‘Survivors are busy burying their dead’
Over 500 killed in raid on Nigerian Christians, 3
hours of violence:
Aminu Abubakar, Agence France-Presse
More than 500 people, including children and pregnant women, are
reported to have been slaughtered by mache tewielding raiders in a
planned attack against Christians in Nigeria.
In a three-hour orgy of violence, the attackers, believed to be
Muslim herdsmen, swooped on three Christian villages close to the
northern city of Jos.
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A history of violence |
| * National
Post-Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with an estimated
population of close to 150 million, has a long history of both
ethnic and religious violence.
* The country is almost evenly
divided between Muslims in the north and Christians in the
south. The town of Jos lies at the dividing line and there has
been tension between the two communities for decades.
* Jos is also a farming
community made up primarily of Christians of the Berom ethnic
group. Yesterday’s attackers were Muslim cattle farmers, with
some reports saying they were ethnic Fulanis who practise Islam.
* Jos has seen growing tension
between farmers and herders over arable land. Pasture land in
central and northern Nigeria has been drying up, forcing animal
herders closer to farming communities. It is claimed cattle have
been destroying crops.
* Yesterday’s attack was also an
apparent reprisal for similar attacks on Muslims in January,
when 150 people were killed.
* In November 2008, at least 700
Nigerians died in Christian-Muslim riots that followed a
disputed local election, Human Rights Watch reported.
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A woman beckons on a motorist for assistance as she tries to
flee her home in Tintin, south of Jos, Plateau State |
There were reports that the attackers positioned themselves at the
main entry points to the villages while others went round setting homes
on fire. As people fled, they were ambushed and killed.
Some witnesses said people were caught in animal traps and nets as
they ran in the dark.
Newspapers reported that Muslim residents of the villages in Plateau
state had been warned by phone text message, two days prior to the
attack, so they could make good their escape before the exit points were
sealed off.
Survivors also said the attackers were able to separate some of the
Muslim Fulani villagers from members of the rival Christian Berom group
by chanting ‘nagge,’ the Fulani word for cattle. Those who failed to
respond in the same language were hacked to death.
One local paper said the gangs shouted ‘Allah Akhbar’ (God is great)
before breaking into homes and setting them alight in the early hours of
Sunday. Churches were among the buildings that were burned down.
Locals said the attacks were the result of a feud which was first
ignited by a theft of cattle and then fuelled by deadly reprisals.
Rights activists said the slaughter appeared to be revenge for January
attacks in which mainly Muslims were killed.
“We were caught unaware, and as we tried to escape, the Fulani, who
were already waiting, slaughtered many of us,” of the village of Dogo
Nahawa Dayop Gyang said.
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Natives of Dogo Nahawa village watch as health officials cover
bodies of their kinsmen in the mass grave killed |
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Natives of Dogo Nahawa village gather at the scene of a mass
burial of their kinsmen killed during a religious crisis in the
village of Dogo Nahawa, south of Jos. AFP |
David Kyeng, who fled to the hills when the attackers struck,
estimated hundreds of Fulani herdsmen staged the slaughter.
“I saw these attackers shooting into the air, scaring people out of
their homes and hacking them as they tried to flee,” he said.
Yesterday, the once-virgin bush on the fringes of Dogo Nahawa was
turned into a cemetery. Mechanical excavators dug a mass grave and then
heaped earth on the bodies of dozens of children and women. The death
toll was initially put at a little over 100, but then shot up. The
Information Ministry said pregnant women were among those killed and
around 200 people were being treated in hospital. “We have over 500
killed in three villages and the survivors are busy burying their dead,”
state information commissioner Gregory Yenlong said.
“People were attacked with axes, daggers and cutlasses, many of them
children, the aged and pregnant women.”
The explosion of violence is the latest between rival ethnic and
religious groups. In January, 326 died in clashes in and around Jos,
according to police, although rights activists put the overall toll at
more than 550. “The attack is yet another jihad and provocation,” the
Plateau State Christian Elders Consultative Forum (PSCEF) said in a
statement.
However, the Archbishop of the capital Abuja, John Onaiyekan, told
Vatican Radio that the violence was rooted not in religion but in
social, economic and tribal differences.
“It is a classic conflict between pastoralists and farmers, except
that all the Fulani are Muslims and all the Berom are Christians,” he
said. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s office said the security
services in Plateau and neighbouring states had been placed on red alert
to ensure that the violence did not spread.
National Post |
