Monday, May 16, 2016
Video - Leaders attend summit in Nigeria to tackle Boko Haram
French President Francois Hollande has hailed the efforts of his Nigerian counterpart Mohammadu Buhari in tackling the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.Hollande together with other regional Heads of states are in Abuja for a summit on the issue, having taken part in bilateral meetings. The leaders also highlighted the progress made against the militants, as well as the plight of 2.1 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria. Buhari's initiative to convene Saturday's summit was described as "crucial" by the UN Security Council, whose members have strongly condemned attacks by Boko Haram. Some 20,000 people have died in Boko Haram's nearly seven-year uprising to create an Islamic state. A multinational force made up of troops from Nigeria and neighbouring countries have since made military advances against the extremists.
Video - Nigeria trade unions want 67% hike reversed
Nigeria's trade union federation has refused to accept the 67% rise in fuel prices the government introduced on Wednesday to ease fuel shortages. [TAKE VO] The Nigeria Labour Congress wants the increment reversed. In 2012, the government was forced to back down on a similar price rise after nationwide protests. The subsidy, which has kept the price low, costs the government 2.7 million dollars a day and there is no provision for it in the recently approved budget for this year. Some oil marketers are already selling petrol at prices dictated by the market. Only filling stations owned by the state-run NNPC are selling at the old price until they exhaust their current stock.
Nigeria to put new aviation rules in action by July 1
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, on Sunday said the new Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, Nig.CARs, promulgated in December 2015, would take effect from July 1.
The agency made the disclosure in a statement by its General Manager, Public Relations, Sam Adurogboye, made available by the News Agency of Nigeria.
The statement said the announcement was contained in a Circular Ref: NCAA/DG/AOL/21/16/01 sent to all Airline Operators in April.
According to the statement, while operators are in possession of the copies of the regulations, the interregnum between April and the commencement date is a permissible transitional period.
It said during the time, stakeholders were expected to acquaint themselves with the contents therein for seamless implementation.
“The process of review was set in motion to align Nig.CARs with recent International Civil Aviation Organisations (ICAO) amendments and industry observations received by the authority.
“In other words, the reviewed Nig.CARs is to ensure a completion of the Annexes.
“Provisions have therefore been made for economic and consumer protection regulations that were hitherto not incorporated in the 2009 edition.
“In addition, the NCAA decided on the review to standardise the operational procedures, implementation and enforcement in the industry.
“All these have been done in conformity with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) as contained in the Annexes to the Chicago Convention,” the statement said.
It therefore, enjoined airline operators and other stakeholders to ensure total and sustained adherence to the reviewed regulations, adding that any breach would be met with the stipulated sanctions.
The Nig.CARs 2015 has 19 parts comprising General Policies and Definitions, Personnel Licensing, Aviation Training Organisations, Registration and Marketing, Airworthiness and Approved Maintenance Organisations.
It also has Instrument and Equipment, Operation, Air Operator Certification and Administration and Commercial Air Transport by Foreign Air Carrier within Nigeria.
Others are Commercial Aircraft Operations used for Specialised Services (Aerial Works), Aerodrome Regulations; Air Navigation Services, Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Air, Environmental Protection Regulations, Aviation Security and Offences.
The agency made the disclosure in a statement by its General Manager, Public Relations, Sam Adurogboye, made available by the News Agency of Nigeria.
The statement said the announcement was contained in a Circular Ref: NCAA/DG/AOL/21/16/01 sent to all Airline Operators in April.
According to the statement, while operators are in possession of the copies of the regulations, the interregnum between April and the commencement date is a permissible transitional period.
It said during the time, stakeholders were expected to acquaint themselves with the contents therein for seamless implementation.
“The process of review was set in motion to align Nig.CARs with recent International Civil Aviation Organisations (ICAO) amendments and industry observations received by the authority.
“In other words, the reviewed Nig.CARs is to ensure a completion of the Annexes.
“Provisions have therefore been made for economic and consumer protection regulations that were hitherto not incorporated in the 2009 edition.
“In addition, the NCAA decided on the review to standardise the operational procedures, implementation and enforcement in the industry.
