90 killed in state boundary dispute

At least 90 people were killed and many others injured last week in clashes over the delineation of the boundary between the southeastern states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River, local media reported. AFP, quoting ‘This Day’ newspaper, reported on Sunday that the clashes were between residents of Akwa Ibom’s Itu municipality and those of the Odukpani municipality in Cross River. Akwa Ibom was carved out of Cross River in September 1987. The executive director of the Constitutional Rights Project, Clement Nwanko, told IRIN that boundary disputes had become a regular occurrence since the end of military rule in 1999. The military had divided communities arbitrarily, he said. Disputes of this nature, he said, could result in homes being destroyed and their occupants displaced.