Scores reported dead in clashes over fishpond

At least 100 people are believed to have died in communal clashes in Nasarawa State, central Nigeria, over ownership of a fishpond, local officials said on Thursday.

Thousands of other people were reported to have fled the clashes, while crops, livestock and houses were destroyed. Most of the displaced, particularly women and children, have taken refuge in safer areas within the state. Others were said to have fled into neighbouring Benue State.

"The fighting, which broke out on Monday in Loko and Udege districts of the state, quickly spread, affecting about eight villages," Hashidu Adamu, an official of the Nasarawa State Ministry of Local Government, told IRIN.

Umaru Suleiman, the Nasarawa State police commissioner, was reported by local media as saying that urgent measures had been taken to bring the situation under control. Several teams of a special anti-riot division of the police had been sent into the area to restore order, he said.

Nasarawa State last year witnessed widespread communal violence between Tivs and Azeris following a land dispute. Hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands displaced. About 50,000
Tivs who were forced to flee the fighting took refuge in Benue State, which has a majority Tiv population. Most of them are yet to return.

The situation of displaced people in the volatile central region further deteriorated in the wake of clashes between Tivs and Jukuns in neighbouring Taraba State in October and army massacres in reprisal for the killing of 19 soldiers by Tiv militiamen.

A group named the Tiv National Consultative Forum (TNCF) early this week called on President Olusegun Obasanjo to withdraw soldiers deployed in the region, whom they accused of brutalising Tiv people. The group also vowed to defend the ethnic group from any further attacks by using over 120,000 retired Nigerian soldiers of Tiv origin.

"We have resolved to take our destiny in our hands to protect and preserve the people without minding the consequences with effect from now," Godwin Dab-Adzuana, president of TNCF told a news conference in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. "Those who have refused or ignored our pleas and tears must be prepared to take responsibility for the full consequences of our action henceforth," he added.