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To: C Kahn who wrote (4389)	2/24/2000 8:27:00 PM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4775

CKahn, And now violence in Nigeria.... Police claim control over violence-wracked Nigerian city Days of sectarian riots have left buildings burned in Kaduna February 24, 2000 Web posted at: 8:52 AM EST (1352 GMT) KADUNA, Nigeria -- Three days of religious clashes in northern Nigeria have left at least 300 people dead, many of the bodies still littering the streets, as police said Thursday the situation was under control. The violence erupted Monday when Christians demonstrated against a Muslim attempt to bring strict Islamic law -- or Shariah -- to Kaduna state. Shariah is already in effect in neighboring Zamfara state, which is predominantly Muslim. A lawyer and human rights activist has filed suit in Zamfara asking that the law be declared unconstitutional. Two other chiefly Muslim states passed Shariah bills this week. Muslims in Kaduna have tried to assure the Christians, who make up 40 percent of Kaduna's population, that the law will not apply to non-Muslims. But the assurances have largely fallen on deaf ears, as newspapers in the majority Christian south have spread warnings of discrimination and punishment to come. Hundreds of people fled the fighting as police from five nearby states and Nigerian soldiers fanned through the city to restore order. Law enforcement officers also smothered violence that erupted in the Kaduna state towns of Kafanchan and Zaria, where at least eight people died Wednesday. Call for calm The city of Kaduna was for the most part quiet Wednesday, despite some looting, but charred and bloody bodies dotted the city alongside still smoldering bonfires and buildings. MESSAGE BOARD Religious strife in Nigeria "The capacity of the mortuary was filled up. That is why you are seeing some bodies on the floor," said morgue attendant Said Baku at Kaduna's main hospital, where he had been on duty since Monday. "We don't have any other place to put them." Baku said police were to take the dead away Thursday for a mass burial. Nigerian officials urged calm and condemned the violence. "The Kaduna incident is dangerous and a very serious threat to the peace and unity of this great nation," said the Sultan of Sokoto, spiritual leader of most Nigerian Muslims. "I strongly appeal to all Muslims and Christians to stop the destruction and live in peace and harmony." President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, was less outspoken, although he did say the violence was "not only criminal but highly unpatriotic." "What we need most now is love, caring for each other and joining of hands to rebuild the nation together," Obasanjo said on national television. "Let us bind our wounds and accept the challenge of the time." Obasanjo was elected president a year ago, after 15 years of military rule -- including a short stint as military ruler by Obasanjo himself in the 1970s. His term has been marred by several crises in which more than 1,000 people have been killed.