_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________ Nigeria ________________

New religious violence
Paramilitary group attacks Christians
At least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed in a village near the northern Nigerian city of Jos on December 30, in apparent reprisal for earlier attacks on Muslims, as inter-religious violence continued to flare in the northern section of the country.

Fighters of the mainly Muslim Fulani and Hausa tribes attacked the ethnic Berom village of Turu. Observers were convinced that the raids were a response to the attacks on Muslim neighborhoods around Jos last September, which sparked rioting that left hundreds dead. About 3,000 people reportedly fled Turu after the year-end attacks, and others took shelter in police barracks.

Violence has flared in recent years over attempts in the mainly Muslim northern Nigerian states to make Muslim Sharia law the official criminal code. Christians in the region have protested against the imposition of the law, while Nigerians in the mainly Christian South have said that Sharia violates the African country’s secular constitution.

Back to Catholic World Report February 2002 Table of Contents