US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1041

UNCLAS ABUJA 001041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, ASEC, PREL, NI 
SUBJECT: NEW ETHNO-RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN ADAMAWA STATE 
 
REF:  ABUJA 972 
 
1.  At least nine and as many as 50 were killed in Numan, 
Adamawa State, on June 8 in ethno-religious fighting that 
began over the rebuilding of a mosque near the palace of 
the Christian Bachama ethnic group's traditional leader. 
Several mosques and homes were burned, and many residents 
have fled the area.  Governor Haruna imposed a dusk-to-dawn 
curfew and asked security forces to shoot troublemakers on 
sight: "Police, Army, direct your men, anybody found 
causing trouble, I mean anybody, should be killed." 
 
2.  Exactly one year before, on June 8, 2003, about 100 
were killed in Numan in a riot sparked by the killing of a 
Christian evangelist by a Muslim waterseller.  Numan's 
central mosque was burned in that violence.  The mosque's 
reconstruction by the ethnic Hausa minority had been halted 
by court order due to complaints from the ethnic Bachama 
majority that the reconstructed minaret was now taller than 
the Christian traditional ruler's palace. 
 
3.  Adamawa Gov. Haruna in the northeast was not as quick 
as Kebbi State Gov. Aliero in the northwest at a different 
ethno-religious fracas in Jega a week ago (reftel), but the 
impulse was the same.  All remember that violence in 
Plateau State led to a State of Emergency declaration that 
sacked Gov. Dariye there. 
 
4.  In Benue State there are reports that ethnic violence 
between other tribes' militias this week killed 5-20 people 
in the Ullam/Ugambe area.  Benue's Deputy Governor 
described the stories as "completely false," perhaps using 
a different tactic for political and humanitarian (in the 
sense of forestalling revenge attacks) survival. 
CAMPBELL