Vatican laments ´horrible violence´ in Nigeria

The Roman Catholic Church has reacted with ˝sadness and concern˝ to the violence in Nigeria´s northern Jos region.

VATICAN CITY, March 8, 2010 (AFP) - The Vatican on Monday lamented "horrible acts of violence" committed by machete-wielding gangs in Christian villages in Nigeria that officials say killed at least 500 people at the weekend.

The Roman Catholic Church has reacted with "sadness and concern" to the violence in Nigeria's northern Jos region blamed on Muslim pastoralists, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP.

Asked to comment on the nature of the conflict, Lombardi deferred to Nigerian Church authorities.

The archbishop of the Nigerian capital Abuja, John Onaiyekan, told Vatican Radio on Monday that the violence was rooted not in religion but in social, economic, tribal and cultural differences.

"Armed people, itinerant pastoralists... called Fulani attacked the village of farmers of the Berom ethnic group," he said. "It is a classic conflict between pastoralists and farmers, except that all the Fulani are Muslims and all the Berom are Christians."

Witnesses said that the mainly women and children victims in Sunday's three-hour orgy of violence were caught in animal traps and fishing nets as they tried to flee their attackers, who hacked them to death.

The explosion of violence is the latest between rival ethnic and religious groups. In January, more than 300 people died in clashes in Jos, according to police, while rights activists put the overall toll at more than 550.