A man with a metal detector frisks customers
entering a Mr Biggs fast-food outlet. At the main mosque, where women
arrive for Ramadan prayers, a female guard does the same. On the street,
vehicle number plates carry the slogan “Plateau: Home of peace and
tourism”. But the tourists who once visited Jos for its cool climate and
rolling green hills have been replaced by soldiers guarding sandbag
checkpoints.
“Peace was shattered,” says Sani Mudi, a spokesman for the Muslim community in Plateau state, “a long time ago”.
Over the past decade, inter-communal violence has claimed more than 4,000 lives in the state, part of Nigeria’s “Middle Belt”, an ethnically and religiously mixed area that divides the mostly Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south. Last month alone, about 115 people were killed in raids on villages outside Jos, the state capital. The dead, mostly Christian farmers, included numerous women and children and a senator. A week after those raids, a rocket was fired at a Muslim school in Jos, killing a 10-year-old boy.
In the past year, the long-running tensions in Plateau state have increasingly attracted the interest of the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram, which appears to be trying to incite a religious war in Nigeria. Though its main theatre of operations is the north, the group has been blamed for three suicide attacks on churches in Jos this year. These attacks have prompted fears that Boko Haram could exploit the underlying disputes in Plateau state – over land, identity, politics and access to resources – for its own gain.
Reports on Sunday that Nigeria’s government has started informal talks with Boko Haram – a possibility denied by the movement last week – are seen as unlikely to allay these concerns.
“We cannot continue like this,” says Gad Peter, director of the Centre for the Advocacy of Justice and Rights, in Jos. “This crisis is a threat to the country.”
Much of the fighting in Plateau state has pitted the so-called host communities against the “settlers” – the sort of conflicts that “may be growing deadlier and more numerous with time” in Nigeria, according to a report from the United States Institute for Peace last month. Policies that discriminate against those regarded as outsiders in a certain region usually underlie the violence, human rights groups say.
In every local government area in Nigeria, people are grouped into two categories. The first are the “indigenes”, who can trace their roots back to the original inhabitants of the area. In Plateau, this includes the Berom people, who dominate the state government and are Christian. Some other ethnic groups are considered settlers, including the hundreds of thousands of Hausas and Fulanis in the state, whose origins are in northern Nigeria and are Muslim.
The
indigene-settler distinction was designed to protect the culture and
traditions of the more than 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria. But it is only
vaguely supported in law, allowing individual states to determine who
qualifies as indigenous. Many, including Plateau state, preclude
non-indigenes from applying for civil service jobs or university
scholarships and charge them higher school fees.
Hausas in Jos say that they have been deliberately marginalised by state governor Jonah Jang, a Berom former air force commodore and theology graduate. “Governance has assumed a completely one-sided dimension,” says Mr Mudi, the Muslim spokesman. “Everything is for the Berom. This is a very polarised society.”
In recent years, the religious divide has grown. Neighbourhoods in Jos that were once fairly mixed are now almost exclusively Christian or Muslim. Schools too. At the same time the economy has withered. Jobs are few.
Solomon Dalung, a lecturer in international law at the University of Jos, and a Christian, says that if the Hausa and Fulani communities had tried harder to integrate into society there would have been less mistrust. But Mr Dalung adds that poor governance is mostly to blame for the failure to end the violence. “We have a leadership that discriminates on ethnicity. It’s very unfair, very unjust and now look where we are: Boko Haram is capitalising to launch its own agenda.”
The state government denies favouring the Berom, or discriminating against Muslims. “Let no one reduce this to a settler-indigene issue, or an ethnic issue. This is a political issue with a very strong religious garment. There are people who want power at all costs,” says Abraham Yiljap, the commissioner for information.
After July’s attack, Governor Jang assured people that there would be no more violence in Plateau state. Few were convinced. “The authorities always say they are on top of the situation,” says Mr Peter, the human rights activist. “They are wrong – the situation is on top of us.”
“Peace was shattered,” says Sani Mudi, a spokesman for the Muslim community in Plateau state, “a long time ago”.
Over the past decade, inter-communal violence has claimed more than 4,000 lives in the state, part of Nigeria’s “Middle Belt”, an ethnically and religiously mixed area that divides the mostly Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south. Last month alone, about 115 people were killed in raids on villages outside Jos, the state capital. The dead, mostly Christian farmers, included numerous women and children and a senator. A week after those raids, a rocket was fired at a Muslim school in Jos, killing a 10-year-old boy.
In the past year, the long-running tensions in Plateau state have increasingly attracted the interest of the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram, which appears to be trying to incite a religious war in Nigeria. Though its main theatre of operations is the north, the group has been blamed for three suicide attacks on churches in Jos this year. These attacks have prompted fears that Boko Haram could exploit the underlying disputes in Plateau state – over land, identity, politics and access to resources – for its own gain.
Reports on Sunday that Nigeria’s government has started informal talks with Boko Haram – a possibility denied by the movement last week – are seen as unlikely to allay these concerns.
“We cannot continue like this,” says Gad Peter, director of the Centre for the Advocacy of Justice and Rights, in Jos. “This crisis is a threat to the country.”
Much of the fighting in Plateau state has pitted the so-called host communities against the “settlers” – the sort of conflicts that “may be growing deadlier and more numerous with time” in Nigeria, according to a report from the United States Institute for Peace last month. Policies that discriminate against those regarded as outsiders in a certain region usually underlie the violence, human rights groups say.
In every local government area in Nigeria, people are grouped into two categories. The first are the “indigenes”, who can trace their roots back to the original inhabitants of the area. In Plateau, this includes the Berom people, who dominate the state government and are Christian. Some other ethnic groups are considered settlers, including the hundreds of thousands of Hausas and Fulanis in the state, whose origins are in northern Nigeria and are Muslim.
We have a leadership that discriminates on ethnicity. It’s very unfair
Hausas in Jos say that they have been deliberately marginalised by state governor Jonah Jang, a Berom former air force commodore and theology graduate. “Governance has assumed a completely one-sided dimension,” says Mr Mudi, the Muslim spokesman. “Everything is for the Berom. This is a very polarised society.”
In recent years, the religious divide has grown. Neighbourhoods in Jos that were once fairly mixed are now almost exclusively Christian or Muslim. Schools too. At the same time the economy has withered. Jobs are few.
Solomon Dalung, a lecturer in international law at the University of Jos, and a Christian, says that if the Hausa and Fulani communities had tried harder to integrate into society there would have been less mistrust. But Mr Dalung adds that poor governance is mostly to blame for the failure to end the violence. “We have a leadership that discriminates on ethnicity. It’s very unfair, very unjust and now look where we are: Boko Haram is capitalising to launch its own agenda.”
The state government denies favouring the Berom, or discriminating against Muslims. “Let no one reduce this to a settler-indigene issue, or an ethnic issue. This is a political issue with a very strong religious garment. There are people who want power at all costs,” says Abraham Yiljap, the commissioner for information.
After July’s attack, Governor Jang assured people that there would be no more violence in Plateau state. Few were convinced. “The authorities always say they are on top of the situation,” says Mr Peter, the human rights activist. “They are wrong – the situation is on top of us.”
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