JOS, Nigeria: Eighty-six people have been killed in an attack by suspected nomadic herders against farming communities in restive central Nigeria, police said on Sunday.
The discovery in the Barikin Ladi area of Plateau state came after days of violence apparently sparked by an attack by ethnic Berom farmers on Fulani herders on Thursday.
State police commissioner Undie Adie said a search of Berom villages in the area following clashes on Saturday found “86 persons altogether were killed.”
Adie told reporters six people were also injured and 50 houses razed. Bodies of those who died have been released to their families, he added.
The deaths are the latest in a long-running battle for land and resources that is putting President Muhammadu Buhari under pressure as elections approach next year.
The violence — fueled by ethnic, religious and political allegiances — has killed thousands over several decades.
Analysts believe it could become Nigeria’s biggest security concern, eclipsing Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency that has left at least 20,000 dead since 2009.
The Plateau state government said it had imposed restrictions on movements in the Riyom, Barikin Ladi and Jos South areas “to avert a breakdown of law and order.”
“The curfew takes effect immediately... and movement is restricted from 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) to 6:00 am, except (for) those on essential duties,” said spokesman Rufus Bature.
On Sunday, ethnic Berom youths set up barricades on the Jos-Abuja highway and attacked motorists who looked “Fulani and Muslim,” according to those who escaped the violence.
Plateau state police spokesman Tyopev Terna and Major Adam Umar, from the military taskforce in the state capital, Jos, confirmed the blockade and vandalism to several cars.
There were no official reports of deaths but Baba Bala, who escaped the violence on the road, said at least six people were killed.
“I was lucky the convoy of the (Plateau) state government was passing through the scene of the attack shortly after I ran into the attackers,” he said.
“I escaped with smashed windscreens and dents on my car. I saw six dead bodies and several damaged cars.”
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86 people killed in central Nigeria violence: police
86 people killed in central Nigeria violence: police
- Analysts believe it could become Nigeria’s biggest security concern, eclipsing Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency that has left at least 20,000 dead since 2009
- The violence — fueled by ethnic, religious and political allegiances — has killed thousands over several decades
Ugandan opposition turns national flag into protest symbol
KAMPALA: Hundreds screamed with excitement as Uganda’s opposition leader passed by a recent rally, with the crowd waving a sea of national flags — a dangerously politicized symbol in the run-up to this week’s election.
Analysts say it is almost a foregone conclusion that President Yoweri Museveni, 81, will win a seventh term in Thursday’s vote, given his near-total control over the state apparatus in the east African country.
But his opponent, 43-year-old Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, has framed the election as a protest vote and cannily turned the national flag into a symbol of resistance.
Police last month warned against using the flag “casually and inappropriately.”
Wine’s supporters have faced frequent intimidation by the security forces during the campaign, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office and other observers.
But the flag is “the only weapon we have,” said woodworker Conrad Olwenyi, 31, at a Wine rally this week.
“We cannot fight the security, because they have a gun. We only have the flag,” he said. But “if they shoot you when you have the flag, they are shooting the country.”
- ‘Reclaiming patriotism’ -
Uganda’s flag — created when the country achieved independence from Britain in 1962 — has stripes of black to represent Africa, yellow for its sunshine, and red to represent African brotherhood, with a grey crowned crane overlaid.
In the 2021 elections, Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) adopted red berets as a symbol, but the government ruled that was illegal since they were part of the military uniform, and used that ruling to justify raids on the party’s offices.
The flag is a clever alternative and a way of “reclaiming patriotism,” said Uganda expert Kristof Titeca.
“It’s kind of taken the government by surprise, and so that’s why they started this clampdown,” he told AFP.
Like many countries in east Africa, there are laws governing how the national flag may be used, though these were rarely enforced in Uganda in the past.
“It shows the panic,” prominent cartoonist Jimmy Spire Ssentongo told AFP.
“I don’t think they are threatened by misuse of the flag. They are threatened by the visibility of the support toward NUP,” said Ssentongo, adding that as Museveni ages and nears 40 years in power, “the space for freedom of expression also shrinks.”
“Everyone has a right to use the national flag, but it depends on in what context they’re using it for. I believe the opposition is politicizing it,” said Israel Kyarisiima, a national youth co-ordinator for Museveni’s National Resistance Movement party.
Security services have repeatedly been accused by Wine’s supporters of targeting those carrying the flag at rallies, with the leader urging followers in his Christmas address to “come to the defense of anyone assaulted for carrying the flag.”
And the threats from police have not stopped Wine’s supporters brandishing the flag at rallies.
“Now we’ve got something that can really show our unity as Ugandans, and they are trying to make it criminal,” said one attendee this week, Ruth Excellent Mirembe, 25, waving a flag.
Trying to stop its use is “oppression in the highest form,” she told AFP. “This represents us as Ugandans.”
Analysts say it is almost a foregone conclusion that President Yoweri Museveni, 81, will win a seventh term in Thursday’s vote, given his near-total control over the state apparatus in the east African country.
But his opponent, 43-year-old Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, has framed the election as a protest vote and cannily turned the national flag into a symbol of resistance.
Police last month warned against using the flag “casually and inappropriately.”
Wine’s supporters have faced frequent intimidation by the security forces during the campaign, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office and other observers.
But the flag is “the only weapon we have,” said woodworker Conrad Olwenyi, 31, at a Wine rally this week.
“We cannot fight the security, because they have a gun. We only have the flag,” he said. But “if they shoot you when you have the flag, they are shooting the country.”
- ‘Reclaiming patriotism’ -
Uganda’s flag — created when the country achieved independence from Britain in 1962 — has stripes of black to represent Africa, yellow for its sunshine, and red to represent African brotherhood, with a grey crowned crane overlaid.
In the 2021 elections, Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) adopted red berets as a symbol, but the government ruled that was illegal since they were part of the military uniform, and used that ruling to justify raids on the party’s offices.
The flag is a clever alternative and a way of “reclaiming patriotism,” said Uganda expert Kristof Titeca.
“It’s kind of taken the government by surprise, and so that’s why they started this clampdown,” he told AFP.
Like many countries in east Africa, there are laws governing how the national flag may be used, though these were rarely enforced in Uganda in the past.
“It shows the panic,” prominent cartoonist Jimmy Spire Ssentongo told AFP.
“I don’t think they are threatened by misuse of the flag. They are threatened by the visibility of the support toward NUP,” said Ssentongo, adding that as Museveni ages and nears 40 years in power, “the space for freedom of expression also shrinks.”
“Everyone has a right to use the national flag, but it depends on in what context they’re using it for. I believe the opposition is politicizing it,” said Israel Kyarisiima, a national youth co-ordinator for Museveni’s National Resistance Movement party.
Security services have repeatedly been accused by Wine’s supporters of targeting those carrying the flag at rallies, with the leader urging followers in his Christmas address to “come to the defense of anyone assaulted for carrying the flag.”
And the threats from police have not stopped Wine’s supporters brandishing the flag at rallies.
“Now we’ve got something that can really show our unity as Ugandans, and they are trying to make it criminal,” said one attendee this week, Ruth Excellent Mirembe, 25, waving a flag.
Trying to stop its use is “oppression in the highest form,” she told AFP. “This represents us as Ugandans.”
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