August 23, 2003

Ethnic Militias Wage Battles in Nigeria, Killing 100

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NY Times

AGOS, Nigeria, Aug. 22 — Street battles between rival ethnic militias killed 100 people and injured another 1,000 in Nigeria's volatile southern oil port of Warri, the Red Cross said today, citing witness accounts and body counts.

The estimate was the most authoritative yet of the toll in five days of violence; government officials had refused to give firm numbers, fearing it would further inflame tensions.

Emmanuel Ijewere, president of the Nigerian Red Cross, said the situation had calmed after the authorities flooded the city with troops and riot police officers, enabling the relief agency to piece together the extent of damage.

"We have reason to believe the number of people who died are close to 100," Mr. Ijewere said.

Another 1,000 people were injured while more than 4,000 people were displaced, most of them from homes that were burned in the violence, Mr. Ijewere said.

The Delta State government said Thursday that it had secured a cease-fire between militant Itsekiri fighters and the rival Ijaws.

Bands of youths from the two neighboring communities had battled with automatic weapons in the streets of Warri, a major base for oil multinationals.

Gov. James Ibori of Delta State met today with youth leaders from the warring sides to try to consolidate the cease-fire. The main Ijaw militant group boycotted the meeting, accusing the governor of being partisan to Itsekiri interests.

Bello Oboko, leader of the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities, accused the governor of triggering the latest violence by issuing an order on Ijaws on July 16 to leave the MacIver district of Warri, claimed by Itsekiris.

The Nigerian authorities said today they were sending a special military task force to the Niger Delta to check the growing security threats to oil operations in the region.

A military spokesman, Col. Ganiyu Adewale, said the security agencies, apart from ending the latest violence, would try to curb the theft of about 300,000 barrels daily — 15 percent of Nigeria's output — by criminal gangs believed to be funneling weapons back into the region from the proceeds of illegally sold crude.