NIGERIA

Reports on Ethnic Relations  /  Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is consisted of part, full or summaries of articles from diverses sources (newspapers, newsletters, etc...).
La section suivante est constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles provenant d'origines diverses (journaux,bulletins, etc..).

02 / 28 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Militia violence threatens elections, says rights group"

Violence by ethnic militias and vigilante groups across Nigeria remains a threat to security ahead of general elections due in April and May, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said on Friday.

In a new report, the group said the O'odua People's Congress (OPC) whichoperates in the country's southwest poses a particular threat to the peaceful conduct of the elections.

The 58-page document titled 'OPC: Fighting Violence with Violence' provides details of abuses since the end of military rule in 1999 for which the militia, that claims to defend the interests of Yoruba people, was responsible.

"As pre-election violence is increasing across Nigeria, the OPC with itslarge mass membership represents a powerful force, which could be unleashed with disastrous consequences," said Peter Takirambudde of Human Rights Watch Africa division.

The OPC is blamed for playing a central role in some of the incidents ofethnic and religious violence in which thousands of people died in Nigeria in the last four years. The militia group is said to have played active roles in civil violence in the country's biggest city of Lagos between Yorubas and Hausa-speaking northerners in which hundreds of people died.

HRW also said that the OPC, in its self-appointed role as an anti-crime vigilante, killed and mutilated many people without having them pass through the normal judicial process. But the report observes that the militia had also been a victim of police brutality, including extra-judicial killings of suspected members, torture and dentention without trial.

The report condemns state governments across Nigeria that have provided backing for militia and vigilante groups. It noted that despite the ban on the OPC announced by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the militia still provided security at the funeral of slain Minister of Justice, Bola Ige, in February last year - an event attended by senior government officials, including the president himself.

"But whatever the weaknesses of the police force, government authoritieshave a responsibility to prevent the population from resorting toself-appointed vigilante groups that are known to engage in violence," Human Rights Watch said.

>>>>> Full Report

HUMAN RIGHT WATCH

The article: "OPC a Continuing Threat to Security"

Militia and vigilante violence continues to pose a real threat to security in Nigeria, especially in the period leading up to elections in April 2003, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. One of the more notorious groups is the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC), an organization active in the southwest, which has killed or injured hundreds of people over the last few years.

The 58-page report, "The OPC: Fighting Violence with Violence," provides detailed accounts of killings and other abuses by the OPC since the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in 1999. An organization that promotes self determination for the Yoruba ethnic group, the OPC is also part ethnic militia and part vigilante group. It has cashed in on a growing sense of disenfranchisement among the population and has taken advantage of the inability of the police force to maintain law and order.

"Vigilante violence in many parts of Nigeria is an increasing problem," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "The OPC is a particularly dangerous example of the phenomenon."

Some of these killings occurred in the context of ethnic conflicts, for example in the Idi-Araba area of Lagos in February 2002 when OPC members and other Yoruba clashed with members of the Hausa ethnic group and more than seventy people were killed. In one of the most serious incidents, in October 2000, more than 250 people were killed in Ajegunle (also in Lagos) as Yoruba and Hausa fought for several days; testimonies gathered by Human Rights Watch confirmed that the OPC had played a central role in the violence in Ajegunle. In other cases, OPC members publicly killed and mutilated alleged criminals in the course of their vigilante work. They have also attacked and killed policemen.

However, OPC members have been victims as well as perpetrators of human rights abuses. The report describes the brutal response of the police, which has resulted in the extrajudicial execution, arbitrary arrest, torture and prolonged pre-trial detention of hundreds of suspected OPC members. Police have frequently raided OPC meetings including in situations where there was no evidence that those present were engaged in criminal activity. Yet there have been few successful prosecutions of OPC members or their leaders responsible for the violence.

"Fighting violence with violence will not solve the problem," said Takirambudde. "On the contrary, it appears to have strengthened the resolve of the OPC to fight."

