Alleged Christian Genocide in Nigeria: US lawmakers disagree with FG

Trump and Trump

United States House Appropriators and Foreign Affairs leaders convened a rare joint briefing yesterday as part of a broader congressional investigation into what lawmakers and experts describe as escalating and targeted violence against Christians in Nigeria.

The session, led by House Appropriations Vice Chair and National Security Subcommittee Chairman Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Fla., is feeding into a comprehensive report ordered by President Donald Trump on recent massacres of Nigerian Christians and potential policy steps the U.S. could take to pressure Abuja to respond.

Trump directed Congress, led by Reps. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., and Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., to probe Christian persecution in Nigeria and produce a report for the White House to review.
He has floated the idea of taking direct military action against Islamists who kill.

Vicky Hartzler, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told lawmakers that “religious freedom [is] under siege,” citing the abduction of more than 300 children and attacks in which “radical Muslims kill entire Christian villages [and] burn churches.”

Rampant violations

She said violations were “rampant,” “violent,” and disproportionately affect Christians who, she argued, were targeted “at a 2.2 to 1 rate”, compared with Muslims.

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Hartzler said Nigeria had taken some initial corrective steps, including reassigning about 100,000 police officers from VIP protection details but warned the country was entering a “coordinated and deeply troubling period of escalated violence.”

Targeted sanctions

She recommended targeted sanctions on Nigerian officials “who have demonstrated complicity,” visa restrictions, blocking U.S.-based assets, and conditioning foreign and humanitarian aid on measurable accountability.