[allAfrica.com] [allAfrica.com_Sports] 39 killed, 45 houses razed as Warri war rages Vanguard (Lagos) NEWS August 19, 2003 Posted to the web August 19, 2003 By Sola Adebayo, Hector Igbikiowubo & Habib Yacoob WARRI - The latest round of fighting in Warri, yesterday, left about 39 people dead and about 45 houses razed in areas such as Odion road, Pessu, Cemetery Road, Miller Waterside, Ekurede Itsekiri and NPA. The dead include a police inspector and a sergeant who were killed in an encounter with the warriors at Cemetery Road junction. The Senate is already considering wading into the problem. As the gun battle raged for the fourth consecutive day in Warri yesterday, it triggered worries in the world energy market. The Warri crisis together with the presumed sabotage of a key Iraqi oil pipeline sent the price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for October delivery up by 31 cents per barrel to $29.12 in early trading. A van carrying the policemen was reportedly set on fire. Economic activities were still low with all business premises shut apparently for fear of renewed breakdown of law and order. Oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), was forced to shut down in the city in response to the latest development. SPDC's employees who resumed work were told by the management to return home until sanity returned. Meanwhile, security has further been beefed up in the restive city with about 10 armoured tanks patrolling the nooks and crannies of Warri and neighbouring Effurun. Fresh contingents of soldiers and anti- riot policemen arrived the city from Benin, Enugu and Port Harcourt in a bid to arrest the ugly situation. The authorities of Effurun Barracks, yesterday, arrested nine persons, including two mobile policemen in connection with the latest war. The mobile policemen, according to the Commanding Officer of the barracks, Lt. Col. Gar Dogo, were fighting on the side of one of the warring ethnic groups. The suspects were apprehended at an undisclosed hotel in the city while planning a fresh attack. Dogo said the suspects also included two ladies. Seven pump action rifles and 300 round of ammunition were recovered from them. "Fighting is still going on. Two policemen were critically injured and are receiving treatment. A number of civilians are also injured," chief police spokesman, Mr. Chris Olakpe, said. Another police officer, who asked not to be named, said at least 10 people had been killed overnight in clashes involving both heavily armed ethnic militias and the security forces struggling to enforce a curfew. "We learned 10 people were killed around the Odion Road Market, Ekurede and Ugbuwangue areas of the city yesterday. Up to 20 houses were burned in these places. Many vehicles were damaged," he said. "People are fleeing Warri to the neighbouring towns of Sapele and Ughelli," he added. Witnesses said a truckload of soldiers had deployed to the waterfront area, where the worst of the fighting took place over the weekend, and that firing had been heard. "I, myself, saw 18 to 25 bodies yesterday. I can hear gunfire now. The place is little less than hell," said an Itsekiri from the Ekurede- Itsekiri district of the city who asked not to be identified. "People coming away from the area say soldiers have been shooting at Ijaw militants, and that several have been killed," he said. A spokeswoman for the Nigerian Red Cross, Umo Okon, said that 25 injured people and four with serious burns were being treated in Warri's hospitals and that volunteers were caring for displaced families. Colonel Ganiyu Adewale, spokesman for the Nigerian Armed Forces, said Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs held a crisis meeting yesterday to discuss new moves to halt the bloodshed. Residents said parts of the city had been without power for two days and that shops and markets were closed, leading to food shortages. In London, oil analyst, Paul Spedding, said the latest violence was adding to market worries about Iraq and pushing prices higher. Meanwhile, the Senate is set to wade into the Warri crises with a view to ending the bloodshed. Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, who dropped this hint said the upper legislative arm would soon empower four of its committees namely, Committees on Niger Delta, Petroleum, States and Local Governments and National Security to deal with the crisis. In a statement, his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Henry Ugbolue, said the Senate president condemned the rising spate of killings in the Niger Delta area, and that whatever might have been the cause, dialogue remained the best way to avoid any crisis. "The crisis in Warri is very disturbing to the Senate and indeed the whole of the country, for the crisis has in the recent past taken a lot of lives. It has become imperative that the feuding groups lay down their arms and embrace dialogue, for this is the best way out of the crisis. We are disturbed indeed and are determined to empower four of our committees, those of Niger Delta, Petroleum, states and Local Governments and National Security, to wade into the crisis. It is my firm belief that this intervention by the Senate would to a very large extent help in finding a lasting solutions to the crisis," Wabara stated.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2003 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================