Dear Mr Straw,
We are writing to you to express our concern at the failure of the United Kingdom government to denounce publicly incidents of violence and intimidation which occurred in several areas of Nigeria during the National Assembly elections of 12 April, the presidential and governorship elections of 19 April, and the preceding weeks and months. We are appealing to you to urge the Nigerian government to do everything possible to prevent further outbreaks of violence in the next stages of the elections.
In a press release of 29 April, you welcomed the "relative calm in which the elections took place." This statement does not reflect the climate that prevailed in several southern and southeastern states, where killings and other attacks by armed thugs sponsored by various political parties not only resulted in several deaths and injuries, but effectively prevented many voters from going to the polls at all. This was the case, for example, in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers State in the south; violence and intimidation were also widespread in Enugu and other parts of the southeast. The fact that large-scale violence did not break out across the whole country does not lessen the gravity of these incidents where they occurred. Likewise, your statement does not take into account the widespread violence across Nigeria in the months leading up to the elections, which contributed to an atmosphere of fear and tension in some areas on the election days.
While the United Kingdom government has rightly expressed concern about reports of fraud and irregularities observed in the elections and encouraged opposition parties to resort to legal methods of redress, rather than violence, the press release of 29 April fails to call upon Nigerian government and judicial authorities to identify and bring to justice the individuals responsible for the many incidents of violence which have already occurred in the period leading up to and during the elections, including crimes committed by supporters of the ruling People's Democratic Party.
In April 2003, Human Rights Watch published a report on pre-election violence, entitled "Testing Democracy: Political Violence in Nigeria", which documented numerous incidents of political violence across the country since around the middle of 2002. In the majority of these cases, no one has been prosecuted.
One of our fundamental recommendations to the Nigerian government was to put an end to the impunity that has protected the perpetrators. By demonstrating a concrete commitment to the prosecution of those responsible for these crimes, the government would have sent a clear message to those contemplating violence as a means to victory during the actual elections, and could have prevented some of the incidents that marred the elections of April.
We are disappointed to note that despite the presence of Nigerian and foreign observers during the elections, many of whom noted incidents of violence in the south and southeastern states, the United Kingdom government has not denounced this violence, choosing instead to put a positive gloss on the elections. We are worried that this kind of statement sends the wrong signal to the Nigerian government and may give the impression that the United Kingdom government is prepared to overlook certain human rights abuses in the interests of maintaining good relations with Nigeria. While we support your call to opposition parties to refrain from acts of post-electoral violence, this does not address the serious incidents of violence that have already been committed. The need to bring to justice those responsible without delay should be articulated clearly and publicly at the international level, regardless of political or other considerations.
There is an urgent need to reiterate this message to the Nigerian government now, in order to prevent similar incidents of violence in the 3 May elections for state houses of assembly and local government elections provisionally scheduled for June. As one of Nigeria's most important Western partners, the United Kingdom government is in an excellent position to reinforce this point and to do so publicly. We are appealing to you to remind the Nigerian government of its responsibility to uphold the rule of law and to take immediate action to prevent further violence and intimidation in the remaining stages of the elections.
Yours sincerely,
Steve Crawshaw
London Director
