Kano tense after riots

2004-05-14 12:28

Kano Nigerian police were out in force in the northern city of Kano on Friday, the Islamic day of prayer, two days after rioting between Muslims and Christians drove 30 000 from their homes.

A strict curfew maintained order overnight, a reporter in the city said, but as the tense holy day began displaced Christians were still sheltering in six makeshift camps, while troops and police were out in force.

In the industrial district of Sharada dozens of Christian-owned homes lay empty, torched and looted.

Security officials said they believed the situation was now under control, but were on the alert as millions of Muslims prepared to gather in city mosques to pray and hear sermons. Protests often erupt after prayers in Kano.

Rioting erupted in the city on Tuesday when Muslim youths went on the rampage after a street protest called to denounce an attack by a Christian ethnic militia on a Muslim market town in central Nigeria, which left 200 dead.

Hacked, shot or burned

Christian homes and businesses were targeted, and dozens of residents hacked to death with machetes, shot or burned in their homes.

The city's Christian minority have fled their homes in Sharada and two other suburbs, and are being cared for in camps by Kano State officials.

Both the May 2 attack on Yelwa, in central Nigeria's Plateau State, and the subsequent rioting in Kano have dramatically upped the tension between the country's Christian and Muslim communities.

- AFP