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Nigeria Oil Exports Threatened

Monday February 28 2:58 PM ET At Least 50 Killed in Nigeria Backlash Riot

Reuters Photo LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - At least 50 people were killed in riots in southeast Nigeria Monday in reaction to the deaths of hundreds of people in religious bloodshed in northern Nigeria last week, witnesses said.

Residents of the southeastern city of Aba said the violence pitted local Christian Ibos against Hausa-speaking immigrants from Muslim northern Nigeria.

``In Aba itself I counted over 50 bodies. Many were burnt in the street and angry youths were chanting war songs and dancing round the city,'' one witness, who had left the city center for nearby Port Harcourt, told Reuters.

The violence has uncomfortable parallels with the run up to civil war in 1967, when the killing of thousands of Ibos in northern Nigeria and the subsequent flight of tens of thousands more helped trigger the southeast's bid to secede.

An estimated one million people died before the breakaway state of Biafra was defeated by forces from the rest of the diverse West African country, Africa's most populous.

An upsurge of ethnic and religious conflict since President Olusegun Obasanjo took office last May to end 15 years of military rule has again thrown doubt over the future of the country of at least 108 million.

Security Forces Hard Pressed

Security forces have been hard pressed to deal with the killings.

Abia State governor's spokesman Chukwudi Nwabuko told Reuters police had been reinforced to bring the situation under control.

But travelers from the city said riot police from the oil industry capital Port Harcourt, 50 km (30 miles) south of Aba, began moving into the city only at dusk.

``At least 10 checkpoints had been set up by youths on the road to Port Harcourt and they were stopping every vehicle that went past,'' one traveler said.

Residents said the riots were a direct response to the violence in the north, which erupted last Monday at a protest by Christians against Muslim demands for the introduction of Islamic sharia law in Kaduna state.

``There was a meeting last night among the traders and it was said that Ibo traders were killed in the Kaduna riots. So this morning they summoned the Hausa community to leave the city, saying that they could not guarantee their safety,'' one southeastern resident said.

Panic In Northern Kano

Rumors of deaths in Aba triggered panic in the north's biggest city of Kano, where there is a large Ibo community. Shops and markets closed and residents said hundreds of southerners took refuge in military barracks.

Roman Catholic bishops warned Monday that Nigeria was headed toward ``national suicide'' over the introduction of sharia law by several northern states and called on the government to act quickly to stop it. Defusing the tension is hideously difficult for Obasanjo, a Christian southerner who is keen not to offend northern sensibilities after being accused of marginalizing the region which has dominated politics since independence from Britain in 1960.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), February 28, 2000

Answers

Why are people reporting news like this? It's taking the place of articles on the Cuban boy.

Flippant at present,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 28, 2000.

The situation in Nigeria has the potential to escalate beyond our worst nightmares. High-tech, megabucks petroleum interests blended in with a historically warring tribal-based society. This will get very ugly. Scratch Lagos off of your must see list.

-- Sifting (through@the.rubble), February 28, 2000.

Just muslims f+++ing up the world again. When these bastards try to place sharia in the USA it will be all over with.

-- fred (fred@net.com), February 28, 2000.

It might be a mistake to minimize attention to these events. In our area we have a very large, influential Nigerian community whose presence is notable in state and local government. This situation has got to impact the expatriates who have to balance "new" culture against old ties. Bears watching.

-- another government hack (keepwatching_2000@yahoo.com), February 28, 2000.