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nairaland.net • View topic - 25 killed in tribal land feud

25 killed in tribal land feud

25 killed in tribal land feud

Postby Richard Akindele » Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:18 am

Tribal militia armed with guns, machetes, and bows and arrows killed about 25 people in three days in a land dispute in the central state of Plateau, authorities and witnesses said on yesterday.

The blackened shells of at least 20 houses could be seen on the outskirts of the deserted town of Namu, 100 km (75 miles) east of the capital Abuja, which has been at the centre of the dispute between two rival tribal alliances.

Troops prevented journalists from entering town, firing warning shots into the air, but fleeing residents said militia allied to the Pan tribe staged a coordinated assault on rival ethnic groups in the remote farming town on Monday morning.

"Those people were well prepared. They took us unawares. A big group of them, many hundreds of them, arrived with guns, machetes, bow and arrows, cutlasses and knives," said Nasiru Samaila, a 33-year-old yam trader from Namu.

"They surrounded the town and they started killing people and burning houses," said Samaila, who fled Namu on foot with his wife and two children.

The family have been sleeping under a tree in the nearby town of Sabon Gida Bakin Kogi with hundreds of other refugees since then, waiting for help from the government.

Authorities said the area had witnessed revenge attacks on two subsequent days, and state governor Joshua Dariye issued security forces with a shoot-to-kill order for troublemakers.

Families could still be seen fleeing Namu on foot, by motorcycle and car on Thursday, carrying mattresses, chairs and cooking utensils.

An emergency services source said 20 to 30 people were killed in three days of sporadic fighting since Monday. One local newspaper estimated the toll at more than 100.

CURFEW

Residents said the Pan and rival tribes had been engaged in an escalating dispute over the location of a new state-run development area headquarters, which would create jobs and bring money to the area.

But the trigger for Monday's killings was an ethnic Gomai man taking sand from a river bed in Namu, which is also claimed by the Pan, they said.

Namu is just 40 km (25 miles) from Yelwa, a larger market town where hundreds of people were killed in similar skirmishes in 2004.

The killings in Yelwa also began as a tribal dispute over land, but quickly inflamed rivalry between Christians and Muslims and sparked religious violence hundreds of miles away in Nigeria's largest northern city, Kano.

The Pan and Gomai incorporate both Christians and Muslims, in addition to native animists, and so far the fighting has not taken on religious overtones.

Plateau State Police Commissioner Richard Chime declined to specify the number of dead. A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed on the area.

"Skirmishes started on Monday, but security has been reinforced and the place is now quiet," he said.

The Red Cross also declined to put a figure on the death toll, but said 38 people were injured and 1,287 fled their homes because of the fighting. Many of the displaced families also took refuge in an army barracks in nearby Shendam town, the Red Cross said.


Source : Relief Web
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Postby Richard Akindele » Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:21 am

Over 100 people, including security officials, have died and property worth millions of naira destroyed after four days of inter-ethnic clashes in Namu town in Quaan Pan local council area of Nigeria's northern Plateau state, the local media reported Thursday.

The local government has imposed a night-time curfew on the town, the ownership of which is being contested by the Gamai and Pan peoples, while a combined team of police and soldiers has been drafted to the area to help restore order.

There are fears that the fighting may spread as "mercenaries" from neighbouring towns of Doemak, Kwa, Bwol and other Pan areas have joined in the clashes.

The fighting has forced hundreds of residents of the disputed town to relocate to neighbouring towns of Shendam, Lafia and Assaikyo in both Plateau and neighbouring Nasarawa states.

Plateau state spokesman Yakubu Dati said the government had taken measures to contain the crisis.

In May 2004, President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau, suspending elected officials and putting a retired Army general in charge, following the death of hundreds of people in months of ethno-religious violence in a part of the state.

More than 12,000 people have died in sectarian and communal clashes in Africa's most populous nation since 1999.

Source : Relief Web
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Sand row sparks Nigeria clashes

Postby Richard Akindele » Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:04 pm

Thousands have fled their homes in central Nigeria after three days of communal clashes sparked by a dispute over access to sand for building.
Police have arrested 200 people including two local leaders.

The fighting in Plateau State has left at least 25 people dead, according to unconfirmed reports.

State Information Commissioner Yakubu Datti would only confirm the deaths of two policemen and a soldier during efforts to restore order.

Ethnic militias armed with guns, machetes and bows and arrows, attacked each other and burnt many homes.

An elected local council chairman and a traditional ruler are among 200 people arrested on suspicion of involvement in the disturbances.

Displaced

Over 4,000 people were in displaced people's camps by Friday morning, local Red Cross officials said.

Hundreds of people, most of them women and children are now taking refuge in army barracks in the town of Shendam, less than 50km away.

Namu, a small town in the southern part of the state, is now reported to be calm after a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on the area.

Reports indicate that violence spread to Shendam, as Goemai people in the area sought reprisals for the killing of their kinsfolk at Namu.

But this was halted when Governor Joshua Dariye broadcast a shoot-on-sight order to security men in the area, the BBC's Yusuf Sarki Muhammad reports.

Senator Cosmas Niagwam, who represents the district, told reporters that President Olusegun Obasanjo has also approved the drafting of soldiers to keep the peace in the area.

Rising tension

Residents say tension has been rising recently between the pan-ethnic group and other tribes over the location of a new government building which would create jobs and bring money to the area.

The trigger, though, was a dispute over who had the right to take sand from a riverbed in Namu - a right which is claimed by different ethnic groups.

