World recoils as 500 Christians slaughtered in Nigeria attack

[onehandle]

JOS, Nigeria (AFP) – The Vatican led a wave of revulsion on Monday at the slaughter of hundreds of Christians in Nigeria as survivors told of how the killers hacked victims to death after snaring them in animal traps.

Officials said more than 500 people were killed in the three-hour orgy of violence on Sunday in three Christian villages close to the city of Jos, blamed on members of a mainly Muslim clan known as the Fulani.

As troops were deployed to the villages to prevent any new violence, police detained nearly 100 suspects amid outrage at how machete-wielding gangs were able to go on the rampage at a time when a curfew was meant to be in force.

Newspapers reported that Muslim residents of the villages in Plateau state had been warned by phone text message, two days prior to the attack, so they could make good their escape.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100308/wl_afp/nigeriaunrest

[Echo In Light]

1. k/r

[MineralMan]

2. They were only angry because it was Christians who were

murdered? How strange. Did they have the same reaction when Christians in Africa killed Muslims? I don't remember that being a public issue for the Vatican. Fuckers.

[malaise]

5. Thank you MineralMan

My take exactly. Where was the Pope during the slaughter of Iraqis.

[MineralMan]

7. Or following this slaughter in Nigeria?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelwa_massacre

[Gman]

14. Although John Paul II did tell Bush

"If you go to Iraq, you go without God."

Precious little else.

[onehandle]

16. 'The Pope made more than fifty public addresses in which he condemned the war in Iraq'

...prior to its inception and he sent a special emissary, Pio Laghi, to the White House to convey his disapproval, but the Bush Ad-ministration was adamant in pushing for war and even forbade Laghi to address the American people from the White House on the occasion of his visit. Most heads of major religions in the United States, including the head of Bush's Methodist Church condemned the war as unjust.

http://www.cjd.org/paper/surlis.html

I'm not a fan of this Pope, but fair is fair.

[MineralMan]

19. I'm not talking about Iraq. I'm talking about other places.

Outrage when Christians are slaughtered, but silence when Christians are doing the slaughtering. I gave an example of what I mean.

Look at Nigeria and other countries in Africa.

[onehandle]

22. I was addressing the person I responded to. nt

[MineralMan]

23. And I was addressing you. You post, I respond. It's your thread,

after all.

[MineralMan]

18. That's true. However, these cries of outrage when Christians are

killed in warfare ring hollow when no such outrage appears when Christians are doing the killing. Such is reality, I guess, but it sucks.

[FarSideCow]

56. source?

Where did pope john paul II say this? I'd love to read the full quote.

[Gman]

61. One of many

http://www.truthout.org/article/pope-bush-go-iraq-and-you-go-without-god

[piratefish08]

25. or during the slaughter of the jews, if you want to dig way back......

[malaise]

31. Correct or the annihilation of

millions of Africans during the Atlantic slave trade - oh wait they were all slave owners.

[onehandle]

6. You don't remember that?

Well, if you don't remember...

[MineralMan]

10. Actually, I do remember. There was no outrage from the Vatican.

See this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelwa_massacre

Now, go and see if you can find some Vatican outrage for it.

[Krakowiak]

49. nothing from the Vatican or your critics on this thread...

*silence*

[MineralMan]

52. Yes. It's crickets all the way down.

[spoony]

65. Nice to see you took a break from your regular duties

of spinning on behalf of the bog to dismiss the slaughter of innocent people.

[malaise]

3. The death of all innocents must be condemned

Christian, Muslim, Atheist etc.

[Echo In Light]

11. +1

[RKP5637]

13. Exactly! What evilness on the face of humanity, incidents such as this, needless deaths of any. n/t

[Jennicut]

15. Totally correct. Unfortunately, that almost never happens.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

46. +1,000,000

[Maru Kitteh]

58. +1

[Mojambo]

4. Horrible! n/t

[quinnox]

8. they should be brought to justice

This is barbaric, these muslims give their religion a bad name!

[cali]

9. a much better, fairer and more informative article

Johannesburg, South Africa

The central city of Jos is on high alert after Sunday's violence in Nigeria in which a late-night attack by herdsmen killed up to 500 people from nearby farming villages. The attack has been seen as a reprisal for attacks in January, in which about 300 herdsmen were killed by youths from the farming community.
nt for competition over the use of arable land in central and northern Nigeria, where climate change has dried up pasture lands and forced animal herders closer and closer to farming communities, where their herds can destroy crops.

Jos is also right on the de facto fault line separating Nigeria's mainly Muslim north from its mainly Christian south. The farming community in Jos is primarily Christian of the Berom ethnic group, while the herders are ethnic Fulanis who practice Islam.

