Bomb Blasts Sow Further Divisions in Nigeria

Christmas bombings blamed on radical Islamists marks a dangerous escalation in violence and risks worsening the country's sectarian divisions, analysts say.

Bomb Blast: The aftermath of the bomb explosion at the Nigerian Police Headquarters in Abuja on June 16, 2011.

Christmas bombings in Nigeria blamed on radical Islamists - the worst of which killed worshippers as they left mass - marks a dangerous escalation in violence and risks worsening the country's sectarian divisions, analysts said Monday.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south, had already grown weary of violence claimed by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

But Sunday's attacks, also claimed by Boko Haram, have sparked fresh fear and anger. At least 40 people died nationwide, with 35 confirmed killed at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla near the capital Abuja. "The violence is increasing both in scale and sophistication," northern-based human rights activist Shehu Sani said. "The attack on churches is to nationalise the crisis. It will instigate hitherto neutral people into the crisis."
As a result, he said, Christians may try to take revenge on Muslims.
"This is dangerous for the country," Sani said.


The government blamed Boko Haram for the attack, but serious questions remain over how to define the group and its aims, as well as over who supports it.

It is believed to be comprised of several factions with varying demands, including those with political links and a hard-core Islamist cell.




Conspiracy theories abound, including whether enemies of President Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian who faces strong opposition in the north, have backed the violence.


Analysts, however, point to Nigeria's deeply impoverished north. With so many young people out of work, distrustful of the government and without hope, it is fertile recruiting ground for such movements.