Chiefs clash in Nigeria

Nigeria has experienced a year of repeated violence

By Barnaby Philips in Lagos

The authorities in Nigeria has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the south-western town of Ikare Akoko, after a dispute between two local chiefs turned violent.

After a number of deaths and the widespread destruction of property, police reinforcements were sent to Ikare Akoko from Lagos in an attempt to restore law and order.

A police spokesman told the BBC that the police station and other government buildings had been burnt down.

Newspapers in Lagos put the death toll in Ikare Akoko as high as 30, although a police spokesman would only say that three deaths had been confirmed.

Chiefly rivalry

He did say, however, that more than 100 heavily armed policemen have been sent to the town following what he described as an "outbreak of mayhem".

He said that supporters of the two chiefs were using sophisticated weapons, but that an uneasy calm has now been restored.

The two local chiefs have been involved in a long-running dispute over which one is the highest traditional ruler of the town.

Government officials and senior police officers are trying to broker a truce between them.

This conflict is almost certain to remain confined to Ikare Akoko town and its immediate surroundings.

But the frequency with which such communal disputes turn violent, and the apparent ease with which protagonists get hold of weapons are extremely disturbing to the Nigerian government.

It has faced a series of religious and ethnic clashes since it took office in May last year.