100 arrested after ethnic clashes in Guinea

The Guinean army arrested about 100 people and imposed a curfew on the southern city of Nzerekore Saturday following ethnic clashes when several people were injured.

Soldiers were deployed in the streets after a video store was burnt down on Friday night, two days after two people were seriously injured in clashes between the Muslim Konian and Christian Guerze groups following a religious celebration.

Nzerekore mayor Cece Loua said a fight broke out in the Gonia neighbourhood on Wednesday night and two houses were wrecked after several Konians challenged Guerzes, saying they were disturbed by the loud noise during their prayer time.

"We have arrested about 100 people between yesterday and today, we are investigating to see who is really responsible for this situation," Loua told Reuters by telephone. "We have managed to restore calm."

Accoding to witnesses shots were fired during the night. A curfew has been imposed and soldiers patrolled the streets on Saturday.

Several Gonia residents fled to other parts of the city.

There have been similar serious clashes in Nzerekore, in southeastern Guinea on the border of Ivory Coast and Liberia and about 590 miles from the capital Conakry in the past, Reuters reports.

Photo: BBC

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