NIGERIA: Residents of the city of Jos pray for calm after four days of riots claim over 450 lives

Record ID: 235220

  • Title: NIGERIA: Residents of the city of Jos pray for calm after four days of riots claim over 450 lives
  • Date: 23rd January 2010
  • Summary: RESIDENTS WALKING DURING SERVICE
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA2VVYC8MEMRWTQV292Q1LPQ07Z
  • Story Text: Residents of Nigeria's central city of Jos held prayers on Friday (January 22), vowing to find a peaceful solution following four days of sectarian violence which claimed the lives of over 460 people around the city.
    Clashes between Christian and Muslim gangs in central Nigeria, which has seen frequent bouts of ethnic and religious unrest, forced Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to deploy the army this week in his first major use of executive powers since President Umaru Yar'Adua arrived in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment over two months ago.
    The unrest has been contained for now but such violence has in the past been orchestrated by rival political factions, highlighting Nigeria's fragility as it approaches the campaign period for 2011 elections with no clear leadership.
    Nigerian authorities relaxed a 24-hour curfew in Jos earlier on Thursday to allow thousands of residents to return to their homes, but the city remained tense with hundreds of soldiers and police patrolling the streets.
    "The only way to solve this problem is if the governor can call all the chief Imams in Plateau to have a meeting with them and should pardon all Muslim brothers and sisters and to assist them because a lot of people lost their properties, their lives and the rest, that's my little advise to him," said Aminu Yaro, a resident of Jos who survived the clashes.
    The Red Cross estimated 17,000 people had been displaced and took shelter in colleges, hospitals and schools since clashes began on Sunday.
    The clashes have not had an impact on sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy. Its oil industry is in the south and the banks mainly in the commercial capital Lagos.
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