A desire for greater political power seems to be behind the continued rise in Christian-Muslim clashes and killings. There are worries however that the situation could eventually destablise Nigeria, which is the third greatest supplier of oil to the US. The spate of latest killings shows that even a heavy military presence is failing to control the conflict.
Although, the military presence has succeeded in preventing large-scale attacks, ‘secret killings’ have now become more common, in which a lone Muslim or Christian is lured to either a Christian or Muslim part of town and then killed. Most of the conflict is still centred around Jos, a city in central Nigeria which is sandwiched between the country’s largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south.
"We have started receiving reports of corpses being found here and there. It started happening after the March 7 incident," says Femi Oyeleye, the head of the state's criminal investigation department, referring to coordinated mob attacks by Muslims on members of the mainly Christian Berom ethnic group.
According to Mr. Oyeleye, 25 corpses unrelated to any major attacks were found in Jos during March and April – far above the average rate of three corpses a month during the 12 months leading up to February. Lawal Ishaq, a local lawyer who documents secret killings against Muslims, recorded 36 deaths in March and April.
Death tolls are sensitive in Jos – and also highly unreliable because both sides have a tendency to inflate them. Religion is just one aspect of the conflict because ethnicity and politics are also definitely part of the problem, says the CS Monitor.
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