Attack in Nigeria. Thousands of people displaced

Thousands of Nigerians have fled their homes after an attack by gunmen left dozens dead on Friday in Yelewata, Benue state, the Nigerian National Relief Agency said Monday.

On Sunday, “the number of displaced people amounted to 1,069 families, or 6,527 people,” the agency (NEMA) said in a statement.

Among those displaced, “more than 3,000, including many women and children, are in urgent need of food, clean water and essential medical supplies,” he added.

On the night of Friday into Saturday, gunmen killed several dozen people in Yelewata, in the center of the country, a region that has seen a resurgence of violence for several months between Muslim Fulani cattle herders and sedentary farmers, mainly Christians, for control of land and resources.

“The number of victims remains uncertain due to the unstable security situation and limited access to the affected areas. According to initial reports, the death toll would amount to more than 100 people,” explained NEMA officials.

The official toll released Sunday night by the governor of Benue State put the death toll at 59. For their part, residents of Yelewata told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Saturday that “at least 100 people” had died during the attack.

The relief agency also mentioned the deaths of two soldiers and a civil defense officer during the attack.

NEMA, the Red Cross, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have set up a new camp to accommodate displaced people in the city of Makurdi, the regional capital.

Attacks in this region often take on a religious or ethnic dimension.

Land grabbing, political and economic tensions between the settled and those considered foreigners, as well as the influx of extremist Muslim and Christian preachers, have accentuated divisions.

Land available for agriculture and livestock farming is steadily decreasing due to climate change and human expansion, leading to sometimes deadly competition for increasingly limited space.

Fulani herders are often blamed for these attacks, but they also claim to be targets of deadly attacks by farmers and land grabbing.

According to a recent report by Amnesty International, 6,896 people have been killed in attacks over the past two years in Benue State, 2,600 in Plateau State, and 450,000 people have been displaced .