A resurgence of intercommunal conflict stoked by land disputes involving herders and farmers has put north-central Nigeria’s Plateau State back on the boil.

Between March-end and April, more than 100 casualties were reported in a tide of violent attacks by unidentified gunmen targeting communities across the region.

The latest round of bloodletting, which took place on April 14, heaped tragedy on the families of at least 51 victims within the Zike and Kimakpa communities of the Bassa local government area.

According to Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, national publicity secretary of the Irigwe Youth Movement, nearly 1,000 residents have been displaced by the violence.

While both the federal and state governments have condemned the killings and promised justice, what rankles the affected communities is that attacks like these continued unabated in a region battling insecurity for a long time.

Faceless impunity

Analysts and rights groups say failure to bring perpetrators to justice is largely responsible for repeated attacks.

In the latest instance of what some rights groups term the ‘‘impunity” of these gangs, the attackers razed villages, looted homes, and killed civilians.

Isa Sanusi, a senior human rights campaigner in Nigeria, stresses the need to identify and punish the culprits and orchestrators of violent assaults as the first step in breaking the cycle.

“It is unjust for people in rural areas and remote communities to be left at the mercy of rampaging gunmen with impunity,’’ Sanusi tells TRT Afrika.

As lives and livelihoods are destroyed, the repercussions invariably lead victims to seek reprisal, which does little to heal the collective wounds of the suffering communities.

In many cases, reports indicate that those who carry out these attacks may not belong to a recognised militia with a defined structure. Usually, no formal or identifiable armed group or organisation claims responsibility for any of these attacks.

Researchers believe the pattern of seemingly organised violence carried out through outfits that exist in a vacuum indicates a sinister level of networking and planning. Since those who kill, maim and destroy are seldom identified and caught, the trail goes cold until the next such attack explodes on the targeted communities.

Underlying tension

Since the infamous Jos crisis of September 2001 – a series of violent clashes that occurred in the Plateau State’s administrative capital  – the region has been beset with disturbances involving different ethnic and religious communities caught in the vicious cycle of perceived political and economic marginalisation.

While the exact number of victims was never confirmed, collated data indicates that more than 1,000 lives were lost in six days of fighting.

In subsequent years, more areas of Plateau State have been roiled by violent attacks, especially the rural local government areas such as Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Langtang North, Langtang South, Shendam, Mikang, Qua’an Pan, and Wase.

Complex patterns

Despite the acknowledged historical dimension to these conflicts, observers like Dr Emmanuel Ivorgba see some troubling themes emerging from the recent violence.

“Official narratives tend to label the atrocities as clashes, while the local communities describe mobilised attacks,” says the conflict researcher, whose nonprofit Centre for Faith and Community Development has had an operational footprint in Plateau State for years.

“There is a disconnect between official perception and local experience,” he tells TRT Afrika.

Dr Ivorgba urges the federal government to pull out all stops to “identify sponsors of the violence, whether groups or individuals, who persuade, pay, and arm the people that attack their opponents”.

Although the violence is generally linked to communal tensions, it also fits into the wider insecurity involving armed kidnapping gangs rampaging many parts of the country, including the north-central region.

Some analysts advocate initiatives centred on the context of the conflict and its ecosystem. They believe attention must be focused on engaging local community leaders in advancing peace.

Localised peacebuilding

Drawing from his previous studies on the conflict, Dr Ivorgba condemns biased narratives that “dehumanise people through othering and problematising peaceful relations and pluralism”.

He cautions that without solving the deeper factors, this conflict may remain a marathon that will lead to more waves of attacks and reprisals, with no end in sight.

“Peacebuilders have a huge role to play in promoting understanding, addressing the concerns of affected communities, and advocating positive social change and reorientation,” the conflict researcher tells TRT Afrika.