The Nigerian army has had some success subduing Islamist group Boko Haram, but Christians are still being killed in Nigeria. Many of the killings are carried out by nomadic Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, a largely Muslim ethnic group that frequently targets the more settled Christian farming communities of central Nigeria. Meanwhile, 12 of Nigeria’s northern states employ Sharia (Islamic law), and Christians in these states face discrimination and restrictions in accessing community resources, such as clean water, health clinics, and higher education.
Claim of truce raises hope that kidnapped Nigerian girls will be released
The deserted streets of Chibok in August.World Watch Monitor Nigeria’s kidnapped schoolgirls will be released as part of a truce between militant Islamist group Boko Haram and government forces, the Nigerian army said Friday. The Nigerian chief of defence, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, made the announcement. Boko Haram […]
Reports: Cease-fire with Boko Haram reached
Nigerian defense officials are saying that the government has reached a cease-fire agreement with Boko Haram, and that one of the terms of the deal is the release of 276 girls kidnapped in April from their school in the village of Chibok. Various news agencies inside and outside Nigeria have […]
New dataset does the numbers on Boko Haram
Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency is “clearly the most lethal conflict that Nigeria has confronted in decades,” according to the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, or SAIS. The school has just released the Nigeria Social Violence Dataset, which tallies Nigeria’s “incidents of deadly social violence” since 1998. The […]
New military plan to combat Boko Haram progress
UPDATE: Close to 200 churches have been destroyed by Boko Haram forces in northern Nigeria in the last 60 days, according to Catholic news agency, Agenzia Fides. The latest ransacking of towns and villages has left more than 190,000 people newly displaced in the lead up to what should have […]
‘How can I celebrate my birthday with a homeless, scattered family?’
Dr Rebecca Dali is the founder of Centre for Caring, Empowerment and Peace Initiatives.Courtesy of CCEPI Nigerian Rebecca Dali’s birthday is 1 October – the same date as her country’s Independence Day. But this year there was little time for celebration because her home town of Michika is overrun […]
Nigerian Bishops: ‘Stop playing politics, protect innocent citizens’
Most Rev Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.World Watch Monitor Catholic Bishops in Nigeria have called on the government to protect the lives and property of its people, as militants intensified their killing spree across the country. In a statement ”While Nigeria bleeds and […]
Nigerian Christians: ‘We are on the run’
What ISIS has done in Iraq, Boko Haram is doing in Nigeria, a Nigerian cleric says. ”The news is really bad. When they attacked our hometown, we decided to vacate the place. In Michika and surrounding areas, soldiers were running away. Some of them were killed or wounded and lot […]
Missing Chibok girls ‘raped almost daily’
Canon Stephen Davis, a special adviser to the President of Nigeria in the attempts to find and recover the Chibok girls, still missing since April, has returned to Australia and spoken to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He says he managed to smuggle out of the country footage of a handful […]
‘Future of Church in NE Nigeria also threatened’ says Chibok leader
Some Christian families displaced by violence in Yobe State, have moved to Jos. Nigeria, January 2014.World Watch Monitor Nigeria’s radical Islamist sect, responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Chibok in April, appears relentless in its fight for the establishment of an Islamic state in Africa’s most […]
Boko Haram overruns town, kills 100
Some of the displaced children in Gulak Adamawa state. Christians in Gulak are caring for about 300 children orphaned or separated from their parents because of Boko Haram attacks. May 22, 2014World Watch Monitor Suspected members of the radical Islamic group Boko Haram have taken over Gwoza, a major […]