Bill Maher bring Nigerian debacle to the attention of the west

 The ongoing murder of Christians by Muslims in Nigeria has gotten little press in the USA.

Much of it is by Islamicists of course (including Boko Harum) and some of it is the Muslim Fulani inspired by ISIS attacking farmers, and more recently, criminals who attack to steal stuff or kidnap clergy for ransom.

but although this has been covered in the Christian press, the dirty little secret is that it has been ignored by the US MSM  

The good news: A famous comedian dared to mention it in his show, 

Yet the MSM doesn't say Bill Maher rebukes the MSM for it's lack of coverage: The headline say he "gripes" about it,

Gripes? Why not use the word lament? Gripe usually implies complaining about a petty thing that annoys you, not horror and dismay about genocide. 

But hey, he is Jewish and those he mentions are Christian and Muslim Africans.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was Aiden Walker, content creator, internet culture researcher, and author of the Substack newsletter “How To Do Things With Memes.” The panel guests were Michael Smerconish, host of “Smerconish” on CNN and “The Michael Smerconish Program” on SiriusXM; and Rep. Nancy Mace, Republican congresswoman from South Carolina’s 1st district who also sits on the Armed Services, Veterans’ Affairs, and Oversight committees.

 

During the panel segment, Rep. Mace said the slaughter of Christians in Syria was ignored at the UN this week, and Maher interjected that the same is true for Nigeria. He diagnosed the apathy in relation to the situation in Gaza:

REP. NANCY MACE: We saw the world leaders come to New York this week, the UN summit, and we had the president of Syria, the prime minister of Syria there, and while he’s there speaking at the UN, speaking with world leaders, we gave him a visa to travel here. There were Christian villages in Syria that were being burned down.

BILL MAHER: And Nigeria.

REP. NANCY MACE: No, in Syria.

BILL MAHER: No, but both. 

REP. NANCY MACE: In Nigeria, yes.

BILL MAHER: Nigeria, I mean, the fact that this issue has not gotten on people’s radar…

REP. NANCY MACE: Right, no one’s talking about it.

BILL MAHER: It’s pretty amazing. If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble.

And again, I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed… Over 100,000 since 2009. They burned 18,000 churches. This is so much more…

These are the Islamists, Boko Haram. This is much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza.

They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this?

REP. NANCY MACE: Thank you. No one will talk about it, so thank you. Absolutely. It’s Africa. No one’s talking about it. And they should be. You can’t read about it on mainstream media. It’s sad. So thank you for bringing it up.

BILL MAHER: Well, because the Jews aren’t involved. That’s why. It’s the Christians and the Muslims who cares.  

The persecution has been covered in various Christian news outlets however, and here is a dicussion on July 10 on EWTN (start at 35 minutes):

The Catholic News Agency has a summary about what is going on there published last week

According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), at least 145 priests have been kidnapped, 11 have been murdered, and four remain missing since 2015. However, Intersociety claims the reality is much worse. According to its counts, at least 250 Catholic clergy have been attacked in addition to another 350 clergy from other denominations....

The phenomenon, according to the report, is due to a combination of attacks by jihadist groups and organized criminal gangs operating for profit. Priests have been victims of both violent ambushes and financial extortion. “Many were kidnapped for ransoms reaching tens of millions of nairas [Nigreian currency] or thousands of dollars. In other cases, the attackers sought to seize luxury vehicles belonging to the clerics to sell them to criminal networks,” Intersociety details in the report. ... Likewise, there have been systematic kidnappings of Christian children in eastern Nigeria who are sent to Islamic orphanages in the north for forced conversion to Islam, affecting Catholic schools and communities.

Intersociety report here in pdf

Hudson Institute report here which is about the Fulani Muslim herders killing Christian (and Muslim) farmers in nothern Nigeria.

Christianity today report.  

In Africa’s most populous nation, a deadly cycle of violence has unfolded for several years, with Christian clergy and laypeople as well as moderate Muslims falling victim to murder and kidnapping.

The Christian nonprofit Open Doors recently reported that in 2024 some 3,100 Christians were killed and more than 2,000 kidnapped in Nigeria.,,,, The violence is largely the work of two groups—the extremist Islamist militant Boko Haram and its splinter factions, and a range of militias or bandits linked to Fulani herders, Muslims who have waged a campaign of land grabs against Christian farmers in the fertile, and more Christian, “Middle Belt” of central Nigeria as the Fulanis’ grazing land has dried up over the past decades.

,,,

this recent video is from CBN about one attack

here is a report from SkyNews Australia

Haiti: Drones, gangs and mercentaries

It's not about Africa, but apparently the headlines say some kids were killed by police drones that were aiming at a gang leader.

