Attacks from herders killed more
Nigerians in 2018, compared to the number of deaths caused by Boko Haram in the
country, according to 2019 Global Terrorism Index (GTI).
The GTI report released on
Wednesday ranked Nigeria, for the fifth consecutive time, since 2015, as the
third country with the worst impact from terrorism, globally.
Afghanistan, meanwhile, has
overtaken Iraq to become number one on the list, while the latter moved down to
the second position.
Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, and
India are ranked fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively in the GTI
report, while Yemen, Philippines, and Democratic Republic of the Congo are
eighth, ninth, and 10th.
The report said terror-related
incidents in Nigeria increased by 37 per cent, from 411 in 2017 to 562 in 2018
and also deaths from terrorism in the country rose to 2,040 in 2018, a 33 per
cent increase.
“The increase was due to a
substantial escalation of violence by ‘Fulani’ extremists, whilst Boko Haram
recorded a decline in deaths from terrorism,” the report said.
Dispute over ownership and usage
of land has remained the major cause of the violence conflict between Fulani
herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria.
Concerns
A concern was raised in the 2018
GTI report over the killings by herders. The report had warned that terrorism
was shifting from Nigeria’s North-East region to the country’s Middle-Belt.
“Violence between Nigerian
herders and farmers intensified in early 2018 with approximately 300,000 people
fleeing their homes. The most recent escalation in violence follows increased
militia attacks and implementation of new anti-grazing legislation,” the latest
report said.
“In 2018, Fulani extremists were
responsible for the majority of terror-related deaths in Nigeria at 1,158
fatalities. Terror-related deaths and incidents attributed to Fulani extremists
increased by 261 and 308 per cent respectively from the prior year. Of 297
attacks by Fulani extremists, over 200 were armed assaults. Over 84 per cent of
these armed assaults targeted civilians.
“However, also active and not
recorded as terrorist activity are pastoralist militias who target the Fulani,
increasing the likelihood of reprisals,” the report said.
‘Deadliest incident’
The deadliest terrorist incident
in Nigeria in 2018, according to the report, occurred on May 5 when assailants
attacked Gwaska, Kaduna.
The report said 58 people were
killed in the attack, which it said was attributed to ‘Fulani extremists’.
The GTI report attributed the
decline in Boko Haram attacks to a multinational task force fighting the
terrorist group.
The GTI, which is in its seventh
edition, is produced annually by the Institute for Economics & Peace, an
independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank with offices in Sydney, New
York, and Mexico City.
The GTI monitors and measures the
impacts of terrorism in 163 countries, which covers 99.7 per cent of the
world’s population.
The GTI uses a total number of
terrorist incidents, total number of fatalities caused by terrorists, the total
number of injuries caused by terrorists, a measure of the total property damage
from terrorist incidents in a given year to arrive at its ranking.
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