Nigeria Violence: Ban Appeals Restraint

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed grave concerns about the ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria where hundreds of people were murdered over the weekend.
‘I am deeply concerned that there has been more inter-religious violence with an appalling loss of life,” Ban told reporters. “I appeal to all concerned to exercise maximum restraint’. In recent years, fierce competition for control of fertile farmland and other resources between indigenous Christian groups and Muslim settlers from the north have repeatedly triggered conflicts and clashes. Since 2001, more than 2,000 people have been killed in communal violence in Plateau State.
‘Nigeria’s political and religious leaders should work together to address the underlining causes and achieve a common solution to the crisis’, said Ban.