Baroness Cox to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of escalating Islamist violence in southeast Nigeria, including of targeted attacks against the Igbo community. Asked 19 January 2022
Answered 2 February 2022 By Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative, Life peer)
The UK Government is concerned by increasing levels of violence in South East Nigeria. On 1 November 2021, the Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean raised the issue of rising insecurity across Nigeria with Nigeria's Foreign Minister at a meeting at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. She will hold further such discussions with the Nigerian Government during the UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Dialogue this week.
We do not assess the violence in South East Nigeria to be caused by Islamist extremism, which is instead the leading cause of violence in North East Nigeria. Violent and organised criminal groups, politicised disputes and calls for separatism (since the Biafran civil war) have driven instability and violence for a number of years in the South East region. We will continue to urge and support the Nigerian Government to take urgent action to implement long-term solutions that address the root causes of the violence and bring perpetrators to justice. We also encourage constructive dialogue and reconciliation between the many ethnic and religious communities that contribute to the diversity of Nigeria.
Original Source: UIN HL5537
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