US embassy cable - 01ABUJA1531

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001531 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2011 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: ETHNIC CONFLICT IN NASARAWA PEACEFUL NOW, 
BUT VERY TENSE 
 
 
REF: ABUJA 1461 
 
 
 Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, reason 1.5 (B/D). 
 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  Ethnic clashes in the Middle-Belt State of 
Nasarawa appear to have halted for the moment, although 
tension throughout the state is running high.  The federal 
government has sent additional security forces into troubled 
areas.  Approximately 40,000 displaced persons, mainly Tivs, 
have fled to neighboring Benue State.  Most have moved in 
with friends and family, with about 4,000 accomodated in two 
camps north of the capital city of Makurdi.  Displaced 
persons, mainly Hausa-speakers, have fled to Lafia, capital 
of Nasarawa, with 3,000 now at a converted primary school. 
Both Nasarawa and Benue State governments have responded 
quickly to the evolving situation, earning praise from 
International Red Cross (IRC) officials.  The IRC will 
mobilize from its depot in Lagos, providing non-food items 
(blankets, cooking sets, soap, etc.).  Governor Adamu of 
Nasarawa and Governor Akume of Benue will jointly convene a 
meeting of elected and traditional leaders June 29 to 
continue efforts at reconcilation, and encourage displaced 
persons to return home.   End summary. 
 
 
2.  (C) Conflicting 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.  Nasarawa Deputy Governor Onje 
Gye-Wado told Poloff June 29 that the situation throughout 
the state was "extremely tense."  According to the Deputy 
Governor, no confirmed clashes had occured in the last 48 
hours, although he noted it was very difficult to secure 
accurate information from remote villages in the south-east 
corner of the state.  A number of villages in the three Local 
Government Areas now the scene of the conflict (Awe, Obi, and 
Keana) had been entirely abandoned by their residents, he 
said.  Additional security forces had been requested from the 
Federal Government, said Gye-Wado, and they now maintained a 
"very uneasy" peace.  Reached by telephone June 28, the 
Deputy Police Commissioner for Federal Operations confirmed 
the dispatch of a fourth mobile police unit from the Federal 
Capital Territory to Nasarawa, as well as the reassignment of 
mobile police units from Jigawa, Anambra and Enugu States. 
The police official said the mobile units were "in charge" of 
the situation, following clashes earlier in the week which 
left three police officers dead. 
 
 
3.  (C)  Poloff also reached Governor George Akume of Benue 
State June 28.  Governor Akume spoke at some length on the 
plight of ethnic Tivs fleeing from Nasarawa (Akume is himself 
a Tiv, as are the majority of Benue State citizens).  He 
emphasized several times the importance of establishing a 
firm peace and coaxing displaced persons to return to their 
homes.  "This is planting season, and the Tivs who have left 
are mainly farmers.  They need to care for their lands." 
Akume confirmed continung efforts by the Nasarawa and Benue 
governments to mediate between the rival ethnic groups (Tivs, 
Jukuns, Hausa-speakers, and Kwala).  A meeting had been set 
for June 29 of elected and traditional leadership of both 
States in Lafia to discuss the situation, he said.  He said 
that the IRC and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) had been on 
the scene and assisting State officials with arriving 
villagers, and he expected help from the National Emergency 
Management Agency (NEMA). 
 
 
4.  (C)  Head of the International Red Cross in Nigeria 
Jean-Jacques Gacond told Poloff June 29 that approximately 
40,000 displaced persons, mainly Tivs, had fled Nasarawa 
State into Benue State to the south.  About 4,000 of them 
were now residing at two camps north of Makurdi, at Dauda and 
Uikpam.  The rest of the arriving villagers, registered at an 
initial transit point, had found refuge with family and 
friends in the area.  Gacond said that State government 
officials had done "fairly well" under the circumstances in 
quickly accomodating the displaced villagers.  He noted that 
adequate food and water was on hand for the arrivals, but 
there were shortages of certain items such as blankets, 
cooking sets, and soap.  Sanitation could also be "improved," 
he said.  The IRC would mobilize from its Lagos depot he 
added, sending items that were lacking.  Gacond also said 
that about 3,000 displaced villagers, mainly Hausa-speakers, 
had arrived in Lafia in Nasarawa, and were now residing at a 
converted primary school.  The Nasarawa State government, he 
said, had also reacted quickly and was adequately caring for 
the arrivals.  He estimated that, as in Makurdi, a number of 
arriving villagers had moved in with family and friends, but 
he had no hard figures.  The main State hospital in Lafia had 
also been coping well with villagers injured in the latest 
round of reprisal attacks over the previous week-end 
(particularly disturbing, said Gacond, were the several dozen 
women and children injured in the assaults, many bearing 
knife and machete wounds).  Overall, he said, the two 
governments had done a much better job in dealing with the 
sudden influx of displaced persons than Kaduna State in 
February of last year (when tens of thousands of people fled 
Kaduna during religious riots). 
 
 
5.  (C)  Comment.  Bitter conflict over land and community 
status in Nasarawa, as noted reftel, has led to nearly 50,000 
villagers fleeing the areas of actual fighting, most of them 
ethnic Tivs.  Most have found friends and family to assist 
them, and the rest have been accomodated by State Governments 
reacting quickly to the crisis. (We note, in passing, the 
equally generous reception the federal government gave to the 
Ulnar at Apapa Port in Lagos earlier this week.  Never shy to 
report in our cables on Nigeria's various failings, we see 
two positive examples this week of Nigerian government in 
action).  Efforts by the two State Governments to calm the 
various communities, and coax frightened villagers to return 
to their communities, will be difficult.  End comment. 
Jeter