by crossriverwatch admin
Over five persons are missing and several houses burnt in a raging communal conflict between Ukwotung and Kutia communities in Obudu Local Government in the northern part of Cross River State.
The age old conflict which was exclusively reported by CrossRiverWatch to have been reignited on Monday when an old man from Kutia who is said to be at the point of passing on requested that his house which was destroyed in an earlier conflict between the two warring communities in 2010 be rehabilitated so that his body could be interred there and some women were sent to weed the grass that had covered the compound but while the women were weeding the place, some people from Ukwotung allegedly beat them up to a state of coma. A source in the area told CrossRiverWatch.
The beating of their women was said to have infuriated the people of Kutia who sought to avenge the beating and this eventually led to the outbreak of hostilities with the use of machetes and firearm by both sides.
“Two people from Igwo, a neighboring community to Kutia, have been declared missing and as I speak to you the conflict is raging” Austin, a resident of Obudu said.
The two people according to Austin were in their house in Igwo when some combatants came in and attacked them destroying their houses and other properties causing them to flee. “Igwo has a common boundary with the two warring villages and it is difficult to tell who attacked them and why because they are not part of the fracas” Austin said.
He said the two warring villages have also claimed that two of their people from both villages were missing and are pointing accusing fingers at each other.
The Police spokesman for the Cross River State Police Command, Hogan Bassey said they have reports of missing persons in the two communities occasioned by the conflict but cannot confirm the actual number of persons missing.
He added that a team of anti riot policemen has been drafted to the area and normalcy has returned as at Thursday evening.
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