Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro (left) visits the national hospital in Abuja, Nigeria, where she met with people injured in the 26 August attack on the UN’s Abuja compound. The UN also expressed concern about the Islamic group Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on U.N. offices in Abuja last month. (UPI/UN/Rebecca Blackwell)
GENEVA, Switzerland, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- With as many as 70 killed in religious violence in Nigeria, the United Nations said it was calling for peace and reconciliation in the West African country.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement, said ethnic and political divisions in and around Jos has led to a cycle of violence in the country. National and local leaders, he said, should take action to end the cycle by working on reconciliation.
"It is of utmost importance that justice is done and is seen to be done by prosecuting the alleged perpetrators of violence and ensuring remedies for victims and their families," he said.
The OHCHR said several dozen people were killed in clashes between Christian and Muslim youth in Nigeria.
The United Nations also expressed concern about the Islamic group Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on U.N. offices in Abuja last month.
A report on Boko Haram from the International Crisis Group said that, while the group was aligning itself with al-Qaida, it was focusing on stoking religious tensions in Nigeria to create an Islamic state.
Ethnic violence claimed 1,000 lives after Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, defeated Muslim challenger Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in April presidential elections.
