The Nigerian government on Monday said its recent diplomatic dust-up with the United States, in which President Donald Trump threatened military intervention over the alleged killing of Christians, “has been largely resolved”.
Trump unexpectedly tore into the west African nation in October and November, saying that Christians there faced an “existential threat” that amounted to “genocide” amid Nigeria’s myriad armed conflicts.
The diplomatic offensive was welcomed by some but interpreted by others as inflaming religious tensions in Africa’s most populous country, which has seen bouts of sectarian violence in the past.
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“The recent diplomatic spat with the United States has been largely resolved through a firm, respectful engagement culminating in a strengthened partnership between America and Nigeria,” Nigeria’s information minister, Mohammed Idris, said at a year-end news conference in the capital.
Nigeria’s government and independent analysts reject framing the country’s violence in terms of religious persecution – a narrative long used by the Christian right in the United States and Europe as well as Nigerian separatists, who maintain a lobbying presence in Washington.
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Idris’s comments came after Nigeria hosted a US congressional delegation earlier this month.