The report highlights the role of some state governments in supporting the OPC and in failing to publicly condemn the organization’s use of violence. Some state governors have turned a blind eye to the OPC’s acts of violence and attempted to justify using the group to fight crime on the basis that the police have been unable to do so. But whatever the weaknesses of the police force, government authorities have a responsibility to prevent the population from resorting to self-appointed vigilante groups that are known to engage in violence, Human Rights Watch said.

In 1999, President Obasanjo declared a ban on the OPC, which remains in force to this day, despite the absence of any legislation. Nevertheless, OPC members have openly provided security arrangements at public gatherings, including official events, such as the ceremony for the lying-in-state of former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Bola Ige, in January 2002, which was attended by many government officials, including President Obasanjo.

In recent months, there have been fewer reports of OPC violence, but the organization remains active and visible, and its leaders have not accepted responsibility for the serious abuses committed by their members.

"As pre-election violence is increasing across Nigeria, the OPC with its large mass membership represents a powerful force, which could be unleashed with disastrous consequences," said Takirambudde.

The report makes recommendations to the Nigerian government, including identifying and bringing to justice OPC members responsible for acts of violence, according to due process; issuing clear instructions to the police to respect the right to life and to refrain from excessive use of force; and reforming the police to ensure that it maintains law and order effectively, without carrying out systematic human rights violations.

Human Rights Watch also appealed to the leaders of the OPC to make clear to their members that acts of criminal violence will not be tolerated, and that abuses by the police, however serious, are never a justification for responding in kind. Because the OPC has a clear structure and chain of command, its leaders should be held responsible for the actions of their members, and OPC leaders should refrain from making any statements that could encourage violence.

"If the organization is claiming to fight crime, it should cooperate with the police and hand over any suspected criminal," said Takirambudde. "Under no circumstances should vigilante groups dispense their own form of justice."

>>>>> The Report

02 / 18 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Registration for national ID cards starts"

Nigeria started a two-week exercise on Tuesday to register an estimated 60 million adults aged at least 18 years so as to give them national identity cards, officials said.

The exercise involves more than 240,000 officials at 60,000 registration centres nationwide who will take photographs and finger prints of every eligible adult. They will subsequently be issued with identity cards.

"We are going to use the national identity card scheme as a reliable comprehensive data base to plan for the present and future generations," Minister of Information Jerry Gana told reporters in the capital, Abuja, on Monday. "It will also be very useful in our fight against crimes and to detect aliens in our midst."

The identity card scheme was initiated in 1978, but failed to take off even though successive regimes spent hundreds of millions of dollars on controversial contracts amid allegations of corruption.

President Olusegun Obasanjo's government, elected in 1999, initially wanted the cards to be used to identify voters in coming general elections. However, the plan was shelved after vigourous opposition by influential pressure groups from the country's mainly Muslim north.

Some of the groups said the mostly illiterate masses of the region would be confused by the use of the identity cards to the advantage of the more literate and mainly Christian south. But critics of this argument contend that the plan's detractors were afraid the identity cards would unmask the inflation of population figures in the region during previous national censuses.

The 25-year delay suffered by the exercise was partly the result of tensions and mutual suspicions between north and south.

The article: "Unrest displaced 750,000 in two years, says VP"

Communal disturbances in Nigeria displaced 750,000 people in the last two years, Vice President Atiku Abubakar said on Monday.

Atiku revealed these figures while declaring open a workshop on the "United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement" in the central city of Jos, organised by the National Commission for Refugees. He said Nigeria has had its own "unenviable share" of displaced people in recent years.

About 500,000 people were displaced in 2001 and 250,000 in 2002.

According to the vice president, the IDP figures for Nigeria continued to change "as one crisis is contained while another breaks out elsewhere".

Nigeria has been rocked by a series of ethnic and religious conflicts since President Olusegun Obasanjo's election ended a decade and half of military rule in 1999. It is estimated than more than 10,000 people have been killed in unrest in different parts of the country since then.

The aim of the workshop is to strenghten inter-agency collaboration in rehabilitating, resettling and reconciling victims of conflicts.

