March 15, 2010
The area should be a place of prosperity. Nigeria's "middle belt," where the bloodied city of Jos is located, sits between the rainforests of the south and the arid savannah of the north. The land offers the some of the country's most fertile land. Previously, tin mines employed hundreds. The tourism industry once flourished.
All that prosperity has dwindled in the last decade. Last Sunday's attacks in Plateau state, estimated to have killed around 200 Christians, underscore the tension the region feels. Its situation between Nigeria's Muslim north, Christian south and dozens of indigenous groups has led to numerous clashes and more than a thousand deaths since 2001.
"Jos is a mini-Nigeria. All segments of Nigeria are here," state police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba told the Associated Press. Jos is the capital city of Plateau state. Dozens of indigenous ethnic groups keep company alongside the newer Christians and even newer Muslim communities.
With so many groups represented in the middle belt, the area is a simmering "hotbed" for economic, ethnic, and religious tensions, says Open Doors Minister-at-Large, Paul Estabrooks.
Last Sunday's deadly violence, in which mostly Muslim herdsmen slaughtered at least 200 people in the Christian village of Dogo Nahawa, is only the latest example.
"Some are saying the attack was revenge for the January fighting [that killed 300 people, mostly Muslims]. Others say it was the result of fighting over farmland. There are also those who say it is a fight for the control of the city of Jos as capital of Plateau State," said Open Doors Africa Director, who could not be named for security concerns. Another Christian missionary near Dogo Nahawa declined to talk with Crosswalk.com for similar reasons.
"All of these may very well be part of the general motive," he said, "but it would be oversimplifying to say that any one of these is the sole reason for the most recent attack."
The director notes that the villagers attacked on Sunday were not involved in January's violence, making retaliation seem like an odd motive.
Police in Dogo Nahawa and state officials don't even agree on the official death toll, according to Reuters. The state government, perceived as Christian-dominated, initially said that over 500 had been killed with machetes when their homes were torched. The majority of the dead were women and children.
Later in the week, police whittled the number of dead down to 109 and insisted that they had exact body counts. The state government demanded the police explain on-the-ground journalists' reports supporting the first number released.
Whatever the number, the palpable lack of trust hampers interaction on many levels.
"With these kind of hard feelings, whenever an incident occurs, it can be stirred up into mob violence that just goes crazy," said Estabrooks.
Even questions of faith get more complicated on closer inspection. The strict Muslim versus Christian divide breaks down into cultural identity, genuine faith and family traditions, and animist religions populate the region on a lesser scale.
"It's as varied there as it is here," Estabrooks said.
"You have those who are Christian in name only. They are because their grandfather was. And too, because they're not Muslim so they must be Christians," he continued. "Then there are Christians who read the Bible and try to live the way the Lord wants them to live. You have the same breadth of religious understanding, religious commitment as you do in our country."
The decade of attacks has built resentment on all sides. In 2001, more than 1,000 people died in religiously-tinged clashes in Jos, followed by an attack on Muslims three years later that led to as many as 700 deaths. Pleateau declared a state of emergency and imposed curfews to curtail the bloodshed. In 2008, another 200 people died in similar clashes.
On the Muslim side, the perception of a Christian-dominated government is also hard to swallow.
"They feel they're being overlooked. They're not getting jobs they need and they're not being treated well," Estabrooks said.
The complicated economic and political situation could undermine peace efforts from either side, even if the religious question could be put aside.
"They could resolve it spiritually but still have a war over the land, the economy, the moving in the land. There are a number of factors involved here," Estabrooks said. He acknowledges that the current violence could erupt in full-blown civil war if someone doesn't try to break the cycle.
But the anger runs deeper than the machete wounds in Plateau. According to the Africa director, when one pastor encouraged a group of youths to forgive the attackers, "they were extremely offended."
"They have built and rebuilt homes and churches so many times," he said. "They have gone to morgues to look for the bodies of their loved ones so often. Is it realistic to expect them not to snap at a certain point in time?"
