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Catholic News Agency article on Smith's House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee hearing on Nigeria'Nigerian bishop calls for U.S. military intervention at congressional hearing'By Madalaine Elhabbal A Nigerian Catholic bishop said U.S. military intervention is warranted at a Nov. 20 hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa. The hearing took place just days after an attack on a Catholic boarding school in western Nigeria in which children were abducted from the school’s hostel. “Nigeria is ground zero” for religious persecution, said the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, at the hearing. “Make no mistake, these ongoing attacks are based on religion, and diverting attention from it denies what we have seen with our own eyes.” Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi, Benue, Nigeria, told the panel via Zoom that the United States must follow Nigeria’s addition on the watch list with concrete action.
“Without quick intervention, Christianity risks elimination in parts of northern and Middle Belt Nigeria within a very short time,” the bishop said, noting that while designation as a country of particular concern (CPC) has “brought immense joy, hope, and spiritual resilience to communities under siege in Nigeria,” the Church cannot stop persecution alone. “It requires coordinated political, military, and humanitarian intervention,” the bishop said. “Mr. Chairman and members, the blood of Nigerian Christians cries out to you. We cannot afford to wait any longer.” The hearing highlighted ongoing religious persecution of Christians in Nigeria by groups including Boko Haram and the Muslim extremist Fulani herdsmen, and examined how the U.S. State Department could apply pressure on the Nigerian government to tamp down religious persecution. President Donald Trump announced on Oct. 31 he would place Nigeria on the U.S. religious freedom violation watch list and designate it as a CPC. Under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, the U.S president must designate countries that engage in or tolerate “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” as CPCs. Violations include torture, prolonged detention without charges, and forced disappearence, according to the State Department. The bishop recounted ongoing attacks in Nigeria’s Middle Belt states by Fulani militia as well as in his own village of Aondona in Gwer West LGA, which resulted in the deaths of several of his relatives on May 22. Agnabe urged the U.S. to use all of the tools at its disposal to aid Nigeria and to “enact concrete actions,” including the use of targeted sanctions under the Magnitsky Act and the expansion of humanitarian aid for internal displacement camps. “We all know that inaction emboldens the extremists even more,” he said. Smith called for the U.S. government to place conditions on foreign aid and to provide humanitarian assistance to faith-based groups working to help displaced people in the Middle Belt region. He further called for the Trump administration to impose targeted sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, including visa bans and asset freezes on individuals and entities “responsible for these gross human rights abuses.” Smith cited statistics from Open Doors, which found that Nigeria has persecuted and slaughtered more Christians than anywhere in the world. Smith also said about 52,000 Christians have been targeted and killed, in addition to 34,000 moderate Muslims, since 2009.
Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, whom Trump charged with reporting to him about Nigeria, at the hearing called for the disarmament of Fulani militants in Nigeria. Democratic House members said at the hearing that persecution in Nigeria is not limited to Christians and agreed that the Nigerian government has failed to halt attacks. Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-California, said she opposed Trump’s pledge to employ military action in Nigeria and cautioned against viewing ongoing violence in Nigeria as “merely religious.” She encouraged State Department officials to “use the [diplomatic] tools in our toolbox” before resorting to controlled strikes in the region. Ambassador Jonathan Pratt, the senior official leading the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, condemned the Nigerian’s government’s “failure to intervene” on behalf of persecuted Christians and said the Trump administration is working to “develop a plan to incentivize” action. |
