FJA Shortlist 2021
Category: Outstanding Contribution to Peace
Author: Kolapo Olapoju (Nigeria)
Series: Conflict in a Pandemic (I): The Southern Kaduna children and women devastated by a wave of killings
Conflict in a Pandemic (II): The deserted villages of Southern Kaduna where only the brave dare reside
Conflict in a Pandemic (I): The Southern Kaduna children and women devastated by a wave of killings
The Cable, Nigeria - 05 October 2020
The echoes of conflict tend to reverberate long after the drums of war are beat and have faded. The victims of strife are often the weak, disenfranchised and powerless. In spite of their mute voices and non-roles, they tend to bear the heaviest brunt of conflicts while the main players march to the beat of their own drum. As the world grappled with COVID-19 in recent months, bloody violence raged through southern Kaduna — displacing, disabling and devastating women and children. This is their maddening tale of loss, pain, and despair. KOLAPO OLAPOJU reports.
Peace disabled
“Nothing can make me be at peace again,” she muttered under her breath, slowly raised her head and added emphatically: “I will never forgive them.”
Her eyes are sunken with age. The white of her eye is far from white; bleak and blurry after months of crying while the world slept. The furiously pouring rain which is making its impact felt on the rusted metal roof firmly holds her gaze. Soon enough, tears flow forth from her eyes, dropping in unison with the rain.
Conflict in a Pandemic (II): The deserted villages of Southern Kaduna where only the brave dare reside
The Cable, Nigeria - 06 October 2020
Abandoned homes, deserted compounds, and desolate communities are, nowadays, common scenes in parts of southern Kaduna. Insecurity-fuelled fear has forced many residents — mostly women and children — to find abodes in saner climes. In many of the attacked communities, only courageous men dare stay back and spend the night. Every man has now become a vigilante while their wives and children are scattered across the safe(r) parts of Kaduna.
Deserted and desolate
Owing to past attacks and threats of future return, several villages are now bereft of residents. In Gonan Rogo, many houses are desolate and abandoned. The area paints the picture of a once-lived village. The attack there was so deadly that a nursing mother and her newborn were said to have been killed in their home. Their compound is slowly being overtaken by weeds while clothes of mother and child are stacked in sacks in a room that appears to be the sleeping quarter. Shards of glass scattered on the floor and a crack in the window of the mud-brick house represent a reminder of the horror that played out there.
“Only a few people remain in this village. Majority have run away,” Simon Kakuri says as he recounts the details of the initial and subsequent attacks. “For the past three days, they have been coming to attack this village. We have not been sleeping. We have not been finding it easy with these herdsmen. Even if we farm, their cows will eat our crops.”