Focus on impact of U.S. anti-terrorism campaign

As the United States and members of its coalition force against terrorism intensify their bombardment of Afghanistan, fragile relations between Muslims and Christians in Africa's most populous country, Nigeria, are coming under severe strain. In one case last week, the tenuous ties in northern Nigeria's biggest city of Kano snapped as anti-U.S. protests on Friday by thousands of the Muslim majority degenerated into sectarian violence with the Christian minority. After two days of violence, during which houses, churches and mosques were set ablaze and hundreds of people killed, an uneasy calm has been restored to the city. But many Nigerians are left wondering where the next violence might erupt. Last month, the usually serene central region city of Jos was the scene of week-long violence between Christians and Muslims that left more than 500 people dead and some 50,000 displaced. Tension has been high in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria since several states began introducing strict Islamic or Sharia law in the past two years following the country's return to democratic rule after more than 15 years under military dictators. Similar violence had rocked Kaduna, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Taraba states where non-Muslims feel threatened by plans to introduce Sharia. But as radical Muslims rally support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Saudi fugitive, Osama bin Laden, suspected of being behind the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that claimed more 5,000 lives, the chasm with Christians in Nigeria is widening. Increasingly adherents of both religions in Nigeria, of fairly equal numbers, are hardening their positions against each other. In one example of the tough-talking that preceded the latest violence, Sheik Uthman bin Uthman, chairman of the Islamic Propagation Committee inKano State, declared the attack on Afghanistan as an attack on Nigerian Muslims. "By its military option, America has finally proved to the world that its primary objective was not to attack bin Laden but Islam. No man or nation can conquer Islam, it is Islam that will conquer nations," Uthman said. "With the latest round of fighting in Kano, the worry is that the violence is likely to escalate to other parts of the country," Abiodun Williams, a political analyst, told IRIN. "If events in the past are anything to go by, then it is likely that the thousands of southerners now fleeing the north because of the fighting might ignite reprisal attacks against northern Muslims in their areas when they get there with their tales of woe." In several recent flashpoints of violence across Nigeria, tension remains very high. In the city of Kaduna, which witnessed ethnic and religious violence last year, three churches were burnt down last week by suspected Muslim extremists. In northwestern Kebbi State, thousands of Muslim protesters marched recently through the capital Birnin Kebbi against the presence of U.S. troops training Nigerian soldiers there. Towards the eastern reaches of the central region, longstanding hostilities between the mainly Muslim Fulani/Jukun people and the mainly Christian Tivs have escalated, with 23 soldiers, who were sent into the area to keep peace, arrested and killed by local militiamen last week. In the central city of Jos, rocked by similar violence last month, the local authorities have banned public meetings and processions to prevent a renewal of violence. At the end of a recent meeting in Kaduna, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for the mainly Muslim northern region, called on President Olusegun Obasanjo's government to probe allegations that a number of governors in the Muslim majority states were stocking up weapons. CAN also expressed worry at the threats, allegedly made by Ahmed Sani Yerimah of Zamfara State to launch a jihad. Zamfara is the first state to introduce the strict Sharia legal code. "We regret and frown at the spate of violence, killings and maiming of innocent citizens as well as the destruction of property in Kano,Jos, Taraba, Benue and Bauchi," CAN said in its communique. But it warned that, "we will not just fold our arms", if urgent action was not taken by the government. However, many Muslims appear to have been particularly displeased by the steps Obasanjo, a southern Christian, has taken since the terrorist events in the U.S. Following the attacks, the government had declared a security alert, circulating a list of countries of likely origin of would-be terrorists who might want to take advantage of delicate religious relations in Nigeria. And as the air strikes against Afghanistan got underway, the government declared "support for concerted international efforts to combat terrorism". (One of the buildings burnt by the rioters in Kano was the residence of Foreign Minister Sule Lamido, who had also made statements in support of the air strikes.) Only last week the Central Bank issued a stern directive to banks to provide within seven days information on accounts that are suspected of being linked to terrorist networks. Security sources say these measures were justified by the fact that one of the key witnesses who had participated in the terrorist bombing of U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998 had actually given himself up to the U.S. embassy in Lagos. "We have strong clues that some terrorist cells may be operating in Nigeria," one security source told IRIN. But the current situation appears a boon to Islamic radicals, who now see an opportunity to gain ascendancy. The Shi'ite movement, led by radical preacher, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, have become very active lately, especially in Kano and the university town of Zaria, Kaduna State, where it has a lot of young followers. Other groups of the mainstream Sunni persuasion are not left out in the campaign to uphold Islam seen as coming under the onslaught of Western, Christian powers. Posters of bin Laden and the Taliban rulers have also become very popular. This in turn has led to the radicalisation of Christians, especially farther north where they are a tiny minority and the central region immediately bordering the north, where they are in the majority. "The unfolding scenario does give one great cause for concern," Williams told IRIN. "It is a situation that calls for utmost care, tact and firm action on the part of the government to ensure the security of lives and property. Otherwise things could easily degenerate into a bloody, religious war," he added.