Nigeria - Christians lament a lack of international concern over Boko Haram bloodshed
ICC Note
Islamic extremists kidnapped and forcefully converted a number of Christians to Islam. They killed Christian men who refused to convert.
08/06/2009 Nigeria (CSW)-Christians in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri are expressing increasing dismay at what they perceive as a lack of international concern for the suffering of their communities. As funerals continue, local estimates of the death toll rise to over 1000.
During last week’s violence, Islamist Boko Haram militants attacked both government and Christian targets, killing individuals and taking many civilians captive for possible use as human shields against government forces besieging their compound in Maiduguri ’s Railway District. Once in the camp, male captives were given a choice between conversion to Islam or death, while women and girls were kept on as hostages. Survivors of the siege informed CSW sources that the Boko Haram leader, Yusuf Mohammed, personally oversaw the forcible Islamisation of hostages, and the execution of anyone who refused to convert.
Yesterday, Maiduguri ’s Good News Church held a memorial service for one of these hostages. Pastor George Orji was beheaded in the Boko Haram compound, and his body left in a mass grave there. He leaves behind a heavily pregnant wife, and two children aged two and four.
On 4 August around 3000 people took part in the funeral service for Rev Sabo Yakubu, the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) church pastor whose heart was removed from his body by Boko Haram militants. Three other Christians whose charred remains were found in the ruins of Jajere National Evangelical Mission were also buried on that day. One of the bodies is thought to be that of Pastor Elijah Samuel, who was hacked to death by militants.
