NIGERIA: REPORTS OF ARMY ATTACKS ON TIV IN BENUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002708

SIPDIS


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DEPARTMENT FOR DRL, AF/W AND AF/RA
AF/W FOR PARKS, EPSTEIN
DRL FOR TOMLYANOVICH


E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2006
TAGS: PINS PREF PGOV PHUM NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: REPORTS OF ARMY ATTACKS ON TIV IN BENUE


Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, reasons 1.5 (b) and
(d).



1. (U) Summary: According to several sources, the Army is
reported to have destroyed several villages in Eastern Benue
and killed an undetermined number of people in an apparent
reprisal for the murder of nineteen soldiers October 12.
Troops apparently destroyed the house of former Chief of Army
staff Victor Malu, killing several family members. In
apparent response to the military action, a demonstration by
Tiv students at the University of Makurdi turned violent when
the students attacked a police station in the city.
Eyewitnesses report at least ten killed in that incident,
which was eventually quelled by the police. End Summary.



2. (C) A number of private and public sources are reporting
these events. We cannot now state that these reports are
completely true. However, that we are getting similar
renditions from a variety of independent sources lends
credibility to the general account of events. A picture is
emerging that indicates multiple military actions against
civilians in Benue State, resulting in the destruction of
several villages and the deaths of over 100 people.
Eyewitnesses who fled the destruction, as well as Tiv
leaders, have reported to BHC and Embassy officials that Army
units entering Benue from Taraba state on Monday evening,
began targeting ethnic Tiv villages. The informal Tiv
militia have been accused of the October 12 killings of Army
soldiers in Benue. Troops are reported to have killed
residents of Gbeji, and Vaase, villages in the Ukum Local
Government Area in eastern Benue, before razing them. After
destroying the village of Anyiin, troops went to Zaki-Biam,
where they levelled former Chief of Army Staff Victor Malu's
residence, allegedly killing his grandmother and five other
members of his household in the process. A high ranking
military officer denied that Army troops have killed anyone
in Benue State, and said there were other security forces
(SSS, informal militia) which may be responsible for any
deaths (see DAO septel).



3. (C) Tivs have flooded into Makurdi from the affected
areas, adding to nearly 60,000 co-ethnics who were previously
displaced from their homes in neighboring Nasarawa and Taraba
states. In reaction to the killings, students at the
predominantly Tiv University of Makurdi staged a
demonstration which generated a riot when students attacked a
police station, according to a BHC source with direct access.
The police responded with tear gas and fired weapons above
the students' heads. One Amcit eyewitness reported seeing at
least 10 charred bodies after the demonstration was over. It
is not clear whether the bodies were police, students or
both.
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Background
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4. (C) The nineteen soldiers were reportedly kidnapped and
killed by an armed band of Tiv youth, who dismembered and
severely mutilated the soldiers' bodies. The soldiers had
been deployed to the border area to maintain order between
feuding Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups. Senator Daniel J.
Saror, and Representative Gabriel Suswam, both Tivs who
represent the area affected by the military action, met
Ambassador Jeter October 24 to present their perspective and
to request USG assistance in stopping the violence assisting
what they claim may be over 500,000 internally displaced
persons. Both men claimed that the October 12 deaths were
the result of a battle of Tiv militia against soldiers and
Jukun militia wearing army uniforms who had burned a Tiv
village. The Tiv militia prevailed in the ensuing firefight,
killing the soldiers and Jukun militia members. It was
widely reported in the press that the President and the Army
had called upon Tiv leaders to "turn over" the perpetrators
or face a possible military action.



5. (C) The capture and murder of these soldiers was the
latest incident in a series of conflicts involving the Tiv
and their ethnic neighbors in Nasarawa, Benue and Taraba
states. According to the Nigerian ethnic calculus of the
indigene/settler, Tivs are regarded as interlopers by the
"indigenous" ethnic groups in Nasarawa and Taraba, even
though they migrated into central Nigeria many years ago and
are the largest ethnic group in Benue State. Disputes over
land and access to state resources break out with some
frequency; there is an historical record of Tiv/Jukun
disputes that spans most of the 20th Century. The current
cycle began in southeastern Nasarawa state June 12 when an
Azara chieftan was assassinated, purportedly by a group of
local Tiv (Reftel). The Azara are allies of the Jukun, at
least when it comes to resisting Tiv "encroachment."
Hundreds may have been killed in the ensuing conflict, which
was eventually stopped by the military, with nearly 30,000
Tiv migrating south to Benue State. Later in July, the
conflict spread to Taraba State, where members of the Jukun
ethnic group allegedly attacked local Tiv, driving them into
Benue state. Twenty-five people were reported killed in that
attack and 25,000 Tiv fled Taraba for camps on Benue and
Nasarawa.



6. (C) Comment: Most disconcerting are the reports of the
Army's lethal brutality. If true, this will stain the Army
and the Federal Government as severely as did the 1999 Odi
massacre. Tiv leaders allege that their people are de facto
being expelled from Nasarawa and Taraba--what they call
ethnic cleansing--even though Tiv have resided there for
nearly two centuries. We have no evidence of a conscious
plot to expel the Tiv, and certainly have no evidence that
the Nasarawa and Taraba state governments are involved.
However, the two state governments have done little to halt
this Tiv displacement. Still, this conflict cannot be as one
sided as the Tiv leadership represents. The Tiv allege that
the Army has sided with the Jukun, and that Minister of
Defense Danjuma (ethnically a Tiv but raised as a Jukun) has
provided the Jukun militia with arms. The Jukun allege that
General Malu is doing the same for the Tiv. We cannot
confirm these assertions.



7. (C) Comment cntd.: That General Malu (an ethnic Tiv) may
have been targeted by his former troops adds another twist to
this tragedy. General Malu, the author of the Odi massacre,
may not be expected to take this passively, and violence in
Benue, as well as a looming humanitarian disaster, is likely
to continue. End Comment.
Jeter