11 March 2010

Medieval mindset in Nigeria - Cui bono?

Details are beginning to emerge from attacks Sunday on four villages in central Nigeria, where witnesses say members of the predominantly ---- ---- ethnic group targeted villages that were home to members of the mostly ---- ---- ethnic group. On Monday, local officials counted 378 bodies...

The weekend's attack appeared to be a reprisal for violence that claimed at least 300 lives in January, when ---- villagers targeted ---- in a separate, nearby village...

At a mass burial... angry residents talked of revenge as they gathered around a large pit and scattered dirt on several dozen charred and bloodied bodies...

An elderly woman prayed at the edge of the burial pit, chanting. "By God's grace we will enter their villages and kill their women and children," she repeated.

"We will do much worse to them," one man said.
I would assume the hatred goes well beyond religion per se to involve economics, land, food and other basic needs stretching back for generations.  I've redacted the identities of the religious/ethnic groups involved in this specific incident, because it really doesn't matter who started what first.

One has to wonder who ultimately benefits from violence such as this.  It's probably no coincidence that it's occurring in one of the countries blessed (?cursed) with abundant oil reserves.  Someone behind the scenes is stirring the pot for their own monetary/strategic benefit.

Cui bono?

3 comments:

  1. This kind of thing can occur anywhere without outside provocation. The Waodani tribe from Ecuador is an example of this kind of internal strife (I recently watched the movie "Beyond the Gates of Splendor") The Waodani were one of the most violent cultures ever documented, and it was not because of external influence. Heck, everyone else was afraid to even get anywhere NEAR them. At one time it was estimated that up to 60% of all Huaorani deaths were due to murder.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaorani

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  2. Or if you took the predictive programming slant, the movie you watched prepares you perfectly what the escalation in american interference in Africa. They still have some resources we want.

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  3. OMG!

    Why didn't I think of that??

    OF COURSE the violence in Nigeria is America's fault!

    On a more serious note, though: I agree - there is something medieval about this type of "tit-for-tat" attacks. But I realize that we live in very, very safe, almost innocent environments here in America. I have never come home and found my mother and neighbors hacked to death by a machete.

    I suspect no one here has either.

    I guess I'm reluctant to condemn those who want revenge. I have not walked a mile in their shoes and never will.

    A wonderful book on forgiveness in exactly those circumstances is:

    "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" - Immaculee Ilibagiza

    Warning to those who are outraged by the merest mention of God: The author spends time discussing her faith in God.

    Still, her story is an extraordinary and humbling one. Few people who suffered what she suffered could emerge anywhere near where she did.

    I guess I would look to someone like her as an example of how to forgive what can only be described as unforgivable.

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