Ethnic violence in Nigeria: a historical perspective
Interesting read on the roots of ethnic violence in Nigeria & the role of the British in promoting ethnic divisions.
Written by a respected Nigerian academic.
http://www.indiana.edu/~workshop/pap...oli_021003.pdf
I expect similar accounts for the French in their ex-colonies.
KingJaja,
Is it not time to move away from the intellectual dishonesty that continues to flow out of the ex-colonies in Africa?
The lie that is being sold to the ignorant and gullable in Europe and North America is that all the African tribes and ethnic groups lived in perfect harmony until the European colonists arrived.
The greatest contribution your generation can make is to stop the incessant resuscitation of this garbage and address the truth of history ... and move on and take responsibility for the future of your respective countries.
Originally Posted by KingJaja
Northern Cameroon Under Threat from Boko Haram and Slka Militants
http://www.refworld.org/docid/52e0e6d84.htmlThe Tenth Parallel North has been described as the "fault line where Islam and Christianity meet and clash." [1] In Africa, the Tenth Parallel passes west to east through Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Sudan and Somalia. Cameroon is the only one of these countries to avoid major ethnic, religious, sectarian or terrorism-related conflict in the last decade.
However, militants are now using Cameroon as a rear base for carrying out attacks in Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR). These groups include Boko Haram and Ansaru in northern Cameroon and (CAR) militants, including Slka, in eastern Cameroon. Cameroon is likely to see new security threats spilling over into its territory from its two Tenth Parallel neighbors, as well as increasing pressures on the state from refugee flows into Cameroon from Nigeria and the CAR.
Interesting analysis
Nigeria: Benue Gov, Fulani Herdsmen in Gun Battle
Another crisis (has nothing to do with either the Niger Delta or Boko Haram) in Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt".
Could Nigeria end up like Central African Republic (albeit on a much larger scale)? Yes, if urgent steps aren't taken.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201403120223.htmlMakurdi — Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Monday, afternoon escaped death by the whiskers when his convoy was ambushed by Fulani herdsmen who engaged his security aides in exchange of gunfire at Tee‑Akanyi village in Guma local government area of the state.
This was just after the rampaging invaders had sacked about 64 villages on the Daudu‑Gbajimba axis of the council, killing no fewer than 37 persons whose corpses still littered the invaded communities.
In his reaction, former PDP chairman, Senator Barnabas Gemade, representing Benue North East Senatorial District alleged that those behind the invasion and killing of the people of Tiv and Idoma of Benue State were mercenaries from neighbouring African countries of Chad, Mali and Cameroon that had been contracted to destabilize the country.
What steps do you think need to be taken, and by whom?
Hard to see how any foreign power has the standing to be involved... are there local entities with the capacity to really take charge of things without being perceived as working purely toward their own ends?
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”
H.L. Mencken
An important first step is a "national conference". Nigeria can live with Boko Haram if it is contained to the North east, but these other conflicts are intensely political & more of a threat to our future.
National conference:
http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2014/02...o-forge-ahead/Finally, it is instructive to note that Ethiopia in 1991 conducted a national conference and came out with a far reaching people’s constitution in 1994 with a clause that creates a two-tiered federal structure, which, at least in principle, emphasised ethnic groups’ rights and the right to self-determination which are necessary ingredient for a stable democracy and on the other hand, Nigeria should not also be in a hurry forget the case of the former Yugoslavia in Europe with similar historical trajectories like us disintegrated in 1992–1999 respectively.
This incident is not a crisis (by African standards).
This is Nigeria's current crisis:
Nigeria orders probe into 'missing $20bn' of oil money
Now back to the side-show at Katsina...
From the BBC:
Nigeria attack: Scores killed in Katsina state
So this 'crisis' has been festering for some time then... Can this be blamed on the colonial power? I suggest not. More an indication of incompetence by a government more interested in stealing oil money than governing the country.Most Fulani-related violence in Nigeria is concentrated around central Plateau state, where Muslim herders are pitted against Christian farmers. Thousands have been killed in recent years.
Such conflicts - a mix of land disputes, tribal and religious animosity - are unrelated to the Islamist insurgency concentrated mainly in Nigeria's northeast, in which many civilians have also been killed.
These land issues where herders and farmers compete for the diminishing land resources - mainly due to population growth, over grazing and poor land husbandry - are common place. Something has to give.
The Brits would probably have given the Fulani an ultimatum to surrender the perpetrators and when they were not produced conducted a punitive raid where they confiscated cattle - say 100 for each person killed - and handed them over to the surviving victims.
This of course would just cause the Fulani to conduct raids to steal 'their' cattle back.
So send up some military helicopters and shoot 5,000 or so Fulani cattle and engage any tribesmen who fire on the helicopters. On second thoughts, make that 10,000 cattle to make sure they get the message and also reduce the pressure on the grazing land available.
Happy hunting
Mark:
I'll post something re: Giustozzi's book in the thread, Second-party Counterinsurgency, when I get around to it.
Regards
Mike
PS: Hmm ..., 100 cattle per perp. Sounds like the founding of Rhodesia, Rhodes, The Life & Legend of Cecil Rhodes Ep.5 (start at 39:45, with Johnson's ultimatum to the Shona).
Last edited by jmm99; 03-14-2014 at 11:32 AM.
In this case it would be punitive... in those days it was used as a pretext
There must some great examples of pretext out of American history, yes?
Look forward to that.
Relationships between nomads and their neighbors are fraught by nature. That certainly can’t be blamed on the colonial powers. The imposition of colonial and then national borders made Fula subsistence patterns more difficult to maintain, though, so colonial and post-colonial governance have exacerbated the tensions to a degree.
If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)
In most of these remote areas the borders were purely administrative and movements continued must as before.
Competition over land use - as you mentioned - is probably the cause and mainly due to the growth of the population that must be sustained from the land. Not sure how much water is an (additional contributing) issue there... but you would know about that matter from US history out West with the 'water wars'.
Something has to give... there has to be a loser (and he must lose big).
Last edited by JMA; 03-14-2014 at 02:13 PM.
A few points:This incident is not a crisis (by African standards).
This is Nigeria's current crisis:
Nigeria orders probe into 'missing $20bn' of oil money
Now back to the side-show at Katsina...
From the BBC:
Nigeria attack: Scores killed in Katsina state
So this 'crisis' has been festering for some time then... Can this be blamed on the colonial power? I suggest not. More an indication of incompetence by a government more interested in stealing oil money than governing the country.
These land issues where herders and farmers compete for the diminishing land resources - mainly due to population growth, over grazing and poor land husbandry - are common place. Something has to give.
The Brits would probably have given the Fulani an ultimatum to surrender the perpetrators and when they were not produced conducted a punitive raid where they confiscated cattle - say 100 for each person killed - and handed them over to the surviving victims.
This of course would just cause the Fulani to conduct raids to steal 'their' cattle back.
So send up some military helicopters and shoot 5,000 or so Fulani cattle and engage any tribesmen who fire on the helicopters. On second thoughts, make that 10,000 cattle to make sure they get the message and also reduce the pressure on the grazing land available.
Happy hunting
A. Lucky Brits, they happened to rule Nigeria when AK 47s weren't easily
available.
B. We actually have elections & democracy - so you don't win votes by demanding 200 cows from (or whatever) from an ethnic group.
C. Yes, the Nigerian government has been incompetent & corrupt - since Independence, but you can't play "Cecil Rhodes" here, not even the Brits can.
Then as you said earlier:
Democracy? More like a Kleptocracy.Could Nigeria end up like Central African Republic (albeit on a much larger scale)? Yes, if urgent steps aren't taken.
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