In the five-page letter, Human Rights Watch called on the U.S. delegation visiting Nigeria to address the increasing political tensions and in-fighting, as well as actual violence, in the lead-up to presidential elections scheduled for 2003.

Research by Human Rights Watch in southeast Nigeria has uncovered serious human rights abuses by vigilante groups responsible for brutal executions, systematic torture and unlawful arrests and detentions, often with the active support of state government authorities. In the north, vigilante groups are sometimes used to enforce the application of Sharia law.

Human Rights Watch also expressed its concern that the Nigerian police force and the military continue to be responsible for systematic and widespread human rights violations without any sanction. In one particularly notorious incident in Benue State in 2001, the military was responsible for summary executions, rape of women, and ill-treatment, harassment and extortion.

Since President Olusegun Obasanjo came to power in May 1999, there has been an increase in inter-communal violence across Nigeria. Several thousand people have been killed in fighting between different ethnic groups, particularly in the central Middle Belt states as well as the southwest, in the Delta and in the north. These conflicts could explode again at any time. There is also likely to be continuing tensions, often politically manipulated, in some of the northern states, around the extension of Sharia law. There have been a number of Sharia punishments meted out following unfair trials, with limited rights of appeal, and sometimes no legal representation.

In the Niger Delta, there have been numerous protests directed at oil companies, as well as violence between different communities, often directly or indirectly linked to the division of oil money. It is likely that active conflict will heat up as the 2003 elections become closer.

Human Rights Watch also highlighted the plight of the internally displaced in Angola, noting that the United Nations and the Angolan government are not providing sufficient protection for hundreds of thousands of people displaced during Angola’s civil war. As many as one-third of Angola’s 13 million people are internally displaced.

Since the ceasefire agreed in April 2002, and progress in implementing peace, the need for attention to the displaced has become, if anything, more urgent. As access to previously rebel-held areas opens up, there has been a rise in the number of Angolans seeking immediate assistance, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and raising the specter of new human rights abuses.

The internally displaced in Angola continue to face serious security threats, including harassment by government forces, restrictions on free movement, and possible forced return to areas where they would be at risk of political persecution and human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said. Hundreds of thousands continue to live in poor conditions in government-run camps without access to basic food or medical care.

Kansteiner’s visit comes just before a formal resettlement process for some 50,000 displaced persons begins, and there are concerns that some of these people may be forcibly sent home. While the United Nations and the Angolan government have plans on paper to protect the internally displaced population, these laws and programs are not being implemented on the ground. Although there are several U.N. agencies working with the internally displaced in Angola, there is no single U.N. agency with clear formal responsibility for protection of internally displaced persons, contributing to the neglect they have suffered.