•Jonathan meets security chiefs •Local official says 500 dead, police say 55
Britain, the United States and France have condemned the renewed sectarian violence in Jos and called for the
prosecution of persons or groups that perpetrated the killings that have left hundreds dead.
This came as soldiers patrolled the city of Jos on Monday and aid workers tried to assess the death toll after attacks on outlying communities which, according local leaders, left up to 500 dead.
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan called an emergency meeting with all security service chiefs on Monday to discuss strategies to prevent clashes spreading to neighbouring states, presidential sources said.
“We call on the Federal Government to ensure that the perpetrators of acts of violence are brought to justice under the rule of law and in a transparent manner, and on the Plateau State Government to ensure that all people and citizens in the Jos area feel that they are respected and protected,” a statement from the public affairs section of the U.S. mission to Nigeria stated.
“I have today raised our concerns at senior levels with the Nigerian authorities and welcome their commitment to do everything possible to calm the situation, prevent any escalation in violence and to bring to justice those involved in violence. We continue to urge all parties to seek peaceful means to resolve their differences, including through inter-faith dialogue,” the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Bob Dewar, said while condemning the violence.
France expressed support for the Federal Government, according to its foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner. “I express France’s support to the Nigerian authorities in their efforts to restore calm and bring the perpetrators of the violence to justice,” he said.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon appealed for “maximum restraint”, as survivors told how the killers chopped down their victims.
Funerals took place for victims of the three-hour orgy of violence on Sunday in three Christian villages close to the northern city of Jos, blamed on members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group.
While troops were deployed to the villages to prevent new attacks, security forces detained 95 suspects but faced bitter criticism over how the killers were able to go on the rampage at a time when a curfew was meant to be in force.
Residents of three predominantly Christian settlements near Jos said Muslim herders from surrounding hills launched what appeared to be reprisal attacks in the early hours of Sunday following sectarian clashes which killed hundreds in January.
A Reuters witness counted more than 100 bodies on Sunday in Dogo Nahawa, one of the three communities attacked, but victims were also brought to hospitals in Jos and some were quickly buried, making it difficult for officials to assess the toll.
“Soldiers are patrolling and everywhere remains calm … We are estimating 500 people killed but I think it should be a little bit above that,” Plateau State commissioner for information, Gregory Yenlong, said.
Police spokesman Mohammed Lerama said the number of dead officially recorded so far stood at 55.
Death tolls have been highly politicised in previous outbreaks of unrest in central Nigeria, with various factions accused of either exaggerating the figures for political ends or downplaying them to try to douse the risk of reprisals.
A Red Cross spokesman said the security situation was “still in disarray” and that while its teams had been able to help evacuate some people to hospital in Jos, they were still trying to reach all those areas affected.
The latest unrest comes at a difficult time for Jonathan, who is trying to assert his authority while ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua remains too sick to govern.