<span style="color: #222222;">In Nigeria, at least 13 people have been killed in restive central region in an escalating ethnic battle between farmers and herders. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Military spokesman Major Adam Umar said yesterday, the violence earlier this week between the Berom, indigenous farmers, and the Fulani, nomadic cattle herders, took place in Jol, a community part of the Riyom local government area of Plateau state. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Umar said the attack was part of the tit-tat killings between the Fulani and Berom.  He said a meeting between the sides had been brokered by authorities but that it had failed to stem the bloodshed.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Riyom local government chairman Emmanuel Danboyi Jugul said that he believes that the upcoming national elections may be the cause of the violence.  Plateau state lies in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt that separates the predominantly Muslim north from the largely Christian south. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">It has long been a hotbed of ethnic, sectarian and religious tensions that flare up during election season. Nigerians are set to vote in hotly contested presidential polls in February 2019.</span><br />