Conakry - Shops and markets re-opened in Guinea's second-largest city Monday in the wake of weekend clashes between Muslims and Christians which left two dead.
Authorities appealed for calm and the resumption of normal activities in a statement read out on local radio late Sunday after the inter-religious clashes in which 38 people were injured, according to an unofficial toll.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Conakry, Vincent Koulibaly, travelled to Nzerekore, 1 000km south-east of the capital, to meet with Christians, while government officials visited mosques in the city on Sunday to appeal for inter-community calm.
"Blockades erected by defence and security force have been lifted in places and military operations deployed during the weekend have been reduced," a local resident said, adding that the city was slowly getting back to normal.
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Clashes between the two religious communities began Friday. Police sources said they were provoked by a row between a Christian woman and a group of Muslim men who blocked access to a road near a mosque during prayers.
Christian youths took their revenge by trying to disturb Friday prayers by riding their motorbikes outside the mosque, which was later closed, a police source said.
Christian supporters of junta chief Moussa Dadis Camara, members of his Guerze ethnic group, were involved in Friday's violence, the sources said.
Camara was injured during an assassination attempt on December 3 and is recuperating in Ougadougou. - Sapa-AFP
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