The African Union (AU) Chair, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, has dismissed claims of genocide in northern Nigeria after US President Donald Trump suggested that Christians were being slaughtered by jihadists and faced an “existential threat.”
Trump this month warned of a potential armed intervention in Nigeria, asserting that radical Islamists were killing “Christians in very large numbers” and that Christianity in the West African nation was under severe threat. He added that if Nigeria fails to halt the killings, the United States could respond with action that would be “fast, vicious, and sweet.”
Speaking at a press conference in New York on Wednesday, Youssouf said: “There is no genocide in northern Nigeria. The complexity of the situation should push us to think twice before making such statements.”
He noted that the first victims of Boko Haram, the region’s most prominent jihadist group, are Muslims rather than Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with 230 million people, is roughly divided between a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim-majority north. The nation faces multiple conflicts, including jihadist insurgencies that kill both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
The Boko Haram insurgency, active since 2009, has reportedly killed over 40,000 people and displaced more than two million, according to UN figures.
AFP
