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Recently Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, Nigeria in an article published by Spero News also acknowledged religious tensions, but confirmed once again that the horrific massacres in his country result primarily from an interplay between poverty, injustice, and ethnic conflict.

Nigeria: Outsiders and ethnic tensions fuel savage massacres
by Martin Barillas
“The massacre is brought about by the confrontation between farmers and herders. It is an old problem that has not been solved yet” said Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Jos, who serves as the president of the Catholic bishops’ conference of Nigeria. According to a report from the Fides news service, he is visiting Rome, where he received the “Disarmament Archive – Golden Doves for Peace” award. He commented on a series of attacks waged on Christian villages in Plateau State, of which Jos is the capital. The attacks killed at least 63 people. In a further assault during the July 8 funerals of the victims, a senator and a local deputy were killed.
“I think the problem is economic,” said the archbishop. “The Fulani herders feel victims of injustice because their cattle are killed or stolen and are not compensated for losses incurred. I think that the anger originates from this situation drives them to attack in this terrible way.”
Archbishop Kaigama does not deny that there is also an ethnic dimension of the conflict: “The problem is between the Fulani and Birom. These two ethnic groups have been disputing for a long time. All attacks on villages in the area have always been focused on these two groups. There are no attacks involving other tribes. ” With regards to the religious aspect of the clash, the Archbishop replied:

The Fulani are predominantly Muslim, while the Birom are mostly Christians. For this reason it is easy to read ‘Muslims attack Christians’ or ‘Christians attack Muslims’, but as I said, the problem is primarily economic and ethnic.

Archbishop remains in constant contact with Jos and revealed new details on the recent massacres: “I spoke with the Governor of Plateau State who was really saddened and shocked by the deaths and the level of destruction caused by the attacks. He is convinced that the perpetrators of the massacres are not from the place, but instead come from outside.”
Said Archbishop Kaigama, “According to the Governor, the Fulani have a network that extends beyond Nigeria and has spread to neighboring Countries, the aggressors are also mercenaries from elsewhere, they are not the Fulani resident in the State. Several of them also wore military uniforms. We do not know if they were people dressed as soldiers, or if the attackers were helped by real soldiers. In the light of these revelations one cannot exclude political factors, but in my opinion the main problem is economic to explain this violence.”

shafique wrote:Please stop trolling this thread.

shafique wrote:Please stop trolling this thread. You can whine/fantasise to your heart's content and ask questions in another thread.

Boko Haram Declares War on Christians

The militant Islamist group Boko Haram recently declared war on the Nigerian state and its Christians, vowing to attack them both until it establishes an Islamic state in place of the current secular government.

This month alone, gunmen opened fire on the congregation inside a church in Borno state, killing one and injuring three; later that same day, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb next to an evangelical church in Jos that collapsed the entire structure, critically injuring 62; other suicide car bombings killed 18 and injured more than 40 near two churches in Bauchi state.

However, despite the danger, Nigeria's Christians continue to attend services.

“I always sense the fear in the atmosphere during Sunday services," said Pastor Abraham Ekeneh, "but we still don’t relent. We cannot stop attending Sunday services because if we do, it means we have helped them to achieve their objective.”

the usual assortment of pseudo scholars, serial fabricators, and other assorted anti-Muslim crackpots have seized the opportunity to frame the conflict in exclusively religious terms. Muslims are cast as villains waging unprovoked attacks on Christians, when in fact, the conflict is far more complex.

..Christian youths celebrating a victory by roasting, and in some cases, eating, Muslim victims they had recently slaughtered, providing a gruesome reminder the conflict in Nigeria cuts both ways. Don't expect to see links to this atrocity in the looniverse, where cherry picked coverage is exclusively focused on Muslim atrocities.

It was clear in 2009, as it is now, that the root cause of violence and anger in both the north and south of Nigeria is endemic poverty and hopelessness...

...Boko Haram has evolved into a franchise that includes criminal groups claiming its identity. Revealingly, Nigeria's State Security Services issued a statement on Nov. 30, identifying members of four "criminal syndicates" that send threatening text messages in the name of Boko Haram. Southern Nigerians — not northern Muslims — ran three of these four syndicates, including the one that led the American Embassy and other foreign missions to issue warnings that emptied Abuja's high-end hotels. And last week, the security services arrested a Christian southerner wearing northern Muslim garb as he set fire to a church in the Niger Delta. In Nigeria, religious terrorism is not always what it seems.

None of this excuses Boko Haram's killing of innocents. But it does raise questions about a rush to judgment that obscures Nigeria's complex reality.

shafique wrote:I still haven't seen any of your anti-Muslim bloggers blame Christianity for the cannibalism and the Christian dressing up as a Muslim and trying to burn a Church.

shafique wrote:But is funny that you're still clinging to your beliefs in spite of what the Archbishop

shafique wrote:Spin and hype is all you have these days. I suggest you spend some time working out whether you can actually make fig trees jump into the sea at your command or not.

He commented on a series of attacks waged on Christian villages in Plateau State, of which Jos is the capital. The attacks killed at least 63 people. In a further assault during the July 8 funerals of the victims, a senator and a local deputy were killed

shafique wrote:Now, your time should be more profitably spent actually reading and understanding what the Archbishop and NYT are saying about the attacks, including those by Boko Haram - as the Archbishop is EXACTLY talking about the spate of attacks which include those by BH.

He commented on a series of attacks waged on Christian villages in Plateau State, of which Jos is the capital. The attacks killed at least 63 people. In a further assault during the July 8 funerals of the victims, a senator and a local deputy were killed

Jos — With no let-up in the violence, which started on Saturday in Plateau State, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Gyang Dantong, and a member of the state House of Assembly representing Barkin Ladi Constituency, Hon. Gyang Fulani, were among scores of mourners killed yesterday in Matse village, Riyom Local Government Area by suspected Fulani gunmen.

The two lawmakers were reportedly killed when the gunmen invaded the village as they were attending a mass burial for 63 victims of Saturday's attack in Karkuruk, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of the state.

the usual assortment of pseudo scholars, serial fabricators, and other assorted anti-Muslim crackpots have seized the opportunity to frame the conflict in exclusively religious terms. Muslims are cast as villains waging unprovoked attacks on Christians, when in fact, the conflict is far more complex.

shafique wrote:Myanmar - what has that got to do with your bloggers deliberatly misrepresenting the Fulani attacks? You're not trying a whataboutery argument are you?

shafique wrote:Anyway, we've established that your blogger friends do fall into the category:

shafique wrote:I presume you are just going to ignore the NYT findings... no surprises there. Don't let facts get in the way of hype, eh?