“All these have been done in conformity with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) as contained in the Annexes to the Chicago Convention,” the statement said.
It therefore, enjoined airline operators and other stakeholders to ensure total and sustained adherence to the reviewed regulations, adding that any breach would be met with the stipulated sanctions.
The Nig.CARs 2015 has 19 parts comprising General Policies and Definitions, Personnel Licensing, Aviation Training Organisations, Registration and Marketing, Airworthiness and Approved Maintenance Organisations.
It also has Instrument and Equipment, Operation, Air Operator Certification and Administration and Commercial Air Transport by Foreign Air Carrier within Nigeria.
Others are Commercial Aircraft Operations used for Specialised Services (Aerial Works), Aerodrome Regulations; Air Navigation Services, Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Air, Environmental Protection Regulations, Aviation Security and Offences.
Niger Delta Avengers threaten new insurgency in Nigeria
They call themselves the Niger Delta Avengers. Little is known about the new radical group that has claimed a series of pipeline bombings in Nigeria's oil-producing region this year and evaded gunboats and soldiers trawling swamps and villages.
Their attacks have driven Nigerian oil output to near a 22-year low and, if the violence escalates into another insurgency in the restive area, it could cripple production in a country facing a growing economic crisis.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said he will crush the militants, but a wide-scale conflict could stretch security forces already battling a northern rebellion by hardline Sunni Muslim group Boko Haram.
Militancy has been rife over the past decade in the Delta, a southern region which is one of the country's poorest areas despite generating 70 percent of state income.
Violence has increased sharply this year - most of it claimed by the "Avengers" - after Buhari scaled back an amnesty deal with rebel groups, which had ended a 2004-2009 insurgency.
Under the deal, more state cash was channelled to the region for job training and militant groups were handed contracts to protect the pipelines they once bombed. But Buhari cut the budget allocated to the plan by about 70 percent and cancelled the contracts, citing corruption and mismanagement of funds.
The "Avengers" have carried out a string of attacks since February that reduced Nigerian oil output by at least 300,000 barrels a day of output, and shut down two refineries and a major export terminal.
On Thursday the group emailed journalists a statement saying it was fighting for an independent Delta and would step up its attacks unless oil firms left the region within two weeks.
"If at the end of the ultimatum you are still operating, we will blow up all the locations," it said. "It will be bloody. So just shut down your operations and leave."
"To international oil companies, this is just the beginning and you have not seen anything yet. We will make you suffer," it said.
Authorities have no hard facts about the group - such as its size, bases or leadership, Nigeria-based diplomats say.
Diplomats and security experts say it has shown a level of sophistication not seen since the peak of the 2004-2009 insurgency, which halved Nigeria's oil output. They say it must be getting help from sympathetic oil workers in identifying the pipelines to cause maximum damage.
"Its scary. Their demands are impossible to meet so there will be probably more attacks," said a security expert, asking not to be named.
GUNBOATS
In February the group claimed an attack on an undersea pipeline that forced Shell to shut a 250,000 barrels a day Forcados terminal. Last week, it took credit for blasting a Chevron platform, shutting the Warri and Kaduna refineries. Power outages across Nigeria worsened as gas supplies were also affected.
There have been other smaller attacks and this week another explosion, which bore the hallmarks of the group, closed Shell's Bonny Light export programme.
Reuters, like other media, has been unable to reach the group, which mainly communicates via Twitter, with the location tracker switched off, and on its website.
Its members describe themselves there as "young, well travelled" and mostly educated in eastern Europe.
Given the lack of intelligence about the militants, the army launched a wide-ranging hunt across the Delta this week, sending gunboats into mosquito-infested creeks and searching villages in the middle of the night.
But some residents say such a heavy-handed military approach stokes dissent in the Delta where many complain of poverty despite sitting on much of Nigeria's energy wealth. They say some villagers help militants to hide in the hard-to-access swamps.
"The military came at 12.30 am with two gunboats ... they went from house to house. Many ran into the bush," said Godspower Gbenekemam, chief of the Gbaramatu area.
"The military stayed on until about 5.30 am, during which nobody was able to move out," he said. "We are not part of the people blowing up pipelines. We do not know them so the military should leave our community alone."
Alagoa Morris, an environmental activist based in the Delta, said unless soldiers acted with restraint, more people would join the militants, with a risk of "the Niger Delta returning to another round of full-scale militancy".
Even oil majors, which have long pressed for better pipeline protection, worry the tactics could backfire.
Executives met Vice President Yemi Osinbajo this week and one of them warned the government was being "too direct and blunt" and needed to find some balance, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
ULTIMATUM
The military has not said how many soldiers have been involved in the sweep. The army searched several villages around Gbaramatu because that part of the Delta is home to former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo.
Some officials have linked Tompolo to the "Avengers", pointing to the fact that the attacks began after authorities issued an arrest warrant for Tompolo on graft charges in January.
Tompolo has denied any ties, saying he himself is a victim as the group had asked him to apologise for criticising it.
For Buhari, the campaign against former militants is a part of his election promise to fix a country gripped by graft and mismanagement, but many locals in the Christian south see him, a Muslim northerner, as an oppressor.
Buhari's cutting of the amnesty plan's budget has also caused widespread resentment in the Delta, as it helps fund job training for the unemployed.
Tapping into such anger, the "Avengers" point out that the former military ruler has never visited the Delta, where many roads are pot-holed and some villages are polluted from oil spills.
In a flurry of statements, the militants have published a list of demands, from cleaning up oil spills to keeping the amnesty plan, leading up to Thursday's ultimatum.
Diplomats say some of Tompolo's followers have probably joined the "Avengers" and that the group's ranks could be swelled by an army of unemployed willing to work for anyone.
But, adding to the confusion surrounding the group, some former rebels have denied knowledge of the militants and say they have brought unwanted military attention to the area.
"Niger Delta Avengers are not fighting for the sake of Niger Delta," said Eris Paul, a former leader of the now-defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which was one of the most powerful militant groups. "We don't know them." (Additional reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, Ron Bousso and Libbby George; Editing by Pravin Char)
Their attacks have driven Nigerian oil output to near a 22-year low and, if the violence escalates into another insurgency in the restive area, it could cripple production in a country facing a growing economic crisis.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said he will crush the militants, but a wide-scale conflict could stretch security forces already battling a northern rebellion by hardline Sunni Muslim group Boko Haram.
Militancy has been rife over the past decade in the Delta, a southern region which is one of the country's poorest areas despite generating 70 percent of state income.
Violence has increased sharply this year - most of it claimed by the "Avengers" - after Buhari scaled back an amnesty deal with rebel groups, which had ended a 2004-2009 insurgency.
Under the deal, more state cash was channelled to the region for job training and militant groups were handed contracts to protect the pipelines they once bombed. But Buhari cut the budget allocated to the plan by about 70 percent and cancelled the contracts, citing corruption and mismanagement of funds.
The "Avengers" have carried out a string of attacks since February that reduced Nigerian oil output by at least 300,000 barrels a day of output, and shut down two refineries and a major export terminal.
On Thursday the group emailed journalists a statement saying it was fighting for an independent Delta and would step up its attacks unless oil firms left the region within two weeks.
"If at the end of the ultimatum you are still operating, we will blow up all the locations," it said. "It will be bloody. So just shut down your operations and leave."
"To international oil companies, this is just the beginning and you have not seen anything yet. We will make you suffer," it said.
Authorities have no hard facts about the group - such as its size, bases or leadership, Nigeria-based diplomats say.
Diplomats and security experts say it has shown a level of sophistication not seen since the peak of the 2004-2009 insurgency, which halved Nigeria's oil output. They say it must be getting help from sympathetic oil workers in identifying the pipelines to cause maximum damage.
"Its scary. Their demands are impossible to meet so there will be probably more attacks," said a security expert, asking not to be named.
GUNBOATS
In February the group claimed an attack on an undersea pipeline that forced Shell to shut a 250,000 barrels a day Forcados terminal. Last week, it took credit for blasting a Chevron platform, shutting the Warri and Kaduna refineries. Power outages across Nigeria worsened as gas supplies were also affected.
There have been other smaller attacks and this week another explosion, which bore the hallmarks of the group, closed Shell's Bonny Light export programme.
