Conflict prevention forum improves farmer-herder relations in Benue state

In October 2021, the Community Initiative to Promote Peace (CIPP) partner Pastoral Resolve (PARE) conducted a Conflict Prevention Forum (CPF) in Nasarawa State. The CPF was conducted for farmers residents in Benue state and herders who reside in Nasarawa State but graze their cattle in Benue State. The CPF is a USAID-funded CIPP implemented intervention to support conflicting communities to identify conflict issues and their causes in their communities, develop community-based approaches to encourage dialogue for understanding across the divide and the most likely approaches to mitigating them based on their unique contexts.

For the past few years, border communities in Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue state have been displaced and uninhabited due to clashes between farmers and herders. To provide an opportunity for the parties to dialogue, identify issues from both sides, and reach an agreement or plan on mitigation and prevention for peaceful coexistence, a special CPF was held in Akwanga, Nasarawa state, a location that is considered neutral territory where pastoralists and farmers would feel comfortable attending. In the past, pastoralists had been unable to participate in some CIPP activities as they were not residents in some of the CIPP communities of the state and would be conspicuously absent for fear of retaliation.

At the forum, participants from both groups met to discuss the issues plaguing their communities and shared experiences on how violent conflicts have impacted both groups. Since the dialogue, reports from the community indicate that participants have maintained good communication with one another and have called upon their members at home to share knowledge and agreements reached during the forum.

Although CIPP communities in Guma and Makurdi LGAs could not be actively engaged in CIPP interventions, there have been no violent attacks reported since the end of October 2021. Relations between both groups have improved and on 2 November 2021, two pastoralists, Wariri and Dogo, residents of Keana LGA of Nasarawa state visited farmers of Tavaan and Amua communities in Guma LGA of Benue state. Cosmas Yenge, a farmer from Tavaan in Benue reciprocated the gesture and visited pastoralists in Keana LGA on 6 November 2021. According to Cosmas, “My visit went well, I was well entertained and was even given transport fare by the pastoralists to return home.”

During a visit to trained mediators in Daudu, Guma LGA on 3 November 2021, Henry Damilor, a displaced resident of Amua community also said “things are gradually settling down. Since we came back from Akwanga we’ve been in close communication with the herders and there have been no issues.” Additional reports indicate that farmers are now able to visit their farms during the day, which was not possible in the past.

In the state, farmers and pastoralists are committed to working together to maintain peace, and pastoralists even support the communities to provide early warning information. For instance, pastoralists from Keana LGA of Nasarawa State provided information about the intent of farmers from Alago– a tribe from Nasarawa State – to fell trees in the area again. In the past, they hide under the farmer/herder conflict to fall trees in the areas of Guma LGA, leaving herders to take the blame for fallen trees in the LGA. This information enabled the farmers from Guma LGA to report the information to the military based in the area, and 25 of them were arrested on 25 November 2021 with the vehicles and equipment they brought for tree felling.

About the Conflict Prevention Forum

To prevent the escalation of conflict among communities affected by violence, CIPP organizes community level conflict prevention forums to limit the extent to which disagreements among various conflicted parties become more intense and severe. Stakeholders will be invited such as traditional leaders, district and ward heads, religious leaders, women, and youth groups, PLWDs, representatives from the respective LGAs with a mandate in security, peacebuilding, agriculture and livelihoods, education to discuss issues arising, and develop action plans to mitigate them.

About CIPP

Mercy Corps is implementing the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP), a five-year peacebuilding program funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

CIPP’s aim is to prevent violent conflict in the most at-risk communities across Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau, Kogi, Kano, and Benue states in Nigeria’s North-West and Middle Belt regions.

CIPP works with community leaders, women, government officials, and state-level actors to improve their ability to peacefully manage disputes, to strengthen Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) mechanisms for timely response to violent conflict, and facilitate collaboration among communities with government agencies, civil service organizations and local leaders to address root causes of conflict.

CIPP is implemented in partnership with Pastoral Resolve (PARE), Interfaith Mediation Centre (IMC), Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development (SCDDD), and the African Radio Drama Association (ARDA).