“There is a clear agenda – to Islamise all of the areas that are currently predominantly Christian.”(1) This analysis, given by Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Mukurdi, came amid reports suggesting that over the period under review there was an upsurge in the number and severity of attacks against Christians in the Middle Belt region. Although the context of this violence was complex, with ethnic rivalries, climate change and an increasingly desperate search for fresh pastures each playing a part, militant Islamist Fulani herdsmen were held responsible for the attacks, clearly displaying virulent religious hatred. Such was evident from the violence, which included an April 2018 gun attack at a village church in Benue State that left 19 people dead, including two priests. Reports for that year indicated “a rise”(2) in attacks both by the Fulani and by militant Islamist group Boko Haram, active especially in northeast Nigeria. The following year, clergy were reporting that attacks against Christians were “growing in ferocity and frequency”(3) – with Fulani attacks now outnumbering those by Boko Haram. By then, there was declining confidence that the government of Muhammadu Buhari, re-elected President in February 2019, was winning the battle against militant Islamist insurgency, with bishops calling for him to “consider stepping aside”.(4)
PHILIPPINES
The killing of 22 Sunday Massgoers and the maiming
