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Police intercept weapons

    ABIDJAN

    Police this week seized weapons and ammunition reportedly bound for the southwest Nigerian state of Ondo, the scene of recent communal clashes, news organisations reported on Thursday.

    Some reports had it that three truckloads of arms - including automatic rifles - and ammunition were impounded after being intercepted in Iguobazuwa in Edo state, which lies immediately east of Ondo. However, a media source told IRIN that the arms were being ferried in a single truck.

    A number of people - 25 according to 'The Guardian' daily - have been arrested.

    Additional troops were sent on Wednesday to Ondo under a mid August peace agreement between leaders of the Ijaw and Ilaje communities that provided for their deployment, the source told IRIN.

    At the beginning of August, clashes broke out between the two communities over a land rights dispute which caused the displacement of thousands of people when it first surfaced in September 1998.

    The peace agreement has brought some calm to the area and, according to the source, no clashes have been reported over the past week.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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