Nov 13 (Reuters) - Violence against Nigerian Christians remains a key concern, the US State Department said, a year after the Trump administration accused Nigeria of violating religious freedoms and designated it as a "country of particular concern" (CPC).
President Donald Trump last November threatened military action against the West African nation over the treatment of Christians. The Nigerian government rejected the CPC designation and said the move was based on misinformation and faulty data.
Assistant Secretary of State Frank Garcia, speaking to a panel in Congress on Thursday, said the State Department was treating the issue as a top priority, working closely with Nigerian authorities to address the violence waged against Christian communities and hold those responsible to account.
"Unfortunately, the violence has not stopped," Garcia said.
Nigeria's Information Minister Mohammed Idris did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nigerian leaders have previously said the country is dealing with terrorism, not persecution of Christians, and that they would welcome US help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as the country's territorial integrity is respected.
NIGERIAN ELECTIONS LOOM
Insecurity tops the list of campaign issues ahead of Nigeria's presidential and parliamentary elections, set for January 16, 2027. Africa's most populous nation is battling an Islamist insurgency, banditry and farmer-herder clashes in its northern regions as well as kidnapping for ransom in the south.
US Assistant Secretary of State Riley Barnes said Nigeria had hired police, deployed forest guards and increased prosecutions and arrests following the US designation, but these moves had not led to greater safety for Christians in the country's Middle Belt region.
Citing also a sharp increase in violence against Christians in Nigeria's central Plateau State, US Representative Riley Moore, a West Virginia Republican, asked: "What is the (State) Department doing to make sure the Nigerian government brings the fight to the militias where Christians are dying? And before you answer that, we cannot take this CPC designation off this country. They have not done enough."
Nigeria, home to more than 200 ethnic groups practising Christianity, Islam and traditional faiths, has a history of coexistence but has also seen sporadic violence, often driven by ethnic tensions and competition over scarce resources.
(Additional reporting by Camillus EbohWriting by Ben EzeamaluEditing by Gareth Jones)
