A new report released Thursday by the International Crisis Group, an independent organisation working to prevent wars and shape policies that would build a more peaceful world, revealed that herdsmen crisis has become Nigeria’s gravest security challenge, now claiming about six times more civilian lives than the Boko Haram insurgency.
It also indicated that the conflict between farmers and herdsmen has escalated, killing more than 1,300 people since January 2018 and might affect the 2019 general election and threaten the country’s stability.
The report added that the conflict has evolved from spontaneous reactions to provocations and now to deadlier planned attacks, particularly in Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Nasarawa and Taraba States.The International Crisis Group noted that with the widespread disenchantment with President Muhammadu Buhari, who is viewed outside the north as soft on the herders, the crisis could hurt the chances of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 2019 elections.
The report said the herdsmen crisis had displaced hundreds of thousands and sharpened ethnic, regional and religious polarisation.
“Three factors have aggravated this: Decades-long conflict arising from environmental degradation in the far north and encroachment upon grazing grounds in the Middle Belt; militia attacks; the poor government response to distress calls and failure to punish past perpetrators; and new laws banning open grazing in Benue and Taraba States,” the report said.
It added: “In the first half of 2018, more than 1,300 Nigerians have died in violence involving herders and farmers. What were once spontaneous attacks have become premeditated scorched-earth campaigns in which marauders often take villages by surprise at night. Now claiming about six times more civilian lives than the Boko Haram insurgency, the conflict poses a grave threat to the country’s stability and unity, and it could affect the 2019 general elections.”
The group accused the federal government of taking insufficient steps to halt the killings, adding that the government’s immediate priorities should be to deploy more security units to vulnerable areas; prosecute perpetrators of violence; disarm ethnic militias and local vigilantes; and begin executing long-term plans for comprehensive livestock sector reform.
The group, however, called on the Benue State Government to freeze the enforcement of its law banning open grazing, review that law’s provisions and encourage a phased transition to ranching.
It reported: “The conflict is fundamentally a land-use contest between farmers and herders across the country’s Middle Belt. It has taken on dangerous religious and ethnic dimensions, however, because most of the herders are from the traditionally nomadic and Muslim Fulani who make up about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s pastoralists, while most of the farmers are Christians of various ethnicities.
“Since the violence escalated in January 2018, an estimated 300,000 people have fled their homes. Large-scale displacement and insecurity in parts of Adamawa, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba States hinder farming as well as herding and drive up food prices. The violence exacts a heavy burden on the military, police and other security services, distracting them from other important missions, such as countering the Boko Haram insurgency.”
The report blamed the conflict on climate-induced degradation of pasture and increasing violence in the country’s far north, which have forced herders south; the expansion of farms and settlements that swallow up grazing reserves and block traditional migration routes; and the damage to farmers’ crops wrought by herders’ indiscriminate grazing.
“But three immediate factors explain the 2018 escalation. First is the rapid growth of ethnic militias, such as those of the Bachama and Fulani in Adamawa State, bearing illegally acquired weapons. Second is the failure of the federal government to prosecute past perpetrators or heed early warnings of impending attacks. Third is the introduction in November 2017 of anti-grazing laws vehemently opposed by herders in Benue and Taraba States, and the resultant exodus of herders and cattle, largely into neighbouring Nasarawa and, to a lesser degree, Adamawa, sparking clashes with farmers in those states,” the report added.
The report added that as the killings persist, Nigerians are weaving destructive conspiracy theories to explain the conflict.
According to the crisis group, charges and counter-charges fly of ethnic cleansing and even genocide – by both farmers and herders.
“In Benue State, once part of Nigeria’s northern region, herders’ attacks have deepened anger, particularly but not only among farmers, at the Fulani who are spread across the north. Widespread disenchantment with President Muhammadu Buhari – who is viewed outside the north as soft on the herders – could hurt his, and the ruling party’s, chances in the February 2019 elections,” the group said.
Thisday
No comments:
Post a Comment