Hundreds of Christians have been massacred in Nigeria’s troubled Jos region, in fresh clashes with Muslim tribes. While the government – led by acting President Goodluck Jonathan – says it’s doing all it can, experts claim the perpetrators are not being held accountable for their actions.

Listen to an interview with Corinne Dufka of Human Rights Watch

Jos is on the border between the mainly Muslim north and Christian south of the country and has been the scene of repeated bloodshed since 2000. The latest violence broke out in three villages in the region on Sunday morning.

Witnesses said attackers from the mainly Muslim Fulani tribe used machetes to hack Christians to death and described how women and children were caught in animal traps as they tried to escape. It is claimed that Muslim residents were pre-warned two days before the attacks and were able to flee the area.

Payback time
It’s believed the attack was carried out on Christian inhabitants of Dogo Nahawa village in retaliation for an incident in January, when more than 400 people died in riots.

Corinne Dufka of Human Rights Watch says it is the government’s failure to hold anyone to account that is enabling the violence to continue:

“What’s especially worrying is that the time frame in between attacks is getting shorter and shorter… What we’re really concerned about with this is again this impunity, which has actually bred these vicious cycles of violence. Sometimes it’s Muslims killing Christians, other times it’s Christians killing Muslims, sometimes it’s the security forces killing both Muslims and Christians and yet no one has been held accountable.”

Too litte, too late
A curfew had been in place since the deadly attacks on January 19, but appears to have done little to prevent any further incidents. The attackers may even have taken advantage of the empty streets when planning their ambush, according to Human Rights Watch.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has sent troops to the area to quell the situation, but has been criticised for doing too little, too late. Resident Peter Gyang, who lost his wife and two children, told reporters in Dogo Nahawa: “We no longer have confidence in the security agencies.”

There have been some attempts made to reconcile the Christian and Muslim communities in the Jos region, but so far these have had little effect. What is needed, says Corinne Dufka, is a tougher approach from government forces: “Clearly the protection of the population should be the priority, the responsibility, of the police and the military. We ask that they take that responsibility very seriously.”