Analysis | This little-known conflict in Nigeria is now deadlier than Boko Haram
Nigeria conflict, boko haram, pastoralist conflict africa, fulani africa, fulani nigeria, buhari elections, nigeria elections
Fulani men stand in a group in the village of Luggere in Plateau State on June 29. The area has seen days of violence in which more than 200 people have been killed in clashes between farmers and herders. (Stefan Heunis/AFP) by Siobhán O'Grady July 26 at 3:50 PM Email the author Since 2009, Boko Haram extremists have killed thousands of people in northeast Nigeria, devastating the Lake Chad region and setting off a large-scale humanitarian crisis. But since January, another, lesser-known conflict has overtaken the Boko Haram crisis as the deadliest conflict in Nigeria, killing six times more Nigerians than Boko Haram did in the same period. For years, periodic clashes between farmers and herders have disrupted Nigeria's Middle Belt, the part of the country that divides the north and south and is home to the capital, Abuja. But the conflict has recently intensified, destabilizing the region and leaving 1,300 people dead this year, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group, or ICG. “What were once spontaneous attacks have become premeditated scorched-earth campaigns in which marauders often take villages by surprise at night,” the report said. Competition for resources has played a major role in the conflict. For centuries, nomadic herders have traveled through Africa on traditional cattle routes, searching for fertile grazing lands for their cows. But desertification and the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria's northeast, among other factors, have begun to push the herders farther south, where they encounter settled communities that are already struggling with their own population booms. Incidents that may have once seemed manageable and isolated, such as a herd of cows trampling through a farmer's field, now have the potential to escalate into large-scale disputes. Conflicts between herder and farmer communities have included the burning and razing of entire villages and purposeful destruction of each others' livelihoods. Herders have at times intentionally damaged farmers' fields, and farmers have slaughtered and stolen cattle. As the ICG said in its report, the source of the clashes may be the battle for resources, but the conflict also has ethnic and religious undertones: Herders tend to be Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group, while farmers in the region tend to be Christian. Hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced in what the research group calls “Nigeria's gravest security challenge.” The resulting polarization “could affect forthcoming elections and undermine national stability,” the report said. The situation has worsened this year in part because of laws in two states, Taraba and Benue, that ban open grazing of cattle, according to the ICG. The laws, which in theory were intended to prevent conflict, may have in fact made it worse. Herders see anti-grazing laws as a direct attack on their lifestyle and work; farmers see them as the only way to prevent their fields from being trampled by cows. When a grazing
Nigeria conflict, boko haram, pastoralist conflict africa, fulani africa, fulani nigeria, buhari elections, nigeria elections
Fulani men stand in a group in the village of Luggere in Plateau State on June 29. The area has seen days of violence in which more than 200 people have been killed in clashes between farmers and herders. (Stefan Heunis/AFP) by Siobhán O'Grady July 26 at 3:50 PM Email the author Since 2009, Boko Haram extremists have killed thousands of people in northeast Nigeria, devastating the Lake Chad region and setting off a large-scale humanitarian crisis. But since January, another, lesser-known conflict has overtaken the Boko Haram crisis as the deadliest conflict in Nigeria, killing six times more Nigerians than Boko Haram did in the same period. For years, periodic clashes between farmers and herders have disrupted Nigeria's Middle Belt, the part of the country that divides the north and south and is home to the capital, Abuja. But the conflict has recently intensified, destabilizing the region and leaving 1,300 people dead this year, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group, or ICG. “What were once spontaneous attacks have become premeditated scorched-earth campaigns in which marauders often take villages by surprise at night,” the report said. Competition for resources has played a major role in the conflict. For centuries, nomadic herders have traveled through Africa on traditional cattle routes, searching for fertile grazing lands for their cows. But desertification and the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria's northeast, among other factors, have begun to push the herders farther south, where they encounter settled communities that are already struggling with their own population booms. Incidents that may have once seemed manageable and isolated, such as a herd of cows trampling through a farmer's field, now have the potential to escalate into large-scale disputes. Conflicts between herder and farmer communities have included the burning and razing of entire villages and purposeful destruction of each others' livelihoods. Herders have at times intentionally damaged farmers' fields, and farmers have slaughtered and stolen cattle. As the ICG said in its report, the source of the clashes may be the battle for resources, but the conflict also has ethnic and religious undertones: Herders tend to be Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group, while farmers in the region tend to be Christian. Hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced in what the research group calls “Nigeria's gravest security challenge.” The resulting polarization “could affect forthcoming elections and undermine national stability,” the report said. The situation has worsened this year in part because of laws in two states, Taraba and Benue, that ban open grazing of cattle, according to the ICG. The laws, which in theory were intended to prevent conflict, may have in fact made it worse. Herders see anti-grazing laws as a direct attack on their lifestyle and work; farmers see them as the only way to prevent their fields from being trampled by cows. When a grazing
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