Nigeria's most famous writers send a warning about spreading violence!

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the violence against Christians in Nigeria continues. Security officials were able to prevent an attack on the fully occupied "Living Faith Church" (30,000 visitors) in the central Nigerian town of Barnawa (Kaduna State) on Sunday morning – but three policemen were killed on Sunday in the city of Maiduguri, Borno State in the Northeast of the country, by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect.

In Barnawa, security guards tried to check on a suspicious car approaching a church. However, the driver did not stop his car, but broke through the security barriers and escaped while angry churchgoers hauled stones at his car. In Maiduguri, heavily armed suspected followers of Boko Haram attacked a joint security patrol of police and army on a marketplace, killing two policemen and a policewoman. A soldier and six traders were injured.

Three of the best known and most respected Nigerian writers met on Monday and addressed the public with an urgent letter to warn about the possibility of violence spreading rapidly: Nobel Peace Prize winner Wole Soyinka, winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, Chinua Achebe and the poet John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo. The authors appealed to all politicians, the leaders of ethnic and religious communities and the civil society to show strength and try to stop the escalation with all their might.

They also called upon the government to revive the proposal of a "national conference" of all ethnic and religious communities – that was already discussed a few years ago – to mutually debate on Nigerias future perspectives. "Given the massive ethnic and religious tensions, only a national conference in which all groups are represented alike can balance interests and guarantee stability," said the STP's Africa-consultant, Ulrich Delius. Until now, this proposal was always rejected by the Nigerian government.