HRW calls on Clinton to raise rights issues with Obasanjo

The human rights situation in Nigeria has improved a good deal since President Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in May 1999, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Tuesday in a backgrounder to US President Bill Clinton’s visit to the West African country on 25-25 August. Civil and political rights, which were substantially eroded under 15 years of military rule, have been re-established, and the media have flourished in the more liberal environment that has developed since the restoration of democracy. However, the new government has failed to establish a much-needed programme for legal and constitutional reform, HRW said. The NGO said Clinton should make it clear that the Nigerian government will be internationally condemned if it uses violence to suppress popular protest in the Niger Delta region, and that it should seek a negotiated political solution to the demands of those who live there. While commending Nigeria’s government for its peacekeeping role in Sierra Leone, Clinton should urge Obasanjo to investigate and punish the Nigerian troops who committed abuses against Sierra Leonean civilians, HRW said. Nigerian troops serving in Sierra Leone today should receive better training and be monitored more closely, it added. The background briefing on human rights in Nigeria prepared by Human Rights Watch in conjunction with several Nigerian human rights groups is available at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/nigeria/.