2,000 troops to be withdrawn from ECOMOG

Information Minister Dapo Sarumi announced on Wednesday that Nigeria would withdraw 2,000 troops from the West African Peace Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) serving in Sierra Leone by the end of August, news reports said. He said more troops would leave in September. Nigeria fields an estimated 12,000 of the 15,000-strong ECOMOG force, Reuters reported. Police intercept weapons, discover arms factory in Ondo Police this week seized weapons and ammunition reportedly bound for the southwest Nigerian state of Ondo, scene of recent communal clashes, news organisations reported on Thursday. The weapons, including automatic rifles, and ammunition were intercepted in Iguobazuwa in Edo state, east of Ondo. Twenty five people were arrested, 'The Guardian' daily of Lagos reported. In Ondo, a combined team of police detectives and military intelligence officials have discovered an illegal arms factory just two km from the state capital, Akure, the daily reported Ondo Police Commissioner Chris Nyiam as saying on Thursday. A large number of single and double-barrel guns in various stages of completion were recovered at the factory, the paper said. Ondo was the scene of clashes in September 1998 and again earlier this month between its Ijaw and Ilaje communities. Additional troops were sent on Wednesday to the state under a mid-August peace agreement between leaders of the Ijaw and Ilaje communities that provided for their deployment and brought some calm to the area. Church, hotels torched in Katsina Seven hotels and a church were torched by members of a Shi'ite Muslim sect protesting against the sale of alcohol in Katsina on 20 August, 'The Guardian' reported. Non-indigenous merchants in the northern town hurriedly shut their shops and fled. Some moved their families to the local military headquarters and others took refuge in police barracks. The police reinforced security in most of the churches in the town to prevent further attacks. Katsina Governor Umaru Musa Yar'Adua appealed for calm and understanding among the various ethnic groups in the state, urging them to continue to live together in peace and unity. Government deploys troops to stop Taraba communal clashes In another troubled state, Taraba, the federal government deployed soldiers in mid-August to help restore peace in Takum town after violent clashes between two ethnic groups, the Jukun and Kutep, over chieftaincy titles and boundary adjustments. 'The Guardian' reported Governor Jolly Nyame as saying that the clashes had been recurring for about 10 years in the town, half of whose residents, he said, had fled. Six die in student protest At least six people were killed when police fired on students demonstrating against the non-payment of teachers' salaries at a polytechnic in Iree, some 200 km northeast of Lagos, AFP reported on 21 August.