Tag: Middle Belt

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

Persistent Fulani violence ‘indicates ethnic cleansing’ of Nigerian Christians

November 14, 2017 Nigeria Benue, Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Middle Belt, Nigeria

A new report detailing the sustained attack on Christian communities by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s central state of Benue concludes that the number and ferocity of incidents is evidence of ethnic cleansing. Further, signs of ethnic cleansing on Christian communities “are likely to become increasingly evident” in light of a . . . Read More

Christian Association of Nigeria asks President about Fulani violence

November 11, 2017 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the main umbrella organisation of the major Churches, has expressed concern to President Muhammadu Buhari over ongoing violence by Fulani herdsmen in the country’s Middle Belt states. Throughout September and October, repeated attacks against Christian communities left more than 75 dead, according to an . . . Read More

Nigeria: cattle-grazing ban seeks to end Fulani violence

November 2, 2017 Nigeria Benue, ECWA, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

A law imposing a ban on cattle grazing has come into force today (2 November) in Nigeria’s central state of Benue. The ban follows years of deadly clashes between nomadic Fulani herdsman and local farmers in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. According to the BBC, the new law requires everyone to keep . . . Read More

Nigerian government has failed to counteract violence of Fulani herdsmen – ICG report

September 21, 2017 Nigeria Agatu, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

In Nigeria, it isn’t only the northeast regions, stronghold of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, that have witnessed severe violence. The Middle Belt of the country, which straddles the divide between the largely Muslim north and the majority-Christian south, is also the scene of ever-continuing violence between settled farmers, . . . Read More

Nigeria: when Fulani herdsmen and farmers clash

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Benue, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nasarawa, Nigeria

Fulani cattle herds in Bauchi State, northern Nigeria, July 2016 (Open Doors International)

Many experts on Nigeria now believe that violence across the Middle Belt, which World Watch Monitor has reported at length, has been responsible for more deaths than Boko Haram. As Emmanuel Akinwotu wrote last year in the New Statesman, the conflict – between ‘indigenous’ settled farmers (mainly Christian) and nomadic . . . Read More

5 Things to know about violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Iran, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Taraba, West Africa

A village head inside his destroyed home in one of the villages in Southern Kaduna that were attacked by Fulani herdsmen, in May 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

In northern Nigeria, targeted violence against Christians comes not only from the Islamic militants of Boko Haram. Clashes with militants among the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen have claimed thousands of Christian lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt – the handful of states straddling the pre-colonial line dividing Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north from . . . Read More

‘There will never be peace for Nigeria’s Middle Belt unless there’s equality and justice’

September 11, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nigeria, Sahel, West Africa

Obscured by Boko Haram’s headlines, violence has also raged further south, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt: a less reported, years-long campaign which experts now believe has been responsible for more deaths than Boko Haram. Militants among the ethnic Fulani, a predominantly Muslim and nomadic population of cattle herders, are suspected of targeting . . . Read More

‘Prostitution is rife’ – sexual exploitation of Boko Haram survivors in IDP camps

September 1, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Divorce, IDPs, Maiduguri, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Women

Thousands of Christians in north-east Nigeria displaced by Boko Haram’s insurgency now face discrimination and harsh treatment – including sexual exploitation – by government officials, reports Global Christian News (GCN). While many thousands have been killed, others sought refuge in neighbouring Cameroon or in the relatively safe states in the . . . Read More

Kano, Nigeria: father and son killed, three women and a baby kidnapped

August 31, 2017 Nigeria Kano, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

A father and son were killed, and three women and a baby abducted, in an attack in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano, in the largely Muslim area of Tudun Wada. At around 8pm on 15 August, armed men, believed to be local Muslims, attacked the house of Baba Kale Dankali, . . . Read More

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