AFRICA/NIGERIA - Boko Haram terrorism: "Allah does not send anyone to kill on his behalf"

Tuesday, 27 February 2018 boko haram women violence terrorism islam political islam

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Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - Four years after the kidnapping of a group of girls from Chibok, members of the Nigerian terror group "Boko Haram" have kidnapped hundreds of students from a school of Dapchi. This is the umpteenth despicable gesture: "Terrorism is a diabolical phenomenon that aims at the destruction of humanity. This atrocious phenomenon shows how man, a creature in the image and likeness of God, has become transformed into the expression of Satan's face", comments to Agenzia Fides Father Donald Zagore, of the Society for African Missions (SMA).
"It is tragic to see lives destroyed, especially young girls, kidnapped and forced to become sexual objects, but also kamikaze at the mercy of individuals who have violence and terror as the intrinsic logic of their lives. How long will these people without faith or law continue to destroy families and break the future of so many girls and boys on the continent?", continues the theologian. "These terrorists keep shouting that they act in the name of Allah. Huge absurdity. Allah does not send anyone to kill on his behalf",he observes.
"Today more than ever - the theologian notes - serious reforms are urgently required in the religious world, especially in the Muslim world. To promote freedom of conscience; to free man from the moral and social prisons of a dogmatically rigid and sometimes totalitarian religion; to improve women's conditions for equality and empowerment; to promote a reflection and a critical culture, for the respect of human dignity. Above all it is essential for a real fight against terrorism, the creation of conditions of respect and tolerance rooted in the recognition of religious pluralism and religious minorities".
Fr. Zagore hopes for greater solidarity among the states of West Africa to vigorously combat this criminal force. "We must avoid letting ourselves be consciously or unconsciously transported by this civilization of violence and hatred that these terrorist groups want to impose", he concludes. Boko Haram has been conducting a bloody insurrection in northeastern Nigeria since 2009, which has led to the death of over 20,000 people. (DZ/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 27/2/2018)