US embassy cable - 02ABUJA153

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000153 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR AF/W, DS/DSS/ITA AND DS/OP/AF 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2011 
TAGS: PGOV, ASEC, PINS, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: CLASH OVER LAND CLAIMS LIVES IN TARABA 
 
Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter. Reasons 1.5 (b) and 
(d). 
 
 
 
 
1.  (U) During the January 5-6 weekend, communal violence in 
Taraba State between Fulani cattle herders and ethnic Kakawa 
farmers claimed at least 25 lives, perhaps as many as 50. 
The locus of the fighting was Gembu, Sardauna Local 
Government. 
 
 
2.  (C) During a January 8 conversation, Taraba State 
Governor Nyame told Emboffs that the melee was the outgrowth 
of a contest over land use. Friction was inherent between 
cattle herders and farmers when land runs scarce, he claimed. 
 As the dry season progressed, tensions escalated.  Grazing 
land had become parched and unable to sustain livestock. 
Searching to feed their animals, herders drove the cattle 
closer to the streams where the herds could feed on the 
vegetation still growing because of its proximity to water. 
Unfortunately, many farms lay near the water for the same 
reason.  As cattle were driven through the area, they began 
to eat the crops, according to Nyame.  Enraged by the 
herders' perceived encroachment and fearing decimation of 
their crops by hungry cattle, some farmers struck back, Nyame 
continued. 
 
 
3.  (C) Unfortunately, the division of labor along ethnic 
lines in this rural community only exacerbated the tension, 
according to the Governor.  The vast majority of cattle 
herders were Fulani while most farmers were of Kakawa stock. 
The Kakawa consider themselves indigenes and resent the 
Fulani as immigrants.  However, the Fulani tend to be more 
prosperous and have come to dominate the politics and economy 
of the area.  This Fulani dominance has stirred bitterness 
among the Kakawa, Nyame said.  (Comment: taxes on cattle 
provide the major source of indigenous revenue to the 
Sardauna LGA.  Subsistence farmers are not taxed, so ethnic 
issues aside, the LGA would have an incentive to increase 
cattle numbers at the expense of farms.  End comment.) 
 
 
4. (C) The Fulani's relative prosperity has brought more and 
more cattle into the area and a concomitant need for 
additional grazing land. Because of the finite amount of 
suitable land, the farmers realize that more grazing means 
less farming.  Seeing themselves on the wrong side of this 
dynamic, the farmers feel their lands, their way of life, and 
their role in local affairs are being imperiled.  Moreover, 
the Kakawa have also felt slighted because the traditional 
ruler in the area is Fulani and not one of their own. 
Although terribly wrong-minded, their resort to violence was 
not to seek dominance but an act born of political weakness 
and desperation.  It was an attempt to do something to halt 
the further erosion of their status, Nyame contended. 
(Comment: Media reports lend credence to the view that the 
clash had economic and political dimensions extending beyond 
the actual land in dispute.  According to the January 7 "New 
Nigerian", several prominent local Fulani leaders were among 
those attacked and killed in what appears to be a 
premeditated plan.  Nyame also told us a very prosperous 
Fulani businessman, who employed many Kakawa, had his office 
burned down.  End comment.) 
 
 
5. (C) Nyame added that another factor contributing to the 
belligerent mood was that traders and herders from Cameroon 
were trundling across the international boundary to set up in 
the area, which is less that 10 miles away from the border. 
The growing Cameroonian presence not only intensified the 
competition for resources but deepened the sense of loss felt 
by the Kakawa due to incursion by "foreigners." 
 
 
6. (C) The area was now calm, Nyame stated.  In a public 
statement, Taraba State Police Commissioner Egbe Njom said 
that they held nearly 50 suspects who claim to have been 
hired by one of the sides in the conflict.  (Comment: Njom's 
statement contradicts an assertion the Governor made to us 
that he did not believe  "mercenaries" were involved in the 
fracas.  End comment.) 
 
 
7. (C) Nyame claimed he was very disappointed by the violence 
as he considered the Sardauna Local Government Area one of 
the best in his state.  Asked how he could prevent repeat 
violence, Nyame stated he would take three steps.  First, he 
would seek to gerrymander one or two additional local 
governments out of the present one ( this would require State 
Assembly approval).  In that way, the Kakawa could have a 
Local Government (and resources) that they would control. 
Second, he would establish a Kakawa "traditional ruler." 
Nyame believed bestowing this recognition would reduce Kakawa 
ire by elevating them to the same status as the Fulani who 
have a local traditional ruler.  Third, he would increase 
dialogue between moderate Fulani and Kakawa.  By bolstering 
the moderates, he hoped to lessen the influence of hot heads 
on both sides. 
 
 
8. (C) Comment: The conflict between herders and farmers over 
scarce land is being played out in many Nigerian communities. 
 As in Taraba, many of these perennial disputes have ethnic 
ramifications and also have transgressed into the political 
arena -- with rival ethnic groups seeking control of their 
local government, and each group trying to exclude the other. 
 Unfortunately, as we move deeper into the dry season, more 
of these simmering disputes likely may erupt into violence. 
It will take mutually acceptable resolution of land use 
disputes in each area to diminish these problems. However, 
these compromises are difficult to achieve and slow to take 
shape. And meanwhile, the best the GON can do will be to 
respond quickly to any reported outbreaks in hopes of keeping 
them from spreading and claiming too many casualties.  What 
Taraba State Governor Nyame has done in his state seems to be 
a positive way forward. 
Jeter