US Envoy to Visit Nigeria over Killings in Middle Belt

Ugo Aliogo

The United States Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, will visit Nigeria between November 7 and 9 to discuss measures on how to address the killings committed against the Christian farmers in the Middle Belt region.

According to a letter addressed to the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo by a US Congress member, Mark Meadows, the bilateral relationship between both countries have been mutually beneficial.

In the letter dated November 6, 2018, Meadows argued that the United States must continue to work for the advancements of human rights.

He expressed concern over the reports of ongoing persecution of Christians in the Middle Belt region.

He stated that in the first half of 2018, an independent report from the International Crisis Group cited 1,300 deaths in the region due to conflicts between herders and farmers, which he noted was six times the number killed by Boko Haram.

He further noted that the US Vice President Mike Pence had highlighted those concerns at the World Summit in Defence of Persecuted Christians, noting that in Nigeria Christians face, “intimidation, imprisonment, forced conversion, abuse, assault or worse.”

Meadows in the letter added that the President Donald Trump’s administration had reaffirmed to the world, America’s unrelenting commitment to ensure that people of all faiths can live safely and free from political, religious, and social oppression.