First Edinburgh, Now Nigeria

In my October, 2009 post, "Witches In Edinburgh", I made the point that "witch hunts" occur much more often during the downward spiral in mass social mood. Currently we're hunting Muslims, Mexicans, politicians, hedge fund managers, and witches in Nigeria!

 Children abused, killed as witches in Nigeria
By Christian Purefoy, CNN
"Sam runs Child's Rights & Rehabilitation Network, or CRARN -- an orphanage that supports nearly 200 children. All of them were accused of witchcraft and cast out by their families, often after being tortured. The orphanage provides security, healthcare, nutrition and counseling.  'A child witch is said to be a witch when that child possessed with certain spiritual spells capable of making that child transform into cat, snake, vipers, insects, any other animal and that child is capable of wreaking havoc like killing of people, bringing diseases, misfortune into the family,' Sam said.  When a child is accused of being a witch -- that child is hated absolutely by everybody surrounding him so such children are sent out of the home... But unfortunately such children do not always live long. A lot of them, they're either killed, abandoned by the parents, tortured in the church or trafficked out of the city."

Fortunately for our energetic little boys, we only give them Ritalin!

Nigerian Religious Conflict

KANO, Nigeria — "Security forces sealed off a section of the central Nigerian city of Jos after clashes at the weekend between Christians and Muslims left at least 26 dead and more than 300 wounded, according to a local imam. The Nassarawa Gwom district was under a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the wake of the unrest that flared up when Christian youths protested at the building of a mosque in the Christian-dominated neighbourhood. 'So far we have over 300 injured people, most of them from gun shots.' More than 3,000 people were meanwhile sheltering in mosques, churches and police barracks after being displaced from their homes, the Red Cross said. He added: 'The government calls on the people to go about their normal business without fear.'"
SOURCE: AFP

"The trend toward more "traditional" might spark some old flames. Keep an eye out for increased religious conflict though."
Random Roving - January 1, 2010

This summary from Wikipedia makes it clear that Nigeria is NOT one of the weaker African countries:
"Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the eighth most populous country in the world, and the most populous country in the world in which the majority of the population is black. It is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies, and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The economy of Nigeria is one of the fastest growing in the world, with the International Monetary Fund projecting a growth of 9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009.[5][6][7][8] In the early 2000s, the majority of the population lived off less than US$ 1.25 (PPP) per day. [9] It is the second largest economy in Africa, and is a regional power that is also the hegemon in West Africa."