02 / 00 / 2003 

THE GUARDIAN (Nigeria)

The article: "Nigeria: Abacha family agreed to return loot, says Swiss envoy" (Joseph Sesebo)

Swiss authorities have described as untrue, claims by the late Gen. Sani Abacha's son, Mohammed, that neither he nor his family signed a pact to return part of the country's money believed to have been stashed in Swiss banks by his father.

The country's ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Rudolf Knoblauch, who described the claims as a "pure lie", also gave assurance that his government is ready to transfer the loot to a foreign country, as requested by Nigeria.

Sums traced to the late ruler which have been frozen total about $666 million out of which $65 million has already been released to Nigeria.

Knoblauch, in an interview with The Guardian, confirmed that Mohammed's release from prison, was a fall-out of the agreement which put the sharing formula at 90:10.

He disclosed that there was a negotiation between the Federal Government's legal team and that of the "Abacha clan" on how the looted funds would be shared between the two parties.

Knoblauch, who regretted that Mohammed repudiated the agreement after he was released from prison, said: "There was actually an agreement between the Abacha family and the Federal Government of Nigeria. But when Mohammed Abacha was released, he denied ever having signed any paper which is a pure lie."

He declared further: "I have seen his signatures, his mother's signature", the envoy said, adding: "But his refusal has led to a situation in which the matter, once again, has been referred back to the court."

The Swiss Ambassador said the Nigerian government decided to negotiate with the Abachas on the realisation that the family was pursuing a long legal tussle, which would be at great cost to the country. He spoke with a tinge of sadness that the action was widely criticised by Nigerians.

He, however, disclosed that his government had already transferred to Nigeria, $65 million out of the $666 million traced to the late ruler.

The $65 million was easily returned, he said, because it was directly traced to the late ruler.

To get the balance, he added, Nigeria must provide the necessary information on the source of the money and establish that it was stolen by Abacha since much of it were credited into account belonging to his family members.

With the case back to Swiss courts, following Mohammed's repudiation of the pact, the Swiss Ambassador gave assurance that his home government would give all the necessary support to Nigeria, if required.

The judgment will be given either in April or May, he disclosed.

He gave two conditions upon which his government would release the money to Nigeria. "Firstly," he said, "we need to believe in the Nigerian government," and "secondly, the Nigerian government must establish that this money was not Abacha's private money and it has been illegally taken from government funds."

The ambassador disclosed that his country's banking secrecy policy is being reviewed, so that Switzerland would no longer be regarded as a haven for looted funds.

He argued that the spirit behind the banking secrecy policy was noble, but noted that African leaders, in particular, exploited it to plunder their nations.

He said some African leaders lodged stolen funds with Swiss banks with fictitious names of non-existent names.

This, according to him, had made it difficult for the banks to ascertain the identities of the customers, adding that there might be more funds owned by the Abacha family than the frozen accounts.

He noted that stealing of state funds was made possible because "a lot of governments, especially in the Third World, where finance of the state is closely very connected to the head of state."

The Swiss ambassador disclosed that the decision of the Nigerian government to transfer the money to a foreign account was to avoid further legal tussle.

He said: "When the deal was negotiated between the Nigerian government and Abacha's lawyers, the Nigerian government gave one condition and that is that, the money be transferred not directly to the Nigerian bank, but to an international institution where it would not be subject to another litigation."

Although this has not been effected, he assured that the instruction to that effect would be given as soon as the legal tussle is over.

"As soon as the money is legally declared to be the property of the Nigerian government, it will be going out of the Swiss banks into accounts specified by the Nigerian government which I think might not be in Nigeria," he said.

02 / 10 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Court strikes out case against Obasanjo"

A court in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Monday struck out a suit challenging President Olusegun Obasanjo’s nomination as the candidate of the ruling party.

Alex Ekwueme, a former civilian vice president, had claimed that Obasanjo’ s election at the 5 January People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primaries violated party regulations. He also alleged that ballot papers were numbered by party officials who intimidated delegates by saying that those who voted against Obasanjo would be detected.

Justice Ishak Bello, while observing that there were good grounds for the suit, agreed with the president's counsel that it was marred by procedural errors. "I therefore agree that the case cannot be heard and strike it out," Bello declared.

