Trump orders US military to prepare for Nigeria intervention

Mr Trump wrote in a November 1 social media post that he might send the military into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” unless the Nigerian government intervened. The US President added: “If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians!”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “The Department of War is preparing for action. Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

Mr Trump’s threat has triggered alarm across Nigeria. President Bola Tinubu has insisted there is religious tolerance in the country and said the security challenges were affecting people “across faiths and regions”.

An advisor to Nigeria’s president, Daniel Bwala, said his nation would welcome US help in tackling the Islamist insurgents, but noted that it was a “sovereign” country. He also said the jihadists were not targeting members of a particular religion and that they had killed people from all faiths, or none.

Last month, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin – citing Nigerian sources – stressed that the situation there is “not a religious conflict, but rather more a social one, for example, disputes between herders and farmers”, Vatican News reported.

“We should also recognise that many Muslims in Nigeria are themselves victims of this same intolerance,” he noted. “These are extremist groups that make no distinctions in pursuing their goals. They use violence against anyone they see as an opponent.”

Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria.

Claims of a genocide against Nigeria’s Christians have been circulating in recent weeks and months in some US circles.

US author Robert Royals said “from 2019 to 2023, 33,000 Christians of various denominations and several thousand moderate Muslims were killed by Islamic extremists”.

FULL STORY

Trump tells military to plan for ‘action’ over his claim that Nigeria allows killing of Christians (By Joseph Winter/BBC)

Cardinal Parolin: Holy See is full of hope for success of peace plan for Gaza (Vatican News)

The Vatican’s timid defense of persecuted Christians | Catholic Culture (CWN)