A US-based rights group has urged Nigeria’s vice-president to order an immediate criminal investigation into “a massacre of at least 150 Muslim residents” of a town in central Nigeria.
In a statement, Corinne Dufka, Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) senior West Africa researcher, said the killings in Kuru Karama, 30km south of the city of Jos, required “the authorities to act now”.
“Something extremely serious has happened in the town … act now both to bring those behind these heinous crimes to justice and to protect both the survivors and those at risk of renewed violence,” Dufka said.
[ad#Google Adsense (200×200)]
“Vice-president [Goodluck] Jonathan’s statement that the perpetrators will be prosecuted is a start. But now he needs to make sure the police conduct an immediate and impartial investigation.”
Al Jazeera footage
Witnesses interviewed by Al Jazeera on Saturday said groups of armed men attacked the largely Muslim population of Kuru Karama in the morning of January 19 after surrounding the town, killing many as they tried to flee and burning many others alive.
Several villagers told our correspondent, Andrew Simmons, that they believed members of the armed groups to be Christians and showed him charred corpses, including those of young children and babies, in addition to dozens of bodies stuffed down wells.
[vsw id=”g7XjFZSSF9Q” source=”youtube” width=”480″ height=”351″ autoplay=”no”]
The three main mosques of the town were burned and destroyed as well, according to HRW.
And one witness told HRW that at least one police officer participated in the attack, while another said the police abandoned their post shortly before the violence began, adding that the killings took place throughout the day, without police intervention to stop the violence, despite repeated calls to the police.
VP’s pledge
Greg Anyating, the Plateau State police commissioner, told HRW that the reported death toll in Plateau State was false, and the police would issue “correct figures” on the number of dead in a few days, following an inquiry.
In a televised address to the nation on January 21, Vice-President Jonathan, currently the acting president, pledged that the perpetrators of the violence in Plateau State and their sponsors would not evade justice.
“The federal government is determined to secure convictions of the perpetrators of this crime, no matter how highly placed,” he said.
Source: Al Jazeera, 23 January 2010
This is ridiculous, The Nigerian Government will not do anything for these poor people.
This is worst than the Rwanda genocide, this is clear genocide and I advice Nigerian Muslims to create their own state because the government is doing nothing about it, its time Nigerian Muslims provided their own security, this cold-blooded criminals even burnt infants only sick Christians would do that.
The Muslim organisations need to help these people over come this tragedy, its clear to us all the Nigerian government is watching Muslims been massacred and its turning a blind eye.
We Somalis might be fighting 20 years but we never do such things to each others burning, killing infants, etc – those Bantu Africans either slaughter each others with machetes or burn each others.
SICK! now Al Qaeda will come to Nigeria and this time I say they have a reason to be there.
Kayse,
What do you mean by saying “those Bantu Africans ……..”?. Aren’t you too a Bantu African?.
And “now Al Qaeda will come to Nigeria and this time I say they have a reason to be there”?.
It is amazing that you mention Al-Qaeda and reason in the same sentence.
Al Qaeda and Al Shabab (their Somali offspring) are not associated with any plausible reasoning.
They are nothing but a godless, ruthless, mafia-like monsters who defamed the good faith of Islam around the globe. They will never achieve any thing good to humanity let alone Islam. And sooner they are gotten ride off the face of the earth the better.
Their members are mostly disowned by their countries and since they have no where to reside they prey on and make home wherever there is chaos or in failed states.
They are vultures not humans.