US officials say violence against Christians in Nigeria remains a key concern

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Nov 13 - Violence against Nigerian Christians remains a key concern, the US State Department said, a year after the Trump administration accused Nigeria of violating religious freedoms and designated it as a \"country of particular concern\" (CPC). Read more at straitstimes.com.

Christian worshippers sit during a mass at the St Gabriel Catholic church in Abuja, Nigeria March 22, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo

Nov 13 - Violence against Nigerian Christians remains a key concern, the US State Department said, a year after the Trump administration accused Nigeria of violating religious freedoms and designated it as a "country of particular concern" (CPC).

President Donald Trump last November threatened military action against the West African nation over the treatment of Christians. The Nigerian government rejected the CPC designation and said the move was based on misinformation and faulty data.

Assistant Secretary of State Frank Garcia, speaking to a panel in Congress on Thursday, said the State Department was treating the issue as a top priority, working closely with Nigerian authorities to address the violence waged against Christian communities and hold those responsible to account.

Nigeria's Information Minister Mohammed Idris did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nigerian leaders have previously said the country is dealing with terrorism, not persecution of Christians, and that they would welcome US help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as the country's territorial integrity is respected.

Insecurity tops the list of campaign issues ahead of Nigeria's presidential and parliamentary elections, set for January 16, 2027. Africa's most populous nation is battling an Islamist insurgency, banditry and farmer-herder clashes in its northern regions as well as kidnapping for ransom in the south.

US Assistant Secretary of State Riley Barnes said Nigeria had hired police, deployed forest guards and increased prosecutions and arrests following the US designation, but these moves had not led to greater safety for Christians in the country's Middle Belt region.

Citing also a sharp increase in violence against Christians in Nigeria's central Plateau State, US Representative Riley Moore, a West Virginia Republican, asked: "What…

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