DATE=3/1/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=NIGERIA VIOLENCE (L) NUMBER=2-259714 BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN DATELINE=ABIDJAN CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: In southeastern Nigeria, the death toll from this week's sectarian violence has climbed over 400. Most of the victims are reported to be Muslims from the Hausa ethnic group. The killers appear to have been Christians angered at the deaths of hundreds of Christians last week in the northern city of Kaduna. V-O-A's John Pitman reports from our West Africa bureau. TEXT: As soldiers patrolled the streets of Aba, health workers collected the dead, many of whose bodies were burned. Police said Wednesday that security forces had regained control of Aba, which is about 50 kilometers north of Port Harcourt. Police and soldiers have also been deployed to two smaller towns nearby where the violence had spread. Most of Aba's residents are Christians from the Ibo ethnic group. According to eyewitnesses, gangs of Christian Ibos rose up against the town's Muslim minority on Monday after learning of the deaths of hundreds of Christians in the northern city of Kaduna. About 300 people, including many Christian Ibos, died in the Kaduna violence, which erupted when Christians and Muslims clashed over the possible introduction of Islamic law, or Sharia, in the state. This week's apparent retaliatory attack in Aba led President Olusegun Obasanjo to call an emergency meeting on Tuesday with the governors of the three northern states where Sharia law has already been introduced. That meeting produced an agreement among the governors of Zamfara, Niger, and Sokoto states to repeal the Sharia penal code from their states' law books. /// OPT /// The Islamic penal code provides strict punishment for offenses, including whippings, amputations, and beheadings. Under the terms of the agreement reached on Tuesday, the states that had introduced these penalties will now revert to the civil penal code they used before launching their experiment with Sharia. /// END OPT /// President Obasanjo is scheduled to address the nation Wednesday night (2100 UTC) to explain the government's position on Sharia, and appeal for calm on all sides of the debate. Meanwhile, an exodus of Christians is continuing from northern areas, despite promises by local officials that their security will be guaranteed by federal troops. (Signed) NEB/JP/JWH/JP 01-Mar-2000 10:43 AM EDT (01-Mar-2000 1543 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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