JOS, Nigeria (AFP) - Three years of fighting between rival Christian and Muslim ethnic groups in the central Nigerian state of Plateau has claimed 53,787 lives, a third of them children, the state administration said.
Officials said that the figure was compiled from reports from the victims' relatives and covered the period from September 7, 2001 to May 18 of this year, when President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed emergency rule on the highland region.
The figure is the first official toll given for the conflict -- which pitched heavily armed gangs from rival nomadic and farming communities against in other in a battle for land and power -- and far exceeds previous estimates.
"They were killed as a result of the hostilities, some through machetes or bullets, some from other things," said Ezekiel Dalyop, the spokesman for Plateau's administrator Chris Alli.
"The committee visited the local governments and met with officials. Those who lost their relatives provided the statistics. Every family has figures and released them to the committee. We just did the summary," he told AFP.
Alli's special advisor on resettlement and rehabilitation, Thomas Kangnaan, on Wednesday told reporters in the state capital Jos that of those killed, 18,931 were men, 17,397 were women and 17,459 were children.
Plateau State lies in Nigeria's notoriously unruly central belt, the faultline between northern mainly Muslim tribes and the Christian south.
In recent years tension has been growing between the nomads and settlers migrating south from the arid region bordering the Sahel semi-desert towards Plateau's more fertile highlands and the Benue river valley.
In September 2001 sectarian riots broke out in the state capital Jos, claiming almost 1,000 lives in five days and beginning a round of bloodletting that endured until Obasanjo stepped in in May this year.
He suspended the elected governor, Joshua Dariye, and brought in Alli, a former general and military administrator, to run the state under emergency powers and a mandate to disarm ethnic militia.
Fighting has since subsided but tension remains. Dariye's suspension is due to expire on November 18 and the state is divided over whether he should be allowed to return.
"The crisis in Plateau was a total devastation for the economy and the lives of the people, and that is why the issue of peace is critical," Dalyop said.
In addition to the killings, some 200,000 people were driven from their homes during the fighting. More than 80 percent have now returned, Dalyop said.
Kangnaan said that 25,129 homes and 865 shops were burned and 1,326 cattle lost to rustlers during the fighting. Alli's administration estimates that goods worth 130 million naira (990,000 dollars/805,000 euros) were destroyed.
Plateau State's population is estimated at between three and four million although no census has been carried out since 1991.