Al Jazzera Net

 

Tensions remain high in the central Nigerian city of Jos after gunfire erupted in an area near villages where hundreds were killed two days ago. The automatic gunfire, which went on for about three minutes on Tuesday, sent more than a hundred villagers - many women and children - fleeing for cover. A police officer in Jos, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press news agency that soldiers opened fire to scare away a crowd that had gathered in the street because of a suspicious truck in their neighbourhood.

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Al Jazeera Network

 

Hundreds of people were killed in violence in Jos and neighbouring towns in January [EPA]

Nigeria's acting president has ordered security forces to hunt down those behind an attack near the central city of Jos that left more than 200 people dead. Security officials - facing criticism for failing to prevent another outburst of sectarian violence only weeks after hundreds died in Muslim-Christian clashes - said they had arrested scores of people in connection with the attacks. Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the capital Abuja, said at least 19 Hausa-Fulani men had been arrested 30km from Jos, scene of Sunday's three-hour systematic orgy of violence that killed mainly children and women in the Plateau State.

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By (Author name withheld  for protection)

ABUJA, 14 August 2008 (IRIN) - There is no explicit gay scene in Nigeria, but in the Ibiza bar in the capital, Abuja, the action on the packed dance floor seems a little more exclusively guy-on-guy, a little bit raunchier than may be considered "normal".

According to Oliver Okem (not his real name), a smart and trendily bespectacled AIDS activist, when the mood and the music is right, he and his friends can strut their stuff at Ibiza, Excelsior, or a couple of other gay-tolerant clubs in Abuja. Sometimes, though, it becomes advisable to "straighten up; rough-looking guys can stare at you, wondering what's up, and maybe whispering among themselves".

 

Being gay in Nigeria is hard: homosexual sex is illegal, but there is also the sanction contained in a rising tide of religious fundamentalism, and with cultural traditions that generally abhor same-sex coupling.

In a country - especially in the south - where marriage and children are seen as sacred, there is the added pressure from parents who expect their offspring to settle down and deliver grandchildren. Being gay means becoming invisible and, as a result of that secrecy, much more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

A behavioural surveillance survey by the ministry of health in 2007 found that, after sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM) were the group most at-risk of HIV infection, with a prevalence rate of 13.4 percent – three times the national average of 4.4 percent. There was considerable variation in three cities surveyed, but in the commercial capital, Lagos, prevalence hit 25 percent.

The circumstances of MSM vulnerability are not unique to Nigeria. As in the rest of the world, some MSM do not regard themselves as gay and are in heterosexual relationships, making it difficult for orthodox AIDS campaigning to reach them.

"A lot of stigma is associated with the moral aspect [of homosexuality]. It drives people into the closet – they don't want to come out, which means they can't access [AIDS] services," said one senior HIV researcher, who asked not to be named as he did not have clearance to talk to the media.

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Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi, of the Jos province, (Anglican Communion), has denied allegations that the leader of a group representing "Anglican" homosexuals in the country was attacked.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja, Kwashi rebuffed a statement credited to the Archbishop of Canterbury (ABC) on the alleged attack.

Kwashi was reacting to an allegation by Mr Davis Mac-Iyalla, leader of Changing Attitude Nigeria, that homosexuals were being physically assaulted in the country.

Iyalla had requested the intervention of the ABC as the 'spiritual leader' of the global Anglican Communion.

According to Kwashi, the ABC criticised the alleged assaults on gay Anglicans in Nigeria , describing it as " latest round of unchristian bullying ."

However, the Jos archbishop said: "I have personally tried to discover the place or nature of the attacks and threats without success.

"It is wrong for Canterbury and a group of English Bishops to accuse the Church of Nigeria of being the perpetrator of a physical attack on the streets.

"If a Nigerian Bishop or church leader was mugged in England would the Archbishop of Canterbury or even the Church of England in general be blamed for this?"

He maintained that "the Church of Nigeria would not be bullied and was committed to the human rights of all people".

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Dr Williams criticised what he called "unchristian bullying"

The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned death threats made against the leader of a group representing homosexual Anglicans in England.

Dr Rowan Williams said threats against Rev Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude, marked the "latest round of unchristian bullying".

He was also criticising assaults on gay Anglicans in Nigeria.

His comments follow a global dispute over homosexuality in the worldwide Anglican Church in recent years.

The divisions in the church over homosexuality began with the ordination of a gay bishop by the liberal American branch of Anglicanism, the Episcopal Church, in 2003.

On one side are the conservative Anglicans who are adamant that ordaining gay clergy or blessing same-sex relationships in church is a sin, and on the other a coalition which insists on tolerance and inclusion of homosexual people.

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by Pat Ashworth

The Archbishop of Canterbury has added his voice to protests about threats made to the leaders of Changing Attitude, a pro-gay campaigning group.

