Thousands displaced in Nigeria

KADUNA (Nigeria), Apr 29 (AFP): Nigeria has wrapped up a landmark election season, but thousands remain displaced by post-poll riots, living in increasingly squalid conditions and shaken by narrow escapes from armed mobs. Camps for the displaced have sprung up at military and police barracks across northern Nigeria. And while some of the displaced have returned home, others no longer have homes since they were torched in the rioting believed to have killed hundreds. The displaced speak of worsening conditions at camps and a lack of relief supplies from the government, also recounting the nightmarish events that saw mobs burn houses and hack victims with machetes. "Most of my neighbours were killed on that day," said Shuaibu Abdu, a 53-year-old blind man relocated to a camp in Kaduna from the devastated town of Zonkwa. He is at a camp that was housing nearly 3,000 people, mostly Muslims, while another camp in the city hosted mainly Christians. "I and and my family don't feel safe," said Jubril Mahmoud, a father of three at the same camp as Abdu, speaking of the sanitary conditions. An official with a private relief organisation, Environmental Health Association, said conditions were ripe for disease outbreaks, including cholera or malaria, with the rainy season getting underway in Nigeria. "There are no vaccines, adequate drugs, disinfectants-the sanitary conveniences are dirty," said Mohammed Abdullahi.