Massacre in a village in Nigeria

There appears to have been a massacre in a village in Nigeria's Benue state. According to various sources, armed attackers attacked the village of Yelewata. Tersoo Kula, spokesperson for the Benue governor's office, told AFP: "There was a confirmed attack on the Yelewata community." The attack began around 10 p.m. Friday evening and lasted about two hours. "There were casualties and several houses were burned down."

"It's terrible, many people have died," said Amineh Liapha Hir, a resident of the town, describing the attack. "There could be more than 100, and many houses have burned down," she told AFP.

Another resident, Christian Msuega, said he escaped the attack, but his sister and brother-in-law were burned alive. He also estimated the number of dead at around 100 and blamed Fulani herdsmen for the attack.

Reactions from Amnesty and the Vatican

Amnesty International Nigeria also reports 100 deaths. "Many people are still missing. Dozens have been injured and are not receiving adequate medical care. Numerous families have been locked in their bedrooms and burned to death," the human rights organization said on Saturday.

The Catholic Church reports even higher figures. Pope Leo XIV said this Sunday in a speech in St. Peter's Square in Rome that approximately 200 people were brutally killed there. Among them were primarily internally displaced persons who had been taken in by the local Catholic mission.

The Pope said he prayed "that security, justice and peace may reign in Nigeria, a beloved country so deeply affected by various forms of violence."

In a statement released Sunday, Benue Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia strongly condemned the attack and the "massacre of innocent citizens by suspected criminal herdsmen." The Benue government is working closely with the state's security agencies, traditional rulers, community leaders, and relevant stakeholders "to strengthen security measures and find lasting solutions to these ongoing attacks," the official said.

Years of ongoing conflict over land

Benue is located in Nigeria's so-called "Middle Belt," an area where the predominantly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south. Competition for land use exists in the region.

Conflicts arise between pastoralists seeking grazing land for their livestock and farmers seeking arable land for crops. These tensions are often exacerbated by overlapping ethnic and religious divisions.

According to research firm SBM Intelligence, more than 500 people in the region have been killed by the conflict since 2019, and 2.2 million have been forced to flee their homes.

AR/MM (rtr, afp, kna, efe, ap)