Overview
- President Trump re-listed Nigeria as a country of particular concern on religious freedom and ordered Pentagon planning, warning of possible aid cuts and strikes if killings continue.
- Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told AFP the discussions with Washington have progressed and said he does not expect a U.S. military strike.
- The U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa will hold an open hearing Thursday on the redesignation, and the State Department told AP the United States stands ready, willing, and able to act.
- Survivors in Kaduna recounted a mass abduction from a church with captives pressured to renounce Christianity, as gunmen this week seized 25 schoolgirls in Kebbi.
- Independent data from ACLED and the Council on Foreign Relations show tens of thousands of deaths affecting Christians and Muslims, and many analysts reject framing the violence as a single-faith genocide.