at least 85 dead in clashes between farmers and herders in the center of the country

At least 85 people have been killed after attacks on the evening of Monday May 15 in two villages in central Nigeria, local officials said Thursday. These events are linked to recurrent deadly clashes between farmers and herders in this area. The representative of these two villages in the Mangu district, Joseph Gwankat, told AFP that “57 injured were hospitalized”.

It’s about “retaliatory attacks” between farmers and herders, following “of the murder of a farmer two weeks ago on his field” Then “that of a breeder by the relatives of the farmer”, said an official of the national emergency service of Plateau State, Juni Bala. Local police said on Thursday morning they had arrested five people in connection with the violence, adding that security forces had been deployed and that “calm had returned”.

The northwestern and central regions of Nigeria are regularly the scene of conflicts and tensions around the exploitation of land and water resources between communities of farmers and herders. The chain of killings followed by acts of reprisal has given rise to wider criminality in the region with gangs carrying out targeted expeditions into villages, carrying out mass kidnappings and looting.