The Revd Colin Coward, UK director of Changing Attitude, and his Nigerian counterpart, Davis MacIyalla, have both received death threats because “they are polluting Nigeria with abomination and immorality”. Over the Easter weekend, serious assaults were made on Changing Attitude supporters in Nigeria.

The statement from Dr Williams said that the threats were “disgraceful”. “The Anglican Communion has repeatedly . . . unequivocally condemned violence and the threat of violence against gay and lesbian people. I hope that this latest round of unchristian bullying will likewise be universally condemned.”

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by Colin Coward

Changing Attitude calls on the Primate and bishops of the Church of Nigeria to condemn attacks on homosexuals

A shocking story of mob violence has emerged which almost culminated in the death of one of the leaders of the Changing Attitude Nigeria (CAN) group in Port Harcourt. The violent attack occurred in the context of the funeral ceremony being held for the sister of Davis Mac-Iyalla, attended by six members of the Port Harcourt group on Thursday 20 March 2008.

The CAN Port Harcourt leader who was the subject of the attack said:

“I am in total shock and living in fear while feeling the pains I suffered in the hands of a mob group that attacked me at the Service of Songs for Davis’s late sister. While hymn singing was going on a muscular man walked up to me and asked me for a word outside the compound.

“The next thing I saw was a mob group who were there to attack me. They started slapping and punching me, kicked me on the ground and spat on me. I have never known fear like I knew when they were brutalizing me. I thought they were going to kill me there and then. While beating me they were shouting: ‘You notorious homosexual, you think can run away from us for your notorious group to cause more abomination in our land?’ Those who attacked me were well informed about us so I suspect an insider or one of the leaders of our Anglican church have hands in this attack.”

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By Tony Grew

The trial of eighteen young men in Nigeria charged with dressing in female clothing and attending a gay wedding may be part of a campaign to reintroduce legislation targeting lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

Cary Alan Johnson of the Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) was in Nigeria to meet the men and their lawyers.

He has expressed serious doubts as to whether the men can get a fair trial.

All aged between 18 and 21, they were detained by the Islamic "vice squad" at a hotel in Bauchi city, Nigeria in August 2007.

Bauchi is a Muslim state in the centre of Nigeria, with a population of 316,000.

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Bauchi, Nigeria - Africa Eighteen men arrested on charges related to sexual orientation in Bauchi state, Nigeria faced an adjournment today, as the government continued to stall given the weakness of their case and lack of evidence, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). The next hearing will be held on March 24, 2007.

The men, all between the ages of 18 and 21, were arrested on August 5, 2007, at a party at Benco Hotel along Tafawa Balewa Road by the Hisbah, the Islamic anti-vice squad. According to the charge sheet, at the time of arrest "the suspects were all dressed in female attire organizing a gay wedding which contravenes section 372 subsection 2(e) of the Islamic Sharia penal code." The men deny that they were dressed in female clothing or that they were organizing or attending a gay wedding. They argue that the event was a combination birthday/graduation party for a local man (who was not present at the time of the raid and has not been arrested) and the celebration of the marriage of his sister. Currently released on bail, the men have spent a total of 19 days in detention. The men were beaten, caned, and cursed by their jailors and court officers.

IGLHRC Senior Regional Specialist for Africa Cary Alan Johnson was in northern Nigeria last week to meet with the men and their defense attorneys prior to the hearing. According to Johnson, the arrest and prosecution of the Bauchi 18 shows just how much official discrimination LGBT people in Nigeria face and how the government targets sexual minorities.

"These men are being railroaded by the authorities," said Johnson. "Contradicting their own statements, the police first said that the men were all dressed in women's clothing, then that articles of female clothing and cosmetics were found in their belongings, which somehow proves that they were engaging in same sex marriage and homosexuality. The rhetoric of the police and court authorities are confusing, at best, and attempt to incite the public against the young men by conflating the concepts of 'homosexuality,' 'cross-dressing' and 'gay marriage'."

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Nigerian boy had never seen a running tap in his six years on earth.

Water demand is increasing three times as fast as the world’s population growth rate, and poverty is the single most important factor related to meeting that demand, said officials at the 3rd World Water Forum. Some 1.2 billion people lack safe water supply and 2.4 billion live without secure sanitation, according to Water Forum official figures. At least five million people die yearly from water related diseases, including 2.2 million children under the age of five. An estimated one half of people in developing countries are suffering from diseases caused either directly by infection through the consumption of contaminated water or food, or indirectly by disease carrying organisms, such as mosquitoes, that breed in water -- Environment News Service. Tinu Ayanniyi takes a look at water crisis as it affects Nigerians.

Patrick, six year-old son of the editor of a national newspaper in the country, Dapo and Omolara Johnson went to visit some family friends with his parents in one of the high brow areas of Ibadan city.

When the visitation ended, Patrick was nowhere to be found. A search party combed the big compound and Patrick was eventually found standing in front of a running tap, staring intently at it.

Everybody wondered at his action but all he was able to say was “daddy see. Water.” His embarrassed father got the message. His son had never seen a running tap in his six years on earth.