United Nations (UN) Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Ms. Alice Nderitu, has urged the Nigerian authorities to conduct counter-terrorism operations in line with international human rights and humanitarian law.
Nderitu, who voiced concern over the seemingly worsening security situation in Nigeria on Thursday, urged the authorities to address the killings.
She condemned the Jan. 24 airstrike in which at least 40 herders, mainly ethnic Fulani, were killed, with scores of other civilians were injured in a village on the border of two States of Nasarawa and Benue.
The UN official recalled that another airstrike in 2017, resulted in 54 civilian casualties at a camp for displaced persons in Borno State.
Nderitu was particularly concerned about the situation in the North West and North Central regions of Nigeria, where the air attacks took place.
The Special Adviser said the worsening security situation was characterised by the seasonal movement of livestock for grazing, and increasing divisions among communities, based on stigmatisation along religious and ethnic lines. In this extremely volatile environment, it is important that the general elections scheduled to be held on 25 February 2023 do not trigger violence, and even atrocity crimes, she warned.
Nderitu also underlined concern for increasing trends of hate speech along identity lines, and incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence that permeated political discourse in the country. She called for all political leaders to abide by a peace accord they signed that included a commitment to peaceful campaigns.
Religious and traditional leaders also were encouraged to work to appease tensions, prevent incitement to violence, and address the risk of atrocity crimes ahead of the elections and beyond.
Beyond Nigeria, Nderitu expressed concern over the manipulation of trans-humance in political discourse, across the whole of West Africa and the vast Sahel region.
