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Muslims Flee Nigerian Town After Clashes With Angry Christians
TAFAWA BALEWA, Nigeria, July 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - All the Muslim inhabitants of this small northern Nigerian town have fled as a result of battles with their Christian neighbors here last month, Christian residents told the French news agency AFP here Wednesday.
Witnesses told AFP that last month's establishment of Islamic law led to the fighting, which spread to four other villages in the state of Bauchi and left hundreds dead.
Like other northern Nigerian states, Bauchi is mainly Muslim but has a significant Christian minority, which is violently opposing the Islamic code known as Shari'a. Authorities have stated that the laws were only to be applied to Muslims.
On June 1, under insistence from the Muslim majority, it became the latest in a dozen northern states to formally introduce Islamic law, thus banning alcohol; ordering the public segregation of men and women; and setting up a new range of Islamic obligations.
Fearful of the reaction from the state's indigenous Christian population, the authorities exempted only one Christian-majority local government area from the new code; the Tafawa Balewa area remained obligated to following the new law.
Trouble soon followed as a Muslim bus driver in Tafawa Balewa insisted that women passengers, including Christians, sit separately from the men.
What started as a row in a bus park, quickly degenerated into violence. Christians attacked mosques and Muslims retaliated by attacking some churches, according to reports by Western news agencies. From there, the fighting spread around the town and to the four other villages.
The state authorities, anxious of the reactions elsewhere, have imposed a virtual news black-out on the scale of the unrest and will not provide an estimate of the death toll.
But, reliable medical sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP earlier this month that they had taken part in the burial of 461 people from Tafawa Balewa and the four villages where fighting occurred.
The full toll of the violence was "certainly" higher than previously claimed, they said - speaking of "several hundreds" or "up to 1,000".
Such figures could not be confirmed. The Nigerian Red Cross, which is just about the only foreign or domestic aid agency active in the area, said they could not comment on the death tolls, but earlier this month said that they had provided assistance to more than 22,000 people, mostly Muslims, who had fled the fighting.
"Certainly, something made them flee. Of course there were dead but we cannot say how many. That is not our business," said a Red Cross official.
Entering Tafawa Balewa Wednesday, the first thing the AFP noticed was the amount of pro- and anti-Shari'a graffiti on the walls.
"Shari'a is compulsory," said one slogan, written on a wall before the unrest erupted. "Shari'a is an ideal way of life," said another. "Shari'a is ordained by God," said a third.
Then there were the more recent bits of graffiti. "Ba Shari'a" (No Sharia), said one slogan, written in the predominant Hausa language. "Adieu Sharia," another said. "We cannot accept Shari'a," said yet another.
The slogans were written boldly in red ink and daubed on the walls of the local government secretariat and the private residence of the local government chairman.
Every signboard in the town was also covered with slogans.
The French news agency counted 68 buildings damaged by fighting.
The Christian residents downplay the violence, saying that just 30 people died in the town, but admit that Muslims have in fact fled after Christians started the violent campaign to oust them. They also admit that more may have died elsewhere in the area.
"Most of those who fled the town are Muslims. As at now, there is not a single Muslim among the residents remaining in the town," an elder in the town, Jonathan Bol, told AFP, saying he did not want to comment on the death tolls.
A Muslim journalist working for AFP was also forced out of Tafawa Balewa earlier this month as tensions between Muslims and Christians in the region remain high.
Later that day, more than 500 riot policemen were deployed to strategic points in the town in an attempt to keep the peace.
But Christians remain defiant.
"We will fight with the last drop of our blood any attempt to introduce Shari'a, in any way, to Tafawa Balewa," said a 21-year-old Christian named Emmanuel.
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