President Donald Trump has suggested the United States may conduct further military strikes within Nigeria if what he described as the targeted killings of Christians persist. This statement comes despite repeated denials from Nigerian authorities that there is any systematic persecution of Christians in the country.
Trump’s remarks were made in an interview published by The New York Times, where he commented on the military strike carried out by the US in Nigeria on Christmas Day. The US military previously announced that it had conducted a raid targeting elements of the Islamic State group in the northwest of the country, at the request of the Nigerian government.
Nigeria has maintained that the strike was part of a “joint operation against terrorists,” emphasizing that it did not target a specific religious group nor was it related to any particular faith.
According to the newspaper, Trump stated he would have preferred the Christmas Day strike to be a “one-off” event, but warned that “if the killing of Christians continues, there will be other, and repeated, strikes.”
Addressing comments made by his senior advisor for African affairs, who noted that militants from the Islamic State and Boko Haram kill more Muslims than Christians, Trump stated that while Muslims are indeed killed in Nigeria, “the majority of victims are Christians.”
Back in late October, Trump began warning of what he termed an “existential threat” facing Christianity in Nigeria, hinting at the possibility of military intervention due to what he perceived as the Nigerian government’s failure to stop violence against Christians. This has sparked concern among some circles over the potential for escalating US involvement in the region.