COVER STORY: How land disputes are Africa's 'continental divide'

“Land is central to the conflict in Jos,” says Ugar Ukandi Odey, a Jos-based news reporter for the Nigerian newspaper NEXT. Mr. Odey has been covering the attacks and the tense aftermath. “The Beroms are the original people of Jos, and the Fulanis are nomads moving around with cattle who have settled in amongst the Berom people. But it becomes ethnic and religious, because there are Christians on one side, and the Fulanis are Muslims on the other side.”
Clash of cultures

Local disputes are common all along the cultural and ethnic dividing line between Nigeria’s north and south. There are no signs that the crisis in Jos will have ripples beyond the immediate environs of Plateau State, where Jos is located, but Nigerian authorities aren’t taking any chances. After all, Nigeria has just emerged from a national crisis of succession, in which a hospital-ridden northern Muslim president, Umaru YarAdua, has passed down power to a southern Christian, acting President Goodluck Jonathan, and where many northern politicians were signaling their willingness to put up a fight, at the polls at least, to pass the presidency to another northerner rather than to YarAdua’s second-in-command.

<snip>

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2010/0308/Nigeria-violence-Muslim-Christian-clashes-kill-hundreds

[daleo]

27. Farmers and herdsmen

Caine and Abel.

I am not much of a Bible person, but the resonance with the Bible story does strike one. I suppose the farmer and the herdsman is a very old conflict.

[pepperbear]

29. it's like the old west range wars all over again. n/t

[Zomby Woof]

12. "The Vatican led a wave of revulsion"

Vatican, heal thyself.

[BunkerHill24]

17. same article also states that there are other factors contributing to the violence...

"The archbishop of the Nigerian capital Abuja, John Onaiyekan, told Vatican Radio that the violence was rooted not in religion but in social, economic and tribal differences.

"It is a classic conflict between pastoralists and farmers, except that all the Fulani are Muslims and all the Berom are Christians," he said.

[MineralMan]

20. It's true, of course. But, when the Muslims kill the Christians,

a huge outcry comes from the Vatican. It does not when the reverse happens. It's a territorial war there. It's a tribal war.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

21. So, the two sides are cheerfully killing each other with gusto.

But the Outrage Diode is in action. Only the atrocities of one of the sides become news.

Did I understand the situation correctly?

[MineralMan]

24. Yup. You've got it pegged.

[piratefish08]

28. That pretty much sums it up.

[blondeatlast]

69. Yup--and this affirmation comes from a self-identified Christian. The irony

The irony didn't pass me up.

[BunkerHill24]

26. I concur.

:hi:

[CoffeeCat]

30. I find it disingenuous when the Vatican is "revulsed"...

....or "leading a wave of revulsion" after it spent decades sexually
abusing children then covering up that sexual abuse--while forcing
traumatized kids and their families to remain silent.

I have absolutely no faith in anything this institution does or says anymore.

Any other institution that engaged in such horrendous evil, would have been
disbanded by now--or at least shunned to the point of collapse.

How can an institution that knowingly made innocent children vulnerable to
serial child rapists--ever be taken seriously about any subject?

[ccinamon]

38. The vatican should be worried about their priests before complaining about

others.

Vatican has no moral authority to be saying anything until they clean up their own problems with the molesting priests.

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. OMG... Horrible. Thanks for posting this.

[ShortnFiery]

33. Tragic.

More tragic: If Nigeria had the vast oil reserves of the Middle East, we'd be there in a heartbeat.

[Art_from_Ark]

51. Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa

It has the 11th largest petroleum reserves in the world. It is also a member of OPEC.

[Uzybone]

57. shows how much you know

[EnviroBat]

34. What kind of human being could do something like this?

Simply run up to another person and hack them to pieces with a machete. I mean what would fuel such utter hatred for a person that you don't even know other than what imaginary god they worship? The only conclusion I keep reaching is that these aren't human beings at all. In fact, they are beneath lesser animals. They are scum, and these territorial and religious genocidal battles have been going on for thousands of years. I hope that an earthquake or flood kills every last one of these people. The earth needs cleansed of it's parasites.

[MineralMan]

37. Or, just imagine. What kind of person would put people on the

rack? Or slay Muslims with swords in some sort of religious crusade? It's horrible.

Oh, wait, those were Christians doing that stuff. Never mind.

[onenote]

41. you aren't suggesting that those killed in Nigeria deserved to die

because others acted inhumanely in the name of Christianity are you?

I would hope not.

What happened in Nigeria deserves international revulsion. Period.

[MineralMan]

45. Of course not. I'm talking about the Vatican's sudden "revulsion"

about mass murders. They made no comment about it when Christians murdered Muslims in the same place. It is hypocritical. That is my point. I'm pretty sure I made that quite clear in my posts.

