OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Friday 9.00pm.
NIGERIAN authorities have imposed an overnight curfew on the oil town of Warri after clashes there left five youths dead and five soldiers wounded, a military officer said on Friday.
The dusk-to-dawn curfew was ordered late on Thursday — the day of the clashes between youths of rival communities — and will remain in force until complete calm had returned, the officer said, adding: “The situation in Warri is now under control with joint army/police patrols in place.”
A local resident said most people were nevertheless staying indoors, fearing they would be caught in crossfire if they ventured out. Offices and markets on the Nigerian Ports Authority waterfront areas, which was the scene of some of the worst of the clashes on Thursday, were shut and deserted, they said.
Warri, a major oil town and gateway to the oil-producing Delta region, has for the past 18 months been the scene of frequent clashes between the area’s two principle communities, the Ijaws and the Itsekiris.
Both are poor communities and their clashes are basically battles for control of land and resources and a fight for scarce development funding. The two sides clashed last year after the government switched the location of a new local government headquarters from an Ijaw to an Itsekiri area. Such headquarters tend to be sources of money and jobs.
Earlier this month, Ijaws unhappy with the transfer seized control of some 20 oil flow-stations, slashing Nigeria’s oil vital exports as a means of pressuring the government to return the local government to them. Clashes took place last week and erupted again Thursday. — AFP