Nigeria: At least 37 dead in five days; the perpetrators must be punished!

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), at least 37 Christians and Muslims have been killed since Friday evening in the ongoing violence in Nigeria between members of both faiths. The human rights organization appealed on Wednesday to the Nigerian government to ensure swift and just punishment for the perpetrators. "The violence can only be effectively checked if the perpetrators are properly prosecuted and dialog is promoted between the religious communities," stated the head of the Africa section at the STP, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen. "Most of the wrong-doers have so far gone unpunished. Suspects have been arrested in only one of the seven violent incidents reported since Friday of last week."

Most of the murders occurred in the city of Jos and the immediately surrounding area, on the plateau in the center of this multiethnic nation. Victims of the violence include both Christians and Muslims. On January 11, thirteen Christians of the Berom people died. Muslim Fulani attacked their village, Kuru Wareng, 15 miles from Jos. Three people were wounded in the attack, and three houses were destroyed.

On the same day, 5 were killed in the nearby town of Barakin Ladi. On January 10, seven Muslims were murdered in the Bukuru settlement. They were laid out in the central mosque of the town, where several hundred women, children and elderly people sought safety. In the fighting between Christians and Muslims five house were destroyed.

In the city of Maiduguri, 320 miles from Jos, a police officer was shot while guarding a church on January 9. A Christian had been murdered the day before. Also on January 8, three people were killed in conflicts leading up to a party conference of the mainly Muslim-supported "Congress for Progressive Change" (CPC). A number of party members were arrested for allegedly fueling the violent altercations. On the evening of January 7, seven Muslims were shot in an ambush as they were returning home from a wedding reception.

Since Christmas 2010 at least 120 people have fallen in the violence. Since the end of the military dictatorship in 1999, more than 13,600 have died in ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria.

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford