Failed peace pact with bandits

Almost no observer of insecurity events in the north western states was surprised when Katsina State governor Aminu Bello Masari declared last week his government’s four-year effort at negotiating peace with bandits who terrorized the state’s rural areas had failed. There would be no more negotiation or peace talk with the bandits, Masari said, since […]

Almost no observer of insecurity events in the north western states was surprised when Katsina State governor Aminu Bello Masari declared last week his government’s four-year effort at negotiating peace with bandits who terrorized the state’s rural areas had failed. There would be no more negotiation or peace talk with the bandits, Masari said, since they didn’t honour the agreements they had signed.

Days before Masari spoke on a BBC Hausa program, Secretary to the Katsina State Government Mohammed Mustafa Inuwa had said most of the bandits with whom they signed peace agreements turned around and betrayed the state government.

Masari said the bandits promised to repent and leave the north-western part of the country but “they could not honour the agreement. They betrayed us.” He also said the bandits came variously from Zamfara and Kaduna states and some were from Niger Republic.

Where the bandits come from is immaterial because they belong to a pastoral community for which political boundaries are irrelevant. Bandits chased out of Katsina and Zamfara states had earlier infested Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State and also Niger State. In recent months, they also infest northern Sokoto State.

According to Masari, “In our effort to honour the agreement, we cancelled all vigilantes and volunteer groups and we allowed the (bandits) to continue with their normal activities in the state.” At the time this was done, many observers feared that outlawing vigilante groups left rural communities defenceless since they had no police protection. On the other hand, vigilante members’ excesses in profiling and killing ethnic Fulani men was often blamed for the bandits’ savage “reprisal attacks.”

Even though the signing of the peace deals initially brought some respite to Katsina State, skeptics doubted if it will last. This is because these bandits are criminals intent on making a good living through cattle rustling, armed robbery and kidnap for ransom. While it is true that pastoral society is hard pressed by environmental changes and population pressure, the rural farming communities are equally hard pressed. They formed vigilante groups in order to defend themselves.

Unfortunately, vigilantes are volunteers, unpaid, untrained and unregulated. They are often given to excess. The situation soon degenerated into mass killings. Despite peace deals, it is difficult to see the bandits giving up their criminal deeds, which bring instant riches.

At the same time that Masari was acknowledging the collapse of his peace deals with bandits, his western neighbour Bello Mohammed Mutawalle of Zamfara State announced the continuation of peace deals with leaders of bandits operating in his state. He spoke while condoling with victims’ families in Unguwar Rogo, Karda, Bidda and Kajera villages of Tsafe Local Government Area and Kabaje village of Kaura-Namoda Local Government, who were killed in recent bandit attacks.

Mutawalle’s peace efforts when he became governor last year greatly reduced the killings in Zamfara State. There is however a resurgence in recent months. He however remains optimistic, saying, “We have assurances from the leaders of Fulani groups who have embraced our peace overtures that they will reach out to the recalcitrant groups responsible for the attacks and persuade them to accept our peace pact.” He added however while the dialogue and reconciliation efforts continue, “we will spare no effort in enforcing the security of lives and property of our people.”

Right now, there is an on-going military operation ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari in both Katsina and Zamfara states. The Airforce is even dropping bombs on bandit camps while the army pursues them in the bushes. While Masari now vests all his hopes in these operations, Mutawalle thinks peace deals could still work. Perhaps a combination of the two will work. The military is hard pressed but if it can spare more men, time and resources to the campaign in the North West, the bandits may yet be eliminated or forced to change their ways.