At least 195 dead, over 1,000 homes destroyed and countless people displaced as a result - these are the shocking figures from a series of attacks in Nigeria that took place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In three administrative districts of the state of Plateau, east of Nigeria's capital Abuja, heavily armed gangs attacked several dozen villages in a coordinated attack and killed their inhabitants in the most brutal manner.

The entire middle belt of Nigeria (in particular the state of Plateau) has been experiencing a dramatic escalation of violent excesses for decades (more than 60,000 deaths since 2001)1. Even if this development has received little attention from the German public to date, the attention paid to the events at Christmas last year can be explained. For example, the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote of "attacks on Christian villages "2, while Der Spiegel spoke of communities that were "predominantly inhabited by Christians "3. In summary: It was noticed because it was a massacre of Christians at Christmas.

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