739 YORUBA

During the month of November 1998, members of the combined police and military anticrime task force known as "Operation Sweep" reportedly committed at least 16 extrajudicial killings. On 08 December 1998, in the Bariga area of Lagos, "Sweepers" killed four persons during a clash with members of the Oodua People's Congress, whose adherents had taken weapons from the police in previous confrontations.

In early 1999, the dissident Oodua Liberation Movement (OLM) [possibly also using the name Revolutionary Council of Nigeria - RCN] faction of the group became more militant in its approach. The OLM/RCN opposes Nigeria's federal system, and wants the southwestern part of the country to secede and create a separate Yoruba homeland. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed clashes in Lagos between Hausa and Yoruba traders on the Oodua People's Congress.

Disgruntled military officers, serving and retired, are said to be providing the growing 'private armies' with sophisticated weapons, which seriously threaten the country's budding democracy.