Ekwueme's lawyer, Amobi Nzelu described the verdict as "a bad ruling" and said he would file an appeal. "In one breath he was saying we had grounds to challenge the nomination and then he turned around to say the suit cannot be entertained," he said.

Obasanjo had obtained more than 75 percent of the votes cast by more than 3,000 delegates against Ekwueme's 17 percent. Two other contestants scored less than two percent each.

General elections scheduled to be held between April and May will be the first since the 1999 vote that brought Obasanjo to office and ended more than 15 years of military rule. A total of 30 political parties have been registered for the polls.

The elections are considered a crucial test for Nigeria’s democracy, coming after a period in which the country has been wracked by ethnic and religious violence that has claimed thousands of lives.[ENDS]

3 - RDC: L'ONU propose de déployer plus d'observateurs militaires à Mambassa

NAIROBI, 7 février (IRIN) - Une équipe d'observateurs militaires devrait être déployée à Mambassa, près de la rivière Ituri, au nord-est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC). C'est ce qu'a conseillé une mission inter-agences d'évaluation rapide des besoins, conduite par les Nations Unies et organisée par le Bureau de l'ONU pour la coordination des affaires humanitaires (OCHA).

Cette mission d'évaluation, comprenant des responsables d'OCHA, de la Mission de maintien de la paix de l'ONU en RDC, de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé et de l'ONG Medair, a présenté cette recommandation mercredi, après avoir examiné les conditions et besoins humanitaires sur l'axe Mambassa-Beni et dans les zones de Mambassa et de Mandima, dans les domaines de la santé, de la sécurité alimentaire et de la situation des personnes déplacées.

Un rapport compilé à l'issue de l'évaluation confirme que les zones de la province du Nord-Kivu ont été soumises, depuis août 2002, à des déplacements massifs de populations. Mambassa a changé de mains à deux reprises, d'octobre à décembre 2002, lors d'une série d'affrontements armés opposant les forces du Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie - Kisangani / Mouvement de libération (RCD-Kis./ML) à celles de l'alliance entre le Mouvement de libération du Congo et le RCD-National.

"Ces affrontements ont soumis les populations civiles de Mambassa et du nord de l'axe Beni-Mambassa à des pillages à grande échelle et à la destruction de leurs propriétés. On y a signalé de présumées affaires de cannibalisme, accompagnées de viols et d'enlèvements d'habitants qui ont ensuite été forcés de transporter des provisions et des biens pillés. L'insécurité et les affrontements armés ont entraîné de grands mouvements de populations, de Mambassa, Komanda et Erengeti, vers Oicha, Mangina, et Beni", a expliqué l'équipe.

"Le déploiement d'une seconde troupe MILOBS [abréviation anglaise pour "observateurs militaires"] sur l'autre rive de la rivière Ituri, permettrait de vérifier, voire de prévenir, que les rumeurs actuelles relatives à des mouvements de troupes et des combats imminents, ne se réalisent. Tout en encourageant un très nécessaire retour des déplacés dans leurs foyers, le déploiement d'une seconde troupe retirerait les prétextes auxquels on a recours pour ne pas démilitariser Mambassa", précise l'équipe dans son rapport.

Ces observateurs militaires, s'il étaient basés du côté de la ligne de front occupé par le RCD-Kis./ML, pourraient patrouiller l'actuelle zone tampon de 40 km séparant les adversaires, ainsi que la zone neutre projetée à Mambassa, d'ajouter l'équipe.

La mission inter-agences a recommandé avec insistance aux acteurs humanitaires disposant de programmes de santé, de venir en aide à cette région, en lui fournissant des équipements de laboratoire, médicaments, lits, et en réparant les infrastructures sanitaires détruites. À cet égard, l'équipe a indiqué que les installations sanitaires de Mambassa étaient "terriblement sous-équipées et manquaient de personnel, en raison des pillages et de la fuite des employés".

Pour ce qui concerne les activités agricoles, l'équipe a souligné l'importance de distribuer les intrants agricoles et d'autres équipements susceptibles d'aider à relancer l'agriculture et de faciliter la réinsertion des gens déplacés revenant chez eux.

