II. Background on the Inter-Communal Violence in Jos

Forty-eight years after gaining independence, Nigeria is still a nation deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines. More than 12,000 people have died in inter-communal clashes since the end of military rule in 1999 alone. Plateau State has been particularly hard-hit by this violence. In September 2001, sectarian violence in Jos claimed as many as 1,000 lives.[2] Three years later, more than 700 people were killed in May 2004 in inter-communal clashes in the town of Yelwa.[3]

Human Rights Watch has found that among the root causes of much of the inter-communal violence in Nigeria are government policies that discriminate against "non-indigenes"-people who cannot trace their ancestry to the original inhabitants of an area-essentially relegating millions of Nigerians to the status of second-class citizens.[4] State and local governments throughout Nigeria have enacted policies that deny those designated as non-indigenes access to some of the most important avenues of socio-economic mobility. Non-indigenes are openly denied the right to compete for state and local government jobs or academic scholarships, while state-run universities subject non-indigenes to discriminatory admissions policies and higher fees. As poverty and unemployment have both become more widespread and severe in Nigeria, competition for scarce opportunities to secure government jobs, education, and political patronage has intensified dramatically. Religious, political, and ethnic disputes often serve as mere proxies for the severe economic pressures that lie beneath the surface.

The two days of inter-communal violence on November 28-29, 2008, followed a disputed local government election in Jos North on November 27. The violence pitted predominantly Christian indigenes from the Berom, Afizere, and Anaguta ethnic groups, who largely supported the Christian candidate from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), against Muslim "non-indigenes" primarily from the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group, who largely backed the Muslim candidate from the opposition All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP).

At stake in the local government election was not just control of the large sums of public funds disbursed by the federal government, but also control over determining which ethnic groups would be granted indigene status in Jos.[5] Local governments throughout Nigeria have generally had the discretion to determine who the indigenes are in their communities and to issue "certificates of indigeneity" that serve as documentary proof that the bearer is an indigene of the local government area.

There is widespread disagreement on what sparked the violence. But in the early morning hours of Friday, November 28, following allegations that the governing PDP had rigged the election results, groups of young men from Muslim and Christian communities came together to both defend their neighborhoods from attack, and to attack the homes, businesses, and religious establishments of the opposing side. These mobs were armed with machetes, knives, petrol bombs, rocks, sticks, and in some cases firearms, including locally made hunting rifles and pistols. The vast majority of both perpetrators and victims were young men, although some 50 women and children were also killed. The violence was primarily concentrated in the neighborhoods of Ali Kazaure, Tudun Wada, Nasarawa, Rikkos, Dutse Uku, Congo Russia, Congo Junction, Angwan Keke, Bulbulla, and Angwan Rogo.

A Christian woman stands outside her home, which was one of some 130 burned by mobs of Muslims in the Ali Kazaure neighborhood. © 2008 Human Rights Watch

Witnesses described to Human Rights Watch how mobs of Muslim youth beat, burned, or bludgeoned to death Christians, in some cases specifically targeting pastors and church officials. One witness from the Yoruba ethnic group said five of his relatives who had come to Jos to attend the wedding of his daughter were among 12 Christians burned alive by a mob of Muslims.[6] Other witnesses described how hundreds of Muslim youth besieged and burned churches and homes belonging to Christian families.[7] Church officials reported that seven Christian pastors and church leaders were killed in the violence and that 46 churches were burned.[8] Local community leaders told Human Rights Watch that Muslim mobs burned 133 houses in a predominately Christian area of the Ali Kazaure neighborhood.[9]

One of the 46 churches burned by mobs of Muslims during the inter-communal violence in Jos. © 2008 Human Rights Watch

Muslim victims and witnesses likewise described how mobs of Christians set ablaze or destroyed 22 mosques, 15 Islamic schools, and hundreds of Hausa-Fulani businesses and homes.[10] On the morning of November 28, five children attending the Al Bayan Islamic boarding school were killed in or near their dormitory by a mob of Christians.[11] Muslim women speaking to Human Rights Watch at a camp for residents displaced by the violence described how Christian youth in Tudun Wada burned their homes and killed their neighbors and family members.[12] The widespread destruction of Hausa-Fulani businesses-including used car lots, gas stations, and the Katako market, which housed several thousand largely Hausa-Fulani traders-resulted in devastating economic loss.

An elderly man stands at the entrance of the Al Bayan secondary school mosque, which was burned by mobs of Christians on the morning of November 28. Five students who lived on campus were killed in the attack. © 2008 Human Rights Watch

The final death toll from the November 28-29 violence is still unclear. Muslim authorities in Jos have registered 632 dead, including several hundred victims buried in three mass burials on November 30 and December 1.[13] Christian authorities have documented 129 deaths.[14] The Plateau State commissioner for information and communications put the initial death toll at 200.[15] Meanwhile, the Yoruba community leader in Plateau State told Human Rights Watch that at least 180 members of the Yoruba ethnic group-both Muslims and Christians-lost their lives in the violence.[16]

A mob of Christians attacked the Al Bayan Islamic boarding school on the morning of November 28, killing five children in or near this dormitory. © 2008 Human Rights Watch