Land battles erupt in Nigeria
2005-04-25 14:03
Lagos - Nigerian authorities fear that scores of villagers have been killed in clashes between two communities over land rights in the southeast of the country, state and police officials said Monday.
Violence erupted between the Ukelle community in Cross Rivers State and their neighbours, the Izzi people of Ebonyi State, on April 13 and continued over the weekend.
Newspaper reports said more than 100 people were feared killed.
"The fighting is in the bush, so it is difficult to say precisely how many have lost their lives. But scores might have died," Cross Rivers state spokesperson Dominic Kidzu said by telephone from the state capital, Calabar.
He said many houses had been razed and property valued at millions of naira destroyed since fighting broke out over "ownership of farmland".
"Right now, the governors of the two states and the traditional leaders of the warring communities are trying to broker a truce. They met in Calabar on Saturday and the communities have agreed to a ceasefire," he said.
A police spokesperson in Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi, confirmed there had been fighting.
"As I am talking to you now, the commissioner of police has ordered police reinforcements to contain the fresh violence," he added.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation, home to more than 130 million people, and competition for land and resources between rival political, criminal and ethnic groups often boils over into violence.
Thousands are killed every year in communal clashes and by the security forces, who do not hesitate to use lethal force to quell the fighting.