Reuters, like other media, has been unable to reach the group, which mainly communicates via Twitter, with the location tracker switched off, and on its website.
Its members describe themselves there as "young, well travelled" and mostly educated in eastern Europe.
Given the lack of intelligence about the militants, the army launched a wide-ranging hunt across the Delta this week, sending gunboats into mosquito-infested creeks and searching villages in the middle of the night.
But some residents say such a heavy-handed military approach stokes dissent in the Delta where many complain of poverty despite sitting on much of Nigeria's energy wealth. They say some villagers help militants to hide in the hard-to-access swamps.
"The military came at 12.30 am with two gunboats ... they went from house to house. Many ran into the bush," said Godspower Gbenekemam, chief of the Gbaramatu area.
"The military stayed on until about 5.30 am, during which nobody was able to move out," he said. "We are not part of the people blowing up pipelines. We do not know them so the military should leave our community alone."
Alagoa Morris, an environmental activist based in the Delta, said unless soldiers acted with restraint, more people would join the militants, with a risk of "the Niger Delta returning to another round of full-scale militancy".
Even oil majors, which have long pressed for better pipeline protection, worry the tactics could backfire.
Executives met Vice President Yemi Osinbajo this week and one of them warned the government was being "too direct and blunt" and needed to find some balance, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
ULTIMATUM
The military has not said how many soldiers have been involved in the sweep. The army searched several villages around Gbaramatu because that part of the Delta is home to former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo.
Some officials have linked Tompolo to the "Avengers", pointing to the fact that the attacks began after authorities issued an arrest warrant for Tompolo on graft charges in January.
Tompolo has denied any ties, saying he himself is a victim as the group had asked him to apologise for criticising it.
For Buhari, the campaign against former militants is a part of his election promise to fix a country gripped by graft and mismanagement, but many locals in the Christian south see him, a Muslim northerner, as an oppressor.
Buhari's cutting of the amnesty plan's budget has also caused widespread resentment in the Delta, as it helps fund job training for the unemployed.
Tapping into such anger, the "Avengers" point out that the former military ruler has never visited the Delta, where many roads are pot-holed and some villages are polluted from oil spills.
In a flurry of statements, the militants have published a list of demands, from cleaning up oil spills to keeping the amnesty plan, leading up to Thursday's ultimatum.
Diplomats say some of Tompolo's followers have probably joined the "Avengers" and that the group's ranks could be swelled by an army of unemployed willing to work for anyone.
But, adding to the confusion surrounding the group, some former rebels have denied knowledge of the militants and say they have brought unwanted military attention to the area.
"Niger Delta Avengers are not fighting for the sake of Niger Delta," said Eris Paul, a former leader of the now-defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which was one of the most powerful militant groups. "We don't know them." (Additional reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, Ron Bousso and Libbby George; Editing by Pravin Char)
U.S. reconciles with Nigeria to fight Boko Haram
Less than two years after it blocked a sale of American-made attack helicopters to Nigeria from Israel because of human rights concerns, the Obama administration says it is poised to sell up to 12 light attack aircraft to Nigeria as part of an effort to support the country’s fight against the Boko Haram militant group.
But the pending sale of the Super Tucano attack warplanes — which would require congressional approval — is already coming under criticism from human rights organizations that say President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has not yet done enough to stop the abuses and corruption that flourished in the military under his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.
Officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon have been bracing for a fight with congressional Democrats, in particular Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, over the sale of the planes.
The proposed sale reflects the warming of the relationship between the Nigerian and American militaries, which had frayed under Mr. Jonathan. The Pentagon often bypassed Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram, choosing to work directly with neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
In addition to citing corruption and sweeping human rights abuses by Nigerian soldiers, American officials were hesitant to share intelligence with the Nigerian military, saying Boko Haram had infiltrated it. That accusation prompted indignation from Nigeria.
But that was before Mr. Buhari, a former Nigerian Army major general, defeated Mr. Jonathan in an election last year.
Since coming into power, Mr. Buhari has devoted himself to rooting out graft in Africa’s largest economy.
