US embassy cable - 05ABUJA792

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000792 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958; N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KISL, NI 
SUBJECT:  SHIA-SUNNI CLASHES IN SOKOTO KILL THREE MORE 
 
REF:  ABUJA 771 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR POSTING ON THE 
INTRANET OR INTERNET. 
 
1. (U) Summary: A two-day conflict between rival Muslim 
groups in the northwestern city of Sokoto, seat of 
Nigeria's senior Islamic leader, the Sultan of Sokoto, 
led to the deaths of at least three people while dozens 
were injured.  Shops, houses and other valuables were 
torched as Shia and Sunni activists battled each other 
with sticks, machetes and swords May 13-14.  Police 
confirmed the arrest of over fifty rioters and some are 
expected to be arraigned in court soon.  Although 
normalcy has returned to Sokoto so far this week, the 
crisis may resurface again because the two groups are 
fiercely engaged in their struggle for supremacy.  End 
Summary. 
 
BACKGROUND 
 
2. (SBU) Nigeria's Muslims are virtually all Sunni, at 
least historically, with a few Shia and Sufi among 
scholars and Nigerians returning from other countries. 
The radical Islamic preacher Ibrahim El-Zakzaky once 
led a mass movement based in Zaria that was widely 
regarded (feared) as Nigeria's most influential 
Islamists.  Somewhere along the way over his 25 years 
of activism he picked up both Iranian funding and Shia 
theology; it is unclear which came first.  From 1999, 
however, Zakzaky started losing the political edge to 
groups favoring imposition of Sharia as criminal law in 
Nigeria's northern states, led by Ahmed Sani, now 
governor of Zamfara State, and others.  Zakzaky faded 
into the background. 
 
3. (SBU) Zakzaky has since rebuilt a mass movement of 
activists who see themselves as Shia and celebrate Shia 
customs such as Ashura.  This may be more akin to 
religious branding -- to gain Iranian funding and to 
differentiate themselves from other radical groups 
recruiting from the same alienated population -- than 
religious conversion.  Zakzaky calls his followers the 
"Muslim Brothers," a term usually associated by modern 
Islamists with the Sunni Hasan Al-Banna's Muslim 
Brotherhood in Egypt, but here reflecting that Zakzaky 
seeks like Al-Banna did to build an Islamic society- 
within-society.  Zakzaky has long called his 
organization "The Islamic Movement of Nigeria," and it 
has a website (www.islamicmovement.org). 
 
4. (SBU) To the best of our knowledge, Zakzaky did not 
graduate from formal training at any of the great Shia 
theological centers in Iran, Iraq or Lebanon, although 
he has visited Iran often.  His religious training is 
Sunni, inside Nigeria.  But Zakzaky is combining his 
various sources of funding with various sources of 
recruits, drawing on northern Nigerians' combination of 
great anger at their society's dysfunctionality and 
great unemployment from it.  Zakzaky has put together a 
large enough organization to hold rallies in many 
places on Shia-connotated holidays such as Ashura, and 
is trying to take over mainstream mosques through 
infiltrating their mosque committees and membership. 
 
FIGHTING BEGINS 
 
5. (U) In February in Sokoto State, at least three 
persons were killed and dozens injured in fighting 
between groups of Sunni and Shia.  Zakzaky's Shia 
supporters claim their public commemoration of Ashura 
was attacked in an attempt to stop their procession, 
and one person was killed.  They blamed the Sultan of 
Sokoto, who is the head of Nigeria's Supreme Council 
for Islamic Affairs, and some days later there was a 
fight at the mosque in front of the Sultan's palace. 
Skirmishes continued off and on through March and 
April. 
 
6. (U) A major fight broke out May 13 as the Shia 
sought to control strategic mosques in the ancient city 
of Sokoto.  Fighting started Friday afternoon during 
prayers, continued until Saturday evening.  There were 
reports of further skirmishes on Monday but sources 
said the police quickly stepped in to contain the 
situation.  Three people were confirmed dead while 
dozens were being treated at various hospitals for 
minor and major injuries.  Social and business 
activities were paralyzed.  Although non-Muslims were 
not attacked nonetheless some of them ran to military 
barracks for safety.  Shops were looted while some 
houses and other buildings were set ablaze. 
 
7. (U) Police authorities in Sokoto confirmed that over 
fifty suspects across the two groups were arrested out 
of which, some of them would appear in court very soon 
after full investigations have been carried out. 
Another source disclosed that the suspects may be 
arraigned this week.  Police revealed that some 
suspects were legal minors and were released to their 
parents after seriously warning them. 
 
WHAT'S ALL THE FIGHTING ABOUT? 
 
8. (U) Sokoto is the seat of Nigeria's Caliphate and 
home of the Sultan of Sokoto, the senior Muslim 
traditional leader in Nigeria.  There are different 
versions of how the fight began, once the Shia began to 
seek leadership roles in mainstream mosques' governing 
mosque committees, especially at the central mosque 
named for the Caliphate's founder Shehu Dan Fodio. 
Some on both sides say the "Sunni activists" 
(themselves street toughs and little better than rent-a- 
mobs) attacked to stop the spread of Shia doctrine in 
Sunni Sokoto.  Apologists (or the paymasters) for the 
"Sunni activists" say the Shia displayed contempt and 
disrespect to Sunni leaders, especially the Sultan. 
The Shia side correspondingly claims that the Sultan is 
behind the attacks on Shia worshippers.  The Governor 
of Sokoto State has tried to stay neutral, at least in 
public. 
 
9. (SBU) Yahaya Sokoto, Special Assistant to Governor 
Bafarawa, says the state government had no plans to 
discriminate against any religious group but added: 
"All groups must respect the doctrines of others."  He 
believes the conflict goes beyond the struggle to 
control the mosques, accusing Zakzaky's backers within 
the state of fueling the crisis for personal gain. 
 
10. (SBU) Bloody "religious" fights stemming from socio- 
economic competition are commonplace in Nigeria, as are 
aspiring politicos egging on such conflicts for their 
own political gain.  The local VOA Correspondent told 
us that the Shia seem to be making inroads into the 
ranks of artisans, students and other less-privileged 
in the society, capitalizing on widespread alienation 
from northern Nigeria's dysfunctional society. 
Zakzaky's followers' expressions of contempt for the 
local establishment were therefore quite appealing to 
these categories of people, who are also a bedrock of 
support for the city's traditional Muslim rulers like 
the Sultan.  In a city where conservative traditions 
are strong and strict obedience to religious authority 
is expected, the VOA correspondent said that any 
insults to religious leaders could be expected to 
produce violence. 
 
11. (SBU) There are, of course, other insults that can 
produce violence in Nigeria.  The Newsweek allegations 
(reftel) were one, and Zakzaky was thought to be 
preparing demonstrations in northern cities outside 
Sokoto.  Perhaps he was preoccupied with Sokoto. 
FUREY