You can look at a map of Africa and see the conflict spreading. Where Christianity displaced animism and other tribal faiths over a century ago from the onslaught of missionaries to the “Dark Continent,” Islam from the northern desert nations and the Middle East is slowly pushing its way down the African continent into the Sub-Sahara today. Needless to say from the genocide witnessed in Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan, much of this conversion effort results in brutal and bloody conflicts, with innocent villagers caught in the crossfire between zealots.
In Nigeria, where a new Christian evangelical movement has caught fire in the south (they’ve even sent their own missionaries to the United States seeking converts!), they have come face to face with a growing Muslim force moving in from the north. The rich Nigerian oil fields are in the middle. Bloodshed is commonplace in this escalating conflict. For example, in March of 2010, another slaughter got lost in international headlines, in the town of Jos, which is literally at the intersection of the Muslim-Christian populations: “[A] late-night attack by herdsmen [mostly Muslims] killed up to 500 people from nearby farming villages [mostly Christians]. The attack has been seen as a reprisal for attacks in January [of 2010], in which about 300 herdsmen were killed by youths from the farming community.” Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2010.
Islam explains poverty well; this is not the life that matters, because it is just a test, a giant admission application for the next life in the Gardens of Heaven. Thus, suffering and poverty are just part of that examination process, and wealth and power mere distractions from a focus on Allah and his teachings. That you can accelerate heavenly acceptance by dying in the service of the Lord – otherwise, you have to wait for eternity until on Judgment Day, the masses may find a spot in a glowing afterlife – only sparks confrontation in search of the next generation of martyrs.
But Nigeria isn’t the only West African nation with recent conflicts between Christian and Muslim factions… that Muslims are displacing Christians in positions of political power in several nations is only ramping up the violence. The geographically small Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) has been mired in a bloody Civil War that began in earnest in 2002 with a general xenophobic assault on foreigners living in the country (26% of the population, many being successful “large acreage” farmers), wound down somewhat in 2004, but left the country split into two major factions – Muslim-leaning people in the north, and Christians in the South. Drought and poverty accelerated both Islam and the venomous attacks on foreign-born landholders.
Wikipedia explores the strange split this way: “As of 2006, the region was tense, and many said that the United Nations and the French military had failed to calm the civil war. However, notably, the Côte d'Ivoire national football team was credited with helping to secure a temporary truce when it qualified for the 2006 World Cup and brought warring parties together.” After six delays, November 28th elections have placed a Muslim (Alassane Ouattara, pictured above) as President, but the Christian incumbent (Laurent Gbagbo) who lost this re-election bid refuses to step down. There are 10,000 UN troops stationed in the country, and 800 of them are holed up with Ouattara in a waterfront hotel in the coastal city of Abidjan… surrounded by forces loyal to Gbagbo. Civil war is reigniting.
AOLNew.com (December 22nd) reports exactly how perilous the situation seems to be: “Amnesty International and Ouattara's camp reported that death squads loyal to Gbagbo were abducting people off the streets and killing them… ‘The international community has declared war on the Ivory Coast,’ [said Gbagbo appealing to the nation’s xenophobia]. ‘This is not acceptable… Gbagbo did offer to allow an international committee to investigate the election results, but Ouattara's team said it was just a ruse aimed at keeping the stalemate going. ‘For the past five years he tried maneuvers to postpone the elections. Finally we got there, he lost, and he doesn't want to give up power,’ Patrick Achi, a spokesman for Ouattara's rival government, told Reuters by telephone [on December 22nd].”
On December 27th, general strikes demanding Gbagbo’s departure began to paralyze the country. The Outtara camp’s statement: “Djedje Mady, the head of Ouattara's electoral coalition, said it called on ‘all Ivorians and those who live in Ivory Coast and believe in peace and justice to cease all their activities on Monday, December 27, 2010, until Laurent Gbagbo leaves power.’” AOLNews, December 26th. It isn’t hard to see where this is heading, but given the global preoccupation with economic chaos and potential nuclear confrontation in the Korean Peninsula, this may the only article you may ever read about this conflict.
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