TheCable

A coalition of civil society groups says at least 60,000 people have been killed in the middle belt region since 2001.

Addressing reporters in Abuja on Monday, the coalition said while over 600 people had been killed, more than  160,000 people have been displaced in Benue state alone between January and February this year.

“The African centre for strategic studies estimates that over 60,000 have been killed in this rising violence in the middle belt, representing a yearly average of over 3,500 killed,” said Abiodun Baiyewu-Teru, director of Global Rights Nigeria.

“There has been no accountability for these killings. Instead, they seem to have been accompanied by impunity. In response to these killings, government has offered excuses.

“Earlier in the year, the defence minister appeared to justify the killings, blaming them on interference with traditional grazing routes or adoption of laws in some states outlawing open-grazing. Such explanations are disingenuous, disreputable and disgraceful.”

The coalition also accused the political class of turning their backs to affected communities and instead “focusing on political campaigns” and election preparations in defiance of the 1999 constitution that guarantees protection for all Nigerians.

The coalition resolved to establish a Nigerian CSO crisis action on the middle belt to explore collaborative and complementary options for constructive action on the crisis on the crisis of mass killings in the region.