40 die in southeast clashes over land

At least 40 people died in clashes over ownership of agricultural land that erupted last week between two communities in Nigeria’s southeastern Cross River State, police authorities said.

Joseph Eze, a police spokesman, told journalists on Friday at Calabar, the Cross River capital, the fighting was between the Apiapum and Ufatura communities in the Obubra local council. He said worth five billion naira (US $43.8 million) were lost, in addition to the people killed.

He said the police had, so far, arrested 559 people and were still on the trail of a number of others considered masterminds of the clashes. "The police have launched a manhunt for a retired army officer who allegedly conveyed armed youths and ammunitions in his vehicle," Eze said.

The police command in the area has called on victims of the clashes, many of
whom are said to be traders based at Apiapum, to provide information on their losses. Police officials said contingents of anti-riot police have been deployed in the area to maintain peace and the situation was now under control.

Nigeria has been wracked by many incidents of communal clashes over ethnic, religious or land disputes since President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected in 1999 to end more than 15 years of military rule in the country of 120 million people. Government officials have sometimes blamed the disturbances, which have claimed several thousand lives, on former military officers said to be undermining democracy.