Christian-Muslim clashes heighten tensions in Guinea

Violence between Christians and Muslims in the eastern Guinea city of Nzerekore has led to three days of deadly clashes, increasing tensions in the west African country trying to end military rule.

The latest violence erupted overnight, leaving at least one dead and nine wounded, witnesses said yesterday.

"We were told by the imam, at prayers at dawn, that there was a new victim, a Christian man, killed by unknown assailants," an official at a mosque, who requested anonymity, said by telephone.

Muslims set fire to food and drink shacks owned by Christians overnight Saturday to Sunday, denouncing them as "places of prostitution and alcohol consumption," the source said, adding that nine people were wounded on both sides.

At least two Christians have now died since violence broke out Friday in Nzerekore, Guinea's second-largest city, about 1,000 kilometres east of the capital Conakry, according to witnesses.

Some 38 Christians and Muslims have been wounded and two people are reported missing, they added. The witnesses' toll could not be verified by officials, who have so far confirmed one dead.

The unrest in the overwhelmingly Muslim country started building on January 29 after a row between a Christian woman and a group of Muslim men. The woman wanted to use a road which the men had blocked off for prayers near a mosque that was too small for all the faithful to fit inside, a police source said.

A week later on Friday Christian youths took their revenge by trying to disturb prayers by driving motorbikes near the mosque, which was later closed, the source said.

Leaders from the two religious communities started talks yesterday with the city elder and the minister of religious affairs, Koutoubou Moustapha Sanoh. About 85 per cent of Guineans are Muslims while Christians account for about eight per cent of the population.

Police and paramilitary roadblocks were set up yesterday and people were barred from moving around the city, according to a member of an international organisation in Nzerekore.

The government including the agriculture minister Colonel Boureima Conde also held a crisis meeting with local civil and military officials.

Guinea fell under military rule after a coup in December 2008 following the death of longtime strongman Lausana Conte.