President Olusegun Obasanjo
Presidential Villa
Aso Rock
Abuja
Nigeria
4 April 2003
Dear President Obasanjo,
We are writing to express our concern regarding recent violent clashes in Nigeria's Niger delta. According to numerous reports from local non-governmental organizations, media, and other sources, since March 13, 2003, clashes around Warri have resulted in the deaths of scores of people and the destructions of dozens of villages. The victims have included members of the Ijaw and Itsekiri communities, as well as members of the security forces. We are appealing to you to ensure that the perpetrators of the violence are brought to justice and to take immediate measures to prevent a further deterioration of the situation, especially as tensions are likely to rise in the run-up to forthcoming elections.
We are particularly concerned about the response of the security forces that have been sent to restore law and order over the last two weeks. We are receiving troubling reports of indiscriminate reprisal attacks by the combined operation of Nigerian army, navy and police deployed in large numbers to the area. In addition to those killed in inter-communal clashes, dozens of people are reported to have been killed as the security forces fired at several villages. The information available to us indicates that the Ijaw community of Okerenkoko as a whole, including unarmed civilians, has been targeted in reprisal for the death of four soldiers on March 13, which the military have reportedly attributed to armed youths from Okerenkoko. The security forces have been able to act freely as they have sealed off the area, and it has become virtually impossible for human rights investigators, journalists and other independent witnesses to access the affected villages. While the victims of the military operation have been mostly Ijaws, the majority of those killed in the inter-communal conflict are reported to have been Itsekiris.
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Human Rights Watch strongly condemns the killing of the soldiers on March 13 and in other incidents and urges that those responsible be brought to justice. However, the death of these soldiers does not justify indiscriminate reprisal attacks against an entire community; it is likely that many of the people currently targeted by the military operation were not involved in any way in the attacks on soldiers.
Human Rights Watch has documented several instances in the past where similar military operations sent to quell civil unrest in the Niger delta (and elsewhere) have led to widespread extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations, especially in cases where the security forces were acting in reprisal for the killing of their colleagues. We have raised some of these cases with your government before, and we regret that to date, there has been little or no action to prosecute those responsible. For example, in November 1999, soldiers, naval personnel and paramilitary Mobile Police killed hundreds of people, perhaps as many as 2,000, in an assault on the community of Odi, in Bayelsa State, after twelve policemen were killed by an armed gang. In a similar operation in Benue State, in October 2001, more than two hundred people were killed by the army following the murder of nineteen soldiers. Human Rights Watch has documented the events in both Odi and Benue in detail in previous reports. At this writing, none of the individuals responsible for the killings in Odi or Benue have been brought to justice.
Now that the government has deployed its security forces in the Warri area, we urge you to ensure that their response is not disproportionate to the threat; that they only resort to force as absolutely necessary in accordance with international standards; that their operation is conducted in a manner that ensures respect for due process and fundamental human rights; that it is focused on arresting and prosecuting the actual perpetrators rather than retaliating against an entire community; and that any allegations of human rights violations are thoroughly and impartially investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director
Africa Division
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