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At least 35,000 Flee Ethnic Clashes in Nigeria
According to an initial assessment of two of four camps set up for displaced by the ethnic clashes, 25,000 people are sheltered in the camp at Daudu and 10,000 in the grounds of the primary school at Uikpam, both of which are located in Makurdi, the capital of Benue State.
"We are sending a team now to do a further assessment and to extend that to any other camps," spokesman for the International Red Cross Patrick Bawa said.
Triggered by the grisly murder of a local Azeri traditional ruler, the clashes between people from the ethnic Tiv minority, who are blamed for his murder, and majority Hausa-speaking Azeri community erupted on June 12 and swept through towns and villages in the southeast of Nasarawa.
The Tiv community, a minority ethnic group in Nasarawa, have since then fled to central Benue and Plateau states to escape attacks.
Following the clashes, Benue State has set up four camps at Dauda, Uikpam, Tokura and Kaseyo for these Tiv refugees. In addition, two camps were reported to have been set up in Plateau State.
The relations between the Tiv and the Azeri have long been strained and upsurges of unrest in the area have occurred many times in recent years, pushed by growing competition over land and age-old ethnic and political rivalries.
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