Violence that erupted largely between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria after President Goodluck Jonathan won last month’s vote left at least 800 people dead, Human Rights Watch said Monday. The unrest exploded in the northern mainly Muslim part of the country after Jonathan, a Christian from the south, won the April 16 elections, gripping the area for three days with churches, mosques and houses set ablaze. “Deadly election-related and communal violence in northern Nigeria following the April 2011 presidential voting left more than 800 people dead,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement. “The victims were killed in three days of rioting in 12 northern states,” the New York-based rights group said. Nigerian authorities have refused to give a toll for the violence, which started as results came in showing Jonathan was running ahead of opposition politician Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the north. A local rights group had estimated that more than 500 were killed while the Red Cross said some 74,000 had fled their homes to escape. “The presidential election divided the country along ethnic and religious lines,” Human Rights Watch said. The “rioting quickly degenerated into sectarian and ethnic bloodletting across the northern states,” it said. “Muslim rioters targeted and killed Christians and members of ethnic groups from southern Nigeria … burning their churches, shops and homes. “In predominantly Christian communities in Kaduna State, mobs of Christians retaliated by killing Muslims and burning their mosques and properties.” Nigeria’s population of 150 million is roughly divided in half between Muslims and Christians and includes some 250 ethnic groups.
