To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations (a) his Department and (b) agencies of his Department have made to the Government of Nigeria on the ongoing systematic violence against Christians in that country.
Answered on
15 October 2018
The British Government is taking every opportunity to raise our concerns over intercommunal violence between farming and herding communities at senior levels. The Prime Minister raised the issue with President Buhari during her recent visit to Nigeria and the Foreign Secretary raised the subject when he wrote to the Foreign Minister in August. The British High Commission in Abuja has also raised the issue with the Vice President and with the governors of affected states.
Our assessment is that the root causes of violence are disputes over land, farming rights, grazing routes and access to water, and it is important that efforts to address the violence focus on this challenges.