The attack comes as security firm, Vectus Global, owned by former US Navy Seal Erik Prince, is due to deploy nearly 200 people to Haiti as part of a one-year deal to quell gang violence.

The private contractors are expected to reinforce an underfunded and understaffed police department working with Kenyan police leading a United Nations-backed mission struggling to fight gangs.

BBC raticle about Kenya sending police to Haiti, dated 10 2023.

and this article from a Kenyan news source 23 Sept 2025 says they are due to come home but that the US is planning a large peace keeping force.

 

US Announces Plans For Bigger Security Force in Haiti Days Before Expiry of Kenya's Mission

The United States has pledged its support for the transition of the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission(MSS) in Haiti barely two weeks before its expiry on October 2.

Speaking during a high-level meeting on Haiti hosted by Kenya and the US on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday, the US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau confirmed that it had kicked off efforts to establish a larger force to continue the mission. According to Landau, the US and Panama had worked with Haiti to introduce a UN Security Council resolution to establish a larger gang-suppression for.ce with a broader mandate and a UN support office for Haiti. As such, the US had called on all its partners to join them in pressing for this critical resolution before the MSS mission mandate expired on October ... This new force would reportedly consist of 5,500 personnel, more than five times the size of the current MSS....All 32 members of the Organisation of American States have also signed onto a joint statement calling for the urgent passing of this resolution.”

more HERE. 

terraces of eastern Zimbabwe

years ago, I spent ten days in eastern Zimbabwe when I was recovering from an illness, and behind the mission school the hillside was terraced with rock walls. But the priests didn't know why, except to say that they were familiar with mediterranean terraces so they doubted the idea that these were ancient terraces by Mediterranean immigrants (which was a plot of one of Wilber Smith's novels). I blogged about this before, and cited the book by Bryan Fagan Elixir about the water systems of eastern Africa is found in one hstorian's book. But today I ran across there is a new book about this (but one that I can't afford on my pension) so I decided to ask Grok to summarize the theories of who built the terraces and why:

 

### Overview of the Terrace Builders of NyangaL

The "Terrace Builders of Nyanga" refers to the ancient farming communities in the Nyanga region of eastern Zimbabwe, known for their extensive stone-built agricultural terraces and homestead ruins. These structures, dating from around AD 1300 to 1800, represent a sophisticated adaptation to the challenging highland environment and have been the subject of archaeological study for over a century. The phrase is also the title of a key book by archaeologist Robert Soper (published in 2006 by Weaver Press), which synthesizes research on these ruins.

### Why Did They Build the Terraces?

The terrace builders constructed these features primarily to create viable farmland in the rugged, hilly terrain of Nyanga, where steep slopes, thin soils, and high rainfall posed significant challenges to traditional agriculture. Here's a breakdown of the key reasons, based on archaeological evidence:

- **Soil Conservation and Erosion Control**:

The Nyanga highlands experience heavy seasonal rains, which quickly erode topsoil on slopes. The stone terraces acted as retaining walls to prevent soil loss, allowing for stable, level plots for crop cultivation. This was essential for maintaining fertility in an area with rapidly depleting soils.

- **Maximizing Arable Land**: By terracing hillsides, the builders converted otherwise unusable steep land into productive fields. This expanded the available growing area, supporting a growing population over five centuries. The terraces covered thousands of kilometers across over 5,000 square kilometers, integrating crop farming with livestock herding.

- **Integrated Agricultural System**:

terraces were part of a broader system that included water furrows (ditches for irrigation from streams), pit structures for livestock (to protect animals from predators and weather), and fallowing cycles (rotating fields to restore soil nutrients). This specialization allowed for mixed farming—growing crops like grains and vegetables on terraces while raising dwarf cattle in enclosures—sustaining the community in isolation.

- **Adaptation to Environmental Challenges**: Starting on high peaks around AD 1300, settlements expanded to lowlands by AD 1800, showing how the builders exploited varied micro-environments (highlands for cooler crops, lowlands for grazing). However, the system eventually declined due to over-specialization, soil exhaustion, or external pressures like climate shifts or invasions.

These innovations highlight the ingenuity of the Nyanga people, who were likely ancestors of the modern Manyika ethnic group. Early 19th-century reports speculated wildly about the ruins (e.g., as "forts" or "Phoenician relics"), but modern archaeology, including work by the University of Zimbabwe and British Institute in Eastern Africa, confirms their agricultural purpose.### Overview of the Terrace Builders of Nyanga

The "Terrace Builders of Nyanga" refers to the ancient farming communities in the Nyanga region of eastern Zimbabwe, known for their extensive stone-built agricultural terraces and homestead ruins. These structures, dating from around AD 1300 to 1800, represent a sophisticated adaptation to the challenging highland environment and have been the subject of archaeological study for over a century. The phrase is also the title of a key book by archaeologist Robert Soper (published in 2006 by Weaver Press), which synthesizes research on these ruins.

why Did They Build the Terraces?

