Nigeria : Sectarian violence across the country displaces thousands
| Publisher | Norwegian Refugee Council/Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC) |
| Publication Date | 13 January 2012 |
| Cite as | Norwegian Refugee Council/Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC), Nigeria : Sectarian violence across the country displaces thousands, 13 January 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f100ba12.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), some 10,000 people were internally displaced in Yobe State following clashes between the Boko Haram sect and security forces. Boko Haram militants attacked several churches on 25 December (Christmas Day) after demanding that Christians in the largely Muslim north leave the region. Reports of attacks on Christians across north-eastern Nigeria have heightened fears of a sectarian conflict in areas long prone to local conflicts over access to land and resources.
Nigerian Red Cross officials reported that members of the mostly Christian Igbo ethnic group, a minority in the mainly Muslim north, were fleeing the north-east. NEMA's regional coordinator added that most of those fleeing were avoiding camps as they feared becoming easy targets for further attacks there.
Meanwhile, on 9 January, some 10,000 people were also displaced in the southern state of Benin following attacks on (mostly Muslim) Hausa residents.
