An interview with the Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of the Archdiocese of Jos in Nigeria, home to 500,000 Catholics in a population of 3 million, and the scene of 500 sectarian deaths in recent days.
Q: There have been tensions between Christians and Muslims in the northern part of Nigeria and recently in the middle part of Nigeria, which is where Jos lies. What is at the root of this problem?
A: I believe it’s a feeling that one religion must be greater than the other. There is this propaganda of both Islam and Christianity. Every religion wants to control, more or less, the whole system and therefore there is that competition.
Even when the Sharia, for instance, was introduced recently, the Christians felt threatened and since the introduction of the Sharia in its present form, there has been great tension, there has been an uneasy relationship and this has erupted into violence sometimes.
These are testimonies to the fact that there have been a lot of religious crises in Nigeria and most of these have occurred in the north. And since the introduction of Sharia these crises seem to come again and again.
Q: What is the concern of Christians with the introduction of Sharia law in Nigeria?
A: The Sharia as introduced recently is a bit different from what it used to be. Sharia has been in existence in Nigeria and yet Christians and Muslims lived peacefully and co-existed well. Ever since the introduction of Sharia recently, Christians felt threatened because Christians in these areas are in the minority and they have lost much.
Q: Why is it that events on the international level are reproduced so violently - or the repercussions are so violent in Nigeria?
A: Ignorance, I believe. We were all shocked to hear that there had been terribly violent demonstration against the cartoons in Denmark. We though that it had nothing to do with us, but I said, perhaps because of ignorance; intolerance brings about this [violence].
FULL STORY Nigeria: Radical Islam and the challenge of dialogue (Aid to the Church in Need)