Over 200 killed in weekend violence in central Nigeria: governor

JOS, Nigeria: More than 200 people were killed in violence against farming communities last weekend in Plateau state, central Nigeria, according to a speech by the governor published on Wednesday.

Simon Lalong said after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in the state capital Jos on Tuesday night that the clashes had left “the painful loss of over 200 people”. The police, who blame suspected cattle herders, have said 86 people were killed. However, multiple local sources from the communities affected maintained more than 100 people died. The main association representing the largely nomadic herders has denied its community had any involvement in the killings and said its members had been repeatedly targeted for months.

The violence — an apparent reprisal after ethnic Berom farmers allegedly killed five Fulani — is the latest bout in months of bloodletting in Nigeria’s so-called “Middle Belt”. The clashes are rooted in tensions over access to land between the pastoral herders and sedentary farmers but have generated sectarian friction between Muslims and Christians. Lalong suggested “criminal elements” were exacerbating hostilities, including “conflict merchants” involved in “cattle rustling, theft, banditry, gun running” and other crimes.

Both he and Buhari have also warned about politicising the conflict or giving it a religious dimension. Buhari came to power in 2015 on a promise to curb insecurity across the country, in particular Boko Haram, whose Islamist insurgency has killed at least 20,000 since 2009.