Slaughter

Following the election of Christian candidate Jonathan Goodluck in the Nigerian presidential election, Muslim mobs carried out simultaneous attacks against Christian minorities in most of the northern Nigerian states. While impartial observers have called this election the fairest in decades, the attackers alleged that the election was rigged and that General Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim presidential candidate, was the rightful winner.

Though Nigerian authorities quickly organized mass burials of the victims in order to hide the details of the massacre, our sources estimate that hundreds of Christians were slaughtered. One of our sources travelled to the towns of Zonkwa and Kafanchan in Kaduna, where more than 300 people, mostly Christians, were massacred.

Muslims were also among the dead as the militants killed fellow Muslims who had voted for President Goodluck, and Christians in some areas killed Muslims in defense of their lives and families.

The Muslim attackers also burned down 308 churches (see one such church below) and several Christian homes.

Christian leaders in northern Nigeria are calling for a full investigation of the violence. ICC is also calling for a full investigation and urging the Nigerian government to bring all the perpetrators of the killings to justice. Hiding the facts will only worsen the situation. The truth has to be told and the impunity must end.

Below is a map of northern Nigeria in which we’ve indicated the states in which Christians were killed in these attacks with a red cross. The violence also extended to Borno, Niger, and Yobe, where a total of 50 churches were burned, but no deaths were reported.The states under Sharia law are indicated by the Islamic crescent.

On New Year’s Day, a bomb was detonated outside the Church of the Two Saints in Alexandria as worshippers were leaving midnight mass. Twenty-three Christians were killed and at least ninety were wounded in the worst attack against the country’s Christians in recent memory. The explosion ripped through the crowd leaving the church’s entrance-way covered with blood, bodies and severed limbs (see video below).



Days after the bombing, Coptic Christians took to the streets in protests which some believe helped ignite the fervor of Egypt’s January 25 revolution. “This was the most powerful protest that Christian Copts ever held in recent history,” said a Coptic human rights activist. “It went three days and inspired the 25th youth movement. We wanted to end a life under dictatorship, and we were not alone in our aspirations.”

However, details on how the attack was carried out remained disputed. Immediately after the bombing, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that it was the work of the Army of Islam, an Al-Qaeda affiliated Palestinian network. Mubarak’s accusations ignited further Coptic frustration from those who believed that the attack was executed by Egyptians and that Mubarak was trying to avoid confrontation with internal Islamic terrorism targeting Christians.

Mubarak’s disregard was nothing new for Copts who had experienced considerable persecution the past year. Murders have been accompanied by anti-Christian propaganda in Egyptian media, acquittals of Muslim offenders who initiated anti-Christian attacks, the inability of Christians to build churches without special government authorization, and the lack of basic freedoms for Christian converts from Islam. Marginalized by the government, Christians were left helplessly exposed. It came as no surprise that Christian frustrations boiled over in January.

“We have suffered a lot as Christians,” said the same activist. “We’ve seen churches being bombed, innocent people being killed, girls being kidnapped, and the spread of Islamization against our will. We want to get rid of the dictatorship that we have been living under for over thirty years.”

The New Years Eve bombing led many Christians to participate in Egypt’s revolution to demand the end of oppression under Mubarak’s dictatorship and the beginning of religious freedom. However, there is grave concern among Egypt’s Christians that persecution could potentially increase if free elections give power to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“If the Muslim Brotherhood were to take over, it would not only be dangerous for the Christians in Egypt, but for the whole world,” said Magdi Khalil, Director of the Middle East Freedom Forum. “It means the entire Middle East will be an Islamic Middle East. Egypt is the key state. We must support the secular approach and rewrite the constitution to be a secular constitution.”

While Egypt and its Christians sit on the brim of uncertainty, Christians around the world ought to be careful in fully embracing revolutions that could lead to greater influence for radical Islam. Yet, who can blame Egyptian Christians for demanding the end of tyranny and hoping for a better future?

“We are seeking freedom, we are seeking democracy. No one can live without freedom. Freedom is life.”

In the beginning of 2010, we reported that Muslim radicals had raided villages in Jos, Nigeria and slaughtered more than 500 Christians – mostly women and children. This attack was followed by other smaller outbreaks of violence as persecution continued to escalate against Christians in Nigeria.  Nine months later, while Christians around the world were celebrating Christmas Eve, believers in the Nigerian cities of Jos and Madiuguri spent the night in mourning.

Thirty-eight people were killed when explosions rocked the city of Jos (the city’s name is an acronym for Jesus Our Savior) – a death toll which increased to more than 80 following ensuing clashes between Muslim and Christian youth.

