Friday, February 24, 2012

Current Event #4

http://www.economist.com/node/21543592

In large cities of Nigeria with large Muslim populations, like Kano, the rules of Islam, or sharia laws, have substantially loosened, especially with regard to women and how they dress and act.  Women dress less conservatively, sometimes wearing trousers and shirts, and even uncovered heads go without question.  However the loosened rules have applied to men as well.  It's not uncommon for people to drink a beer at the end of the day and nightlife has grown more as well.  A lot of radical Muslims account these changing circumstances to the influence of the southern Christians, who they accuse of hogging all the oil and government posts in the country.  With these complaints in mind, many Muslim protests have arisen, and even more extremely, a radical Muslim terrorist group, Boko Haram, has arisen and inspired terror in the hearts of the Nigerian people.  In the city of Kano, people now adhere to a curfew at night.  Boko Haram's name is not even spoken, due to the fear of what saying the name might ignite.  Boko Haram has killed thousands of people already.  Its main cause is to strictly implement the sharia laws in the north, where they are loosely applied, and especially in the south, where they aren't applied at all.  Kano was once a rich city, thriving off Saharan trade, but now it's economy is collapsing due to lack of ability to keep up with cheap Chinese labor.  The terrorist attacks aren't helping.  From what I can tell, the conflict between the Muslim north and the Christian south is becoming a real problem in Nigeria.  It's clear that the Christians have a clear majority of the nation's oil supply, as well as hold many of the governmental positions.  In order to solve the conflict, some sort of compromise needs to be reached regarding these two issues, or else, it seems to me that the parts of the country are too different to exist cohesively.

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