Military

DATE=10/17/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-268064

TITLE=NIGERIA / CLASHES (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=LUIS RAMIREZ

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT:

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: Ethnic clashes continued Tuesday in Nigeria's main city, Lagos. V-O-A West Africa Correspondent Luis Ramirez at least 30 people have died since fighting began Sunday between members of the Hausa and Yoruba ethnic groups.

TEXT: Ethnic confrontations have erupted periodically since President Olusegun Obasanjo took office last year. Critics accuse Mr. Obasanjo, himself a Yoruba, of being partisan to his ethnic group in a nation that has often seen friction between the Hausa people in the northern part of the country and the Yoruba people in the southwest.

The fighting began Sunday in the Ijora district of Lagos and pitted Hausas against supporters of the separatist Yoruba group known as the Odua (OH'-doo-uh) People's Congress (O-P-C).

Witnesses say the fighting was started when members of the O-P-C attacked a group of Hausas.

The skirmishes quickly spread to other parts of the city, leading police to impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Since last year, about one-thousand Nigerians have died in ethnic clashes. The bloodiest happened in February, when Christians and Muslims battled in the northern city of Kaduna following the introduction of the strict the Islamic law, Sharia. (Signed)

NEB/LR/KL/JWH