Migrant crises in Kenya and reports of religious violence in Nigeria

Since Monday, hundreds of Burundians residing in Kenya have gathered at the headquarters of their country's embassy in Nairobi. Due to fears for their lives and property, after incidents of assault and looting, following statements made by the Kenyan President in which he decided to close small commercial projects run by foreigners in Kenya.

Hundreds of Burundian merchants went to their country's embassy on Monday, after the end of a deadline set by the Kenyan president, and most of them were searching for travel documents that would enable them to return to their country, after they had been residing irregularly. Activists circulated on social media video clips of looting of small shops, which they said belonged to Burundians in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

In his statements at the beginning of this September, Kenyan President William Ruto announced the closure of small commercial projects owned by foreigners, especially those who reside in Kenya without correcting their legal status, most of whom are merchants coming from neighboring Burundi.

In his statements, the Kenyan President linked these measures to what he said was “the protection of local Kenyan merchants,” and said: “From next week, all foreign merchants who practice these small businesses must close them.” He added: “A person cannot come from China or anywhere else to be a street vendor or open a small shop,” before stressing that Kenya welcomes foreign investment that creates jobs and expands production, not competition in low-capital activities.

The measures of the Kenyan authorities include, in particular, the activities of street vendors, on which many Burundians settled in the Kenyan capital depend as a source of livelihood. This prompted hundreds of these merchants to go to their country's embassy, ​​carrying their suitcases, sacks, and large envelopes, and they lined up for long hours in search of documents that would enable them to return to their country.

The decision of the Kenyan authorities raised widespread concerns after receiving testimonies indicating attacks and robberies targeting Burundian nationals. These events come after a wave of attacks against foreign Africans residing in South Africa during the past months. Which resulted in the deportation of a large number of them, after incidents of assault that left dozens dead and wounded.

Meanwhile, Burundi's Foreign Minister, Edward Bizimana, denounced what he described as "acts of violence against foreigners, especially Burundians" in Kenya, calling on the Kenyan authorities to ensure their safety, especially since Burundi and Kenya belong to the East African Community, a regional organization that facilitates the movement of citizens of its member states.

In the face of these concerns, Kenya's Deputy Foreign Minister, Korir Sing Oye, visited the Burundian embassy on Monday and apologized to the citizens present, stressing that police forces would be mobilized in areas where violence was reported. The Deputy Foreign Minister explained that President Ruto’s statements regarding the commercial activities of foreigners had been “misunderstood” and used out of their correct context, as he put it.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan government decided, on Tuesday, to give foreign traders 90 days to organize their situations, by submitting immigration and work permits, registration and licenses, in cooperation with the embassies of their countries. The government confirmed that after the end of the period, the laws will be implemented strictly and without discrimination.

For its part, the East African Law Society called for adherence to Kenyan laws and the East African Community Common Market Protocol, and stressed the necessity of “not taking action on the basis of nationality, but rather on the basis of the individual violation.” The Kenya Human Rights Commission, for its part, has warned of the dangers of discrimination and xenophobia.

The Kenyan authorities strongly deny that these measures have any discriminatory dimension based on nationality or any kind of targeting of foreigners, stressing that they are merely regulatory measures targeting unlicensed foreign traders in the unclassified sector (street vendors and small stores), and not a comprehensive expulsion of foreigners.

On the other hand, observers point out that the Kenyan President’s statements and his tendency to target foreign traders are closely linked to economic and political pressures before the August 2027 elections, as President Ruto won the 2022 presidential elections after he adopted the “economy from below” speech. But his popularity declined after the “Generation Z” demonstrations in 2024, rejecting his economic policies and opposing the finance law and high taxes. In the face of these protests, he was forced to withdraw the draft law and form an expanded government.

With next year's presidential elections approaching, opinion polls indicate that he is leading by between 24 and 35 percent, but there is a percentage of undecided people ranging between 16 and 20 percent, and therefore he is trying to strengthen his image as a defender of small Kenyan traders.

Allegations of targeting Christians in Nigeria were renewed on Monday, with the issuance of a report by a Christian human rights organization declaring the killing of more than 3,000 Christians in Nigeria, during attacks launched by terrorist organizations since the beginning of the year 2026. This report comes to bring to the fore accusations directed at the Nigerian authorities of negligence in protecting Christian communities, which are subjected to what those with this opinion say is “genocide.” The most famous of these is US President Donald Trump, who threatened Nigeria at the end of last year with military action in order to protect Christians, and carried out several strikes. The US Army, in cooperation with the Nigerian Army, carried out military operations in Nigeria against ISIS fighters in West Africa.

Although it welcomed military cooperation with the United States, Nigeria refused to talk about “genocide” against Christian communities, stressing that terrorism targets Christians and Muslims, and all religions, races and ethnicities.

In its latest report, the International Association for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) said that thousands of Christians were killed and kidnapped over the course of 8 months, and the Nigerian human rights organization confirmed that at least 3,083 Christians were killed and 3,193 others were kidnapped in terrorist attacks between January and August 2026. The organization stated that the months of July and August alone witnessed the killing of 437 Christians and the kidnapping of 393 others.

In terms of targeting religious infrastructure, the Intersociety organization presented figures described as “shocking,” when it claimed that about 19,800 churches had been attacked or destroyed since July 2009. The report spoke of the destruction of 230 churches in Taraba state alone during the past year, and the displacement of more than 100,000 Catholics.

Although the organization's reports resonate with some international Christian groups and conservative politicians in the United States, especially some members of the Republican Party in Congress, they collide with a wall of systematic skepticism from major independent media and research institutions. The BBC's Global Anti-Disinformation Unit conducted an extensive investigation into the organisation's figures, concluding that its methodology was "non-transparent". The investigation indicated that the announced numbers do not match the sources cited by the organization itself.

These doubts were reinforced by a report published by the American newspaper “The New York Times” early this year, which painted a modest and questionable picture about the organization’s structure. The report said that the head of the organization, Omiagapalasi, “runs it from his home in the city of Onitsha, relying on secondary sources,” speaking about his admission that he did not always verify field data, an allegation that the organization was quick to strongly deny, accusing the newspaper of fabricating lies.

On the other hand, the numbers promoted by Intersociety are in stark contrast to independent databases, most notably the Independent Conflict Monitoring Project (ACLED), which show much lower rates of civilian deaths in Nigeria. The project's experts confirm that Nigerian violence cannot be reduced to a "unilateral religious genocide," but rather it is a complex conflict in which disputes over land and resources, criminal gang activity, and the weakness of the state's control intersect, making it a violence that affects Muslims and Christians alike.

Officially, the Nigerian authorities and the military categorically reject the “Christian genocide” narrative. Abuja confirms that terrorism strikes all components of society, noting that the majority of the victims of the “Boko Haram” group and the “ISIS in West Africa” terrorist organization are in fact Muslims. The Nigerian government was forced to spend huge sums of money on international pressure campaigns, especially within the United States of America, in order to confront attempts to classify it as a country that persecutes Christians based on such reports.

This cautious position is consistent with the trends of major international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which are carefully documenting violations and acts of violence in Nigeria, but they avoid adopting Intersociety’s statistics or being drawn into the overly simplistic “religious genocide” framework, stressing that the Nigerian crisis is too complex to be framed in a purely religious conflict.