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Ghaddafi urges Nigeria split into ethnic states
Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi, who enraged Abuja after suggesting Nigeria be partitioned between Muslims and Christians, has now proposed the country is carved into "many" ethnic states, a report said Monday.Y'mean like Biafra? His comment followed violent clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs that killed hundreds of people around the central Nigerian city of Jos and prompted Nigeria's government to question whether Libya might be sponsoring the violence. "In fact, Nigeria's problems cannot be resolved by dividing the country into two states, Christian and Muslim," Ghaddafi was quoted as saying by the official Jana news agency. Like the former Yugoslavia, he said, Nigeria comprises "other populations who want independence" without religious considerations. He cited "the Yoruba people in the east and south who demand independence, the Ibo people in the west and south" as well as the Ijaws. "Nigeria ... resembles the Yugoslav union which included several peoples, like Nigeria, and then these people gained independence and the Yugoslav union was ended in peace," said Gaddafi. "The model that fits Nigeria is the Yugoslav one." The Libyan leader said earlier this month Nigeria should be partitioned between the Christian and Muslim communities to end its sectarian violence. He proposed that it should follow the partition model of Pakistan, which was born in 1947 after the Muslim minority of predominantly Hindu India founded their own homeland, led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. "Irresponsible utterances" Ghaddafi, until recently head of the African Union, had suggested a Christian homeland in the south with Lagos as its capital and a Muslim homeland in the north with Abuja as its principal city. The remarks enraged Nigeria which recalled its ambassador to Tripoli over what it said was Ghaddafi's "irresponsible utterances" which had made a mockery of his calls for African integration and unity. The Libyan leader's comments had "diminished his status and credibility," said foreign ministry spokesman Ozo Nwobu, reading from a strongly worded statement which expressed the government's "very serious concern". The statement also accused Ghaddafi of "theatrics and grandstanding at every auspicious occasion". Nigeria's 140 million population is almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians. Posted by: Fred 2010-03-30 |
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