Demolitions cast adrift residents of floating slum

AMPHIBIOUS excavators escorted by armed policemen have roared through Makoko, Africa's largest and most legendary floating slum in recent days, crushing hundreds of wooden shacks built on stilts above the lagoon in the heart of Lagos.

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The operation is the latest of a campaign to remove what authorities in Nigeria's commercial capital describe as illegal structures and, critics say, reclaim waterfront land for real-estate development.

Three people, two of them babies, have died from effects of teargas fired by police since the clearances began two days before Christmas, three rights groups said.

Residents say the demolitions - which an NGO says have displaced over 30000 people - were done without warning, a claim the Lagos state government disputes.

"They treated us like we are less than animals," Alex Wusa, a 25-yearold teacher, said aboard an old canoe sailing through Makoko's waterways. "My house has been demolished. My shop has been demolished. Even the school where I teach has been demolished."

With no official data available, Makoko's population is hard to estimate, with figures ranging from 80000 inhabitants, according to NGO JEI, to over 300000, according to local chiefs.