The massacre of nearly 200 Christians has been partly blamed on climate change, despite allegations that the church’s followers are targets of genocide by Muslims.
The inclusion of climate change as a contributing factor in the latest attack has infuriated a Roman Catholic priest, who says religious persecution does not receive enough attention.
On Christmas Eve, a massacre hit 26 different villages in Nigeria, with gangs of men armed with guns and machetes attacking residents.
198 were killed and 300 others injured in some of the worst anti-Christian violence seen in Nigeria for years. Northeast Nigeria has seen tens of thousands of deaths and around two million displaced as the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram fights for supremacy in the region.
The Guardian said the resulting social tensions and violence were exacerbated by growing competition for natural resources between nomadic herders (often Muslim) and farmers (often Christian). They say this competition has been intensified by both “rapid population growth and climate pressures.”
Germany The weather And Reuters news agency also briefly mention that climate change “exacerbates” the problem, but all three clearly cite religious differences as the main factor. As the world faces more frequent and intense extreme weather, such as heat waves and storms, natural resources like food and water will become more difficult to obtain.
A Catholic priest has criticized the media for not reporting that there was a genocide in Nigeria by Muslims against Christians. Talk to European Conservativehe said: “How could they dare admit that there is a genocide going on in Nigeria, carried out by Muslims against Christians – that would require action. »
Father Kiely also pointed out that murders have been taking place “for many years.” However, the aforementioned newspapers did not deny this, simply stating that the depletion of available resources, caused by human-caused climate change, is making the problem worse.
He described the horror of the massacre, saying the murderers “burned churches full of worshipers, destroyed villages, raped, kidnapped and shot” people. He also lamented that big governments, like that of the United States, are not paying enough attention to the problem.
The article claims that around 52,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria over the past 14 years. The source of this claim also points out that 34,000 moderate Muslims also lost their lives during this period. However, Father Joseph Fidelis of the Maiduguri diocese said he disagreed with the idea that the situation was a series of “clashes” or “conflicts”, instead describing it as a “slow genocide”.
