DATE=11/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NIGERIA / VIOLENCE (L-O)
NUMBER=2-256574
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed in
parts of Lagos, Nigeria, following two days of ethnic
riots that left up to 50 people dead. V-O-A's John
Pitman reports from our West Africa Bureau.
TEXT: The curfew was announced by Bola Tinubu, the
governor of Lagos state, who said the "vicious cycle"
of ethnic violence in Nigeria must stop immediately.
The violence on Thursday and Friday was centered
around a marketplace in a suburb north of downtown
Lagos, and involved youths from Nigeria's two largest
ethnic groups, the Yoruba and the Hausa.
According to eyewitnesses, the young militants clashed
over control of the market place. Police estimates
say at least 39 people were killed, but independent
news reports say the death toll is likely to be closer
to 50.
Reports from the scene of the violence say burned and
cut-up bodies littered the road around the
marketplace.
The Yoruba ethnic group is dominant in southwestern
Nigeria, and clashes with the northern-based Hausa
ethnic group have become more frequent since Nigeria
returned to civilian rule in May.
In July, more than 60 people, mostly Hausas, were
killed when Yorubas and Hausas clashed in the southern
city of Sagamu. Days later, another 70 people, mostly
Yorubas, were killed in the northern city of Kano in a
spasm of reprisal violence.
In the last year, ethnic violence has also killed
hundreds in Nigeria's oil-rich southeastern region,
the Niger River Delta. Angry young men in the Delta -
mostly from the Ijaw ethnic group - have targeted the
government, international oil companies and rival
ethnic groups in a violent campaign for greater
control of the area's oil wealth.
President Olusegun Obasanjo's government has responded
to the rising tide of violence among Nigeria's 200
ethnic groups with a mix of conciliatory gestures,
negotiation, and force.
Experts on Nigerian ethnic relations say most of the
clashes between Yorubas and Hausas are rooted in a
deep resentment among Yorubas over decades of military
rule by an army dominated by Hausas.
Economic and political competition has also fueled the
rivalry, leading one group of militant Yorubas - the
Odua People's Congress - to call for the creation of
an autonomous Yoruba homeland in southwestern Nigeria.
After last week's violence in Lagos, police officials
said they had taken steps to prevent any reprisals
against Yorubas living in the north, especially in
Kano.
The police are also reportedly searching for several
Odua People's Congress leaders to question them about
the violence in Lagos. (SIGNED)
NEB/JP/DW/JP
27-Nov-1999 09:42 AM EDT (27-Nov-1999 1442 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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