Nigeria Map
Nigeria MapVoice of America/US Government

On November 6th, Islamic terrorists devastated the village of Matuide, in Mozambique, beheading 50 people in a soccer field. A few days later, Cameroon authorities closed schools on the border with Nigeria to protect students from Boko Haram's continuing suicide attacks. Then the news that 110 peasants were massacred in Koshobe, Nigeria, always at the hands of the jihadists of Boko Haram. It was the biggest massacre so far in that area of ​​the country. And also the news that Haruna Kuye, leader of a Christian village in the Nigerian state of Kaduna and her son, were killed by gunmen who entered their home.

Three African countries are overwhelmed by the same ideology and whose Christians are at the center of a "genocide". The rise of Islamic extremist groups across Africa and constant attacks on Christian communities constitute "the next jihad". This is the thesis of Rabbi Abraham Cooper, a director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which takes its name from the famous Nazi hunter and is one of the leading Jewish human rights organizations.that really does care about human rights Cooper, who fought for the religious freedom of Soviet Jews, collaborated with Reverend Johnnie Moore of the United States Commission on Religious Freedom to write "The Next Jihad”.

At the center of the book is Nigeria. "It has tenth of the world's oil reserves, it has the largest economy in Africa, it is surrounded by countries with terrorist uprisings and if something goes wrong the Syrian crisis will seem like a distant memory of the catastrophe that could happen."

The book is a litany of anti-Christian horrors. "A nine-year-old girl who saw terrorists kill parents and brothers with machete. A pastor whose church was destroyed twice. Villages razed entirely by Islamists. Each victim's story seems to end with words `there are thousands more like us."

East Africa is currently facing an unprecedented intensity of anti-Christian persecution, according to a new report from Open Doors. "The intent of the persecutors is to drive Christians out of the area, and unfortunately, they often succeed," said David Curry, head of Open Doors.

At least three million Christians are persecuted in East African countries, including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan. Three of these countries - Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan - rank among the top ten on Open Door's 2020 World Watch List, which indicates the intensity of religious persecution.

At the end of August, a report from the International Organization for Peace Building and Social Justice, the International Committee on Nigeria and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief revealed that 100,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria in the past twenty years. "Radical Islamic extremism is the main driving force behind the persecution of Christians in Africa and Christians in the West must raise their voices," Curry explained.

For now we hear the voice of a rabbi, Abraham Cooper, while Christian leaders in Africa continue to count their dead. "The future of Christians in Nigeria is dark," said Benjamin Kwashi, Anglican archbishop of Jos. "I've seen more funerals than weddings."

Giulio Meotti is, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author, in English, of the book "A New Shoah", that researched the personal stories of Israel's terror victims, published by Encounter and of "J'Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel" published by Mantua Books, in addition to books in Italian. His writing has appeared in publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Gatestone, Frontpage and Commentary