On Thursday 8 February, the European Parliament strongly condemned the attacks carried out over Christmas by armed groups against more than 160 villages in Nigeria’s Plateau State, resulting in the deaths of more than 335 people, including at least 200 members of Christian communities.
In a resolution adopted by a show of hands, it expressed its solidarity with the victims and called for a thorough and independent in-depth investigation into the attacks.
MEPs are calling on the Nigerian authorities to take action against Islamist militant groups who are exploiting the conflict between farmers and nomadic herders over land and water resources. While acknowledging the role of climate change, they warn that the conflict could be used to spread hatred based on religion.
They encourage the EU Special Representative for Human Rights to visit Nigeria.
They call on all humanitarian actors to ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to deal with the crisis, which has caused an unprecedented number of deaths, injuries and displacements.
They welcome the €900 million announced for Nigeria under the EU’s Global Gateway investment strategy and call for the EU/Nigeria partnership to be further deepened in the areas of security, mediation, inter-religious and intercultural dialogue and peace-building.
To see the resolution, go to https://aeur.eu/f/are (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)