DATE=2/21/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NIGERIA PROTEST (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259400
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: At least three people have been killed in
northern Nigeria during a riot that broke out between
Christians and Muslims in the city of Kaduna. As V-O-
A's John Pitman reports from our West Africa bureau,
religious tension is running high in northern Nigeria
as more states consider adopting Sharia, Islamic law.
TEXT: Police in Kaduna have not put a firm number on
the death toll from Monday's violence. But news
reports say at least three people were killed when
Muslims and Christians clashed during a protest march
sponsored by Christian churches in Kaduna.
The march was called to express the Churches' anxiety
over the implementation of Islamic law, called Sharia,
in Nigeria's Zamphara state.
Officials in Zamphara imposed the Islamic legal code
in January, and the state's overwhelmingly Muslim
population has, for the most part, embraced its strict
rules against drinking, gambling, and prostitution.
At least three other states with large or majority
Muslim populations have expressed an interest in
following Zamphara's example.
Kaduna State is one of the states where Muslims have
proposed establishing Islamic courts. But the
proposal has met stiff opposition from the state's
equally large Christian community.
Monday's clash erupted during a march by Christians
who fear Sharia law could impose on their civic and
religious rights.
Eyewitnesses say several shops were burned in the
violence, and police reinforcements have been sent to
the city, which lies about 200-kilometers north of
Nigeria's capital, Abuja. (SIGNED)
NEB/JP/GE/RAE
21-Feb-2000 12:38 PM EDT (21-Feb-2000 1738 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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