UN chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday told Nigeria’s powerful state governors that he was “deeply” worried by violence that has rocked parts of Africa’s most populous country.
“I am deeply disturbed by the level of violence, particularly in the northern states,” Ban said just weeks after post-election violence in several states in northern Nigeria left hundreds dead.
“And I am concerned by the periodic ethnic and religious violence that affects parts of the country,” he told state governors at a breakfast meeting shortly before he wound up his visit to Nigeria.
A previously announced visit to Nigeria following last year’s outbreak of violence in the central city of Jos, by a UN special envoy on the prevention of genocide, was put off last year without any explanation.
Violence that erupted largely between Christians and Muslims in the north after President Goodluck Jonathan won last month’s vote killed at least 800 people dead. Thousands have been killed in recent years in religious-, ethnic- and politically-linked unrest in Nigeria, especially in northern and central parts.
An Islamist sect known as Boko Haram in 2009 staged an uprising that was brutally put down by security forces. Authorities have blamed the group for bomb attacks and shooting targeting especially the military and police personnel, community and religious leaders as well as politicians.
“The underlying reasons (for the violence) are many and complex,” Ban said adding youth unemployment was one. “This, I believe, is a major contributor to unrest and instability, and needs to be addressed to support your … development and security,” he told the governors.
May252011