La mission inter-agences a estimé que les trois quarts de la population originale avait été déplacée dans les zones de Mambassa et de Mandima.

"Toutes les interventions adaptées pour aider les groupes les plus vulnérables, particulièrement les pygmées, doivent être exécutées de façon à s'intégrer aux programmes sociaux et humanitaires existants, afin d'éviter d'accroître le niveau d'exclusion et de marginalisation de ces groupes", signale la mission d'évaluation, en soulignant que les acteurs humanitaires doivent coordonner leurs interventions "par l'intermédiaire des groupes consultatifs thématiques d'OCHA, pour éviter les doubles emplois sur les plans géographique et sectoriel".

L'équipe signale que l'ONU bénéficie de la confiance de la population locale, qui croit que l'ONU joue une rôle positif dans cette zone. "En effet, sur la route empruntée pour se rendre et revenir des zones évaluées, la population civile applaudissait à la vue des véhicules de la mission onusienne. Les agences des Nations Unies présentes dans la région devraient tirer parti de leur bonne réputation et satisfaire les attentes des gens en les aidant à stabiliser la région".

02 / 09 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Bombs caused blast, police say"

Explosions on Sunday which killed at least 40 people in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, were caused by bombs, according to the police.

Police bomb experts have recovered bomb shells and live explosives from the site of the blast, which levelled two buildings and tore through others in the central business district of Lagos. "It was a series of explosions that brought down these buildings," Henry Idiode of the police bomb squad told reporters on Wednesday. He added that the explosives were of a type which, as far as he was aware, was not manufactured anywhere in Nigeria.

Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu said investigations would be intensified to find out if it the disaster was "a crime, a robbery or politically motivated".

"Whether it is deliberate or there is an underground market for explosives, these are questions for the police to answer," he said.

The Lagos State government has provided temporary shelter for hundreds of people displaced by the disaster. The authorities have also asked residents of other buildings shaken by the explosions to move so as to allow engineers to assess the safety of the structures.

02 / 07 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Court rules fees charged by electoral body illegal"

A court in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, rule on Thursday that the country's electoral commission acted illegally when it charged political parties fees to field candidates in upcoming general elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced it would charge as "processing fees" amounts ranging from 500,000 naira (US $4,000) for presidential candidates to 25,000 naira ($200) for those seeking election as local government councillors.

But Gani Fawehinmi, a leading human rights lawyer and presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party, filed a suit on behalf of 24 small political parties challenging the fees as unconstitutional.

Presiding judge Binta Murtala-Nyako agreed with the political parties in her ruling.

"Going through the constitution and the electoral act 2002, I fail to see where INEC was empowered to prescribe and demand such processing fees," Murtala-Nyako said. "I therefore declare the processing fees charged by the defendant illegal and unconstitutional..."

Most of the aggrieved parties were registered late last year to contest April-May general elections after they won a drawn-out legal battle at the Supreme Court against conditions for registration imposed by INEC.

"We are happy that the court has prevented INEC from hijacking the democratic process for the rich, contrary to the constitution," Fawehinmi said in a statement.

The electoral commission has issued a statement saying it will abide by the ruling of the court and reimburse the fees paid by political parties.

The general elections will be the first in Nigeria since a 1999 vote ended more than 15 years of military rule.

02 / 05 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Talks consider sharing of resources in disputed area"

Talks sponsored by the United Nations to end the border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria opened in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nigeria's Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who declared open the second meeting of the Nigeria/Cameroon Mixed Commission, said he expected its outcome to include parametres for sharing oil and other resources in the disputed Bakassi peninsula.

"I look forward to the joint development and utilisation of resources in the area, particularly in case of hydrocarbon findings," Atiku said. "I expect the joint commission to work out the modalities."

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) had ruled in October that the peninsula, which extends into the Gulf of Guinea between both countries, belonged to Cameroon. The ICJ based its decision on a 1913 pact between former colonial powers Germany and Britain.