He has fired a number of Nigerian military officers accused of corruption, and American military officials say they are now working closely with some of their counterparts in Nigeria. The Obama administration is also considering sending dozens of Special Operations advisers to the front lines of Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram, an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians in the country’s northeast as well as in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Mr. Buhari has also pledged to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and has said he will not tolerate them.
A move to sell the Super Tucano attack aircraft to Nigeria, first reported by Reuters, would continue the détente between the two militaries, administration officials said. The Super Tucano, a turboprop aircraft, is designed for light attack, counterinsurgency, close air support and reconnaissance missions. It could prove useful as the Nigerian military tries to clear Boko Haram out of the Sambisa Forest, which is believed to hold large numbers of the militants, as well as kidnapped girls and women.
The administration has not made a formal decision to send a notification to Congress, but a senior administration official said he expected one soon. President Obama is considering a trip to Nigeria in July.
But already aides to Mr. Leahy, a sponsor of a human rights law that prohibits the State Department and Pentagon from providing military assistance to foreign militaries with poor human rights records, have expressed concern.
“We don’t have confidence in the Nigerians’ ability to use them in a manner that complies with the laws of war and doesn’t end up disproportionately harming civilians, nor in the capability of the U.S. government to monitor their use,” said Tim Rieser, a top Leahy aide.
“The United States is committed to working with Nigeria and its neighbors against Boko Haram,” said David McKeeby, a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. “The Nigerian security forces and regional forces from Cameroon, Chad and Niger have made important progress in pushing Boko Haram out of many towns and villages of northeast Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad basin region.”
Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Army chief of staff, is attending a meeting of top African military officials, including from Nigeria, here in Arusha this week. Aboard his flight on Saturday, General Milley declined to comment on whether Nigeria’s human rights record had improved enough to warrant the sale, but said one of the reasons he was attending the meeting was to learn more about the African militaries with which the Pentagon is working.
Consideration of selling the attack aircraft to Nigeria is a sharp turnabout from two years ago, when the United States blocked the sale of American-made Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria from Israel, amid concerns about Nigeria’s protection of civilians when conducting military operations. That infuriated the Nigerian government, and Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States responded sharply, accusing Washington of hampering the effort against Boko Haram.
“Let’s say we give certain kinds of equipment to the Nigerian military that is then used in a way that affects the human situation,” James F. Entwistle, the American ambassador to Nigeria, told reporters in October in explaining the decision to block the helicopter sale. “If I approve that, I’m responsible for that. We take that responsibility very seriously.”
Under Mr. Jonathan, the former president, the Nigerian military was accused by human rights groups of detaining and killing thousands of innocent civilians in sweeps of the militant group, a practice that Amnesty International said was continuing. This year the military rounded up several hundred men and boys in arrests that Amnesty, in a report it released last week, called “arbitrary, the hazardous profiling based on sex and age of the individual rather than on evidence of crime.”
The report said 149 people had died this year in detention in the Nigerian military’s Giwa barracks in Maiduguri, a city that has been a staging ground for the fight against Boko Haram. Among the victims were 11 children under age 6, including four infants, Amnesty said. The prisoners most likely died of disease, starvation, dehydration or gunshot wounds, the report said.
In a news release, the Nigerian military called the report “completely baseless, unfounded and source-less with the intent of denting the image of the Nigerian Armed Forces.”
Sarah Margon, the Washington director at Human Rights Watch, disagreed.
“Indications that the U.S. is going to sell attack aircrafts to Nigeria is concerning given the absence of meaningful reform within Nigeria’s security sector,” Ms. Margon said. “The U.S. must make clear that if the sale is to occur, critical steps, not just rhetorical commitments, on core human rights concerns must be an integral component for approving the sale.”
But the pending sale of the Super Tucano attack warplanes — which would require congressional approval — is already coming under criticism from human rights organizations that say President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has not yet done enough to stop the abuses and corruption that flourished in the military under his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.
Officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon have been bracing for a fight with congressional Democrats, in particular Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, over the sale of the planes.
