Posted on 04/14/2013 6:12:48 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
ABUJA, April 14 — Nigeria’s main militant group, the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), on Sunday threatened to perpetrate attacks on Islamic institutions in the west African country from next month.
The group, in an electronic message to journalists, said its attacks will be code-named “Operation Barbarossa”, aimed at saving Christianity in Nigeria from annihilation by the Boko Haram sect, which has been attacking churches and media and security outfits since 2009.
MEND said when hostilities against Islamic institutions begin on May 31, it will target mosques, pilgrimage camps, large congregations in Islamic events and assassination of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate.
The group will make bombing one of its main means of attack, according to the statement from its spokesperson Jomo Gbomo.
A ceasefire may be considered in the future for “Operation Barbarossa”, if the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and other credible Christian organizations in the country assure there is a cessation of hostilities targeted at Christians in their places of worship, made privately or publicly by the real Boko Haram leadership, the statement added.
MEND, the largest militant group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, gained prominence in 2006 when it began to fight for total control of the Niger Delta’s oil wealth, saying local people had not gained from the riches under the ground and the region’s creeks and swamps.
Exactly: Goodluck Jonathan has sat on his thumbs for the past year while Boko Haram has made hamburger (literally) of hundreds of Christians in the North — many while worshipping in church.
I cannot understand his failure to act, unless, of course, it is someone paying him off not to act?
I got an urgent request today from my Christian friend in Nigeria to pray for her homeland, that may not even exist in the very near future. I did and I hope you will too.
I wonder if it makes sense to split the Moslem north from the Christian south?
Most of the oil is in the Christian south. I doubt very much the Muslims want a peaceful, poor, landlocked country of their own.
In November, it was disclosed that the U.S. Army has sent 100 Special Forces soldiers to Nigeria to provide counter-insurgency training for national troops engaged against Boko Haram, the country's largest military deployment since the 1967-70 Biafra war.
I would assume the announcement was made for the benefit of the government and the locals more so than the enemy. The idea might be to get people to close up shop and stop trading in the Muslim areas of the country because of the threat of violence, though there's been plenty of that already.
Excellent news. Thank you.
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