At least 113 people have been killed in attacks by armed groups on several villages in Plateau, a central state in Nigeria, since this weekend. The local government announced this on Monday, writes the French news agency AFP. More than three hundred injured people were taken to hospitals in the Bokkos, Jos and Barkin Ladi districts. Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang calls it “barbaric, brutal and unjustified” attacks.
At least twenty villages were reportedly attacked between Saturday evening and Monday morning, in what local authorities described to AFP as “well-coordinated attacks”. It is not known from where the violence comes. This is the deadliest violence in Plateau since last May, when at least a hundred people were killed in similar attacks.
The region has been plagued for years by religious and ethnic tensions and armed clashes between local farming and pastoral communities. In addition to countless looting and kidnappings, tens of thousands of Nigerians are said to have been displaced.
‘Government failure the norm’
According to a spokesperson for the local governor, “proactive measures” will be taken to curb the “ongoing attacks on innocent civilians”, according to AFP. It is not known exactly what these measures entail. It is not the first time that the Nigerian government has announced that it will take action against the violence.
However, according to Amnesty International, Nigerian authorities are doing too little to put an end to the violence in Plateau. “The blatant failure of the authorities to protect the people of Nigeria is gradually becoming the ‘norm’,” Amnesty writes in a response to X. The human rights organization calls on Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to simply condemn the attacks. “The perpetrators must be brought to justice immediately.”
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