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Clashes Continued in Nigeria, 40 killed in Nasarawa clash

by D.S.Rajput | December 30, 2009 at 10:48 pm

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New Delhi: Starting clashes wetbeen herds men and farmers to security forces and members of a fundamentalist Islamic secttions continued in Nigeria. In current clashes death toll from a clash between security forces and members of an Islamic sect in northern Nigeria has climbed to 40, even as the region limped back to normalcy. The country's police spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu said that situation has returned to normal in the area following extra effort by the police. He said the security has been beefed up in neighbouring states where similar outbreak of violence was witnessed in the past. The violence in Bauchi started on Monday when a sect called Kala-Kato, an off-shoot of another notorious group Maitatsine, called for the destruction of another faction in a sermon. The sect also sought the killing of those who rejected its teaching prompting residents of the area to call police. Periodically, religious violence erupts in northern Nigerian states. The Kala-Kato sect rejects modernity, including Western- style education and medicine and seeks the adoption of Sharia Islamic law all over Nigeria, which has an equal population of Christians and Muslims.

Before it at least 30 people have been killed in clashes between herds men and farmers in Nasarawa State.
Eyewitness described how armed men, driving from house to house shooting. Farms and homes have been destroyed in the remote village of Udenin Gida. The fighting followed weeks of tension between the two groups. Reports said they counted up to 50 dead bodies, many of whom they said are women and children.
The village is now under the control of the police. A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent, Caroline Duffield said the conflict between ethnic Fulani herders and farmers has been partially caused by climate change. Environmentalists say the Sahara Desert is creeping south by as much as 10 miles (16km) a year. This has increased competition between rival groups for access to land.