Massacre In Nigeria

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On January 3rd, Islamist militant group Boko Haram attacked the northern town of Baga and surrounding areas, killing possibly thousands of civilians.  Fleeing residents were chased into the bush and shot dead. Others drowned in Lake Chad as they tried to swim away.  Scores of homes were burned to the ground and bodies were strewn in the streets like trash. According to Amnesty International, the death toll to date is estimated to be as high as 2,000 with at least 30,000 people displaced. Amnesty International has also called the assault on Baga perhaps the deadliest of the Boko Haram’s 6-year insurgency.

Nigeria’s home-grown Boko Haram group drew international criticism when its fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in northeast Chibok town last year.  Although dozens escaped, 219 girls are still missing.  Boko Haram reportedly used a 10-year-old girl to detonate a bomb at a market in Maiduguri last Saturday, killing at least 10 people and seriously injuring others. The bomb exploded after explosives were found under the girl’s clothing during a search, according to witness accounts.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, as well as the United States and other countries have all condemned the Baga bloodshed.  In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf called Boko Haram “a huge threat” and denounced “horrific reports today of young girls being used to conduct suicide attacks.”

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Boko Haram has waged relentless violence in a bid to establish an Islamist state in northern Nigeria. Despite the violence, President Goodluck Jonathan is running for re-election on February 14th, but is uncertain how voting will proceed with portions of his country under siege.

Although the world has united in sorrow for the deaths in Paris, it is time for the world to unite in sorrow for the ongoing deaths in Nigeria.