Commission counts the cost of violence in Jos

More than 900 people died and property worth $25-million was destroyed in a communal clash in the Nigerian city of Jos last September, according to the judge heading an official inquiry.

The Wednesday edition of the Lagos newspaper This Day quoted Justice Niki Tobi as he submitted to the Plateau state governor his final report into the September 2001 clashes between Moslems and Christians in Jos.

Evidence given to the nine-member commission of inquiry indicated that 915 people died and property worth 3-billion naira (about $25-million) was destroyed in the violence, Tobi said.

He said some villages around Jos were totally destroyed.

For several days last September, armed gangs of Christian and Moslem men roamed the streets of Jos bent on killing members of the other religion. Bodies were strewn about the city’s streets, some victims were burnt alive at roadblocks and churches and mosques were set ablaze.

Thousands of people fled the city or sought refuge with the police, who could not contain the violence.

Reports at the time said the clashes began after a Moslem settler was appointed to a key position in the local administration.

Located some 1 000 kilometres northeast of Lagos, Jos is predominantly Christian, but with a large Moslem minority and was once renowned for the tolerance that existed between the two communities.

The death toll established by the commission is much higher than that claimed by government officials or other sources in the wake of last year’s violence.

The Red Cross put the death toll at 165, the number of bodies brought to local hospitals, while the national newspaper The Times,/i> reported that unofficial sources said as many as 500 people had been killed.