[Fumesucker]

70. The same kind of human being that will aim a hellfire missile at a group and blow them to pieces..

It's so easy to get outraged over what other people do but if we look in the mirror we find we're doing the same damn thing.

[CanonRay]

35. I wonder if "The Family" will now get us to invade Nigeria

[name not needed]

36. If it were 500 gay people murdered, I doubt anyone would bat an eye...

[Arugula Latte]

39. ...particularly not the fucking Vatican. n/t

[onenote]

42. so do you think no one should bat an eye at this atrocity?

[Name removed]

40. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dorian Gray]

43. This is terribly sad

that tragic loss of life. So unnecessary.

[Canuckistanian]

44. This was essentially a TRIBAL battle with only a veneer of "religion"

But, no doubt this will be seized on by RWnuts to reinforce their "All Mooslims are killers" storyline.

And when the "Christian" tribe members kill some "Muslim" tribe members, we'll NEVER hear about it.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

47. Can you point to somewhere in recent history where christians hacked up 500 muslims with machetes?

[Krakowiak]

48. post # 10 upthread?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

50. Well that's not very christian.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

54. No True Scotsman fallacy. Again. Yawn.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

55. Again. You'll get over it. Yawn.

[Toasterlad]

63. I Know! When CHRSTIANS Do It, They're Not Really Christian!

Christians are the only non-violent relgious people in the world! Because whenever a christian does something wrong, he wasn't really a christian! So no christian's ever done anything wrong! Unlike all the muslims and jews and hindus, who are all just evil people.

Why can't everyone see that???

[Krakowiak]

68. how about earlier this year - when Christians attacked Muslims in the very same place?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8476534.stm

snips from article:

More victims of deadly religious clashes in central Nigeria have been found, with scores of bodies stuffed in wells and sewage pits.

Up to 150 bodies have been found in Kuru Karama village, 30km (18 miles) from the city of Jos, where the violence erupted last Sunday.

.......

Human Rights Watch said armed men had attacked the mostly Muslim Kuru Karama on 19 January.

"After surrounding the town, they hunted down and attacked Muslim residents, some of whom had sought refuge in homes and a local mosque, killing many as they tried to flee and burning many others alive," it said in a statement.

.............


But the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Kaigama, told the BBC that religion was not the real cause of the violence.

"It is the struggle for ethnic and political superiority in Jos," he said. "If this issue is not resolved then we will witness a cycle of violence. There has to be some political solution."

..................

I agree with this last statement - religion is used as a device to turn these people on each other, but this is more of a tribal dispute. Very sad.

[MineralMan]

53. Yes. Here's one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelwa_massacre

I posted that earlier in the thread. When this happened, there was nothing said by the Vatican. I checked. I remember.

[The Magistrate]

59. The External Citations Are Interesting, Sir....

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2004/05/10/nigeria-prevent-further-bloodshed-plateau-state

[Krakowiak]

67. no need to go back that far.... look at January from this year - same city as OP

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8476534.stm

snips from article:

More victims of deadly religious clashes in central Nigeria have been found, with scores of bodies stuffed in wells and sewage pits.

Up to 150 bodies have been found in Kuru Karama village, 30km (18 miles) from the city of Jos, where the violence erupted last Sunday.

.......

Human Rights Watch said armed men had attacked the mostly Muslim Kuru Karama on 19 January.

"After surrounding the town, they hunted down and attacked Muslim residents, some of whom had sought refuge in homes and a local mosque, killing many as they tried to flee and burning many others alive," it said in a statement.

.............


But the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Kaigama, told the BBC that religion was not the real cause of the violence.

"It is the struggle for ethnic and political superiority in Jos," he said. "If this issue is not resolved then we will witness a cycle of violence. There has to be some political solution."

..................

I agree with this last statement - religion is used as a device to turn these people on each other, but this is more of a tribal dispute. Very sad.

[superduperfarleft]

60. Good riddance.

(Sorry, just trying to get quoted on the websites which shall not be named). :D

[hunter]

62. There's no more buffer in the world oil supply. The world economy is fragile.

Political chaos in Nigeria could bring down the entire house of cards.

This is scary stuff.

[Toasterlad]

64. Yay, Religion!

It's the universal justifier! So handy when you need an excuse for genocide! Where would we be without it???

[hayu_lol]

66. Hmmmm,,,we seen to have a surplus of christians at the moment...

should we send them 500 more? Including of course, those two southern baptists who are preying for the death of the prez.

[SycamoreFlynn]

71. World recoils as 500 Christians slaughtered in Nigeria attack

After reading some of the responses to this post I can only
say what a sad state of affairs. Hundreds of people are
slaughtered and the venom spews from the finger-pointing of
angry posters. No wonder the world is going to Hell!

[CANDO]

72. On CNN yesterday

They said that recently there were 300 muslims killed by christians and this was retaliation.