Nigeria – Events of 2016: Inter-Communal Violence

Inter-Communal Violence

Impunity for cycles of uncontrolled and unpunished violence between nomadic and farming communities in the conflict prone “Middle-Belt” region has encouraged its spread to other areas. For two weeks in February, armed herdsmen allegedly in revenge for the killing of their cattle, attacked 11 communities, killing scores of people in Benue State. Similar attacks left 12 people dead in Ukpabi Nimbo, Enugu on April 25, while six died in Taraba’s Korum, Orawua and Gidan Bature communities on May 7.

Solutions proffered by Nigerian federal authorities to end the clashes, including enacting laws to specify cattle grazing routes, have been rejected by some state governments allegedly for inequitably favoring rights of herders.

Human Rights Watch – Nigeria in 2017