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October 08, 2004
Official Islam-Christian War Toll in Nigeria : 54,000 Dead
From the AFP via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :
Officials in Nigeria have revealed three years of fighting between rival Christian and Muslim ethnic groups in the central state of Plateau has claimed almost 54,000 lives a third of them children.

The figure covers the period from September 2001 to May this year when President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed emergency rule on the highland region.

It Is the first official toll given for the conflict in which heavily-armed gangs from rival nomadic and farming communities fought against in other in a battle for land and power.

Posted by Alan Brain at October 8, 2004 07:40 AM | TrackBack
Comments

And both religions claim to worship a God of Peace.

But then, it's just History. It's always been like that.

Posted by: Don [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 8, 2004 11:06 AM

I'm sure, somehow, the Americans have something to do with this. Everyone knows that only Americans and Jews kill Muslim childeren.

Posted by: mdmhvonpa [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 8, 2004 01:17 PM

Nope -- not even a good try.

Tribal rivalries dominate African "politics." Religion is only a convenient stand-in for differentiation.

Rather like Europe in the Middle Ages until shortly after the Reformation in some interesting ways.

Posted by: Don [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 8, 2004 02:36 PM

I've worked in Nigeria.(Oil Indusrtry). With America's increasing dependence on Nigerian Crude, it would be well worth keeping an eye on this situation in light of the War on Terror. Most people don't realize how many Nigerians are Muslims.

Nigeria: Muslim 50%, Christian 40%(CIA Factbook)
Nor that the HIV\AIDS rate is 5.4%.........almost all of which is among the Christians.

Posted by: ET [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 10, 2004 08:10 AM

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