During an appearance on Fox News, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) praised President Trump for designating Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern.” That designation, which triggers how the U.S. treats a foreign country in trade and diplomacy, was also done at the end of Trump’s first term.
This time, however, Trump has openly threatened a military attack on Boko Haram, the Islamist group that has attacked villages and churches for decades.
Describing a "guns-a-blazing attack" to "wipe out" terrorists, Trump said on social media he is instructing the U.S. Department of War to “prepare for possible action” in the African country.
Religious-based human rights groups, which have monitored decades of attacks, say Boko Haram’s body count hovers at 100,000 victims who are gunned down with AK-47s and cut apart with machetes.
Most of the those attacks occur in northern Nigeria, where there is a majority-Muslim population in the country of 220 million. Nigeria's population is almost evenly divided among Christians and Muslims.
In a recent attack in the village of Maga, armed militants kidnapped 25 schoolgirls and murdered the school principal, according to an article first published at The Washington Stand.
Despite accusations of a genocide within Nigeria’s borders, Nigeria’s government disputes that description and disputes Christians are the main target of Islamic militants. Government officials say Muslims are also targets and also claim many attacks are over land disputes and resources such as water.
After the “Country of Particular Concern” designation by Trump in 2020 was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021, Smith recalled asking Antony Blinkin at a congressional hearing to explain the criteria for doing so.
“He had no criteria,” Smith recalled. “They just turned the other way and allowed the Christians to be killed, and I find that absolutely appalling."
At that time, in 2021, Blinkin and the State Department were criticized for claiming the Biden administration said it didn't find "systematic, ongoing, and egregious" acts in Nigeria.
Smith, who has served in Congress since the 1980s, has used congressional hearings for years to advocate for religious freedom. His targets over the years have included China, Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan, among other nations.
