Nigeria: Violence against Christians - Never keep quiet on barbarism, asserts Terzi

ROME, Italy, July 9, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Once again violence has bloodied Plateau, the central state of Nigeria beleaguered by years of inter-ethnic and inter-religious strife: in recent hours hundreds of armed men have attacked numerous Christian villages near Jos, the state capital. “One must never keep quiet on barbarism”, said Minister Giulio Terzi, who in recent days instructed Special Envoy for Humanitarian Emergencies Margherita Boniver to make a mission to Nigeria, where she met with the Nigerian ministers for police and interior on themes, as Terzi underscored, “with which we are particularly concerned, of a humanitarian nature and associated with the spread of the Boko Haram terrorism and of violence against Christians”.
Speaking with the Nigerian authorities Boniver explained Italy's action plan for the defence of religious minorities, which combines prevention with a strategy for countering the violence, presented by Minister Terzi at the latest EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting and supported by his European colleagues. The “common concern about violence against Christians, but also against innocent civilians of other faiths”, was the focus of Boniver's meeting in Abuja with civil and religious authorities.