In Nigeria, Rising Insecurity Leads to Growing Separatist Calls
Voice of America
ABUJA - Escalating insecurity and communal violence in Nigeria appear to be strengthening separatist movements across the country. Among those movements is the Indigenous People of Biafra, a group that advocates an independent state in a part of Nigeria that tried to break away more than 50 years ago.
On a typical Sunday evening, 73-year-old former Biafran fighter Ideyi Obasi sits in front of his shanty home in a low-income housing area of Abuja and sniffs his snuff. He's grown popular in his area for often talking about his experience fighting the Biafran War in the late 1960s. He said he has renewed hope for an independent Biafra.
FILE - The benches of a school sit empty in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 22, 2022. A Taliban decree that reportedly took effect Dec. 3, 2024, bans medical schools in Afghanistan from admitting female students.
FILE - The United States Steel Mon Valley Works Clairton Plant is in Clairton, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. FILE - A rally by U.S. Steel employees is held outside the United Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh to display their support for the transaction with Nippon Steel, Sept. 4, 2024.
FILE - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 19, 2024.
FILE - The logo of Nippon Steel Corp. is seen at an office building where the company's head office in Tokyo on December 19, 2023.
FILE - A Pakistan Navy soldier stands guard next to a loaded Chinese ship, at Gwadar port, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) west of Karachi, Pakistan, Nov. 13, 2016.
Navy divers of the Latvian Armed Forces take part in NATO exercise Freezing Winds 24, led by the Finnish Navy, in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea, Finland, November 23, 2024. Finnish Defence Forces/Handout via REUTERS FILE - A view of the anchor of the Chinese ship, the bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, in the sea of Kattegat, near the City of Grenaa in Jutland, Denmark, November 20, 2024.
The Israel Security Agency said it had identified more than 200 cyberattacks conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
FILE - 155 mm M795 artillery projectiles are stacked during manufacturing process at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2023.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers his policy speech at the extraordinary session of parliament's lower house Nov. 29, 2024, in Tokyo.
Polling station officials arrange marked ballots before proceeding to the counting at a voting station in Windhoek, Namibia, on December 1, 2024, during extended voting following the country's general election.
FILE - French soldiers guard the entrance to the Base Aerienne Projetee in N'Djamena on May 14, 2024.