New religious [what religion exactly?] riot in Nigeria, death tolls riseOkay let me break that down. Muslims rioted because they were angered by local politics and life in general and killed Christians and God know whom else and Reuters, as usual, was too chicken even to say that loudly and clearly.
20 Feb 2006 18:22:59 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ardo Hazzad
BAUCHI, Nigeria, Feb 20 (Reuters) - At least 10 people died in a religious riot in the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi on Monday while the death toll from a weekend of sectarian [WHAT sect?] violence in two other northern cities was put at more than 50.
Though the triggers were different, several religious leaders said the violence was rooted in uncertainty over the political future -- specifically, a rumoured ambition by President Olusegun Obasanjo to stand for a third term in 2007.
The fighting in Bauchi was sparked by an argument over the Koran [oh really?] while in Maiduguri it started with protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad [by members of WHAT sect?] and in Katsina it was about a planned public hearing on constitutional reform.
The Red Cross put the death toll in Maiduguri and Katsina at 28, but the Christian Association of Nigeria said it had counted at least 50 dead bodies in Maiduguri alone. [What was the religion of the victims?]
[...]
Nigeria's 140 million people are split about equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south, although sizeable religious minorities live in most cities. [Yes. So? Are the victims and perpetrators as equally distributed?]
Thousands [who exactly?] have been killed in religious violence since 12 northern Nigerian states introduced Islamic sharia law in 2000. [You don't say...]
Sectarian [between what sects and who started it?] fighting is often stoked by politicians seeking to bolster their own power bases, while violence in one part of the country often sparks reprisal killings elsewhere.
In Bauchi, residents said trouble began after a teacher in a secondary school tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who was reading it during class. Word got out into the streets that the teacher had desecrated the Koran, infuriating Muslims. ["Word got out..." is always good enough for a little riot!]
Muslim youths [oh!] set fire to two churches [oh!] and to cars and tyres in central Bauchi. The protesters hurled stones at police, who first used tear gas before firing live bullets.
[...]
Here we have a different topic, albeit from the same country. The NJT reports:
Well, why is it that Nigeria, although enormously oil rich, remains such a piss-poor hellhole?
Oil Prices Leap After Nigeria Attacks Hit Output
By JAD MOUAWAD
Published: February 20, 2006
Oil prices rose 2.6 percent today after a series of violent attacks by militants in the Niger Delta that shut down nearly a fifth of Nigeria's oil production.
[...]
Tensions in the oil-rich delta have flared since Saturday after militants kidnapped nine foreign oil workers, set pipelines on fire, and disrupted a major export terminal in the latest series of clashes against the central government.
As a result, Nigeria's oil production has been cut by 455,000 barrels a day out of a total of about 2.5 million barrels a day, according to Royal Dutch Shell, the main foreign producer in Nigeria.
The threat to oil supplies from Africa's largest producer comes at a time of heightened concerns over the security of supplies given the global tightness in production and the rising demand for oil. News agencies reported that the rebels had threatened more violence in a campaign to free two ethnic leaders.
Nigeria is the fifth-largest importer to the United States, after Mexico, Venezuela, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Nearly half of Nigeria's oil exports go to the United States.
[...]
According to Royal Dutch Shell, the largest foreign operator in Nigeria, the Forcados loading platform, which is about 20 kilometers offshore, was set on fire and a pipeline was blown on Saturday. As a sign that the attacks seemed well coordinated, nine foreign contractors who were working on a pipe-laying barge were kidnapped, also on Saturday. They were three Americans, two Egyptians, two Thai, and British and one Filipino national, working for Houston-based Willbros Group.
Another pipeline was damaged by an attack today, said Caroline Wittgen, a spokeswoman for Shell in London.
Analysts said that the weekend attacks showed that the armed groups were willing to step up their pressure on the government by targeting offshore oil facilities, which had largely been spared so far.
[...]
Since mid-December, regular attacks in the Western part of the delta have regularly shut down about 10 percent of the country's crude oil production. Four foreign workers were abducted in January by a splinter group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and were held three weeks before being released.
"Such escalating attacks are likely going to be the norm, rather than the exception, for the remainder of 2006," said the Eurasia Group, a New York based consultant. It said that the "well organized and sophisticated attacks against oil installations this year will likely regularly disrupt about 10 percent to 20 percent" of Nigeria's supplies.
[...]
Remember the Egyptian ferry that recently met its fate through incompetence and criminal negligence? The families of the victims who pelted the office of the ferry line with stones and rioted?
Surely there were some infidels causing this outrage by insulting the "religion of peace" and its prophet?
No?
Is it possible that all those people have one thing in common, apart from their faith, of course?
Maybe a tiny wee little attitude problem?
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