'No genocide in Nigeria' - AU chair attacks Trump's claims of 'Christian persecution': Video
African Union Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf has dismissed allegations of a “genocide against Christians” in northern Nigeria, calling the claims misleading and “misrepresented.”
Speaking during a United Nations briefing on Wednesday, November 12, Youssouf clarified that the ongoing violence in northern Nigeria should not be compared to atrocities seen in conflict zones such as Sudan or eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We have issued a communique making clear that what's going on in the northern part of Nigeria has nothing to do with the kind of atrocities we see in Sudan or in some parts of eastern DRC,” he said. “The first victims of Boko Haram are Muslims, not Christians, and I am saying this with documented references.”
His comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened earlier this month to “intervene” in Nigeria, citing what he described as the killing of “record numbers of Christians.”
The Nigerian presidency swiftly rejected Trump’s remarks, reaffirming that religious freedom is protected under the country’s Constitution and condemning what it termed “external interference in domestic affairs.”
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
