A security barrier marks the scene of a car bomb explosion at St. Theresa Catholic Church (background) at Madalla, Suleja, just outside Nigeria's capital Abuja, December 25, 2011.
Afolabi Sotunde / Reuters
On the blood-splattered front walls of the blasted church, somebody scrawled two messages using wood burnt into charcoal from the flames of the explosion: "Revolution now" and "No more peace in the country." In the aftermath of the attack by Islamist militants against the Christian sanctuary in Abuja and four other churches in Nigeria, those are the symptoms of a sectarian backlash that Nigerian authorities are most alarmed about.
At least 32 people were killed as they poured out of the packed Christmas morning mass in St. Theresa's church, near the capital Abuja, Interior Minister Abba Moro Told TIME. Four other bombs elsewhere in the country took at least three lives. Boko Haram, a group whose aim is to impose a strict interpretation of Muslim Shar'ia law on Africa's most populous country, took credit for the attacks. A third of Nigerian states already have Shar'ia law. (See TIME's photoessay: "Bombing in Nigeria.")
Authorities are now battling to keep a lid on the bubbling threat of a sectarian civil conflict that would pitch one half of Nigeria's population of 155-million against the other. "The fact that Christian facilities were bombed was intended primarily to provoke Christians into attacking Muslims," Interior Minister Moro told TIME. "We have appealed to our Christian brothers for them not to do so." But two days after the bombing, the area around St. Theresa remained tense as angry young men loitered just beyond military cars patrolling the area. "If the government cannot protect us, we will take revenge by ourselves," said Josiah Agbo, 18, whose mother was killed in the blast. He left only after a priest from St. Theresa took to the streets urging Christians not to attack Muslims. In a country where religious leaders wield enormous power, Muslim counterparts in the powerful Sokoto and Kano caliphates ? which are what the country's historic Islamic communities are called ? likewise denounced the bombings.
"The people lying in hospitals after the Christmas bombs were ...Muslims and Christian," Interior Minister Abba said. "Boko Haram aren't aliens from another planet. People know who they are. We want to draw members of the public into sharing that information to prevent future attacks." He said two arrests in connection with the Christmas bombing were made because of just such collaboration.
But there have been almost 500 deaths in near-daily bomb blasts and shootouts in the predominantly Muslim northeast this year alone. And Boko Haram (a name that means "Non-Islamic Education is Sacrilege" in the northern Hausa language) at times seems perilously close to plunging the country into a chaos. "The Islamic militants want Nigeria to be an Islamic republic like Iran but we may end up becoming a Sudan or Somalia if the violence continues at this pace and scale," says activist Shehu Sani, who heads the Civil Rights Congress of Nigera and led attempts to mediate a ceasefire with the group. "It all depends on the ability of the leadership to handle the crisis."
A diplomat who requested anonymity told TIME that Boko Haram had splintered into different factions prepared to use varying degrees of force. In a December report, a report by the U.S. congress said that Boko Haram had morphed from home-grown criminals to international terrorists with the capability of forging international links. Boko Haram spokespersons have claimed members have travelled as far east as Somalia, where Al-Shabab militants have shared financing and techniques. In December, a serving senator for Boko Haram's home state of Borno state was charged with financing the organisation. He denied the charges and has been released on bail. (See "Hell on Christmas Day: Nigeria's Deadly Bombings.")
Countries such as the United States, France and the United Kingdom are stepping up assistance to Nigeria in areas such as explosives forensics and intelligence-gathering, one of the country's military spokesperson said. "How does one keep one step ahead of not just one but all these groups? That is what we in Nigeria, just like in developed nations, need to work out," the spokesperson added.
"Some people see Boko Haram as the right irritant to sting the government into action over poverty and corruption," says Sani the activist. For some, however, the response from Nigeria's ruling elite has often seems lackluster. "Still not a single [senior] government has visited," Josiah said at St Theresa's church. "It's always the same. They are too busy with themselves to bother with us." Some of the Boko Haram mayhem can be traced back to the government. Its attempts to crush the group in 2009 led to the killing of Boko Haram's then-leader and 900 deaths as sectarian riots erupted. The move may have further radicalized the organization, pushing its leadership underground and into neighboring countries. Meanwhile, the Muslim elite is grumbling over the ascendency of President Goodluck Jonathan ? a southern Christian. His succession to the office ended an unwritten agreement that the highest office should rotate between north and south every two terms. A former university lecturer, Jonathan was dubbed the Accidental President by the local press after he succeeded Umaru YarAdua, a Muslim, who died midway through his first term in 2010. The following year, Jonathan ran successfully for office.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/time/world/~3/5JzREt63Kvs/0,8599,2103163,00.html
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