President Donald Trump has cautioned that the United States may carry out further military strikes in Nigeria if the killing of Christians continues, despite Nigeria’s position that there is no organized persecution of Christians in the country.
Trump gave the warning during an interview with The New York Times, published on Thursday, while answering questions about a U.S. military strike carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day.
At the time, the U.S. military said it conducted a strike against Islamic State fighters in northwest Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian government.
Nigerian officials described the action as a joint operation targeting “terrorists” and emphasized that it had “nothing to do with a particular religion.”
“I’d love to make it a one-time strike … But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike,” Trump was quoted as saying, according to CNBC.
When asked about remarks by his own Africa adviser, who said that Islamic State and Boko Haram militants were killing more Muslims than Christians, Trump acknowledged that Muslims were also victims but maintained that Christians were the main targets.
“I think that Muslims are also being killed in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians,” he said.
In late October, Trump began publicly warning that Christianity faces what he called an “existential threat” in Nigeria, and threatened U.S. military action over what he described as the Nigerian government’s failure to halt violence against Christian communities.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with over 230 million people, is almost evenly split between Christians, who mainly live in the south, and Muslims, who are largely based in the north.
While Nigeria continues to deal with major security problems, including insurgency, banditry, and kidnappings in the north, the government has repeatedly denied claims of systematic persecution of Christians.
Responding to Trump’s earlier comments, Nigerian officials said they were ready to work with Washington in the fight against militants but rejected language suggesting that Christians were being singled out.
Nigerian authorities have consistently stated that extremist groups have killed both Muslims and Christians, and that the violence is fueled by terrorism and criminal activity rather than religion.
