At least 140 villagers killed by suspected herders in north-central Nigeria • FRANCE 24 English

At least 140 villagers killed by suspected herders in north-central Nigeria • FRANCE 24 English

Hello and welcome to I on Africa I’m kavan gorgani and these are the headlines at least 140 people were killed over the weekend in Nigeria’s Central Plateau State the attacks are believed to be linked to the country’s herder armor crisis all week we’ll be looking at the

Major events of the year on the continent and today we’ll be speaking to Paul Melly from chadam house about the year in African politics and we’ll take a look at how North African Craftsmen are fighting to pass down the ancestral art of metal engraving to the Next

Generation but we start first in Nigeria where local officials say that armed groups have killed at least 140 people in the center of the country in a series of attacks that took place over the weekend it was the bloodiest violence since 2018 when more than 200 people had

Been killed in the region where clashes between the mainly Muslim fani herders and the predominantly Christian farmers are common Nick rushworth tells us more these people are fleeing violence in the BOS area of platto State in central Nigeria local officials say military gangs launched attacks in not fewer than

20 different communities in the state dozens of people are reported to have been killed and hundreds wounded a resident in one Village told the French news agency AFP that villagers were taken by surprise saying people hid but the asants captured many of us some were killed others

Wounded the governor of the state on Sunday condemned the violence calling it barbaric brutal and unjustified his spokesman said proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians Amnesty International meanwhile has criticized the Nigerian government saying the Brazen failure of the authorities to protect the people of

Nigeria is gradually becoming the norm president Bola ubu said he will enact security measures in response to these attacks but these promises have so far proven to be empty there has been violence linked to jihadist conflict Bandit militias and tensions between nomadic herders and farmers in Northwestern and Central

Nigeria for years president tinubu took office in may he has made the fight against insecurity one of the priorities of his mandate law enforcement capabilities to the Democratic Republic of Congo now where authorities want to ban a protest by the opposition saying that it does not have any legal bases

And is aimed at undermining the electoral process while results are still being compiled several opposition leaders have called for their supporters to take to the streets this Wednesday over last week’s chaotic elections which they say were marked by irregularities now this week on the show we will be looking back at the major

Events of 2023 on the continent and today our Focus will be on on some of the key political events of the year to discuss this I’m joined by Paul Melly a Consulting fellow at the Africa program at chadam house thank you so much for

Being with us uh first if you had to uh pick one major political event of this past year what would it be I think the political event that’s had the widest consequence has probably been the coup in ner precisely because it was so unexpected across the whole of West

Africa we’ve seen over the past several years a series of coups we’ve seen a series of countries under extreme pressure either from internal political questions such as in Guinea or the security crisis in the sahal but njer was seen as a country that had managed to conduct a relatively stable electoral

Process in 2021 and seemed to be maintaining if you like constitutional stability and that’s the the clue has as it were taken the level of challenge to Orthodox politics across West West Africa particularly to a new level and it’s a big challenge to the institutions not just to eoas the regional block that

Has tried to maintain the principles of constitutional rule but also even to the African Union uh the criticisms the sanctions imposed by echas the criticism and the isolation diplomatic isolation imposed by the African Union have proved completely fruitless if you like in um convincing the soldiers who’ve staged

The coup in nier but also those still in power in the other change course and so it’s a real chall that’s why this event in one country I think has these wider consequences even though of course we’ve had big elections in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo that

You mentioned in the news or Nigeria now you mentioned uh ner of course the last French troops left the country last week uh French troops leaving other uh countries in the region what does this mean for the fight against jihadist Insurgency in the sahal I think at a very practical level

It’s part of a really big challenge because it’s not just that the French have pulled out remember the United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali that’s more than 13,000 soldiers has just withdrawn at the insistence of the Malian government which is another of these countries under military rule and

So there’s a huge security challenge now and although Mali and Tu lesser extent Bina Faso have begun to develop a new alliance if you like with Russia with Vagner military contractor deployed in uh in Mali in particular the sort of forces that they are bringing these new partners are bringing don’t begin to

Compare with the scale of coordinated security support that the UN the French um other European countries um and the US to some extent have provided and it’s interesting that in njer again the US has been reluctant to pull out and is engaged in a sort of negotiating process

Over the terms under which it might stay or restore its support for because tackling the jihadist crisis and wider security crisis the pressures between farmers and herders right across Sahel and West Africa is a massive Challenge and it requires development as well as security and when when countries are

Politically isolated both of those elements fall away and uh just quickly uh looking ahead now to 20 24 what is it that you will be watching out for I think in the very very short term the biggest challenge may come with the presidential election in Sagal in February and possible second round in

March uh now although president is said he would not run again um he’s his prime minister is the government candidate but all eyes are really on Usman sonko who is the charismatic opposition leader who has huge support from sagales Youth and uh a court a legal battle is going on at

The moment over his candidacy he has deposited his candidacy papers with the authorities but the government is still trying to stop him running and if he is not allowed to take part there could be a huge amount of tension in Sagal and that could have wider Regional

Ramifications and then of course we have the ongoing crisis particularly the crisis in Sudan and all the huge humanitarian challenges that that poses but to which there’s no obvious easy early solution Paul Melly thank you so much for joining us this evening now earlier this month North African metal engraving was added to

Unesco’s intangible heritage AG list after 10 countries including Tunisia Algeria and Morocco petitioned to have the art form internationally recognized despite the prestigious un label the knowhow is underappreciated in those countries and local Craftsmen are struggling to pass on their knowledge to the Next Generation Clon Val has the

Story North African metal engraving a craft steeped in centuries of tradition and history but one that is struggling to find successors there is a lot of demand for corporate craftsmanship but the problem is that there are very few people who know how to work the methal there are no Craftsmen

Left in early December the North African art form was added to unesco’s intangible Heritage list following a campaign launched by a dozen Arab countries including Tunisia Morocco and Algeria however governmental support varies by country while the majority of Moroccan chislers now work in modern workshops it is not the case for their

Libyan counterparts in a country torn apart by years of internal conflict they point to a lack of support from the authorities for this 60-year-old Craftsman the trade has little future I had two or three apprentices to whom I taught the profession but what’s the point teach them the trade and have

Them sit around and do nothing or so that they can’t work and make a living from it it’s not worth it in Tunisia a number of artists are offering courses and workshops in order to keep the knowhow alive although engraving techniques are traditionally passed down from father to son the

Majority of this man’s students are women we’re here to teach them the basics of the trade how to engrave solder assem and finish then they’re free to engrave whatever they want creating an object that reflects our times and what today’s young people appreciate even if for some the UNESCO

Label will not change the daily reality it does motivate Artisans to preserve these ancestral techniques and that’s all for me thanks for Watching

At least 140 people were killed over the weekend in Nigeria’s central Plateau state… The attacks are believed to be linked to the country’s herder-farmer crisis. All week we’ll be looking at the major events of the year on the continent. Today, we’ll be speaking to Paul Melly from CHatham House about the year in African Politics. And we’ll take a look at how northafrican craftsmen are fighting to pass down the ancestral art of metal engraving to the next generation.

Read more about this story in our article: https://f24.my/A1Kc.y

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