World Tour: Nigerian Christians attacked on Christmas

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere.

AUDIO: [Crying woman]

ONIZE OHIKERE: Nigeria Plateau killings — We start today in Nigeria, where frustration is still high over a Christmas holiday attack in the north-central Plateau state.

Gunmen targeted at least 15 predominantly Christian villages beginning Dec. 23. The violence continued into Christmas Day.

The death toll has risen to more than 190 people. Survivors fled to other communities.

No group took responsibility, but some Fulani armed herders have repeatedly targeted the mostly Christian farming communities in similar attacks.

Timothy Nwan is vice-president of the Church of Christ in Nations. He gave the sermon during a mass burial for many of the victims.

NWAN: There are many people that were killed, slaughtered like animals, cold-blooded, some were in their houses, some were even outside.

Senior military officials visited the region and pledged to deploy more security.

Abdulsalam Abubakar is a Nigerian army commander. He vowed authorities will capture the gunmen.

ABUBAKAR: We will not rest until we bring all those culpable for these dastardly acts to book.

But residents have decried the repeated lack of long-lasting solutions. Violence has continued across central and north Nigeria.

Residents of a village in northeastern Adamawa state said extremists killed at least two Christians on Christmas Day and set houses on fire. Three days later, armed assailants killed eight Christians in northeast Taraba state.

AUDIO: [Cheering supporters]

DRC election outcome — Over in central Africa, supporters have cheerfully welcomed the reelection of President Felix Tshisekedi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The country’s electoral commission declared Tshisekedi as the winner, with more than 70 percent of the votes.

But opposition leaders are calling for a do-over. Logistical problems delayed and canceled voting at some polling units

Presidential candidate Martin Fayulu finished in third place, with 5 percent of the votes.

FAYULU: [Speaking French]

He says here that any foreign country that considers the vote legal doesn’t respect Congo’s democracy.

The electoral commission will release the final result next week.

AUDIO: [Sound of crowd reacting]

South Korea stabbing — In South Korea, a knife-wielding suspect stabbed the opposition party leader during his visit to the southeastern city of Busan.

Lee Jae-myung had finished touring the construction site of a new airport when the suspect asked for an autograph.

Witnesses said he then took out a knife and stabbed Lee in the neck. Authorities arrested the suspect after several people chased and tackled him.

Lee’s Democratic Party said he was recovering at the Seoul National University Hospital after a two-hour surgery.

OFFICIAL: [Speaking Korean]

This Busan police official says the police force has set up a 68-member task force to investigate the incident.

Lee narrowly lost to South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 presidential election.

AUDIO: [Plane takeoff]

Kosovo joins Schengen zone — We close today in Europe, where hundreds of citizens of Kosovo lined up inside the Pristina airport to travel to other European Union countries.

January First marked the start of visa-free travel within the European Union’s Schengen Area for Kosovars.

Kosovo was the last of the six countries in the Western Balkans to get the visa waiver.

Here’s Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti:

KURTI: We have been waiting for too long, this has been a long injustice but finally we made it. This increased opportunity, we shall use in responsible manner.

The move grants Kosovars visa-free entry of up to 90 days within a 180-day period for tourism.

RESIDENT: [Speaking Albanian]

This resident says the waiver makes it much easier to visit relatives across Europe.

That’s it for today’s WORLD Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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