Lagos calmed before Blair visit

By Jeff Koinange
CNN Lagos Bureau

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- Nigeria's military is keeping the city of Lagos calm, having ended four nights of violence that had threatened to overshadow British Prime Minister Tony Blair's upcoming visit to the country.

Residents of a turbulent Lagos neighbourhood had a peaceful Tuesday night after four straight days of clashes that left more than 100 people dead.

Hundreds more were wounded and thousands were displaced in the ethnic fighting, which broke out late last week.

Red Cross officials were able to move into the area and remove the rotting corpses that have been lying in the streets for four days. Families were able to come in and assess their damages and take their loved ones home for burial.

VIDEO Nigerians in Lagos are recovering from the latest incident of ethnic violence. CNN's Jeff Koinange reports (February 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES • Blair: 'Duty to act' for Africa  • On the scene: Shocking brutality as thousands flee  • Nigeria battles police mutiny     QUICKVOTE Can Nigeria's government and military keep control of the country? Yes No View Results

The agency was appealing for donations of food, water, and other supplies to help house those made homeless by the fighting.

Blair arrives in Nigeria on Wednesday for the first day of his four-day swing through Africa. Though he will not be visiting Lagos, the country's commercial capital, security was tight for his stop in the capital, Abuja, a 10-hour drive away.

The prime minister planned to meet with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and address the joint houses of the Nigerian parliament.

Blair, who will also travel to Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Senegal, has promised to make Africa the foreign policy priority of his second term in office.

The military presence that brought an end to the violence in Lagos was welcomed by residents, who only days earlier had blamed the military for a munitions plant explosion that left more than 1,000 people dead.

The ethnic violence began last Saturday after Hausas in one Lagos neighbourhood claimed a young Yoruba man desecrated a mosque. Hausas apparently turned on the man and beat him to death; Yorubas witnessed this and retaliated.

The majority-Muslim Hausas are the main ethnic group in northern Nigeria, while Yorubas -- predominantly Christian or animist -- dominate in the southwest.

Reprisal by either side was the government's biggest fear as the tense calm held Wednesday. Most of the cities in the north were in high alert for revenge attacks, which often happen after such clashes.