13 killed in farmer-herder clash in Nigeria

In Nigeria, at least 13 people have been killed in restive central region in an escalating ethnic battle between farmers and herders. 

Military spokesman Major Adam Umar said yesterday, the violence earlier this week between the Berom, indigenous farmers, and the Fulani, nomadic cattle herders, took place in Jol, a community part of the Riyom local government area of Plateau state. 

Umar said the attack was part of the tit-tat killings between the Fulani and Berom.  He said a meeting between the sides had been brokered by authorities but that



it had failed to stem the bloodshed.

Riyom local government chairman Emmanuel Danboyi Jugul said that he believes that the upcoming national elections may be the cause of the violence.  Plateau state lies in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt that separates the predominantly Muslim north from the largely Christian south. 

It has long been a hotbed of ethnic, sectarian and religious tensions that flare up during election season. Nigerians are set to vote in hotly contested presidential polls in February 2019.