The city of Madiguri mourned the loss of six believers who were brutally murdered when Islamists attacked two area churches. Pastor Bulus Marwa of Victory Baptist Church was martyred along with four other members of his congregation – Philip Luka, Paul Mathew, Christopher Balami and Yohana Adamu.

The church’s secretary, who escaped the attack, said, “I cannot understand these attacks. Why Christians? Why Christians? The police have failed to protect us.”

One other Christian was killed in the attack on the Church of Christ in Nigeria.

A Muslim group, Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad, took responsibility for the bombings in Jos. The group, whose name translates into English as “the organization of followers of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and champions of Islam and holy wars,” said that it was “avenging the atrocities committed against Muslims in those areas, and the country in general.”  Members of the group warned that “we will continue with our attacks on disbelievers and their allies and all those who help them.”

Please continue to keep our brothers and sisters in Nigeria in prayer. Unfortunately, unlike many areas where Christians are persecuted, Christians in Jos have also been involved in attacks against Muslims. We understand the human impulse to take revenge when such horrific attacks occur with impunity, but as Christians we are strongly warned against taking vengeance into our own hands.

Note the bruising behind the ear and cuts on the wrists from where Nam was handcuffed

Tai Nguyen, the brother of  murdered Nam Nguyen recently testified on this at a congressional hearing. Everyone was in suits and the professional atmosphere made it was awkward to see tears in the eyes of the witness. At first the his speech  is in abrupt phrases, but after a few minutes the emotion in his voice bridges any language barrier. He holds up pictures of the event and of his brother, pleading for our help. Congressmen, staffers, and government employees coverd their eyes to wipe away tears. The depth of what was described went far beyond the usual hearing—it moved those who heard it. Below is his firsthand account of the events:

Even though I am living far from my country my heart is always with my homeland. 

Since the day the Da Nang government said they would take my parish I and many other people try to do anything we can to protest.  I and my younger brother helped bring all this information out so that we can inform the world. The land of our parish [is] a holy land.  The land has been built by our ancestors. Therefore this land is the heritage of our people; it is very valuable to each of us.  And in this holy land there was a parish church where we practice our religion to help our spirit. The church was very important for our spirit life and is a place of fall back, a place for family, a place for strength, to help our spirit life and our daily life.

Beside the church knows how a place where we bury our ancestors the cemetery of the parish. Our ancestor, our brother and sister, are all lying there when they die so it’s a very important to protect. And this land, this cemetery is not a normal piece of land.  It is a heritage of our parish.

Because of all those reasons people of Con Dau do not want, do not allow the government of Da Nang to take away the church and the cemetery. Because of love and justice and we united to protest our land taken away by government of Da Nang

On the 27th of January, 2010, the government of Da Nang bring four hundred police, local police to the village of Con Dau and ask the people of Con Dau to sign the paper to give up the land. And the people of Con Dau were united with each other, to protest and oppose in order of the government of Da Nang. That time the government of Da Nang failed but at the time of the funeral they tried to use this occasion so that they can suppress the people.

…

The police and people confront each other and the police tried to take away the coffin. They tried to destroy it. The police force report that weapons are there. There are about 500 police force and the local security.

I have the video clip that shows that my younger brother was beaten on his head during the funeral.  My brother was beaten and 62 other people were taken away and was beaten a lot more people were beaten. They want to make it disappear that anybody was there.

…

That day, since one in the morning until one thirty in the afternoon I keep communication with our people in Con Dau. We communicate by phone and my brother informed me that the police, the special anti riot police were coming and surround them.

Three o’clock in the morning police is coming to the cemetery and bring out the elderly, the women and the children and beat them in the cemetery.

I heard the crying of the women on the phone

My young brother was in pain, during crying, they are they’re beat us and they are not allowed anybody to the cemetery. My brothers told me that this way they are going to kill people of our village. The last words I heard from my younger brother was that he was beaten on his head and he doesn’t know anything else. That is the last word I heard before his arrest.

After my brother was detained he was beaten on the back, on the belly, on the neck and after two month my brother still could not move easily. When my brother was detained he was tortured along with sixty two other people from Con Dau very badly. They even beat pregnant woman and they have a very special tactic in torture.  They hanged the woman up, they hanged the people who were beaten and push them into the wall, push them into the ground. Some people would not admit guilt and the police say they will beat until they admit they are guilty.

And after they admit they are guilty and they beat again so that they can go.

When my younger brother do not agree to sign they took my brother’s hand onto the table and this hit until he accept to sign.

There was a woman who was stripped naked and they used a shotgun to hit in her secret places. The men were hit in the hidden place by the shotgun.

