World Watch Monitor | 070618
The Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has pledged to end the killings in the restive regions of the Middle Belt, amidst growing pressure to deal with the situation.
A spate of attacks over three days – from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 June – left more than 200 dead in 11 villages, in three local government areas of Plateau state. That violence was the latest episode in a series of attacks targeting predominantly Christian communities in the Middle Belt.
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“The latest horrendous massacre of scores of innocent Nigerians, especially children and women – including pregnant women – in Plateau State, by the same rampaging and murderous terrorists who now seem to be operating without any hindrance in the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria, shows that our last statement, like all the others before, has been completely ignored by those whose primary responsibility it is to protect the lives and property of Nigerians,” the Nigerian bishops said.
They also denounced the alleged complicity of security forces in the hundreds of recent killings attributed to Fulani herdsmen.
“We have said it before and it bears repeating that it can no longer be regarded as mere coincidence that the suspected perpetrators of these heinous crimes are of the same religion as all those who control the security apparatus of our country including the president himself,” the bishops said. “Words are no longer enough for the president and his service chiefs to convince the rest of the citizens that these killings are not part of a larger religious project.”