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Gaddafi’s comment sparks diplomatic row with Nigeria
The Nigerian parliament meanwhile passed a motion late on Thursday urging the government to order an investigation by the African Union into whether Libya was supplying “infiltrators” to destabilize the country.
“The insensitive and oftentimes irresponsible utterances of Col. Gaddafi, his theatrics and grandstanding at every auspicious occasion have become too numerous to recount. These have diminished his status and credibility as a leader to be taken seriously,” the Nigerian Foreign Ministry said.
“His comments on the crisis in Jos, Plateau state, are most unacceptable and unbecoming of any leader who claims to advocate and champion the cause of African integration and unity.”
Gaddafi said in a speech to students this week that the Jos crisis was a “deep conflict of religious nature” and suggested splitting Nigeria along religious lines “would stop bloodshed and burning of places of worship,” according to the BBC.
He praised the example of India and Pakistan, where he said partition had saved many lives.
Nigeria’s Plateau State, of which Jos is the capital, lies at the crossroads of the predominantly Muslim north and mostly Christian south in the center of Africa’s most populous nation, a region known as the “Middle Belt.”
Fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between Christian and animist indigenous groups and Muslim settlers from the north, as well as political rivalries, have repeatedly triggered unrest in the region over the past decade.
Days of clashes in January and attacks in recent weeks in which villagers have been hacked to death with machetes have left hundreds of people dead, leading to worldwide condemnation.
“(We) call on the federal Government to request the African Union to order an independent investigation ... and ascertain if there is a relationship between (Gaddafi’s) comment and the primary sources of the supply of infiltrators who come to fight Nigerians in their homeland,” parliament’s motion said.
Nigeria frequently blames militants from neighboring countries for violence in its center and north but there is no independent evidence of foreign involvement.
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