DATE=3/1/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=NIGERIA / OBASANJO (L) NUMBER=2-259736 BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN DATELINE=ABIDJAN CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for restraint and dialogue between Christians and Muslims. In a speech to the nation Wednesday night, Mr. Obasanjo appealed to both sides to "join hands" to prevent sectarian violence from claiming any more lives. V-O-A's John Pitman has details on the speech from our West Africa bureau. TEXT: A somber-looking President Obasanjo opened his speech with a description of the carnage and death he witnessed on a visit to the northern city of Kaduna last week. More than 300 people were killed in Kaduna after Muslims and Christians clashed over the possible introduction of Islamic law, or Sharia, in Kaduna state. Mr. Obasanjo said he could not believe that Nigerians were capable of the kind of "barbarism" he had witnessed in Kaduna, where he said "fear ... uncertainty ... and mutual suspicion" could be seen on survivors' faces. /// OBASANJO ACT /// The devastation was so massive it seemed as though Kaduna had overnight turned into a battlefield. /// END ACT /// Mr. Obasanjo said he was especially disturbed to learn that most of the victims in Kaduna were long-time residents who had been murdered by their neighbors. The president had harsh words for those who had participated in the killings, saying he knew of no religion that would sanction the taking of innocent life. Most of the victims in Kaduna were apparently Christians, killed by Muslims who claimed they were defending their religious right to live under Sharia law. Mr. Obasanjo had equally harsh words for the Christians who launched retaliatory attacks against their Muslim neighbors in southeastern Nigeria this week. /// OPT /// Sectarian violence in the city of Aba claimed more than 400 lives on Monday and Tuesday. President Obasanjo called those responsible for the killings in Aba, "renegades" who, in his words, "were under the misguided, but fatal impression, that they were taking due revenge for the murder of their kith and kin in Kaduna." The president, a former general and veteran of Nigeria's bloody civil war, described the bloodletting from the recent sectarian violence as the worst since the end of the civil war in 1970. /// END OPT /// Mr. Obasanjo says his administration is working hard to defuse the current religious tension, through meetings with representatives from the rival faiths, and with political leaders in states where Sharia law has been an issue. In all of these meetings, the president said, he stressed the need for national unity and dialogue. He also insisted the violence was an anomaly in Nigerian culture, traceable to the country's years of domination by abusive military governments. He said the years of military rule has spawned a culture of "indifference," in which Nigerians have, in his words, "lost their sense of outrage." /// OBASANJO ACT /// We must bring to a very prompt end the temptation to always resort to violence in any disagreement between groups, whether religious or ethnic or political. We must rid ourselves of the mentality of murderousness that stems from fear and suspicion of the other person. We must rediscover the value of dialogue." /// END ACT /// Mr. Obasanjo also confirmed that on Tuesday, the governors of three northern states where Sharia has already been introduced agreed to repeal the strict Islamic penal code. /// REST OPT /// He says the states will return to the previous legal status quo, which gives precedence to civil law in criminal matters, but where Sharia courts have traditionally dealt with family issues. Despite the horror of the violence Nigeria has experienced, President Obasanjo says such events are not "unusual" for a nation oppressed for so long by its previous rulers. Nonetheless, he warned against anyone trying to take advantage of this peculiar historical twist, saying his government would resist any attempts to break up the country through violence or chaos. "There will be no sacred cows," he said, echoing one of his favorite anti-corruption slogans, and vowing to deal swiftly and harshly with anyone caught breaking the law. (Signed) NEB/JP/TVM/WTW 01-Mar-2000 17:08 PM EDT (01-Mar-2000 2208 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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