US urged to back justice in Sierra Leone, Nigeria

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright should show the same commitment to justice in Sierra Leone that she has shown for victims of crimes against humanity in Kosovo and East Timor, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday. HRW urged Albright, who visits Nigeria and Sierra Leone this month, to express strong support for a truth and reconciliation commission, a body envisaged in the Sierra Leone peace agreement but not yet established. The United States should also back the formation of a UN commission of inquiry into human rights violations in the eight-year civil war, it said. HRW said that with regard to Nigeria, Secretary Albright should welcome the steps the new government has taken to improve human rights and the rule of law. The United States, it said, should recognize President Olusegun Obasanjo’s efforts to defuse the crisis in the Niger Delta, but urge him not to allow Nigerian security forces to respond violently to expressions of discontent in the region. In particular, the United States should press for an independent judicial enquiry into past and current human rights violations in the Niger Delta, and for those responsible to be disciplined or prosecuted, according to HRW, which said it recently received disturbing reports of fresh disturbances and arrests in Ogoniland. Obasanjo has released many political prisoners and vowed to respect the rule of law, but several pernicious laws that are not in accordance with constitutional guarantees for human rights remain on the books, HRW said. “President Obasanjo has made a good start toward improving Nigeria’s human rights record,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division. “But the country needs a complete legal overhaul, starting with the constitution.