Land dispute claims 27 lives

Renewed fighting between two communities in southeastern Nigeria’s Ebonyi State has claimed at least 27 lives, local officials and residents said on Tuesday.

The fighting between the neighbouring communities of Akaeze in Iro local council and Osso Edda in Afikpo South displaced more than 1,000 people, while several homes, two schools and a community health centre were destroyed, Samson Agwuocha, a resident of Afikpo, told IRIN. “The dispute has been lingering for years, but the latest fighting is the worst we have ever seen and it has disrupted farming activites in this area, which is largely agricultural,” he said.

Local officials said Ebonyi State Governor Sam Egwu visited the area during the weekend and pledged to set up a commission to investigate the cause of the conflict.

“The governor has also directed law enforcement agents to ensure that parties to the dispute do not encroach on the disputed land while efforts are on to resolve the conflict,” an official of Afikpo South local council told IRIN. The only exceptions are those who have already cultivated crops and who are required to harvest them, he said.

Many of the displaced people have taken refuge in Afikpo town and neighbouring communities. Residents of the affected communities trace the latest incident to lingering anger and the desire for vengeance by families whose members died in fighting over the disputed land last year, in which at least seven people were reported killed. More than a dozen people who went missing then still remain unaccounted for.