Author: AFP
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: November 22, 2002
At least 100 people have been killed
in rioting between Muslims and Christians in the northern Nigerian city
of Kaduna, a Red Cross official told AFP on Friday.
George Bennet, Nigeria representative
of the International Federation of the Red Cross, said that a 50-strong
Nigerian Red Cross emergency team in Kaduna had confirmed the deaths.
"There are also indications that
the trouble has flared again this morning," he said.
Earlier a spokesman for the Nigerian
Red Cross was unable to confirm the death toll, but said that at least
521 injured people had been evacuated by volunteer medical teams to city
hospitals.
Shehu Sani, head of the Kaduna-based
Civil Rights Congress told AFP by telephone from the city that observers
from his agency had seen 50 dead and many injured in various parts of the
city.
"The situation has further aggravated,
there have been more burnings of churches and mosques," he said. "Initially
the attacks were mostly by Muslims, but now Christians are retaliating."
Reverend James Wuye, who represents
an inter-faith group set up to broker peace between the communities, confirmed
that a riot that began as a Muslim protest against a "blasphemous" newspaper
article was now a sectarian conflict.
"Last night there were reprisal
attacks against Muslims in the northern part of Kaduna," he said. "Now
there is an uneasy calm. Religious leaders are meeting with the state governor
this morning to try and find a way to restore peace."
All three officials said that a
curfew due to end this morning had been extended through the day.
Fighting broke out in Kaduna on
Wednesday when Muslim youths protesting against an article on the Miss
World Beauty pageant, which is due to be held in Nigeria on December 7,
burned down a newspaper office.
On Thursday the fighting became
more general as a protest march degenera ted into attacks on Christian
churches and homes, witnesses said. Several places of worship have been
burned out and police and soldiers deployed to the streets.
