A local official in Plateau State in Nigeria's restive north has said that at least 80,000 people have been displaced in the past three months by intercommunal violence. Attacks have been mounting since May. The army has reinforced security to end the clashes.
"There are an estimated of 80,000 internally displaced persons, within 11 various camps in the local government area," said Markus Artu, a top official in Mangu district.
Mangu district, in Plateau State, has been one of the epicentres of the recent violence with villages ransacked and farmland destroyed.
Since May, the region in central Nigeria has seen surge of attacks among mostly Muslim nomadic herders and Christian farming communities in violence the local state government says has left around 300 people dead.
Nigeria's military chief of staff, Major-General Taoreed Lagbaja visited Mangu,on Saturday to mark the start of special operations to "stamp out" the violence.
Mangu, Are you ready?Nigeria's Army Chief of Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, has launched Operation Hakorin Damisa Special Forces to restore normalcy across crisis Communities in Plateau State. Three hundred special troops are deployed to the Mangu local government pic.twitter.com/6Acqh7AWGk-- Nifemi Oguntoye🇳🇬 (@nifemioguntoye) July 22, 2023
Sheltering the displaced
Camps situated at a primary school in Mangu shelter about 18,000 of the displaced, according to one of the camp coordinators Yamput Daniel.
The State emergency response agency has delivered aid.
The victims are mostly local cattle herders.
"The crisis has rendered us homeless," Grace Emmanuel, one of the displaced told French news agency AFP.
"Our farmland has been destroyed and we are left to manage our lives here in this primary school."
Most of the displaced people have no food, and must fetch water from the well, which doesnt provide enough water for everyone.
"We are tired of being here, we appreciate the security coming, but it would be best if the government would deploy most of the security to the villages, so that we can get back," said Mary Ishaya, a displaced woman in Mangu district.
"But we are left here, with our children, no food, no medicine and the children are not going to school."
Security problems
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The regional commander of Plateau's Operation Safe Haven campaign has relocated its headquarters temporarily to Mangu and deployed an extra 300 troops to the district with armoured vehicles.
"The people's army, when communities make distress calls, must respond as soon as possible," army chief of staff General Lagbaja told troops.
The clashes are just one of the major security challenges faced by new President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Nigeria.
Honoured to address the dedicated graduates of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College Senior Course 45. Your commitment to security is commendable. Together, let's lead our nation towards peace, prosperity, and justice. pic.twitter.com/uIhFbFaqhJ-- Bola Ahmed Tinubu (@officialABAT) July 21, 2023
Plateau State sits on the dividing line between Nigeria's mostly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south, and has for years been a flashpoint for tensions.
The trigger of the most recent attacks in Plateau remain unclear. Tensions between herders and farmers over land and resources often spiral into tit-for-tat village raids by armed gangs who kidnap, loot and kill.
(with AFP)