But the ruling - which was meant to end an eight-year legal battle between the two countries - was rejected by Nigeria on the grounds that the interests of its citizens who had lived in the peninsula for centuries were not considered.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan invited presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Paul Biya of Cameroon to a meeting in Geneva in November, where they agreed to seek a peaceful resolution of the dispute.

Annan subsequently set up the mixed commission, headed by his envoy, Ahmed Ould Abdallah, to oversee negotiations to lead a settlement and withdrawal of troops by both countries from the disputed border. The inaugural meeting of the commission was held in December in the Cameroon capital, Yaounde.

Justice Minister Amadou Ali, who led Cameroon's delegation to Abuja, said his country was eager to achieve a negotiated settlement of the dispute.

"We have not only come for discussions, we have come to demonstrate the firm political will and determination of Cameroon to work towards solidifying the traditionally good relations between Cameroon and Nigeria," he said.

Bola Ajibola, his Nigerian counterpart and a former justice minister, said Nigeria's concerns were more for its citizens in the peninsula than for its resources.

"Our interest is not oil or natural resources," he said "we are more concerned with the interest of the Nigerian people who have lived there for centuries."

Troops from the two countries clashed occasionally in the peninsula from the early 1980s. But after Nigerian troops occupied most of Bakassi in late 1993, Cameroon filed a complaint at the ICJ the following year, leading to last October’s ruling.

The importance of the 1,000 sq-km strip of land has grown since the emergence of the region as one of the major oil zones in the world. International oil companies are operating on both the Nigerian and Cameroonian sides of the peninsula.

02 / 04 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Curfew imposed in oil town following clashes"

The authorities in Delta State, southern Nigeria, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Monday in the oil town of Warri to curb three days of ethnic clashes in which more than 20 people were said to have died.

"The curfew will start from 7 pm to 6 am every day until further notice," Abel Oshevire, spokesman for the Delta State government, said in a statement.

Warri residents said heavily armed soldiers and police patrolled the streets of the worst hit section of the town, where more than 50 houses were razed by rival gangs from the Urhobo and Itshekiri ethnic groups. "My children didn't go to school today as most schools in the town are shut down, the streets are deserted and people are staying indoors," Frank Olise, a Warri resident, told IRIN on Monday.

The clashes started on Friday following a dispute between rival factions of the ruling People's Democratic Party over the selection of candidates for election to the state legislature. Troops and police deployed on the streets on Saturday briefly brought the violence under control, but there was another flare-up on Sunday, when more houses were burnt and people from rival ethnic groups were attacked.

A reporter for a national daily said he counted more than 20 people killed during the three days of clashes.

Lt Col Gar Dogo, commander of the army battalion based in Warri, told reporters on Monday that the rival groups were armed with sophisticated weapons, but that his men had finally taken firm control of the situation.

Hundreds of people were killed between 1997 and 1999 in violence between Urhobos, Itshekiris and Ijaws, the town's three main ethnic groups. These disputes centred over ownership of territory, a basis for claims to rents and amenities provided by oil transnationals who use Warri as a base for operations in the western Niger Delta.

The latest clashes have added to fears that ethnic and political violence could mar Nigeria's first general elections since the return to civilian rule in 1999. The polls, which include legislative election, are to be held in April-May.

02 / 00 / 2003 

INTER PRESS SERVICE (ISP)

The article: "Rescue workers still searching for survivors" (Toye Olori)

Rescue workers were on Monday still digging into the rubble of a four-storey building in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, where a weekend blast has left 22 people dead and hundreds injured.

Several buildings, in the vicinity, were also damaged, according to a government statement Monday.

The explosion, which occurred Sunday afternoon, came just one week after the country marked the first anniversary of the bomb blast at Ikeja military barracks, Lagos, on Jan 27. More than 1,000 people died and 5,000 others were displaced in the blast.

The source of Sunday's explosion has not been established, but eyewitnesses say a fire was noticed at the basement of the building, followed by a loud explosion.

