NEW ETHNO-RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN ADAMAWA STATE

UNCLAS ABUJA 001041 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV ASEC PREL NI SUBJECT: NEW ETHNO-RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN ADAMAWA STATE REF: ABUJA 972 ¶1. At least nine and as many as 50 were killed in Numan, Adamawa State, on June 8 in ethno-religious fighting that began over the rebuilding of a mosque near the palace of the Christian Bachama ethnic group's traditional leader. Several mosques and homes were burned, and many residents have fled the area. Governor Haruna imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and asked security forces to shoot troublemakers on sight: "Police, Army, direct your men, anybody found causing trouble, I mean anybody, should be killed." ¶2. Exactly one year before, on June 8, 2003, about 100 were killed in Numan in a riot sparked by the killing of a Christian evangelist by a Muslim waterseller. Numan's central mosque was burned in that violence. The mosque's reconstruction by the ethnic Hausa minority had been halted by court order due to complaints from the ethnic Bachama majority that the reconstructed minaret was now taller than the Christian traditional ruler's palace. ¶3. Adamawa Gov. Haruna in the northeast was not as quick as Kebbi State Gov. Aliero in the northwest at a different ethno-religious fracas in Jega a week ago (reftel),but the impulse was the same. All remember that violence in Plateau State led to a State of Emergency declaration that sacked Gov. Dariye there. ¶4. In Benue State there are reports that ethnic violence between other tribes' militias this week killed 5-20 people in the Ullam/Ugambe area. Benue's Deputy Governor described the stories as "completely false," perhaps using a different tactic for political and humanitarian (in the sense of forestalling revenge attacks) survival. CAMPBELL