Nigerian Consul General to the Southwest and Northwest Provinces of Cameroon, Dr. Kenneth Nsor, recently expressed his sympathy with the displaced people of Akwaya.

Dr Nsor 'we have come with a message of peace'

Nsor was speaking at the Akwaya Council Chamber, Monday, March 10, to a cross-section of the locals who fled a tribal conflict, which broke out last December 31, pitting the Olitis and the Yives.

"We have come to sympathise with our brothers of Cameroon, especially the people of Akwaya and the refugees. We have come to encourage them to make peace within themselves and not to meddle in the internal affairs of Cameroon," Nsor said.

Hordes of people from Oliti and Yive fled to more than ten villages in the Nigerian town of Amana in the Cross River State and others in the Benue State of Nigeria.So far, the Akwaya Council, St. Joseph's Parish Akwaya, Manyu Elements and Cultural Association, MECA, USA, the Nigerian Red Cross, the Cross River Emergency Management Agency, CEMA, and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, of Nigeria have been monitoring the situation of the refugees and offering first aid and food.

The Mayor of Akwaya Council, Martin Ekwale, expressed regret at the unfortunate confrontation between the Olitis and Yives, which caused the loss of lives, damage of property and mass displacement of people.

On his part, the President of Akwaya Chiefs' Conference, Chief John Etado, expressed gratitude to the authorities in Akwaya who have been working endlessly to bring peace and endeavour that the respect for one another reigns not only among the Olitis and the Yives, but all the people of Akwaya.

Origin Of Conflict

Reports from the administrative officers, the forces of law and order, traditional and religious authorities in Akwaya indicate that the Oliti/Yive conflict started as a quarrel over a piece of land, which both villages were claiming ownership over.

As the quarrel persisted, the administrative authorities placed an injunction on the said piece of land, looking forward to an amicable settlement and the demarcation of the land so that an official boundary between the Olitis and Yives is defined.

But on Monday, December 31, 2007, an Oliti man went tapping palm wine on the piece of land under injunction. Then a Yive man met the Oliti man and accused him of tapping wine on land "which is not theirs".

When the Oliti man did not respond, the "infuriated" Yive man shot him. Discovering that he had killed the man, the Yive man took to his heels. This attracted other Oliti men who came and found one of theirs lying in a pool of his own blood and his killer fleeing. The Oliti gave him the chase in vain. They then turned their anger at the brother of the run-away Yive man whom they killed. This sparked off the war between the Olitis and the Yives.

However, as this reporter wriggled his way out of the difficult road network in the Akwaya subdivision, the people and the rest of the stakeholders prayed for a lasting settlement of the land dispute between the belligerent villages and made a fervent wish to the elites of Akwaya, who by omission or commission been fuelling inter-tribal or inter-village sentiments to put a big full stop to it.