Nigeria – 11 Sept 2001 – A report from the central Nigerian city of Jos says more than 160 people have been killed in three days of violence between Muslims and Christians. An official of the International Red Cross, Phillip Macham, told the French News agency : “Our records, at this afternoon, show that 165 bodies have been deposited at various hospitals in Jos”
He said that, in addition, more than 900 had been injured as rival gangs rampaged through the city of four million people.
But these may not be the final figures. According to Mr Macham there are “still so many bodies on the streets.”
Played down
Earlier on Monday, the authorities gave far lower casualty figures, but also acknowledged they were not ” final”.
An official spokesman put the number of dead at 51 with more than 500 injured since the outbreak of fighting on Friday. Correspondents say the figure could have been played down for fear of igniting fresh clashes. Churches, mosques, cars and houses were burned down, as the authorities extended a curfew to try to calm the situation.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the military into the city at the weekend, and they appear to have gradually restored order, although small-scale skirmishes have continued.
Sporadic gunfire
Thousands of people fled their homes in Jos and sought refuge in military and police compounds when the fighting erupted. A journalist in Jos, Shehu Sawlawa, told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that, although the presence of the security forces had given some people the confidence to begin returning to their homes, others have been leaving on buses and open top lorries.
President Obasanjo has condemned the violence. “I wonder what sort of Muslims and Christians start burning churches and mosques – places where God is worshipped?” he asked. “True believers in God cannot start killing other human beings.”
Religious leaders from both sides are calling for talks and a former Nigerian military ruler, General Yakubu Gowon – himself a Christian from the north – is trying to organise a meeting between Muslim and Christian elders. The population of Jos is overwhelmingly Christian, but there is a sizeable Muslim community.
The unrest was sparked on Friday by an argument outside a mosque, after which vigilante groups went on the rampage following a false rumour that a Christian church had been burnt down.
Relations between the two communities were already tense after the appointment of a Muslim to head a state poverty-reduction programme.
There is also an ethnic dimension to the conflict, as many of the fighters on the Christian side are members of the Berom tribe, a group native to Jos. Fulanis and Hausas – two of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups – make up a large proportion of the Muslims.
Relations between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria have been tense since the introduction of the Sharia Islamic law in 12 states. In February 2000, more than 2,000 people were killed in religious unrest in Kaduna, and some 450 more Nigerians died in reprisals in the south-east of the country.