Military cuts not expected to affect peacekeeping

Nigeria plans to cut the size of its armed forces to 50,000 troops from the current 80,000 over the next four years, but officials say this will not compromise the country's peacekeeping role. "The end result should be a highly technical, highly professional army capable of rapid response to its responsibilities," a senior military official told IRIN. See Item: irin-english-1462 titled 'IRIN Special Report on plans to trim the armed forces' Church, hotels torched in Katsina Seven hotels and a church were torched by members of a Shi'ite Moslem sect protesting against the sale of alcohol in Katsina on Friday, 'The Guardian' newspaper reported. 'The Guardian' reported a witness as saying that the protesters, some of whom carried petrol in jerry cans and chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great), moved unhindered towards the targeted buildings and set them on fire. Non-indigenous people who owned shops in Katsina metropolis hurriedly shut them and fled. Anticipating renewed attacks in the night, some moved their families to the local military headquarters while others took refuge in police barracks. The police have, however, beefed up security in most of the churches in the metropolis to pre-empt any further attacks, while Katsina Governor Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has appealed for calm and understanding among the various ethnic groups in the state and urged them to continue to live together in peace and unity. Government deploys troops to stop Taraba communal clashes In Taraba, another northern state, the federal government has deployed soldiers to help restore peace at Takum town following violent clashes between two ethnic groups, the Jukun and Kutep, over chieftaincy titles and boundary adjustments. 'The Guardian' reported that Governor Jolly Nyame disclosed the deployment at a news conference at the weekend in Kaduna. He said the clashes had been recurring for about 10 years and had disrupted economic activities in the area. "While we continued peace initiatives between the two aggressive groups, we brought in the military to disarm them because of deadly weapons being used by their youths," Nyame said. He said half of its residents had fled. Nigeria human development report President Olusegun Obasanjo said his government was committed to implementing anti-poverty policies and programmes as he launched the 1998 Nigeria Human Development Report in Abuja on Friday, Nigeria Television reported. Estimates, Obasanjo said, showed that nearly 49 percent of Nigerians lived below poverty line. Quoting other statistics from the report, he noted that the life expectancy was just 50 years, only 55 percent of adults were literate, some 49 percent had access to safe water and health services, and just over 33 percent expected to live to the age of 40 years. ..."no country can maintain a peaceful and stable democratic polity without a certain degree of sustainable development," he said. "Nigeria should, within a reasonable period, produce a picture of human development that truly reflects the country's potentials. We are determined to succeed in this national endeavour".