences” and demand real protection.
FOLLOW US ON:
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
PINTEREST
TIKTOK
YOUTUBE
LINKEDIN
TUMBLR
INSTAGRAM
