DATE=3/13/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=NIGERIA / KADUNA
NUMBER=5-45626
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=KADUNA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Three weeks after sectarian violence in the
northern Nigerian city of Kaduna that killed hundreds
of people, thousands of ethnic Ibo Christians remain
camped in the city's main police barracks, unwilling
or unable to return to their homes. As V-O-A's John
Pitman reports from Kaduna, thousands of other
Christians have already left the city, out of fear
that the violence could resume.
TEXT:
/// SFX: MEN LOADING TRUCK-ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ///
It is packing day for Mike Uzuma and his family. The
45-year-old electronics-store owner walks among his
possessions, supervising a group of young men who are
loading chairs, tables and boxes into the back of a
large truck.
Like many Christians in Kaduna, Mr. Uzuma is a member
of the Ibo ethnic group. He says his younger brother
was killed in last month's violent riot between
Muslims and Christians. His house was also burned
down. So was his store.
For him, the time has come to leave this city, which
he has called home for the better part of two decades.
The death of his brother made him lose faith in his
Muslim neighbors, whom he says he no longer trusts.
Mr. Uzuma says this lack of trust extends to the
Nigerian government, which he believes failed to
prevent the bloodshed, and has not supported those who
were displaced.
/// UZUMA ACT ///
This type of thing has been happening and no, no
remedy has been put in place. There's no means
whatsoever... There's nothing the government is
doing. ... Okay, these people that were killed,
what are the government doing about it? The
property that was destroyed, what are the
government doing about it?
/// END ACT ///
On a football [soccer] field in the nearby police
barracks, thousands of other displaced civilians,
mostly Christian Ibos, line up every day to receive
emergency food rations. Many in this crowd say they,
too, would like to leave Kaduna. But leaving town is
difficult when you do not have any money. And most of
these displaced people lost everything in the riot.
Alice Essien is a 20-year-old nurse. She describes
how she abandoned her house in a panic when the
violence came to her neighborhood.
/// ESSIEN ACT ///
I ran and left my house and everything was
burned. They pursued us in the area where we
were living, so we ran to the barracks. When we
ran to the barracks, they burned our houses, so
we don't have anything to put on now. What I'm
wearing is what my friends gave to me.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Essien says five of her relatives were killed in
the violence -- at least she thinks they were killed,
because she has not seen them for weeks. The total
death toll from the Kaduna violence will likely never
be known with any accuracy. However, estimates run
from 300 into the thousands.
// OPT // Godwin Chinaka, a 40-year-old furniture
maker, says he is also planning to return home to Imo
State in the southeast, even though he knows it will
be difficult for him to restart his business there.
Gesturing with his injured right hand, which is
wrapped in a dirty bandage, Mr. Chinaka says even when
the Sharia controversy dies down, ethnic Ibos like him
will still be scapegoated whenever a local problem
arises.
/// OPT CHINAKA ACT ///
The best thing for me is to go home. Even
without Sharia, they have been attacking us with
all type of manners. It is not only Sharia that
is the problem. After Sharia it must be another
thing they will introduce.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Among the displaced people here, there is mounting
support for a partitioning of Nigeria into northern
and southern sections, where presumably the three main
ethnic groups -- the northern-based Hausas, and the
southern-based Ibos and Yorubas -- would feel more at
home.
// OPT // Breaking up Nigeria's federal structure has
been tried before. In the late 1960s, the Ibo ethnic
group tried to break away and form a new country
called Biafra. The ensuing civil war and famine
claimed up to a million lives. While people are
talking about a new split today, there is little
enthusiasm for another civil war.
A 41-year-old secretary named Ayo says she remains
hopeful that Nigeria will survive as one country. But
she nonetheless worries that a split may be coming.
/// AYO ACT ///
Mmmm! ... We didn't pray for that, but what's
happening now actually calls for it, because
why, the people, the Hausa [ethnic group] people
doesn't want any other tribe to rule. That is
why they are causing confusion, because they see
that the person ruling now is not from their own
side.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Not all of Kaduna's Christians feel such animosity
toward the Hausa ethnic group, which is predominantly
Muslim. Kaduna's Catholic archbishop, Peter Jatau,
says the current crisis has little to do with religion
or ethnicity, and a lot to do with politics. It is
unfortunate, he adds, that a political crisis has
driven such a wedge between two groups of people who
previously lived together in harmony.
/// JATAU ACT ///
The ordinary Muslim and ordinary Christian live
together. And if you go around, you can see
them. During the crisis, many Christians took
refuge in Muslim homes. The same thing with
Muslims, who took refuge in Christian homes.
So, especially among the ordinary people,
there's nothing between the Christians and
Muslims, they like to live together.
/// END ACT ///
At the police barracks, displaced people say they are
not only living in fear, they are also hungry, and
have not been given enough to eat by the government.
Kaduna's governor, Mohammed Makarfi, concedes the
relief operation has faced what he calls "little
problems here and there." But he disputes the
complaints that his administration is not doing
enough, noting that some 270 tons of relief materials
have been delivered in recent days.
/// OPT MAKARFI ACT ///
Definitely, there will be some little problems, a
complaint here and there. But I assure you on scale,
we've done quite, quite a lot and we are still doing a
lot, as we are still receiving materials every now and
then, and we're buying more of this food for them.
/// END ACT /// /// END OPT ///
Meanwhile, back in the parking lot, where Mr. Uzuma
had finished packing his things, questions about the
government's response seemed a bit irrelevant. "Being
a refugee in your own fatherland is a sad thing," said
Mr. Uzuma. "But when your life is in danger, you have
to take care of yourself."
Shortly after speaking those words, Mr. Uzuma was on
the road, joining thousands of other southerners who
have already fled the north. (Signed)
NEB/JP/GE/WTW
13-Mar-2000 12:59 PM EDT (13-Mar-2000 1759 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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