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| Sunday, 24 November 2002 |
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At least 105 dead in Nigeria anti-Miss World riots By Tume Ahemba KADUNA, Nigeria, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Fighting raged on Friday in the Nigerian city of Kaduna, where more than 100 people have died in three days of riots stoked by Muslim fury over the country's staging of next month's Miss World contest. The Nigerian Red Cross said the death toll stood at at least 105 by Friday morning. Witnesses have since spoken of more killings by civilians and security forces. The Red Cross said 3,000 people had been displaced and hundreds injured. "Two of my sons were killed at home today. They were taken away from my house by police and soldiers. They were killed and their bodies burnt," said Bello Mijinyawa, a Muslim resident. The streets of the northern city were littered with charred vehicles and burnt tyres. Hundreds of residents were seen fleeing their smouldering houses carrying their belongings. A Reuters reporter saw 13 corpses in the streets, which eyewitnesses said were from Friday's fighting. They said more bodies had been thrown down wells by attackers. The violence was sparked by a newspaper article suggesting the Prophet Mohammad would probably have married one of the Miss World beauty queens. Eyewitnesses said fighting spread from mainly Muslim districts to Christian-dominated areas on Friday, despite a 24-hour curfew. The violence over the past three days has involved the majority religious group in each respective area attacking the minority one, they said. Red Cross spokesman Patrick Bawa said 521 injured people had been taken to Kaduna hospitals by Thursday night. Kaduna residents said Muslims were accusing authorities of trying to bar them from Friday prayers with the curfew. Relations between the Muslim majority and a significant and assertive Christian minority in Kaduna state have always been tense. Two years ago thousands were killed in violence stemming from non-Muslim opposition to plans to introduce Islamic sharia law in the state. RESIDENTS DEFY CURFEW Nigeria won the right to stage the Miss World contest after Nigerian Agbani Darego won the last event in South Africa. The riots erupted on Wednesday when rampaging Muslim youths burned the Kaduna offices of the independent Lagos-based daily This Day, whose November 16 article sparked the violence. The unrest quickly turned into a general protest against the Miss World contest to be held in Abuja on December 7. By noon on Friday, Kaduna's streets were teeming. Residents said they were defying the curfew in anger at the local governor. "People are angry because the governor refused to receive a group of protesters who came yesterday to deliver a petition against the newspaper article," one resident said. "Instead security forces fired teargas and opened fire, killing five people right there at the gate of government house," said the resident, asking not to be named. Witnesses said angry youths tore down the re-election campaign posters of Governor Ahmed Makarfi, a political ally of President Olusegun Obasanjo. "Muslims are angry about the curfew. They believe the governor is trying to prevent them going to the mosque today," another resident said. Friday prayers are often a flashpoint of unrest in the volatile region. Many Kaduna residents expressed fear that more violence could flare during the night. "Nobody knows what will happen when night falls," said Adekola Sanmi, a 26-year-old Christian student taking refuge in a police barracks. "That's why we are moving away to safety in the barracks. The area is dominated by Muslims and they have threatened to come back in the night." BEAUTY QUEENS CONFINED TO HOTEL The contest has also been hit by controversy over the case of Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death by stoning under Islamic law for bearing a child out of wedlock. Several contestants threatened to boycott this year's Miss World over the sentencing, but almost all turned up after government assurances that there would be no stoning. The 92 Miss World contestants were confined to their hotel in the capital Abuja on Friday. The tensions spread to Abuja on Friday when there was an unexplained stampede among Muslims leaving Mosque prayers, but there were no reports of violence. |
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