US embassy cable - 01ABUJA1614

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001614 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2011 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINS, PINR, NI 
SUBJECT: MORE ETHNIC CLASHES IN NIGERIAN MIDDLE-BELT 
 
 
Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, reason 1.5 (B/D) 
 
 
1.  (U) Summary.  Inter-ethnic clashes have occurred in the 
Middle-Belt States of Bauchi and Taraba, in incidents not 
apparently connected to the several weeks-long turmoil in 
neighboring Nasarawa State.  In Bauchi, in a predominately 
Christian area, the majority Siyawa people have fought 
Hausa-Fulani in a reprise of disputes stretching back to 
early 1990s. According to the International Red Cross, 
perhaps as many as 20,000 persons have fled their homes, and 
several dozen people may have lost their lives.  In Taraba, a 
dispute between Fulani herders and Tiv farmers resulted in 
eight deaths, according to the National Police.  Residents 
are also fleeing the area, but the numbers are unknown.  A 
fragile peace appears to be holding in Nasarawa, while the 
Governors of Benue and Nasarawa jointly work toward 
reconciliation.  End summary. 
 
 
2.  (C) Scattered press reports surfaced this week of ethnic 
conflict in Bauchi and Taraba State, two Middle-Belt 
neighbors of Nasarawa State, scene of ethnic turmoil for the 
past several weeks.  The Governor of Bauchi State, Adamu 
Mu'azu, confirmed to Poloff July 4 violent conflict in the 
southern section of his state, in an area predominately 
inhabited by the Christian Siyawa group.  Explaining that 
long-standing feuds over access to land and to local 
government resources had fueled the conflict, the Governor 
claimed that the conflict had no real religious dimension to 
it, and was purely a local dispute between groups long 
hostile to each other.  The Governor said he had spent two 
nights sleeping at the Local Government headquarters at 
Tafewa Balewa, circulating in the area during the day and 
urging peace. 
 
 
3.  (C) Head of the International Red Cross (IRC) effort in 
Nigeria, Jean-Jacques Gacond, told poloff July 6 that, 
according to estimates collected from traditional leaders by 
his office, as many as 20,000 people had fled their homes, 
and several dozen deaths had occurred.  Gacond cautioned that 
these estimates were "soft," as only second hand, and perhaps 
unreliable.  Gacond said that, in his opinion, the state 
government authorities were masking to some extent the 
religious nature of the conflict to prevent any spill-over 
effect in areas where Muslims and Christians were intermixed 
(a phenomenon prevalent throughout the Middle-Belt). 
However, he also thought that the violence had largely been 
contained and people were beginning to go back to their 
homes.  He had a team on the scene, and would hear more 
precise details in the next several days, he said. 
 
 
4.  (C) In Taraba State to the southeast of Bauchi, and 
directly east of Nasarawa, fighting has occurred between Tiv 
farmers and Fulani herdsmen.  At this time of year, with the 
rainy season well underway, Fulani herders across the 
Middle-Belt are on their way back North with their cattle and 
sheep, and conflict often results with local farmers when 
herds trample crops.  National Police sources in Abuja told 
us that eight deaths had occurred.  Other sources in Taraba 
say that the death toll is "at least" eighteen.  While some 
press reports have linked these clashes in Taraba with the 
earlier clashes between Tivs, Jukuns, Hausa-speakers and 
other minority ethnic groups in southeastern Nasarawa State 
(which borders on Taraba), this appears to be an isolated 
incident.  Police in Abuja report that people have fled their 
homes to avoid the fighting, but had no estimates.  Some 
media reports recorded 25,000 people fleeing the conflict, 
which appears to be centered near the predominately Junkun 
town of Wukari.  According to Embassy sources, state police 
commissioners in Makurdi, capital of Benue, and Yola, capital 
of Adamawa, have each dispatched additional security 
personnel to Taraba to aid in damping down the conflict. 
While some Jukuns, traditional rivals to the Tivs, seem to be 
involved as well in the conflict between herders and farmers, 
they appear to play a subsidiary role so far. 
 
 
5.  (C) In nearby Nasarawa State, a fragile peace appears to 
be holding.  IRC head Gacond said that the numbers of people 
at the displaced persons camps in Benue had basically 
stabilized at about 8,000, with some movement back and forth 
between those staying with friends and family in the area 
(about 40,000) and those accommodated in the two camps 
located north of Makurdi at Dauda and Uikom.  Gacond said 
that in Lafia, capital of Nasarawa, the numbers had declined 
to about 2,000, and people did appear to be returning to 
their homes.  At the Embassy July 4th reception, Governor 
Adamu of Nasarawa and Governor Akume of Benue (who arrived 
together) appeared optimistic that the worst of the conflict 
was over, and that displaced people in Benue would also begin 
to return to their homes in the near future.  While they 
confirmed that additional clashes had occurred over the 
week-end of June 30-July 1, with some loss of life, they said 
that their joint efforts at peace-keeping had reduced tension 
in many areas. 
 
 
6.  (C) Comment.  Ethnic conflict in the Middle-Belt, based 
on long-standing disputes over land, access to government 
resources, and community status, often play out in relative 
obscurity, and can continue for months without much notice 
from the national media (and sometimes with the connivance of 
government authorities anxious to downplay the tensions and 
prevent spreading turmoil).  The latest conflicts in Bauchi 
and Taraba do not appear to have any connection to Nasarawa 
State's own ethnic clashes.  While there may be some 
religious component to the Bauchi fighting, this so far seems 
to be a localized dispute with no great potential to spill 
over into other areas.  The conflict between Tivs and Jukuns, 
bitter rivals in many communities in several states in the 
eastern Middle-Belt, also does not at present appear to be 
spreading beyond Nasarawa.  End comment. 
Jeter