Three years of fighting between rival Christian and Muslim ethnic groups in the central Nigerian state of Plateau have claimed 53,787 lives, a third of them children, the state administration said. The figure is the first official toll given for the conflict, which has pitched heavily armed gangs from rival nomadic and farming communities against one another in a battle for land and power, and far exceeds previous estimates. Officials said that the figure was compiled from reports from the victims' relatives and covered the period from September 7, 2001 to May 18 of this year, when President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed emergency rule on the highland region. "They were killed as a result of the hostilities, some through machetes or bullets, some from other things," said Ezekiel Dalyop, the spokesman for Plateau's administrator Chris Alli. "The committee visited the local governments and met with officials. Those who lost their relatives provided the statistics. Every family has figures and released them to the committee. We just did the summary," he told AFP.
Alli's special advisor on resettlement and rehabilitation, Thomas Kangnaan, on Wednesday told reporters in the state capital Jos that of those killed, 18,931 were men, 17,397 were women and 17,459 were children. But some in Plateau said that the figures, which are greater than any estimate given by an outside agency, appear too high, and suggested that Alli's team may be exaggerating the death toll in order to remain in power. "I don't think it is reliable. The source is not very clear, some people might be just missing, some others have left," said Paul Wai of the pressure group the Middle Belt Progressive Movement, which opposes emergency rule.
| "Maybe they just stepped out to buy beer!" |
Plateau State lies in Nigeria's notoriously unruly central belt, the faultline between northern mainly Muslim tribes and the Christian south. |