/ 19 July 1999

10 DIE IN NIGERIAN CLASH

TRUCKLOADS of police have entered a southwestern Nigerian town put under curfew by authorities after ethnic fighting left at least 10 people dead and scores of buildings burnt down. The heavily-armed police drove into Sagamu late on Sunday to restore order to the town 80km northeast of the commercial capital Lagos, hours after violence erupted earlier Sunday between members of the local Yoruba and Hausa communities. As police entered the town late on Sunday, thousands of residents from the two side, armed with clubs, machetes and petrol bombs, were still on the streets either side of a make-shift front-line. Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba announced an overnight curfew and said he is determined order will be restored.