Newspaper Article

At 3 am on the morning of March 7, 2010, over 500 Nigerian Christians were subject to an indescribable genocide in the village of Dogo Nahawa, near the city of Jos. Most of the victims were woman and children. It began when Muslim Fulani herdsman set the homes of Christian villages on fire. While all of the victims were fleeing their homes the rampaging Muslims attacked the Christians. They were reported to have been killed by axes, scythes, and machetes. Many of the fleeing villagers were trapped in nets and then hacked to death with machetes. Others were caught in animal traps specially set up outside of the huts.

When the violence was finally over, which was four hours later, there were bodies strewn all over the ground. The final death toll was 500. Just the day before the attack at 9PM on March 6, the governor reported the possibility of an attack to the commanding officer of the military in the area. The military still failed in taking action despite the warning that the governor gave just hours before the attack. According to the ICC, (International Christian Concern) in some cases the Muslims wiped out entire members’ families. They also burned down the homes of several Christians. A local government official told ICC that around 380 Christians were buried in one mass burial space. He added that other victims were buried by their families and there are still bodies being collected. The official, who requested to remain anonymous, also said that police have arrested 93 people and recovered guns, knives, machetes, scythes and other types of weapons from the suspects that killed the Christians.

The genocide committed by Muslims against innocent women and children is another clear demonstration of Muslims brutality and intolerance of Christians in northern Nigeria. There were various attacks that were coordinated to happen at the same time in three different villages.  Over 13,750 Nigerian Christians have been killed by Muslims in Northern Nigeria since 2001. The ICC is against these horrible crimes in the strongest of terms and offer sincere condolences to the families and friends of those innocent victims who lost their lives in the massacre and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.  The Nigerian officials are the ones responsible for these crimes because they are unable to stop the Muslims from attacking more villages in the future without the fear of being executed for their crimes because the officials of Nigerian can’t stop them. At the same time the Nigerian government is encouraging to continue to pursue the Muslims in a hope of driving them out of Nigeria. They are hoping to get to the root of the cause so that they can start to drive the Muslims back and to urge the surrounding villages to continue to work together to build a peaceful society.

Work Cited

Canada Free Press (2012). Canada Free Press. Canada Free Press. Retrieved February 28, 2012, from http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/20867

Alfred the Great Society. (2009). Hundreds of Nigerian Christians Ambushed in Mass Genocide. Alfred the Great Society. Retrieved February 28, 2012, from http://atgsociety.com/2010/03/hundreds-of-nigerian-christians-ambushed-in-mass-genocide/#comments

Operation Broken Silence. (2012, March 2) Operation Broken Silence. Operation Broken Silence. Retrieved February 29, 2012, from http://www.operationbrokensilence.org/?p=3063