Affrontements intercommunautaires dans les Etats Benue et Nasarawa – 1 décembre 2011

Nigeria: 5,000 escaped in clashes, at least 5 died

taiwannews.com.tw

1 12 2011

According to AP, it reported, officials said Thursday, at least 5,000 people have fled villages in central Nigeria at the heart of clashes between nomadic cattle herders and farmers and that moreover, as at least five people have died in the fighting.

Authorities recognized there could cause more deaths in the fighting hitting rural Benue and Nasarawa states in Nigeria’s fertile central belt which with a dividing line in the country between religious and ethnic groups.

On the other hand, the remote villages remain difficult to reach and government officials appear hesitant to publicize details of the attacks at risk of inflaming a region where such clashes remain common.

The fighting started with this week as Muslim Fulani cattle herders found some of their livestock dead, said Conrad Wergba, Benue state’s information commissioner. The cattle herders retaliated by attacking villages of the Christian Tiv ethnic group in both Benue and Nasarawa states, he said.

« It is an occurring problem, » Wergba said. « There is this conflict each time their cattle destroy the Tiv farmland during grazing. »

A combined force of police and military moved into the areas to guard the area, he said.

Benue State police spokesman Ejike Alaribe said at least five people had died in the attacks, though he acknowledged that was all authorities could confirm on their own in the remote villages. Read more…