Nigeria facing crisis amid massacres

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo had vowed revenge on those who had killed 19 troops on October 12

ABUJA, Nigeria -- Aid agencies are demanding to be allowed into an area of Nigeria where up to 100 villagers are reported to have been massacred.

The Civil Liberties Organization of Nigeria demanded the government allow human rights groups into the area to investigate the incident independently.

The call was made on Wednesday as soldiers were reported to have raided four villages in eastern Nigeria, destroying homes and gunning down scores of civilians.

The attackers are believed to have been searching for gunmen who kidnapped and killed 19 soldiers earlier this month in eastern Benue state, where villagers have been waging a decade-long ethnic feud.

Attackers travelling in armoured personnel carriers rounded up civilians in Gbejir village on Monday, according to witnesses quoted by the newspapers Vanguard and Punch.

Women and children were separated from the group before the attackers opened fire on the men in a public square, the reports said.

The attacks, which continued into Tuesday, spread to Vaase, Anyiin and Iorja villages, close to where the mutilated bodies of 19 soldiers were found on October 12.

Benue state radio estimated 100 people were killed, but the report could not immediately be verified.

Abdul Oroh, the executive director of Civil Liberties Organization of Nigeria, compared the latest massacre to retaliatory killings in the village of Odi in southern Nigeria in November 1999, following the deaths of 12 policemen.

"In the case of Odi, it was obvious there was a cover-up," Oroh told Reuters new agency in Lagos.

"They would not allow people in for at least a week and by then all the corpses were removed.

"We are asking the president to speak out and for the national assembly to investigate. We want the truth, " he said.

"When you hear about men being separated from women, it is not an indiscriminate thing, it is a calculated act of murder."

The attacks came hours after President Olusegun Obasanjo vowed to arrest and punish those responsible for the deaths of the 19 soldiers.

Defence officials, however, said the military was not responsible for the attacks.

"We are supposed to protect Nigerians from any form of aggression, so I can assure you that the commander-in-chief has not issued instructions to go to any section of the country, or kill innocent civilians," defence spokesman Colonel Ganiyu Adewule said.

State officials set up a temporary camp at Agasha, near the state capital of Makurdi, where they said about 200,000 people were seeking refuge on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands more people were believed stranded in the bush.

"There is an alarming refugee situation in Benue state, which is beyond the capability of the state government," said Shima Ayaty, a member of the state refugee commission.

"We are therefore appealing to international organisations to assist."

Fighters from the Tiv and Jukun tribes have been battling since the early 1990s in Benue and neighbouring Taraba states. Fighters from the Fulani tribe have also been drawn into the conflict.