Genocide against Civilian Nigerian Christians

By: Elias Bejjani*

Matthew 5/4&10:"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"

It is so sad and extremely frustrating to hear every day horrible mascaras targeting peaceful Christian civilians in Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, Nigeria among many other countries where murder with cold blood and barbarism against minorities is a trend and a life style that goes back to the stone ages.

What do these merciless, sadistic killers and their leaders, clergy or masters achieve when they butcher, slaughter and decapitated unarmed, peaceful and poor civilians including children, women and elderly for just being Christians? Is such brutality is a Jihad war (holy War)? For heaven's sake which God sanctions such savage acts!!?

Witnessing and hearing about such horrific massacres one wonders if we are actually living in the year 2010 or still in the dark ages, or even in pre historic times?

The question is why the United Nations, the religious authorities, Human Rights organizations and the free world and Muslim countries allow such crimes to occur, and why the regimes that either advocate for such barbaric atrocities or turn a blind eye on those who commit them are not punished and put on trial?

International Christian Concern (ICC) has stated in a release issued on March 08/10 that on March 07/10 "Nigerian Muslims murdered 500 Christians in the village of Dogo Nahawa, near the city of Jos. Most of the victims are women and children. The Muslims invaded the village at 2 AM local time and slaughtered the Christians with machetes".
http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=11889&PHPSESSID=cc0ffdd1e5b1ebc49061a80f0da53073

According to the ICC, "In some cases the Muslims wiped out entire members families. They also burned down the homes of several Christians. A local government official told ICC that around 380 Christians were buried in one mass burial space. He added that other victims were buried by their families and there are still bodies being collected. The official, who requested to remain anonymous, also said that police have arrested 93 people and recovered guns, knifes and other types of weapons from the suspects"

The ICC, denounced the massacre and said: “The genocide committed by Muslims against innocent women and children is another clear demonstration of Muslims brutality and intolerance of Christians in northern Nigeria. The Nigerian government must bring those responsible to account for this evil crime against humanity. The right to freedom of religion must not just be written in our Constitution but must be seen to be in practice. We are appealing to Christians all over the world through ICC and continual prayers for believers in Northern Nigeria,” said Reverend John Hayab". Reverend Hayab is the Secretary General of Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State.

This latest anti Christian Jihad came on the heels of a conflict between Christians and Muslims in Jos in January of this year. During that conflict, over 300 people were killed. Over 13, 750 Christians have been killed by Muslims in northern Nigeria since the introduction of Sharia laws in 2001. ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa and South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said, “We condemn in the strongest words this latest Jihad attack against Christians. It’s both unconscionable and extremely heinous for the Muslims to slaughter women and children in the middle of the night simply because of their religious belief. This is yet another example of danger of Islamic fundamentalism. The international community must assist the victims and their families. Nigerian officials must be held accountable for their failure in protecting Christians from Muslim aggression.”

We deplore these horrible crimes in the strongest of terms and offer sincere condolences to the families and friends of those innocent victims who lost their lives in the massacre and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.

Moral, ethical, human and legal obligations demand that the UN, Vatican, Human Rights Organizations, and all Free World and Muslim countries take a courageous stance and step in immediately with all available means to put an end for such genocide not only in Nigeria, but in all other countries where either Christians or other minorities are being murdered or deprived of their rights. All killers and their leaders need to be put on trial.

Meanwhile, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian Acting President, has a legal and national obligation to ensure accountability for those who committed the crimes and also for those who have perpetuated the inter-communal conflict in recent years.

At the same time the Nigerian Government is encouraged to continue to pursue efforts to address the root causes of this recurring violence, and urge communities to continue working together to build a peaceful society.”

*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
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