LAGOS: Nigerian troops moved into the troubled southern oil city of Warri on Wednesday after five days of ethnic fighting left at least 30 dead and some 3,000 homeless, police and residents said. ‘A combined team of soldiers, navy and police are patrolling the flashpoints, particularly the McIver and port areas, to ward off possible attacks by Ijaw youths,’ a police officer, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

He said sporadic shooting was heard overnight but no major incidents had been reported. ‘The troops fired gunshots to repel possible attacks by the Ijaws, but there were no clashes,’ he added.

Residents said Warri, which has been the scene of fierce fighting since Friday between ethnic Ijaws and their Itsekiri rivals on the one hand, and security agents on the other, was calm Wednesday morning. ‘We have not heard gunshots since last night,’ trader Joseph Omonikene told AFP by telephone.

He said the soldiers had brought the situation under control. ‘I think the government and military are fully in charge of the situation. No fresh fighting since yesterday.’ Delta State Governor James Ibori, who cut short his annual vacation in the United States, was due Wednesday to hold a meeting with the warring parties and security forces in the war-weary town.

Ibori’s spokesman Sheddy Ozoene told AFP late morning that delegates had begun arriving and would begin meeting shortly. ‘It is going to be an enlarged peace meeting involving all the security agents — police, army, navy and air force — and leaders of the various ethnic groups in Warri,’ he said.

Ozoene said the governor hoped that Wednesday’s talks would finally resolve age-old rivalries over land rights among the three main ethnic groups — Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo — in the oil city.

He said it appeared Ibori’s peace initiative had started to yield fruits, noting: ‘We drove round major roads in the town this morning and there was no trouble at all. Everywhere is calm. The security forces are fully in control. For now, we are happy that there has not been any shooting.’

The spokesman said additional troops ordered by the federal government were due in the town momentarily to complement the buffer troops and anti-riot policemen already on the ground. President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday ordered more troops to be deployed in Warri to stop the violence.

A federal government statement said nine units of Mobile Police — the west African country’s heavily armed paramilitary police unit — had been ordered to the town, adding that Obasanjo was disturbed by the scale of human carnage and destruction of property.

‘President Obasanjo urges all parties to the crisis to embrace the cause of peace,’ the statement said. The world oil market is already jittery over the crisis in Warri, home too much of Nigeria’s multi-billion-dollar oil and gas wealth.

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, which accounts for a third of Nigeria’s output of some two million barrels per day, has ordered its workers in the troubled town to stay home. A company spokesman said Wednesday that oil production has not been affected. ‘There is no cause for alarm, we are still producing.’

Another oil major, ChevronTexaco, said it was studying the situation cautiously. ‘We have directed our staff to be careful about their movement in and around Warri to avoid unpleasant circumstances, but I can assure you that production is going on in the swamps. No disruptions at all,’ an official said.