When they are released, my brother and all the people were released they were to provide a written statement saying that they do not say anything about the torture, they are not allowed to say anything about what happened when detained.  They are not allowed seek medical treatment for their injury.  When they coming home they have to cooperate with government to accuse other people of Con Dau and have to show up every 24 hours.

…

My brother was hiding, running away and hiding at home and a few days later the police come home and they take him to the station. When the video clip of my brother was sent over to the media, the police want to know who videotaped him, who are the leaders .

My brother did not want to reveal anything.

So, they beat him up and then go home and do it again four times. After the fourth time he told his wife and friends that he cannot handle anymore and if it continue like that he would die.

The next night the police come to my brother’s house and my brother hear the dog bark and he’s scared and try to run away. One person in the neighborhood saw him and call the police. The police bring more people and come to arrest him and capture him.

They caught him in the next village. They beat him in his chest. Blood is coming out of his ear from his injury. Blood coming out from his nose. These police beat him so bad his wife kneel down and beg them to forgive him.

They say no, they say they are police from the government

They come and beat him again and after seeing him so bad, he couldn’t handle any more so they ask his wife to bring him home, wash him. My brother told his wife that he cannot handle anymore and his come to his mother – to my mother’s house and he die on her arm.

People are not allowed to come to pray for my brother after his death.  They do not allow anybody to come to his house and to be around during the first 24 hours. The police ask to be given autopsy but my family not agree to that because they say that his body has been badly beaten so everybody see what happen so they don’t want to have autopsy for him. The police escort the funereal to the final destination so that – to make sure that he was buried there. [They say] my brother’s death was because he die because of heart attack.

Today I’m coming here asking for the U.S. government to intervene, to ask justice for my brother and only the U.S. government can help to bring justice to my brother’s death.

I ask the U.S. government to intervene to prevent the policies of Da Nang, to stop harassing my family, my people at Con Dau.

End Note: Currently eight villagers are imprisoned in Hoa Son prison, 30 km away from Con Dau. Their names are Mr. Nguyễn Hữu Liêm, Mr. Trần Thanh Việt, Mr. Lê Thanh Lâm, Mr. Đoàn Cảng, Mr. Nguyen Huu Minh, Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Thế, Mrs. Phan Thị Nhẫn, and Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Liễu. All eight detainees have been severely beaten and tortured. Please join us as we pressure the Vietnamese government to free these individuals by signing  our petition online here.

Please know that while we cannot give specifics, ICC is currently assisting those most in need with this situation.

Click here to hear audio of the brother’s testimony.

Washington, D.C. (July 6, 2010)–International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that this past weekend Muslims attacked Christian villages and killed at least eight Christians in Kaduna and Plateau States of northern Nigeria.

On the night of July 3, several Muslims attacked Kizachi village in Kaduna State and killed five Christians, including a primary school teacher and mother of six children. The Muslims also burned down five Christian homes.

Nigerian sources told ICC that the police had stopped protecting the village on July 2 after the government failed to pay their salaries.

In the second attack, on the night of July 4, 200 Muslims armed with guns and machetes invaded Ganawuri community, near Jos. Three Christians are feared dead.

A spokesperson of the Nigerian military’s Special Task Force (STF), Lt. Col. Kingsley Umoh, stated that the attackers were suspected herdsmen from neighboring communities of Kaduna State.

According to Umoh, STF received a distress call which they responded to, and engaged in a fire fight with the attackers. One of the attackers received gunshot wounds and six were arrested. Those arrested have since been handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the state police command for further investigations.

This latest violence came on the heels of a March 7 jihad attack against Christians in Jos in which over 500 mainly women and children were murdered. It is estimated that many more thousands of Christians have been killed in northern Nigeria since the introduction of Sharia law in 2001.

Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, said “We are outraged by the latest killings of Christians in northern Nigeria. Once again, Nigerian officials have failed to provide needed security for the citizens of Kaduna and Plateau States. We urge Nigerian authorities to quickly bring all the perpetrators of the attacks to justice and fully investigate the lapse in security.”

Provided by CSW Nigeria.

As promised, we’ve uploaded a new interview with one of our representatives on the ground in Nigeria who spoke with survivors of the attack to hear their stories.

The sound quality is not the best, but we hope you’ll listen carefully! Just press play below.

NigeriaInterview3.mp3

A few excerpts from this interview:

“When I visited Byei village, there was no single security presence. So that means these people are exposed to danger. … I saw few security men near Dogo Nahawa…about five of them, and I don’t think those security men are capable enough to prevent any thing at all. And that shows the danger that Christians in that community face.”

“These attacks have actually encouraged and strengthened (the Christians) in their faith. The people have resolved to remain firm and strong in their faith in Jesus Christ. …They are committed to their Christian faith and to continue to serve the Lord.”

