Former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this past weekend in his new role as the UN Secretary-General's special envoy. The DRC has been a quagmire for envoys. Mr Obasanjo and his team must be wondering how on earth to achieve or measure success. We at Human Rights Watch hope that Mr. Obasanjo will achieve more than his predecessors, so we would like to offer some suggestions.
When Gordon Brown met Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua in London this week, improving the security of energy supplies from the Niger Delta was high on the agenda. Unless there is a determined effort to address the root problem of political and financial corruption, the violence in the Niger Delta will continue to have a disastrous impact on energy security – and on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
At the upcoming Group of Eight summit, leaders of the world's richest countries will reaffirm their desire to promote democracy and development on the world's poorest continent. But at the same time, they risk undermining those ideals by welcoming Nigeria's fraudulently elected president into their midst as a partner. Unless the G8 countries use the occasion of the summit to speak out on Nigeria, they risk doing real damage to their own goals in Nigeria and across the continent.
Nigeria’s fledgling democracy has gone off the rails, and South Africa should play its part in pressuring Abuja to put things back on track. Nigeria’s example threatens to embolden corrupt and authoritarian governments across the continent. Rulers hesitant about yielding to pressure for democratic reforms could draw a dangerous lesson from Nigeria’s experience — that the hollow echo of a democratic process is enough to head off any criticism from across the continent.
The recent elections, which were not only brazenly rigged but also exceptionally violent, resulting in at least 300 election-related deaths, represented a big step backwards in the Nigerian government's ostensible efforts to match economic reform with democratic openness and respect for basic rights. Reversing this trend and improving the human rights of Nigeria's 140m citizens can only start with a marked improvement in governance. Nigeria's western partners should not be idle bystanders.
Voting was so undermined by open displays of rigging, intimidation and violence by the ruling People's Democratic party (PDP) and its armed thugs that the elections’ real significance may be to illustrate just how far Nigeria is from accountable, democratic government.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration appears to be selectively interpreting the law to similar effect, this time to eliminate scores of opposition candidates from the national and state elections in April.
More than 50 people have already reportedly lost their lives in pre-election violence in the run up to April polls in Nigeria, and hundreds have been injured. If this level of violence continues over the next two months, the price of a "pretty good" election if measured in lives, will turn out to be very high indeed.
In the early hours of 29 March a Land-Rover with Nigerian diplomatic number plates arrived at a border post linking north-east Nigeria with Cameroon. It passed through immigration and was on its way through customs when officials realised that among the passengers was one of the world's most wanted war criminals: Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia. For those who care about justice this was a historic moment, and one many believed could never come.
Bringing to justice those who commit atrocities has obvious appeal. It provides redress for victims and their families, punishes perpetrators, and deters others from replicating their crimes. But is the price too high? Critics argue that the threat of prosecution compels dictators to cling to power rather than step down, or that it encourages abusive combatants to fight on rather than sue for peace. Yet a decade of experience with international tribunals suggests these fears are overblown.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this past weekend in his new role as the UN Secretary-General's special envoy. The DRC has been a quagmire for envoys. Mr Obasanjo and his team must be wondering how on earth to achieve or measure success. We at Human Rights Watch hope that Mr. Obasanjo will achieve more than his predecessors, so we would like to offer some suggestions.
When Gordon Brown met Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua in London this week, improving the security of energy supplies from the Niger Delta was high on the agenda. Unless there is a determined effort to address the root problem of political and financial corruption, the violence in the Niger Delta will continue to have a disastrous impact on energy security – and on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
At the upcoming Group of Eight summit, leaders of the world's richest countries will reaffirm their desire to promote democracy and development on the world's poorest continent. But at the same time, they risk undermining those ideals by welcoming Nigeria's fraudulently elected president into their midst as a partner. Unless the G8 countries use the occasion of the summit to speak out on Nigeria, they risk doing real damage to their own goals in Nigeria and across the continent.
Nigeria’s fledgling democracy has gone off the rails, and South Africa should play its part in pressuring Abuja to put things back on track. Nigeria’s example threatens to embolden corrupt and authoritarian governments across the continent. Rulers hesitant about yielding to pressure for democratic reforms could draw a dangerous lesson from Nigeria’s experience — that the hollow echo of a democratic process is enough to head off any criticism from across the continent.
The recent elections, which were not only brazenly rigged but also exceptionally violent, resulting in at least 300 election-related deaths, represented a big step backwards in the Nigerian government's ostensible efforts to match economic reform with democratic openness and respect for basic rights. Reversing this trend and improving the human rights of Nigeria's 140m citizens can only start with a marked improvement in governance. Nigeria's western partners should not be idle bystanders.
Voting was so undermined by open displays of rigging, intimidation and violence by the ruling People's Democratic party (PDP) and its armed thugs that the elections’ real significance may be to illustrate just how far Nigeria is from accountable, democratic government.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration appears to be selectively interpreting the law to similar effect, this time to eliminate scores of opposition candidates from the national and state elections in April.
More than 50 people have already reportedly lost their lives in pre-election violence in the run up to April polls in Nigeria, and hundreds have been injured. If this level of violence continues over the next two months, the price of a "pretty good" election if measured in lives, will turn out to be very high indeed.
In the early hours of 29 March a Land-Rover with Nigerian diplomatic number plates arrived at a border post linking north-east Nigeria with Cameroon. It passed through immigration and was on its way through customs when officials realised that among the passengers was one of the world's most wanted war criminals: Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia. For those who care about justice this was a historic moment, and one many believed could never come.
Bringing to justice those who commit atrocities has obvious appeal. It provides redress for victims and their families, punishes perpetrators, and deters others from replicating their crimes. But is the price too high? Critics argue that the threat of prosecution compels dictators to cling to power rather than step down, or that it encourages abusive combatants to fight on rather than sue for peace. Yet a decade of experience with international tribunals suggests these fears are overblown.