Refugee crisis in central Nigeria

Refugees sleep in the open or in cramped shelters

By Sam Olukoya in central Nigeria

Displaced by recent ethnic clashes in central Nigeria and with nowhere to lay his head, Yakubu Galadima has found a new home under a tree.

I am finished, life has come to an end for me; I now sleep under a tree, I am now like a mad man

Yakubu Galadima, refugee

"I am finished, life has come to an end for me; I now sleep under a tree, I am now like a mad man," he says.

Conditions are miserable in the camps hurriedly set up by the state government in central Nigeria, where refugees sleep in the open or in cramped shelters made of roofing sheets.

Food is in short supply and many, especially children, nursing mothers and pregnant women, are in poor health.

Mr Galadima has a gun to fight back if his village is attacked again

But Mr Galadima, whose house and other properties were burnt down in Tudun Adabu village, has other worries.

Most of his relatives were either killed or injured when his village was attacked.

Desperate to avoid the same fate, he has acquired a gun to fight back should the village come under attack again.

"I am holding this gun because I am prepared to fight back if attacked again. Many of my relatives have been killed; I am angry," he says.

Machete attacks

Refugees give chilling details of loved ones being killed and valuables, including houses and cars, being burnt down.

Rabi Sule is one of Mr Galadima's relatives; she was hospitalised after her wrist was chopped off by her attackers.

I was attacked with machetes and I fell down unconscious; I woke up only to discover that they had chopped off my wrist

Rabi Sule, refugee

"I was attacked with machetes and I fell down unconscious; I woke up only to discover that they had chopped off my wrist," she recalls in tears.

Like Rabi, many women who could not run had their wrists amputated by their attackers. The victims face a grim future without their hands.

"I make groundnut cake for a living and I need my two hands to grind the groundnut, now that my wrist is gone, I will not be able to work again," says Halima Yakubu, a housewife whose hand was amputated.

Neighbours

Authorities in Nasarawa and Benue States are now faced with the task of rehabilitating these refugees following weeks of ethnic fighting.

Violence has pitted the Tivs against three other neighbouring ethnic groups - the Alagos, Egons and Fulanis.

Although the conflict is confined to Nasarawa State, neighbouring Benue State, which is predominantly Tiv, is also having a refugee problem because the Tivs of Nasarawa State fled there for safety.

It is unclear how many refugees there are in Nasarawa State, but like their counterparts in Benue State they run into tens of thousands.

Relief officials in Benue State say they have recorded 85,000 refugees so far.

Escalation

The Tivs and their neighbours have for years been at loggerhead over farmlands.

Matters came to a head in June when a Fulani chief was killed by unknown assailants. The Fulanis retaliated by killing Tivs.

The crisis escalated with the Egons and the Alagos joining the fight on the Fulanis' side.

There is no end to the bad blood, as both sides blame each other for the attacks.

Despite the deployment of armed policemen to the area, sporadic killings are still taking place.

Effort by the government to convince the refugees to go back to their villages has been largely unsuccessful as most of them are too scared to go home in the face of the unending attacks.