“A pastor’s wife, her head was cut off (and) she was buried without a head. In that church (where her husband is the pastor) the Sunday after the incident, people came in that burned church to praise God. To sing praises to the Lord. To affirm their faith in Jesus Christ.”

We just sent an investigative team into the villages in Nigeria where over 500 Christians were slaughtered. We will be posting an interview with our representative who talked to survivors of the attack to hear their accounts of what happened. One interesting bit of information that we learned is that there was one man who was standing around watching the massacre (and possibly directing), and that the military is saying that they did not intervene because they were “overwhelmed” by the vast number of well-armed Muslims.

We also hope to bring you fresh video interviews from some of these eye witnesses as well as the audio of our interview with our representative. Be sure to check back on Monday afternoon!

As the media continues to neglect or spin the massacre of 500 Christian believers in Nigeria, ICC is working to put pressure on the Nigerian government to make real changes to their military forces as well as to their justice system.

In February, ICC brought a Nigerian political leader to Capitol Hill to speak with Congressmen and Senators about the plight of Christians in northern Nigeria. As a result of our efforts there, approximately 40 members of Congress are about to send a joint letter to the Nigerian legislature, holding them accountable to “bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice, provide redress for the victims of the violence, and ensure the safety of the minority religious communities in Nigeria.”

In addition, a prominent senator with a great deal of influence in Africa has also already sent an individual letter (below) to Nigerian leaders asking them for the same. We expect these efforts to send ripples throughout Nigerian society.

Now, with these latest attacks, we are planning a major media effort to call for the resignation of military head Saleh Maina, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Armored Division in Jos, Plateau State.

Nigerian Governor Jonah Jang has said that the massacre could have been prevented if the GOC had only acted when he contacted him by phone to warn him of the impending attack the night before.

Beyond that warning, ICC has learned from Nigerian representatives on the ground that standard military check points should have prevented the free movement of so many armed Muslims. Strangely in this case, such movement did not even arouse suspicion. We have also learned that some of the Muslims involved in the most recent attack were wearing new military uniforms specifically issued to prevent militants from posing as soldiers.

For this effort to work, given the failure of mainstream media, we need you to share these blogs, stories, and interviews with everyone you know! Despite the grievous level of this atrocity, many are still not even aware that it occurred. Utilize the “Spread the Word” link below to share any content we’ve posted here on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking site. Thank you!

CSWReps.mp3

Why are women and children being targeted? Why were the attackers wearing military uniforms? Was is it really a Muslim village that was attacked in January?

ICC’s President, Jeff King, interviewed CSW Nigeria representatives to find out the real story on the ground in Nigeria. Check out our full audio interview above (just click play!) to hear their answers to some important questions like these:

Why women and children?

“Well, probably because they were the only ones who couldn’t get away quickly enough. They basically attacked early in the morning. They shot in the air to wake people up and then, as the people ran out at the sounds of shots and shouting, they were hacked down.”

“And one of the strategies, also, is so that they can finish a whole generation. By the time you finish the women and the children, then you are done with that generation of people. It’s like the kind of strategy that Pharaoh used against the Israelites.”

Why were the attackers wearing military uniforms?

“The military, for start, somehow managed to miss convoys of Muslims with axes and machetes traveling in the night during curfew hours. So that raised suspicions at the beginning. … Generally in Nigeria, when you drive around, there are check points. Especially in Jos.”

“The things we are now hearing is that some of the attackers were dressed in a new military uniform that was issued specifically so that you could distinguish fake soldiers from real soldiers. And this uniform should really not be available generally. Or so everybody was informed. Yet, according to the survivors of last night’s attack, some of those attackers were wearing that very uniform.”

The media is calling these attacks revenge for a January attack by Christians on the Muslim village Kuru Karama. What’s the real story?

“The Kuru Karama story has still not been proven. I know Al Jazeera and, I think, Human Rights Watch, spread this story because they were informed by random Muslims on the ground that this was an attack on a Muslim village by Christian militias or Christian youths that ended up with Muslims being stuffed into wells and Muslim houses burned.

However, Kuru Karama was never a Muslim village. That’s point number one. When these people went there, they did not look for the village head, which is what you traditionally do when you want to find out what’s happening in a village… The village head is a non-Muslim. There’s no way a Muslim village would have a non-Muslim village head. And he tells us a completely different story.

He actually had to flee from the area… and he also relates that houses that were burnt and shown as Muslim, were actually Christian. And that some of the bodies were Christian. So it was not a massacre of 150 Muslims by Christians.

… The fact that [the January attack] is now being used to stoke up hatred… I think those who, first of all, came up with that story, need to go back to the whole source and correct what they said.”