Sharia or Sahara: What’s Behind the Genocide in Nigeria?
by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine:
Despite its patent absurdity, the meme that terror has nothing to do with Islam never seems to die. A reminder of its tenacity comes from Northern Nigeria where assaults on Christians by Muslims are routinely referred to by government, media, and the “international community” as “clashes.”
“Over 2000 Nigerians killed in Farmers-Herdsmen clashes.” That typical headline is a reference to the frequent attacks by Fulani Herders (Muslims) on Christian farmers. The story doesn’t tell us how many of those 2,000 dead were Christians, but it’s a good bet that most of them were. The herdsmen almost always initiate the “clashes,” and the AK-47s they carry make quick work of any resistance they may encounter. The attackers rape women, butcher children, and burn down churches and villages. It’s estimated that 6,000 Christians, “mostly children, women, and the aged,” have been killed in the first six months of 2018.
If you weren’t told otherwise, you might be inclined to think of these incidents as examples of Islamic terrorism. But the media and the authorities assure us that these are only “clashes,” and that word suggests that both sides are equally at fault. Moreover, the authorities like to remind us that the “clashes” simply reflect the age-old tensions that have always existed between farmers and herdsmen.
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