At least 35 people were killed when herders in Nigeria's northern Katsina state clashed with rival pastoralists from across the border in Niger about two weeks ago, state radio in Niger reported on Saturday, according to Reuters. A delegation from Katsina state travelled to Niger's southeastern town of Zinder and met local authorities there on Thursday to discuss how to reduce conflicts between groups of people who regularly cross the porous border between the two countries, the radio said. The radio gave no details on the nationality of the dead or what precisely caused the clash on Dec. 16. Conservationists say the gradual advance of arid zones to the south of the Sahara desert is increasing competition for productive land, both among settled crop farmers and among the nomadic tribes who follow their herds back and forth across the region in search of good grazing. Katsina state officials said that half the herders in its grazing areas were originally from the region of Zinder in Niger, the radio reported.