The terrace builders constructed these features primarily to create viable farmland in the rugged, hilly terrain of Nyanga, where steep slopes, thin soils, and high rainfall posed significant challenges to traditional agriculture. Here's a breakdown of the key reasons, based on archaeological evidence:

- **Soil Conservation and Erosion Control**:

The Nyanga highlands experience heavy seasonal rains, which quickly erode topsoil on slopes. The stone terraces acted as retaining walls to prevent soil loss, allowing for stable, level plots for crop cultivation. This was essential for maintaining fertility in an area with rapidly depleting soils.

- **Maximizing Arable Land**: By terracing hillsides, the builders converted otherwise unusable steep land into productive fields. This expanded the available growing area, supporting a growing population over five centuries. The terraces covered thousands of kilometers across over 5,000 square kilometers, integrating crop farming with livestock herding.

- **Integrated Agricultural System**: The terraces were part of a broader system that included water furrows (ditches for irrigation from streams), pit structures for livestock (to protect animals from predators and weather), and fallowing cycles (rotating fields to restore soil nutrients). This specialization allowed for mixed farming—growing crops like grains and vegetables on terraces while raising dwarf cattle in enclosures—sustaining the community in isolation.

- **Adaptation to Environmental Challenges**: Starting on high peaks around AD 1300, settlements expanded to lowlands by AD 1800, showing how the builders exploited varied micro-environments (highlands for cooler crops, lowlands for grazing). However, the system eventually declined due to over-specialization, soil exhaustion, or external pressures like climate shifts or invasions.

These innovations highlight the ingenuity of the Nyanga people, who were likely ancestors of the modern Manyika ethnic group. Early 19th-century reports speculated wildly about the ruins (e.g., as "forts" or "Phoenician relics"), but modern archaeology, including work by the University of Zimbabwe and British Institute in Eastern Africa, confirms their agricultural purpose.

For a deeper dive, Soper's book *The Terrace Builders of Nyanga* provides detailed maps, sketches, and analysis—it's a concise 88-page read focused on the "eloquent witness" left by the landscape itself. If you're planning a visit, sites like those near Mount Nyangani showcase the terraces today.

For a deeper dive, Soper's book *The Terrace Builders of Nyanga* provides detailed maps, sketches, and analysis—it's a concise 88-page read focused on the "eloquent witness" left by the landscape itself. If you're planning a visit, sites like those near Mount Nyangani showcase the terraces today.

Angola riots, Chinese evacuate

from the Uganda Monitor:

China Under Fire: Angola Riots Trigger Mass Exodus and Factory Closures

a taxi driver strike over high fuel prices has escalated into a protest against Chinese investments:

the anger is by unemployed youth and the unemployed against Chinese businesses, which were looted etc.

 Over a thousand were arrested, and many Chinnese citizens are fleeing the country. 

Over 250 thousand CHinese are estimated living there, embedded into the economy, but the gap between rich and poor has caused a simmering anger that is now erupting

BBC Report here

"The fuel price issue is just the last straw that has reignited widespread public discontent... People are fed up. Hunger is rife, and the poor are becoming miserable," a prominent local activist, Laura Macedo, told the BBC....

AlJazeerah article here.

The Conservativetreehouse blog has a long economic analysis here from a geopolitical standpoint, which is of course from a capitalistic conservative point of view.

But unlike the other articles he puts it into perspective of China's world wide trade network:

 “One-Belt / One-Road” is essentially their ‘bully plan’ to ensure their supply chain and long-term economic viability.

essentially China is replacing colonial powers who were thrown out by the people: 

and like the colonial powers, they are exploiting poor people as cheap labor in their factories etc. and stealing mineral and oil resources to get rich.

but as one Mashona co worker advised me years ago: People get mad. 

And as the African proverb reminds one: Even a small snake has a fang...

Sudan's humanitarian crisis (again

The Spectator has an article on the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan...,

  Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Suppoort Forces (RSF) has unleashed a hellish vortex of starvation, violence, and disease upon tens of millions in Sudan.

 

The United Nations recently classified the situation in Sudan as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, but the international spotlight has rarely been focused on the issue due to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

 

25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, are currently experiencing famine conditions and acute food insecurity.

 

Food conditions for 8.1 million people are classified as Emergency (IPC Phase 4), and almost 700,000 as Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5). Hunger levels for the same 25 million people are also considered at and above “Crisis” classification. Famine and starvation are also used as military tactics by the SAF and the RSF, as blockades are built and crops are burned. In many areas, particularly Darfur, aid delivery is obstructed, pushing populations into full-scale collapse due to a lack of access to food.