Plateau State, where these clashes occurred, has been riven by ethnic violence in the past. Two years ago, hundreds were killed in clashes which began in a land dispute but quickly escalated.

Nigeria has more than 300 ethnic groups and there are often disputes, sometimes violent, over access to land and resources.
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Plateau: FG Deploys Troops

Postby Richard Akindele » Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:17 pm

Habeeb I. Pindiga & Rakiya A. Muhammad


President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered the deployment of troops to restore peace in crisis-torn Quan Pan area of Plateau state. This was disclosed by Senator Cosmas Niagwan, representing Plateau South Senatorial District.

Fighting broke out in Namu village on Sunday leading to the loss of lives while hundreds fled to the military barracks in neighbouring Shendam, reports from the area said.

The clashes escalated Wednesday, prompting the Senate leadership to seek audience with Obasanjo.

Niagwan told newsmen yesterday that though the president left the country by the time the lawmakers went to see him, Obasanjo had given orders that armed troops be deployed to the warring communities.

"As I speak to you now, troops have left Bauchi on their way to the area. "Before he (the president) left, he gave standing instructions that the situation be brought under control," the Senator said.

Niagwan attributed the crises to the creation of development areas by the state government without recourse to historical antecedents, adding that information given to him yesterday mor-ning indicated that 98 people were killed, 250 injured while more than 2,000 others were displaced and are taking refuge in Shendam.

The senator said if troops get to the area, fighting would stop and give way for elders and political leaders to move in to pacify the people.

He blamed Governor Joshua Dariye for feiling to take measures to restore peace on the plateau.

"He (Dariye) doesn't want us to sit down and talk," Niagwan said.

Violence erupted Sunday as a result of a land dispute between the Gamai on the one hand and Doemak and Kwalla on the other in Namu village, Quan Pan local government area.

Mobs went on rampage, killing, maiming and looting.

Some survivors said they had to hide in wells and latrines to escape.

Meanwhile, over 200 people from Namu town in Plateau state have been arrested in connection with the crisis in the area even as reprisal attacks have broken out in Shendam local gove-rnment area of the state with the burning of houses.

The Governor who visi-ted the trouble spots yest-erday has however given a shoot-at-sight order to sec-urity operatives in the areas and cautioned the warring parties against further violence.

Among those arrested, a reliable source told Daily Trust, includes the secretary to the Quan Pan local gove-rnment, Hon. Christopher Kyaplap and are being kept at the army barracks in Shendam.

Meanwhile, there has been a reprisal attack in neighboring Shendam local government area of the state, which is a stronghold of the Qoemais

The Qoemais were noted to have been mostly affected in the three day violence in Namu.

But an eyewitness who left Shendam at about noon yesterday said some youths in the area allegedly set ablaze houses of Pan resid-ents in Shendam. Although no information about casu-alty figures were stated in the reprisal attacks.

At the refugee camp in Shendam, the situation was noted to have been depl-orable with hundreds of wo-men and children left without food.

But the governor who ad-dressed them during his visit assured that some food items would be made available.

Commenting on the situ-ation, Secretary to the State Government, Mr. John Go-bak, who led the government delegation to the area on Wednesday, confirmed that as at Wednesday, 35 people had been injured but could not give the number of the dead.

According to him, as at the time he left, the police were still counting the dead bodies. He then referred our correspondent to the commi-ssioner of police, Mr. Richard Chime.

But the police commis-sioner also told Daily Trust that he has not yet receive the figures.

On the reprisal attacks, the police boss said it must be new as the information has not got to him.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200604140384.html
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Namu Mayhem: Dariye Suspends Traditional Ruler

Postby Richard Akindele » Sun Apr 16, 2006 4:16 pm

Plateau State Govern-ment has suspended from office, the traditional ruler of Pan, the Lung Pan, Mr Dalong Datok.

Gov. Joshua Dariye of Plateau made the announcement on Thursday night in a state broadcast.

He said the suspension was as a result of the breakdown of law and order in Namu on Tuesday.

Dariye also announced the suspension from office, of the Secretary of Qua'an Pan Local Government Area for his alleged role in the mayhem.

According to the governor, the traditional institution and local administration have failed in their responsibilities as they helped to aggravate the crisis.

He ordered that one Mr Stephen Musa, whom he said was spreading rumours should be arrested.

He ordered the council's chairman, Rev. Danjuma Damina, to report to the police for interrogation to determine his involvement or otherwise in the crisis.

The governor said the government's action was necessary to dissuade others from causing disaffection and disharmony. He called on security agents to search for and arrest one Mr Dajan, whose actions in Namu were inimical to peace and harmony.

Dariye directed the security personnel to find and arrest those that have been burning houses in Shendam.

He said relief materials and medicals have been provided for displaced persons taking refuge at the military barracks in Shendam.

Citizens, he said, should not doubt the capabilities of the administration to protect lives and property.

Dariye commiserated with the families of those, who lost their loved ones and property.

According to a report by The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) over 200 militia, who participated in the Namu mayhem have been arrested and were being interrogated.

Over 2,000 displaced persons, who fled Namu have taken refuge at the army barracks in Shendam.

Seventeen persons are on admission at the Shendam general hospital, many them are being treated for bullet wounds.

Dariye, who visited the patients in the hospital on Thursday has directed that the wounded people should be transferred to the Plateau Specialist Hospital, Jos.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604160009.html
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