Washington, DC — According to the Bush Administration, the anti-American protests in Kano last Friday and the violent riots that followed them cannot be linked. "They are not connected," said one official at the State Department. "Our people on the ground say the demonstration ended and peacefully broke up. They see this as yet another outbreak of sectarian violence."
But State police Commissioner, Alhaji Bello Uba, who has not detailed the specific origin of Saturday's violence, nonetheless blamed it on the anti-US demonstrations held on Friday which, he said, heightened tension in the city. Local residents have described the initially peaceful demonstration as "hijacked" by youthful hoodlums known asYandaba.
According to some reports, almost immediately after the protest officially ended, hundreds of youths began a demonstration in support of Afghanistan that later turned violent, with chanting youths burning down a Toyota Hiace bus belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and several police vehicles.
The demonstrators also denounced statements made earlier by the Minister of External Affairs, Alhaji Sule Lamido, indicating Nigeria's support for the US fight against terrorism.
But much that took place on the street involved looting of shops and businesses. "You have to look at this against the backdrop of poverty and underdevelopment in the region," says Ahmed Rajab, the editor of Africa Analysis newsletter in London. Tens of thousands are unemployed in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria.
"A lot of tension has to do with local conditions which show no signs of improving," says Kabiru Yusuf, editor in chief of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper which focuses on Nigeria's northern and mainly Muslim region. "God knows how many youths are unemployed and unemployable." That, he says, opens the door to fundamentalist ideas.
By early Saturday morning, a curfew was in place and police were under orders to "shoot on sight" if they saw anyone breaking it. Despite this, gangs of Christians and Muslims continued to fight on the outskirts of the city.
In recent months several northern Nigerian states have chosen to adopt the Islamic legal code, Sharia, provoking anger from Christian communities who believe that the secular constitution is being undermined and non-Muslims will be imposed upon, even though reassurances have been given that they will not be judged in Sharia courts. The adoption of Sharia has been popular with some elements of the population who see crime,immorality and disorder on the rise.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"The political landscape is changing," says Ahmed Rajab. Despite great poverty, there is now also "a substantial number of highly-educated Muslim elites, well-versed in the Koran and able to push forward Sharia to gain political power."
But he doubts whether Al-Qaida, the organization led by Osama Bin Laden, is making inroads: "No known organisation or group with organic links to Osama Bin laden or Al-Qaida was behind the weekend violence," he says. However, he adds, "you do have groups that get financial support from Iran and Saudi Arabia."
A US official took a surprisingly sanguine attitude toward the violence that unfolded in Kano over the weekend. Asked whether, given the importance the Administration has attached to Nigeria, some special assistance might be given to the Obasanjo government to help with what appears to be an increasingly volatile northern Nigeria, he said: "They've been doing this since long before September 11."
Giving a rare nod to the previous admistration, he added: "The focus on trying to assist Nigeria goes back to the Clinton Administration and we're committed to working with Nigeria in trying to overcome decades of military misrule."
Meanwhile Kano Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso met community and religious leaders with police and army commanders present, as reports surfaced that Christian and Muslim warring factions were regrouping.