The proposed sale reflects the warming of the relationship between the Nigerian and American militaries, which had frayed under Mr. Jonathan. The Pentagon often bypassed Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram, choosing to work directly with neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
In addition to citing corruption and sweeping human rights abuses by Nigerian soldiers, American officials were hesitant to share intelligence with the Nigerian military, saying Boko Haram had infiltrated it. That accusation prompted indignation from Nigeria.
But that was before Mr. Buhari, a former Nigerian Army major general, defeated Mr. Jonathan in an election last year.
Since coming into power, Mr. Buhari has devoted himself to rooting out graft in Africa’s largest economy.
He has fired a number of Nigerian military officers accused of corruption, and American military officials say they are now working closely with some of their counterparts in Nigeria. The Obama administration is also considering sending dozens of Special Operations advisers to the front lines of Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram, an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians in the country’s northeast as well as in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Mr. Buhari has also pledged to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and has said he will not tolerate them.
A move to sell the Super Tucano attack aircraft to Nigeria, first reported by Reuters, would continue the détente between the two militaries, administration officials said. The Super Tucano, a turboprop aircraft, is designed for light attack, counterinsurgency, close air support and reconnaissance missions. It could prove useful as the Nigerian military tries to clear Boko Haram out of the Sambisa Forest, which is believed to hold large numbers of the militants, as well as kidnapped girls and women.
The administration has not made a formal decision to send a notification to Congress, but a senior administration official said he expected one soon. President Obama is considering a trip to Nigeria in July.
But already aides to Mr. Leahy, a sponsor of a human rights law that prohibits the State Department and Pentagon from providing military assistance to foreign militaries with poor human rights records, have expressed concern.
“We don’t have confidence in the Nigerians’ ability to use them in a manner that complies with the laws of war and doesn’t end up disproportionately harming civilians, nor in the capability of the U.S. government to monitor their use,” said Tim Rieser, a top Leahy aide.
“The United States is committed to working with Nigeria and its neighbors against Boko Haram,” said David McKeeby, a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. “The Nigerian security forces and regional forces from Cameroon, Chad and Niger have made important progress in pushing Boko Haram out of many towns and villages of northeast Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad basin region.”
Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Army chief of staff, is attending a meeting of top African military officials, including from Nigeria, here in Arusha this week. Aboard his flight on Saturday, General Milley declined to comment on whether Nigeria’s human rights record had improved enough to warrant the sale, but said one of the reasons he was attending the meeting was to learn more about the African militaries with which the Pentagon is working.
Consideration of selling the attack aircraft to Nigeria is a sharp turnabout from two years ago, when the United States blocked the sale of American-made Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria from Israel, amid concerns about Nigeria’s protection of civilians when conducting military operations. That infuriated the Nigerian government, and Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States responded sharply, accusing Washington of hampering the effort against Boko Haram.
“Let’s say we give certain kinds of equipment to the Nigerian military that is then used in a way that affects the human situation,” James F. Entwistle, the American ambassador to Nigeria, told reporters in October in explaining the decision to block the helicopter sale. “If I approve that, I’m responsible for that. We take that responsibility very seriously.”
Under Mr. Jonathan, the former president, the Nigerian military was accused by human rights groups of detaining and killing thousands of innocent civilians in sweeps of the militant group, a practice that Amnesty International said was continuing. This year the military rounded up several hundred men and boys in arrests that Amnesty, in a report it released last week, called “arbitrary, the hazardous profiling based on sex and age of the individual rather than on evidence of crime.”
The report said 149 people had died this year in detention in the Nigerian military’s Giwa barracks in Maiduguri, a city that has been a staging ground for the fight against Boko Haram. Among the victims were 11 children under age 6, including four infants, Amnesty said. The prisoners most likely died of disease, starvation, dehydration or gunshot wounds, the report said.
In a news release, the Nigerian military called the report “completely baseless, unfounded and source-less with the intent of denting the image of the Nigerian Armed Forces.”
Sarah Margon, the Washington director at Human Rights Watch, disagreed.
“Indications that the U.S. is going to sell attack aircrafts to Nigeria is concerning given the absence of meaningful reform within Nigeria’s security sector,” Ms. Margon said. “The U.S. must make clear that if the sale is to occur, critical steps, not just rhetorical commitments, on core human rights concerns must be an integral component for approving the sale.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)