Nigerian Archbishop criticises the West for reaction to Boko Haram massacre

The Catholic Archbishop of Jos and President of the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference, Ignatius Kaigama, has criticised the international reaction to the Boko Haram massacre of last week saying, “they express their solidarity, but it isn’t really concrete help.” The Independent reported that the Archbishop compared the international responses to the massacre in Nigeria, and the killings in Paris, saying “there is a great difference”.

He isn’t alone. Political commentators took to Twitter last week to condemn the gulf in attention between Nigeria and Paris. 91-year old activist and advocate for social democracy Harry Leslie Smith tweeted this:

Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 1.53.21 pmPolitical analyst Imad Mesdoua tweeted this:

Screen Shot 2015-01-13 at 1.51.59 pmArchbishop Kaigama has also spoken out against the “dilly dallying” of the Nigerian Government in dealing with the threat that Boko Haram pose, according to The Independent. He told BBC Radio, “if we could stop Boko Haram, we would have done it right away”.

On January 3, militant Islamic group Boko Haram seized a key military base in Baga, Northern Nigeria. From there, they attacked Baga, Doron-Baga, and Bundaram, starting on 3 January and continuing all through the weekend, according to CNN.

The violence saw many deaths, with The Guardian and Al Jazeera news sites reporting that most of the victims are women, children, and elderly people, who could not outrun the rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles being used to attack them.

Amnesty International has issued a statement saying that the town of Baga has been razed to the ground, and estimated that the death toll sits around 2,000. However Baga District Head Abba Hassan thinks that 2,000 is a high estimate, suggesting instead that the death toll could be more like a few hundred, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations says that Boko Haram violence caused more than 10,000 deaths in 2014 alone. Millions have been displaced inside Nigeria’s borders, and hundreds of thousands have fled to neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.

Image: Global Panorama on Flickr, used under CC License.