BUSAN, South Korea – Boko Haram is one of two Islamist groups in Nigeria added to the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations for killing thousands of people and threatening Westerners in West Africa.

U.S. officials said Wednesday that Boko Haram and a splinter group, Ansaru, were named to the federal roster of terrorist groups, as a regional African threat.

This was after U.S. officials determined that they had received training and some financing from the Al Qaeda affiliate in the northern part of Africa.

Although African see Boko Haram as a threat, they see the conflict facing them through a different prism to Westerners.

The name Boko Haram means "Western education is a sin."

Its members have attacked schools, churches, security forces and journalists in its campaign to impose Islamic law or sharia, in northern Nigeria.

BOKO HARMA ATTACK KILLS 70

Earlier in November wedding guests were the victim of another Boko Haram-inspired attack involving the deaths of at least 70 people.

But an African fighter for Christian rights in an interview warned that northern Africans are increasingly victims of a clash between two powerful and well organized cultures.

The general adviser of the Kenya-based Program for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA), Rev. Johnson Mbillah spoke at a seminar on the complexity of Christian-Muslim relations in Africa at the World Council of Churches 10th Assembly which ended on November 8.

He said, "The world's political and religious leaders must meet and discuss the great issues of our time.

"Those issues include politics, religion, and the distribution of wealth, economic and social inequalities and the powerlessness of ordinary people who are increasingly the victims of religious extremism.

"What we're looking at is a clash between two powerful and well organized cultures that seek to dominate Africa – the Western Culture and the Middle Easter culture."

Mbillah said millions of Christian, Muslim and Africans from other religious group feel stuck in the middle of what he sees are two competing groups.

He said, "The world's political and religious leaders must meet and discuss the great issues of our time.

"Those issues include politics, religion, and the distribution of wealth, economic and social inequalities and the powerlessness of ordinary people who are increasingly the victims of religious extremism.

CLASH OF TWO CULTURES

"What we're looking at is a clash between two powerful and well organized cultures that seek to dominate Africa – the Western Culture and the Middle Easter culture."

As he spoke, thousands of miles away in West Africa millions of Nigerians were picking up the pieces after yet another terrifying attack in the north west of their oil-rich country.

In three separate bomb blasts in early November more than over 70 people were killed. It was the latest of a series of outrages against Christian churches and schools and Muslim critics of Islamist extremists.

Mbillah told the seminar that as far as Boko Haram is concerned "anything Western has to be destroyed, including Western democracy not only in Nigeria but everywhere in Africa.

"That's their aim and that's their ideology."

And he warned that trying to stop Christians in Nigeria from striking back is difficult.

"There have been reprisals because Christians have retaliated and killed so many Muslims. So it is now tit for tat.

"Bishops and clerics will tell you that when Boko Haram strikes, people no longer run away. People run to the place where the attack took place. I personally saw that at Jos in Northern Nigeria and was shocked.

"One Sunday morning I was there when Boko Haram strikes attacked and I saw people running to where it occurred. It is now very, very difficult to control Christians because, as I said, this is now a tit for tat situation."

He referred to the September attack on the Westgate Shopping Centre in the middle of Nairobi where 69 people were killed.

Al-Shabab (The Youth) claimed responsibility. It is a Somalia-based political and religious group that seeks to overthrow the existing government in Mogadishu and introduce Sharia.

Mbillah gave a rundown of the main terrorist groups killing Christians and so-called "soft" or "liberal" Muslims.

CHRISTIANS REMAIN MAIN TARGET

Still, Christians are the main target.

Said Mbilah: "If you go to church in Kenya, you have to line up in a queue, and be searched, in case you're trying to snuggle in a bomb. The same applies to Muslims at mosques."

He said that anyone who does not agree with the extremists is an enemy and noted that few political leaders understand the complexities involved in relations between Christians and Muslims.

Mbillah described both Christianity and Islam as universal religions with a high sense of theological and ideological solidarity.

"With Christianity all Christians are said to belong to the Body of Christ and in Christ there is no north or south no white, no black.

"That is a theological statement. Now Islam comes with the Ummah and also says that there is no north and no south, no white and no black and that all Muslims are part of the worldwide Muslim community.

"That is also a very powerful ideological statement"

Following the American-led attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, Mbillah said that United States is seen by many Muslims as a Christian country so Christians in Africa are targeted by groups such as Boko Haram.

"I don't know when Africans became Americans or when Muslims in Nigeria became Arabs," he said.

Earlier, Rev. Kehinde Stephen of the Methodist Church of Nigeria described the recent bombings in his country as tragic.

"We used to think that Nigeria would be one of the safest places to live and that inside a church or mosque would also be so safe. Now, the people are afraid and we've lost a lot of people .

"Some Christians now think twice before going to church on a Sunday. But there are others who say 'Come rain or shine' I will go to church on Sunday.

"I say that we do not have to give into fear. But Christians in Nigeria are saying, 'Look, we have turned the cheek several times. Now we must fight back.'

"It's terrible to see in the north of my county that Christians in the minority are being moved to places where Christians are in the majority and Muslims in the minority are being moved to places where Muslims are in the majority."