Sharia could divide Nigeria, says Archbishop

The spiritual head of the Anglican church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, goes to the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna today.

More than two-thousand people were killed in Kaduna during riots last year between Christians and Muslims.

The riots followed proposals for the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in the state.

Speaking yesterday on the first day of his two-week pastoral visit to Nigeria's fifteen-million Anglicans, Archbishop Carey said that while he respected Islam, the imposition of Sharia law in several northern states could divide the country. Tomorrow, the Archbishop is scheduled to visit Zamfara, the first Nigerian state to bring in Sharia.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service