US embassy cable - 01ABUJA1461

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001461 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/26/2011 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, PINS, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: ETHNIC CLASHES IN NASARAWA STATE CONTINUE 
SPORADICALLY 
 
 
REF: ABUJA 1448 
 
 
Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, reason 1.5 (B/D). 
 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  Ethnic clashes in the Middle-Belt State of 
Nasarawa continue sporadically.  Frightened citizens have 
fled the areas of conflict in the southeastern corner of the 
state, but the numbers are uncertain, and press reports may 
be inflated.  Isolated fighting in the village of 
Tudun-Adegbo cost approximately 25 lives the evening of June 
25.  International Red Cross officials have sent a mission to 
assess the situation and expect to have better information 
within a day or two.  End summary. 
 
 
2.  (C) Local press reports continue of clashes between rival 
ethnic groups in the southeast corner of Nasarawa State, a 
Middle-Belt State located immediately to the east of the 
Federal Capital Territory.  Poloff spoke with Nasarawa 
Governor Abdullahi Adamu June 25 by telephone and received an 
update on the conflict.  Adamu said that the uneasy peace 
established over the previous week-end had been broken by 
fighting the night of June 25 in the village of Tudun-Adegbo. 
 Approximately 45 persons were admitted to local hospitals 
with injuries, and there were six confirmed deaths.  He 
estimated the total loss of life from the fighting at 25. 
Governor Adamu said that he had requested reinforcements from 
the national police and expected their arrival shortly.  Also 
reached by telephone June 26, the Deputy Commissioner of 
Police for Federal Operations confirmed the dispatch of three 
additional mobile police units to Nasarawa (approximately 60 
men). 
 
 
 
 
3.  (C) Governor Adamu dismissed accounts of fighting in the 
State capital of Lafia, saying that the arrival of injured 
persons and "a few bodies" had caused "some disturbances," 
but that police on the scene had prevented any serious 
altercation.  The conflict was confined entirely to two Local 
Government Areas (LGAs) of the southeast, he said. (Note: 
Nasarawa has 13 LGAs in total. End Note).   Governor Adamu 
said he did not know the numbers of people who had fled their 
homes in the troubled areas, but that certainly there had 
been "many people leaving," particularly ethnic Tivs heading 
south to Benue State (where Tivs are a majority).  He also 
said he had met with the Benue State Governor, George Akume 
to discuss the situation and work on "ways to lessen the 
tension." 
 
 
4.  (C)  Poloff also spoke by telephone June 26 with the 
Director of the International Red Cross in Nigeria, 
Jean-Jacque Gacond, who said he had dispatched a Red Cross 
team to Makurdi, capital of Benue State, to assess the 
situation.  Gacond said he thought that perhaps "some 
thousands" had fled their homes, but he had no hard figures. 
He discounted one press report of 35,000 displaced persons 
fleeing into makeshift camps in Benue State, saying the 
report was probably inflated.  Gacond said he expected to 
have better information by June 27 or 28. 
 
 
5.  (C)  Comment.  Renewed fighting, even in isolated areas, 
obviously makes efforts by local officials at reconciliation 
(reftel) that much harder.  We hope to have better 
information soon on the numbers of displaced persons and 
their present location.  End comment. 
Jeter