Nigeria: Deaths over drink

There have been clashes in central Nigeria after officials tried to enforce new Islamic laws banning the public sale and consumption of alcohol.

Violence broke out in the village of Salka, in the central state of Niger, when officials tried to stop local Kanberi people selling home-made beer at a market place in line with recently-adopted Sharia law.

Reports say the clashes assumed an ethnic and religious character, with non-Muslim Kanberis fighting Hausa people, who are overwhelmingly Muslim.

Nine people were reported killed.

The government said riot police had restored calm in the area.

Licence to brew

Laws restricting the public sale and consumption of alcohol were introduced in some states earlier this year.

Some reports say that vendors in Niger are being allowed to sell alcohol only if they buy a licence costing more than $2,000, far beyond the reach of most local people.

Sharia is an explosive issue in Nigeria's multi-ethnic soiciety

The licensing law has been extremely unpopular among some non-Muslim communites in Niger State, particularly those which traditionally brew beer.

Government sources say trouble started when officials went to the village of Salka and destroyed pots containing traditional beer known as "burukutu".

Local Kanberi people reacted angrily and the situation degenerated.

A local journalist told the French news agency that the market in the centre of the town had been burned down and a mosque damaged.

Sharia controversy

Niger State is one of eight mainly northern states which introduced, or plan to introduce, strict Islamic law.

Most people who live in northern Nigeria are Muslims, but there are also large numbers of people of other faiths.

Eight states have introduced Sharia, or are planning to

Although the new alcohol laws are widely flouted, several people have been publicly flogged for contravening them.

Controversy over moves to extend Sharia in the north led to sectarian riots in February in Kaduna and other cities in which hundreds of people were killed.

In October more than 100 people, mostly Hausas, died in Nigeria's largest city Lagos in ethnic clashes.

The divisions which Sharia has opened up have provided Nigeria's new democratic government with one of its most difficult challenges.