Nigeria Lives Matter, so Should Nigeria News
Why should the world care about Nigeria more than its own president does?
That sounds harsh, but it expresses a painful truth. Muslim terrorists killed 17 people in Paris earlier this month after storming the headquarters of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. At the same time Muslim terrorists who call themselves Boko Haram were killing an estimated 2,000 people in two Nigerian villages.
Guess which catastrophe drew more of the world's attention.
Why the difference? One answer, as real estate agents like to say: Location, location, location. You don't have to be African to be widely ignored by people who live far away from you.
When Islamic militants attacked Charlie Hebdo, we immediately felt it as a direct assault against western values, particularly the freedoms of speech, press, religion and democracy.
At the same time, reports bubbled out of Nigeria that the Islamic gang known as Boko Haram had virtually wiped out two villages and slaughtered an estimated 2,000 victims in a predominately Muslim northern region.
Yet the Nigerian nightmare left us feeling pitifully helpless -- another tragic turn in an old news narrative: endless violence between faraway tribal, religious and political factions.
While the continent's best leaders push back strenuously against the stereotype that Africa can't help itself, Nigeria's president -- with the Dickensian name of Goodluck Jonathan -- tries to hide behind it.
His military spokespeople downplayed the attacks, claiming they counted no more than 150 dead. Vivid satellite photos that Amnesty International posted online immediately debunked that claim. They show more than 600 structures destroyed in Baga and another 3,100 in nearby Doron Baga. That's consistent with eyewitness testimonies of a "deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics, and schools are now burnt out ruins," Amnesty said.
It was only under mounting international criticism that Jonathan even acknowledged that the attacks took place. On Thursday (Jan. 15) he finally paid an unannounced visit to a military base in the troubled north region and told his troops, "We're working day and night, trying to curtail this madness."
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