Tense calm in Kaduna after riots

The situation in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna was reported to be tense but calm on Monday following riots and clashes between Muslims and Christians that killed more than 200 people, according to hospital sources and relief workers. The violence began on Wednesday when Muslim youths began protesting against an article published on Saturday 16 November in a local newspaper, the report suggested in response to opposition by Muslims to the staging of the Miss World beauty contest in Nigeria that the Prophet Mohamed might have approved of it. The organisers of the contest decided on Saturday to move it to London, but clashes between Christians and Muslims continued in Kaduna. "We have so far counted more than 200 people dead since the violence started," Enoch Dangana, a hospital worker in Kaduna, told IRIN. Officials of the Nigerian Red Cross Society put the casualties at 215 dead and more than 500 injured. They said more than 5,000 people had been displaced from their homes and had taken refuge at police stations and military barracks. By Monday the security forces had tightened their grip on Kaduna, bringing the situation to a tense calm. The police authorities in Kaduna State said more than 1,000 people arrested in connection with the riots would face charges in court on Monday. There were fears the violence might spread to other cities after Muslim youths burnt cars in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Friday and Muslims were attacked in the southeastern city of Aba on Sunday. Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim while the south is populated by mainly Christians and followers of traditional African faiths. After Nigeria was awarded hosting rights for Miss World, there had been threats of a worldwide boycott in protest against the sentencing of a single mother, Aminal Lawal, to death by stoning for having a baby out of wedlock. President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government pledged not to allow the sentence to be carried out, and the some 92 Miss World contestants arrived in Nigeria two weeks ago. However, Muslim clerics opposed the idea of hosting the beauty contest on the grounds that it would be a parade of nudity offensive to Islamic sensibilities. The Thisday newspaper article of 16 November saying Mohammed would probably have chosen one of the contestants for a wife if he were alive added fuel to a smouldering fire. On Saturday, the contestants hurriedly left Nigeria for London, after the organisers switched the venue of the 7 December pageant to the British capital. "This decision was taken after careful consideration of all the issues involved and in the overall interests of Nigeria and the contestants participating in this year's edition," the organisers said in a statement. Obasanjo has condemned the newspaper, saying the authorities will take legal action against it. The daily, which has published repeated apologies to Muslims, said its Saturday editor, Simon Kolawole, had been arrested by state security police. The author of the controversial article, Isioma Daniel, was asked to turn herself in.