Ruadhán Jones
A woman carries a child through a camp in the state of Benue, Nigeria - two priests and 17 parishioners of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in the state were killed there in 2018. Photo: CNS The Department of Foreign Affairs response to the independent TD’s question about violence against Christians “reframes the issue out of all recognition”.
Ms Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs September 9 what Ireland is doing to address violence against Christians in Nigeria, “where 3,462 Christians have been hacked to death since January 1, 2021”.
In response, the DFA said the conflict between Muslims and Christians “arises from differences of perspective regarding access to land”.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Ms Carol Nolan said that describing the conflict as “predominantly ‘resource based violence’ is almost to reframe the issue out of all recognition”.
“Christians are being killed because they are Christians. Christians are being hacked to death in their thousands because of their faith. We need a blunt recognition of this fact,” Ms Nolan declared.
The department’s response “lacks anything resembling the kind of urgency or understanding that is required to tackle this issue effectively”.
Ms Nolan said that the DFA’s reply has been virtually identical over the last number of years.
“This suggests to me that there has been no real growth in understanding about the religious character of the violence… we need far more sustained foreign policy focus on this global crucifixion of Christian communities.”