If Christians are still being massacred in Nigeria, US President Donald Trump has threatened to launch more airstrikes against the country.
Trump was questioned on whether the Christmas Day attacks in Nigeria’s northern Sokoto state, which targeted Islamist extremists, were a part of a larger military campaign during a comprehensive interview with the New York Times.
“Making it a one-time strike would be my dream. However, if they keep killing Christians, it will be a long-term attack,” he stated.
Nigeria’s government claims that “Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike” are targeted, refuting Trump’s previous claims that it is not doing enough to defend Christians against Islamist attacks.
In some right-wing US circles, accusations of a genocide against Nigeria’s Christians started to surface last year. However, organizations that track political violence in Nigeria claim that Muslims make up the majority of the victims of the jihadist groups.
Trump said, “I believe that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria,” in response to a question about this in the interview that was released on Thursday. However, the majority are Christians.
Nigeria’s foreign minister’s spokesperson told the BBC, “We will continue to engage constructively and work with partners, including the United States, on the basis of mutual respect, international law, and Nigeria’s sovereignty,” without specifically addressing the prospect of additional airstrikes.
According to Alkasim Abdulkadir, “Nigeria remains committed to protecting all citizens, Christians and Muslims alike, without discrimination.”
The more than 230 million people that live in Nigeria are split almost evenly between Muslims, who are primarily found in the north, and Christians, who are more common in the south.
For the past 15 years, the north-east of the country has suffered from a devastating Islamist insurgency at the hands of jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and those linked with the Islamic State (IS) group, located in Borno state.
The nation also has to deal with a number of other intricate security problems in various areas, such as separatist turmoil, land disputes, and criminal abduction groups.
In the mostly Muslim state of Sokoto in northwest Nigeria, close to the Niger border, two camps maintained by a terrorist organization known as Lakurawa were targeted by US Christmas Day strikes. Since neither the US nor the Nigerian government have released any statistics or provided an update on the attack’s outcome, it is still unclear whether there were any casualties.
Lakurawa, who are from parts of the Sahel north of Nigeria, established a presence in the border area a few years ago.
Following last month’s airstrikes, the US and Nigerian government claimed that the militants were connected to IS groups in the Sahel. However, unlike other groups it supports in the region, IS has not declared connections to Lakurawa or connected itself to any of the group’s activities.
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC that the strikes had “nothing to do with a particular religion” and had been a “joint operation” following the events.
He claimed that the timing of the strikes had “nothing to do with Christmas,” despite Trump’s claim that he had ordered them as a “Christmas present.”
The foreign minister further stated that Nigeria’s military forces had participated in the strikes and that President Bola Tinubu had given his express consent.