''I was going to play football at the nearby pitch when I saw smoke from a building. Suddenly there was a loud bang. I ran away, and, when I returned to the scene of the blast, I found that the people who were putting out the fire were all dead, lying on the floor,'' says Bolaji Olasunkanmi, a teenage boy.

Fatima Alade, an undergraduate student, who came home to collect her school fees, was lucky. ''I was preparing to return to school when I saw a group of people struggling to put out the fire. I rushed back into our house, which is not far from the building being consumed by the fire. I heard a loud bang. I ran to the corridor and jumped down and got injured,'' she says

When Alade returned from hospital, she found that her flat had been ransacked including the 10,000 Naira (around 100 U.S. dollars) for her school fees, missing. ''I do not really know what caused the explosion. But, I believe it is a bomb because it sounded just like the noise we heard at Ikeja last year,'' says Alade.

Criticising looters, Kayode Anibaba, Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, says ''It is unfortunate that rather than saving lives, some people were busy chasing after money, carting away people's belongings and opening up vaults in the affected bank. This is sad.''

A bank, in the vicinity, was also destroyed by the blast.

Leke Pitan, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, says 100 people were injured and 22 bodies were recovered late Sunday. Sixty persons were admitted to hospital with fractures, head injuries and broken limbs.

''Excavation work is still continuing to determine if we still have people trapped under the rubble. But in future, we will have sniffer dogs to locate those trapped, so that we will not risk the lives of rescuers,'' says Pitan.

President Olusegun Obasanjo, Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, and other top government officials rushed to the scene of the incident on Sunday. An overwhelmed Obasanjo did not make any comment but was briefed by the Lagos State governor.

''It is sad and tragic that this incident is coming just seven days after the commemoration of the Ikeja bomb blast of last year,'' says Tinubu.

''We must not give in to fear and despair. I have contacted the relevant agencies and will set up a commission of experts to unravel the cause of the blast. Until we have expert reports, I cannot say it is a bomb blast or not,'' says Tinubu, who also witnessed last year's bomb blast at Ikeja.

This is not the first time that Lagos has witnessed a bomb blast in recent years. The residents of Lagos, who numbers around 12 million, witnessed the Ikeja blast, and the Idi-Araba ethnic clashes in which houses were set ablaze and residents killed, in 2001. In 2002, the cargo shed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport witnessed an explosion, which destroyed the building, including luggage. Then came the blast at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation building in Ikoyi, Lagos, which also caused extensive damage.

Donors responded generously to the Ikeja bomb blast. Although the government says it has disbursed some 500 million naira (around 50 million U.S. dollars), there is nothing to show for.

''Where did all the money that was collected during the disaster of January last year go? What did government use it for? Is it just to buy mattresses and foodstuff for the victims?'' asks Charles Okah, a member of the rescue team at the scene.

''We expect the government to have used part of the donations to buy rescue equipment and train personnel in rescue operations,'' he says. ''If it has done so, by now we would have been prepared for any disaster.''

02 / 03 / 2003 

IRIN

The article: "Ethnic clashes erupt in southern oil town"

At least 12 people have been killed and more than 30 houses razed in three days of renewed ethnic violence in Nigeria's southern oil town of Warri, residents said on Monday.

They said the trouble started on Friday when a dispute erupted between factions of the ruling People's Democratic Party, which held primaries to select candidates for the state legislature at elections to be held in April-May 2003. However, the violence degenerated into fighting between the Urhobo and Itshekiri ethnic groups.

"Every night since Friday we've been hearing gunshots and many buildings have been set on fire," Emike Omatshola, a Warri resident, told IRIN. "I have seen at least 12 dead bodies and I'm sure more people have been killed," he added.

Army troops and policemen have been deployed on the streets of the town. On a number of occasions, bands of armed youths engaged them in gunfights. At other times, the youths fled to areas without a strong security presence, residents said.

Warri is a major base for oil transnationals with operations in the west of the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main oil region. Fighting between Urhobos, Itshekiris and Ijaws, the three main groups in Warri, claimed hundreds of lives between 1997 and 1999.

Most of the fights had centred on claims to oil-bearing areas by communities anxious to benefit from rents, amenities and other benefits provided by oil companies.