Sobering lessons

Around 500,000 have fled their homes in the capital Bangui alone – almost half the city’s population. Some 60% of those displaced are children. Some two thousand Nigerians were caught up in the conflict that is threatening to veer into a religious war pitting armed Christian and Muslim militias.The nongovernmental organisation International Crisis Group says […]

Around 500,000 have fled their homes in the capital Bangui alone – almost half the city’s population. Some 60% of those displaced are children. Some two thousand Nigerians were caught up in the conflict that is threatening to veer into a religious war pitting armed Christian and Muslim militias.
The nongovernmental organisation International Crisis Group says the problem goes far deeper, in widespread poverty in an otherwise richly-endowed country.
Indeed, sustained violence in the country risks escalating into a religious conflict as frequent clashes occur between Christian and Muslim militias, according to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman.  
Killings are occurring across the country on a daily basis and the population is divided along religious lines, Feltman said while briefing the Security Council in New York last Monday. Access to residential neighbourhoods in the capital, Bangui, is controlled by anti-Christian or anti-Muslim checkpoints, while in towns such as Bossangoa, Bouar and Paoua, there have been clashes between the Christian and Muslim communities, he noted.
CAR was plunged into lawlessness after rebels overthrew President Francois Bozize, a Christian, in March, and Michel Djotodia, a Muslim, was appointed as national leader. The conflict that ensued has thrown 2.2 million people, almost half the country’s population, into needing humanitarian assistance, while one in every two inhabitants of Bangui has been forced to flee their home.
The Nigerian evacuees from the conflict in CAR that are being  temporarily camped in Abuja by the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) recount harrowing tales of their experiences, first as the conflict began, and as they took shelter in the Nigerian mission in Bangui. In South Sudan, fragile tribal understanding that held together while the war with mainland Sudan lasted until its independence just two years ago has fractured.
This became clear after South Sudan President Salva Kiir sacked his deputy, Dr Riek Machar, last year, citing unspecified corruption allegations. Both men are from rival but powerful ethnic groups.
More than a thousand people have been killed since the conflict erupted last month. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, almost all of them requiring outside humanitarian assistance.
Crucial talks are taking place in Ethiopia to avert what many now see as the imminent collapse of South Sudan. Whether in the CAR or South Sudan, as in many low-level conflicts in many parts of the developing world, the immediate spark is often the struggle for power and supremacy by one tribe or race or religion over others.
The CAR (religious) and South Sudan (ethnic) crises contain lessons that Nigerians, particularly the leadership and politicians in general, need to learn and internalise.
Such conflicts are a warning to politicians and those who wield the levers of state to de-emphasise tribe and religion as instruments of government patronage.
Words are as powerful as body language and actions. In public and in private, politicians should give effect to their oft-repeated phrase of Nigeria being one and indivisible nation, though made up of many tribes and tongues.
Struggle for public office should unite towards a common goal, which a stronger and united country, not divide the people and weaken the very foundation of the state. Such scenario would be like going the path of CAR and South Sudan in their present predicaments.
This exhortation applies just as equally to religious leaders of every persuasion, some of whom, in recent times have sought put a wedge in the way of interfaith dialogue and interactions. The images we see from confronts in climes so close to home are enough incentive to prevent them from succeeding.