 

Additionally, 12 million people have been internally displaced in the country, forced out of their homes and into refugee camps. These camps provide no real measure of security, however, as in April, the RSF murdered 300 people in two days at one such camp in Darfur.

I don't know about the Sudan except that I worked with a Christian refugee from what is now South Sudan, who became a doctor... and that was 45 years ago...

 THe article points fingers at humanitarians whose aid gets ripped off to fight the war and the fact that the US is becoming isolationist.

This report is a more recent report on that confused but deadly war from last month from AlJezeerah:

,,,

...

StrategayPage has an article from March about what was going on then and this most recent article is about the Islamicist groups exacerbating the fighting in various Sahel nations.

BBC article from 2023 on the Russian mercenaries fighting in that war.

Winston Churschill had a book on an earlier fight: When the local Islamic extremists planned to throw out the Ottomans but the end result was the Brits got involved.

the badk story of the DRC peace plan

 This is the back story of why the DRC reached out to the US insted of China for a peace deal. 

so why the US and not China? 

Because China didn't keep their promises to help develop the country in exchange for buying developing stealing their valuable resources. 

So here is what SP /Austin Bay wrote a couple months ago:

April 3, 2025

In mid-February, a firm representing a Democratic Republic of the Congo legislator contacted several U.S. officials. The recipients included Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The letter sketched a sub-Saharan version of President Donald Trump's Ukraine minerals peace initiative. Would the U.S. be interested in acquiring or investing in Congo's enormous and globally unique trove of critical and rare mineral resources?

The DRC has gold, copper, cobalt, tin, tantalum (coltan), lithium, gold and diamonds. The uranium for America's World War II atom bombs came from the then-Belgian Congo. Mobile phone and computer manufacturers need coltan (columbite-tantalite). Cobalt is a 21st-century treasure. Congo is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, a must-have for electric vehicles.

Beijing coveted the DRC's mineral trove -- a global position of immense economic import. In 2006 and 2007, Chinese front companies began buying DRC cobalt, copper and rare earth mineral operations. In 2008 and 2009, China signed the so-called China Deal of 2008 the DRC's Kabila dictatorship.

The overall deal was supposedly worth billions. China was supposed to build roads and other infrastructure. It built ... next to nothing.

Italics mine. 

In 2021, Congo condemned China and began legal proceedings to end Beijing's fraud.

....

 

(by the way China pulled the same trick on Duterte, who thought all the anti China stuff was CIA trying to let the US take over our resources, but he got shafted by China and then stared to make nice with the USA).

Mozambique

strategy page has a long essay about Mozambique, including the ISIS types attacking their natural gas facilities in the north, and the generalized corruption.

July 12, 2025: In the southeast African nation of Mozambique there has been there have been a growing number of violent political demonstrations in the north since late last year. So far, the police have shot dead over 300 violent civilian protestors. The demonstrations have evolved into criminal activity like kidnapping for ransom. The kidnappings are made more painful because over a hundred children have been taken.

they then go on to explain how the Natural gas riches has not made locals rich: No locals were skilled enough to run the places, and the local politicians got rich instead of investing it to help the locals. Hence rebellion, and like in Syria, the best trained and most aggresive rebels were the ISIS trained ones. 

 

one difference between the MSM coverage and SP is that StrategyPage gives the background, in this case the history going back before the Portuguese:

For over a thousand years Mozambique has, like many other parts of East Africa, consisted of coastal cities that prospered by serving as marketplaces where people from the interior could obtain all manner of foreign goods. Mozambique was part of a vast trading network using dependable seasonal winds to allow ships to move goods from East Africa to the Persian Gulf, India and Indonesia.

There is a recent book about how this monsoon trade and India have been ignored in the history books in favor of the more trendy Silk road with China ideas which are more trendy.

The problem now is that those with an education were thrown out with independence. then came civil wars, displacement of populations, death from famines, South African mercenaries, 

A lot of people have left the country, including the educated Portuguese who fled with independence. But what about in recent years? 

A lot of people of course have moved to nearby coutries for jobs in the mines etc.

Grok answer about local countries who have migrants:

https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMg%3D%3D_740e0868-78e1-44c0-ba99-c3d4a907a2b1

short summay of Grok: 

**Migration to South Africa:** - Mozambique has historically been a major source of migrants to South Africa, primarily for work in mining, agriculture, and informal sectors. A 2022 estimate suggests 462,000 Mozambicans were living in South Africa, though this includes pre-2000 migration. ,,,,-

 Historical context: Between 1979 and 1992, 1.7 million Mozambicans fled to neighboring countries, including South Africa, due to civil war, but many returned post-1992. Since 2000, migration has been driven by economic factors rather than conflict. ...