A deadly January in Nigeria

Late last Friday, gunmen riding motorcycles—a now-familiar sign of danger in the region—sped into the northwest Nigerian village of Dankade.

The men opened fire on civilians and clashed with responding soldiers and police officers. Residents said the attackers burned homes and silos and stole cattle. Authorities later disputed reports of 50 deaths, saying 13 civilians and three officers died. Local elder Abdullahi Karman Unashi told Reuters the attackers also abducted the community leader and several villagers, mostly women and children.

Nigeria’s central and northwestern states have marked a bloody beginning to 2022. The uptick in violence this month has drawn international attention.

During three days of attacks starting Jan. 4 in the Northwest, residents said as many as 500 assailants burned five villages and killed about 200 people. Some 10,000 others were displaced in the carnage following military raids on attackers’ hideouts a week earlier. The government in September imposed a telecommunications blackout during a military offensive against armed gangs that have killed and abducted civilians in Zamfara.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the violence and urged Nigerian authorities to “spare no effort in bringing those responsible for these heinous crimes to justice.” Analysts said the military response has had some effect, although the attacks and insecurity continue.

On Monday, a northwestern state government reopened 115 schools that have been closed since September due to the violence. Some 80 schools remain closed in areas authorities have tagged as red zones.

World radar

• HAITI: The Sainte Croix Hospital south of Haiti’s capital, the only medical center for miles with a maternity and neonatal unit, survived power blackouts and oxygen shortages. But the director, the Rev. Jn Michelin St. Louis, announced this week that the hospital will likely close after kidnappers abducted two drivers and took a newly acquired generator the hospital hadn’t yet paid for. Powerful criminal gangs have filled the security vacuum created by Haiti’s nearly nonfunctioning government. Jamaican authorities last weekend confirmed they detained a former Haitian senator who was a key suspect in the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in July.

• IRAN: ​​More than 1,000 U.S. military veterans and their families asked the Biden administration in a letter last week not to release frozen funds to Iran until American victims of Iran-backed terror attacks receive compensation. The Treasury Department this month said it would allow South Korea to bypass sanctions and send at least $63 million in overdue charges to an Iranian company. The 2015 nuclear deal had eased sanctions on Iran in return for strict limits on its nuclear program. But the Trump administration reimposed the sanctions, blocking Iran from accessing its foreign assets, including revenue from oil sales. U.S. officials said Iranian-backed militias killed hundreds of U.S. troops in the Iraq War. Iran has denied any involvement.

• ITALY: Italian police this week detained four suspected members of Black Axe, a Nigerian cult-like mafia, after a sex trafficking survivor spoke out. Investigators said the Nigerian woman was forced into prostitution after her captors made her take a local ritualistic oath. It’s a common fear tactic used by criminals and smugglers who traffic women to Europe. Investigators said a pastor convinced the woman to speak out. She reported how her captors raped, imprisoned, and coerced her into prostitution to pay a debt of 12,500 pounds. A BBC investigation in December reported that the Black Axe, traced back to a Nigerian university in the 1970s, includes local politicians and a global criminal operation.

• INDIA: Gregory Stanton, founder of Genocide Watch, told a congressional hearing last week that there are early signs of genocide against Muslims in Assam state and the disputed Kashmir state. Stanton highlighted policies of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist government and said he feared a scenario similar to that in Myanmar, where Rohingya Muslims were first legally declared noncitizens before military-led attacks killed hundreds of thousands and forced others to flee. A London-based law firm this week filed for the arrest of India’s army chief and another senior official over reports of war crimes based on more than 2,000 testimonies. Muslims and Christians have faced persistent attacks from supremacist groups and officials mostly in states governed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

• MALI: Former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, who led Mali from 2013 until he was ousted in a 2020 coup, has died. He was 76. Keïta led the country during a period of violent Islamist insurgency and an economic crisis. Mali remains politically unstable following two coups since 2020. The military-dominated leadership plans to delay elections for up to four years. The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali on Monday grounded its flights amid ongoing discussions over sanctions that closed down the country’s air and land borders.

• GUATEMALA: President Alejandro Giammattei this week asked the Guatemalan Congress to consider increasing the jail term for human smugglers to a maximum 30-year sentence. The current law imposes a sentence from two to five years. Guatemala has served as a major route for Central Americans crossing into Mexico toward the United States. The bill faces debate and then requires congressional approval.

Africa brief

I’m usually not an avid sports fan. But I found myself hooked by the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) football tournament (soccer, for my American readers). It’s probably because my brother was home from college for Christmas, filling the house with shouts at the television over goals and almost-goals on the sports channel I forgot we have.

Either way, I’m rooting for Nigeria’s Super Eagles, but I also have a soft spot for the underdogs. They include the small East African nation of Comoros, which cinched its first-ever AFCON win in a surprising 3-2 victory against four-time champion Ghana on Tuesday. I’ll be watching to see how far their winning streak lasts as the games continue until Feb. 6.