Sabon gari is an area of Kano City that is inhabited predominately by the Yoruba ethnic group (Freedom House 9 Dec. 2002). One source characterises Sabon gari and relations between the two largest ethnic groups, the Hausas and the Yorubas, as follows:

Yorubas dominate southern Nigeria as Hausas dominate the north. And both groups are great travellers and traders: every large southern town has a Hausa community, clustered [a]round its mosque; every big town in the north has a 'Sabon Gari,' a Strangers' Quarter, and many of the people living there are Yoruba (BBC News 26 Nov. 1999).

According to reports consulted, a violent clash between the Yoruba and Hausa ethnic groups in the city of Kano, which resulted in the deaths of as many as 70 people, took place in late July 1999 (Freedom House 9 Dec. 2002; BBC News 23 July 1999; ibid. 28 July 1999; ibid. 26 Nov. 1999; This Day 12 Sept. 2002; Keesing's July 1999, 43049; ARB 26 Aug. 1999, 13627; The News 2 Aug. 1999). The violence that erupted was reportedly a reprisal attack instigated by Hausas following an assault by Yorubas on the Hausa community of Sagamu, Ogun (BBC News 23 July 1999; ARB 26 Aug. 1999, 13628).

One source described the event as being "an ethnically-motivated attack ... organised [by a] killer-gang of angry Hausa youths ostensibly protesting an alleged Hausa slaughter in Sagamu, Ogun State. The youths, popularly called Yandaba, [attacked] Yoruba homes in the cover of night, killing and setting their homes on fire" (Tempo 28 July 1999). The same report noted that businesses in Sabon-Gari, along with other areas of the city, remained closed following the fighting (ibid.).

Speaking with a Yoruba survivor of the attacks, a Tempo reporter provided the following account of events:

On getting home, their Sabon-Gari neighbourhood had become a theatre of horror and he watched his neighbours fall to the sharp ends of Hausa daggers and other offensive weapons (11 Aug. 1999).

Although additional references specifically describing riots in Sabon gari could not be found among sources consulted, the Senior Fellow at Freedom House noted that since Sabon gari "is a Yoruba area, it would be a likely site of violence" (9 Dec. 2002).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series (ARB) [Oxford]. 26 August 1999. Vol. 36, No. 7. "Nigeria: Hausa-Yoruba Clashes in South; And North."

BBC News. 26 November 1999. "Nigeria: More Divided than United?" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/538133.stm [Accessed 9 Dec. 2002]

_____. 28 July 1999. "'Plot' Sparked Kano Fighting." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/406155.stm [Accessed 9 Dec. 2002]

_____. 23 July 1999. Barnaby Phillips. "Kano 'Tense' After Ethnic Riots." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/401888.stm [Accessed 9 Dec. 2002]

Freedom House, Washington, DC. 9 December 2002. Correspondence from Senior Fellow.

Keesings Record of World Events [Cambridge]. July 1999. Vol. 45, No. 7/8. "Nigeria: Military Appointments - Ethnic Clashes."

The News [Lagos]. 2 August 1999. Tajudeen Suleiman. "Nigeria: Massacre in Kano." (Africa News/NEXIS)

Tempo [Lagos]. 11 August 1999. Bamidele Johnson. "Nigeria: HORROR! Tales From Kano Killing Fields." (Africa News/NEXIS)

_____. 28 July 1999. Tajudeen Suleiman. "Nigeria: Kano Boils." (Africa News/NEXIS)

This Day [Lagos]. 12 September 2002. Godwin Ifijeh. "Police: The Battle With Ethnic, Religious Conflicts." http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200209120452.html [Accessed 9 Dec. 2002]

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