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Kidnapping of Christian children on the rise in Nigeria |
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Written by Compass Direct
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Saturday, 14 April 2007 |
13year-old Christian boy, Victor Udo Usen - who was kidnapped in the Nigerian state of Sokoto in Northern Nigeria last November - was recently discovered in a Muslim neighbour’s house where he had been held for more than six months. The boy’s mother, Esther Udo Usen, ran to the house where he had been seen, and managed to enter the house by force and pull the boy away. However, a mob gathered together and recovered the boy, returning him to the Muslim household. Apparently the Muslim family had changed the boy’s name to Abdulkarim and forcibly converted him to Islam.
The matter has been reported to police by the Udo Usen family, with the support of their local pastor. However, police have so far been unhelpful.
Christian leaders are worried that the kidnapping trend is on the increase, creating tensions between Muslims and Christians in Sokoto. "Sometimes Muslims force our young boys and girls into Islam," said Kevin Aje, Roman Catholic Bishop of Sokoto. "These are some of the challenges facing Christians here."
?Analysis: What kind of tactic is kidnapping?
While some moderate Muslims argue passionately that Islam forbids the kidnapping of innocents, kidnapping itself is still widely practised throughout the Muslim world. Whether it is the kidnapping of aid workers and journalists in the Middle East, or Christian girls in Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh, or civilians being taken off the street and held for ransom in Iraq, it is clear that many Muslims do not see abduction as incompatible with their religion. Indeed, interviews with, and videos of, the perpetrators of these crimes often reveal a strongly religious motivation behind their activities. Moreover, back in 2004, the SITE Institute – a website monitoring extremist and terrorist activities – exposed an al-Qaeda training manual which described how to conduct effective kidnappings as a tool of Islamic jihad (holy war).
Historically, the kidnapping of Christian boys was practised by Muslim armies during the Ottoman empire, for the purpose of converting them to Islam and satisfying the need for more soldiers. More recently, there have been reports of this activity still going on in places like rural Pakistan.
Sometimes, where Christian-Muslim marriages occur – or where parents convert to Christianity – the abduction of children from the union is seen as justified. Other family members may kidnap them to ensure the children are raised as Muslims, not Christians.
In this Nigerian case, the real reason for the kidnapping is unclear – perhaps the family wanted a servant boy, saw their opportunity, and took the child captive. This in itself amounts to slavery. Slavery still exists around the world, and the trafficking of human beings is a huge human rights issue, affecting not only those in Muslim countries, but also thousands of vulnerable people in non-Muslim Asian, African and European countries as well.
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