WHILE BLINKEN WAS IN ABUJA, NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS WERE MASSACRED.

Posted January 25, 2024, credit: U.S. Department of State

Dozens of Christians have been killed in Fulani militia attacks in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State in Nigeria since January 23, according to CSI sources in the region.

The official visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Nigeria on January 23 and 24 led to the massacre. This came just three weeks after Blinken refused, for three consecutive years, to describe Nigeria as a "country of particular concern" because of religious persecution.

A CSI source in Plateau State said on Tuesday afternoon that Fulani militia fighters were moving on motorcycles to attack Christian villages in Mangu. In Wednesday's attack, at least 25 Christians were killed, including a family of six who were burned alive in their home in Sabon Kasuwa village. A church in the same village was also burned.

The attack was part of a longer campaign by Jihadist militias from the Fulani ethnic group to expel Christian communities from their homeland in Nigeria's Central Belt. These militia attacks have killed more Nigerians in recent years than attacks from Boko Haram or the Islamic State.

The chairman of the Nigerian Christian Association in the Mangu Local Government Area stated in an impassioned statement on social media that the Nigerian military was involved in the attack.

"They have set a curfew, "he said. "The military are the ones who sent our people away to allow the militias to burn their homes." They are only in Mangu, within Christian territory. Within Muslim territory, they were free to move and do whatever they wanted."

The priest stated that the military forces themselves had killed three young men in the area, including one of his parishioners. "There is an evil plan to destroy Mangu."

On Christmas Eve, Fulani militias in the local government areas of Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, and Mangu massacred hundreds of Christians in Plateau State from village to village.

Blinken expressed" the condolences of the American people to all Nigerians affected by the horrific attacks over the Christmas weekend" at a press conference held alongside Nigeria's Foreign Minister, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar.

More than 136 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since January 1, according to a Morning Star News correspondent from Nigeria.

Nigeria is the deadliest country for Christians in the world. In 2020, the CSI issued a genocide warning for Nigerian Christians.

CSI International President Dr. John Eibner stated, "The U.S. seems to believe that it can protect its interests in Nigeria by partnering with Nigerian security agencies. "These same security agencies are engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Christians from their homeland in Nigeria's Central Belt by jihadists and Muslim supremacist militias."

We urge the US and its allies to deal with these killings in their dealings with the Nigerian government rather than continue to turn a blind eye to the slow genocide taking place in Africa's most populous nation.

News Sorces :  https://csi-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/3942EFC6-9921-42C1-AF19-82C070DED64C.jpeg