Christians Including Children Hacked To Death In Nigeria

How anyone in good conscience could hack young children to death is beyond me, but this is what is still happening in Nigeria. There has been tremendous conflict between Muslims and Christians, and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight to the violence. The latest horror came when ethnic Muslims attacked the mostly Christian central Nigerian village of Mazzah, burned the church and seven houses, and proceeded to hack at least eight people to death with machetes, several of them children.

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"Seven people were killed instantly with machetes while three others were seriously injured. One of them died on the way to the hospital," Lieutenant Colonel Kingsley Umoh told the AFP news agency.

He said ethnic Fulani Muslims entered the village and began firing into the air to lure sleeping residents outside their homes early on Saturday morning.

Residents of Mazzah told the Reuters news agency that many of the victims were the family of a priest, including his wife, two children and grandson. Reverend Nuhu Dawat himself survived the attack.

This isn't the first time Christians have been attacked. Back in March of this year, at least 500 people were murdered when Hausa and Fulani Muslim herdsmen set upon five Christian villages near Jos. Although Nigeria is approximately fifty percent Muslim (most of whom live in the north) and fifty percent Christian (residing mostly in the south) they don't seem able to live in peace. Most of the violence takes place in the central region, the Plateau state, and no-one seems to be able to stop it. An evening curfew had been instituted for Jos and the surrounding area in 2008, after an increase in violence in the region, but it had been lifted in May. It was not, however, re-instated after this latest attack.

Called an "act of terrorism" by an official of the Plateau state, Gyany Pwajok, the police commissioner, Gregory Anyating said "We are trying to find out the root causes of the violence." Unfortunately, religion is the root cause, and the lack of tolerance in some religions leads to the inability to allow others to worship as they please, and some people don't know any other way to solve differences other than by the sword.

Since the violence has often been precipitated by local elections, there are those who think it has its roots in politics.

Some observers say the violence results from religion being exploited in the struggle for local power.

Apparently, at least 1,500 people have been killed in that region, since the beginning of 2010, and with more elections slated for next year, there are those who believe the violence will escalate. When will this madness stop?