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(Fwd) ANNOUNCEMENT: NIGERIA SUPPORT GROUP (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 02:27:44 +0000
From: Patrick Bond <pbond@wn.apc.org>
To: debate@sunsite.wits.ac.za
Subject: (Fwd) ANNOUNCEMENT: NIGERIA SUPPORT GROUP
Forwarded message:
From: "Raa" <fxi@wn.apc.org>
Organization: FXI
To: pbond@wn.apc.org
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 14:11:05 +0000
Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT: NIGERIA SUPPORT GROUP
Priority: normal
TO ALL SANGONET USERS
MONDAY FAX CAMPAIGN ON NIGERIA
[Apologies to people who have already received this previously - this
is the latest version of the message]
5 September 1997
On October 24th to the 27th, the Commonwealth heads of government
(CHOGM) will be meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland. Among the matters
that they will deliberate over will be whether Nigeria should remain
in the Commonwealth or not.
The South Africa Nigera Democracy Support Group (SANDSG) is calling
on individuals and organisations to:
1. To send faxes to President Mandela and our Foreign Affairs
representatives THIS WEEK and EVERY MONDAY until the week of the
CHOGM summit in Scotland calling on our representatives to speak out
in defence of the people of Nigeria and ensure that Nigeria is
expelled from the Commonwealth;
2. Send faxes to President Mandela and our Foreign Affairs
reprepresentative before Wednesday September 10, when the
Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) will be meeting to
finalise its recommendation on Nigeria that it will take to CHOGM.
Faxes can be sent to:
President Nelson R Mandela
Fax: (012) 323-8246
(021) 461-4987
The Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr Alfred B Nzo
Fax: (012) 351 0253
(021) 456 548
The Deputy Director General for Multilateral Affairs
Mr Abdul Minty
Fax: (012) 351 1502
BACKGROUND
The government of General Sani Abacha was suspended from the
commonwealth in November 1995 when, despite calls for clemency and
mounting evidence of a travesty of justice, nine opponents of the
military were executed. The nine included the leader of the Movement
for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ken Saro-Wiwa. All
those executed were in the forefront of the struggle to oppose the
environmental degradation that was being wrought by multinational
oil companies in Nigeria, and the military dictatorship which had
effectively reduced Nigeria to a jail and its citizens prisoners to
the dictatorship.
In suspending Nigeria, CHOGM agreed further: "That if no
demonstrable progress was made towards the fulfilment of these
conditions (democratisation and respect for human rights/release of
political prisoners) within a time frame (of two years), Nigeria
would be expelled from the association."
In March 1996, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG),
which was tasked with advising the commonwealth on appropriate
action it should take against Nigeria, noted that the general human
rights situation in the country had continued to deteriorate. The
Group added that no concrete efforts were being made by the Nigerian
government either to engage pro-democracy groups in genuine dialogue
or release political prisoners including Chief Moshood Abiola, as
recommended by the heads of government of the Commonwealth.
Over the past two years, the human rights situation in Nigeria (and
particularly in Ogoni, which is still under military occupation) has
been documented as continuing to deteriorate, and the talk about
national reconciliation remains a sham. This year marked the third
year of Abiola's incarceration, while Generals Obasanjo, Shehu
Yar'adu, Dr Beko Ransome Kuti and forty others convicted by a
military tribunal and jailed for an alleged coup plot are yet to
regain their freedom. Abacha has not only ignored specific calls
both from CHOGM and other groups for the release of Abiola and
others, he has continued to arrest and detain other prominent
activists and politicians. Earlier this year, in what was clearly a
political move aimed at discrediting the opposition and justifying
the continued incarceration of some, Abacha charged 15 prominent
opposition figures, including exiled writer Wole Soyinka, with
treason. The once robust independent press of Nigeria has been
driven virtually underground as journalists run the gauntlet of
arbitrary arrest or official harassment.
The South African Nigerian Democracy Support Group does not believe
that the expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth will mean the
liberty of Nigerian citizens from military dictatorship. We believe
the solution lies with the people of Nigeria themselves and the
extent to which they are able to collectively influence and control
the governance of their country and seek popular solutions to the
political, economic, socio-cultural and other historical problems
facing their nation. The expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth
will give great effect to the movement and struggle towards this
end. Apart from sending a clear message of disapproval of the human
rights situation in Nigeria, it will send a clear message to Abacha
that he is not representative of the Nigerian people, but only
representative of himself and his military elite. It will further be
a clear signal to the people of Nigeria that the international
community is indeed aware of and concerned about their plight and
will not tolerate the situation where one-fifth of all African
people are prisoners in their own country.
Our colleagues and comrades in Nigeria and those in exile have urged
us to call on our government to vote in support of Nigeria being
expelled from the commonwealth. South Africa to date has been
playing a juggling game on the question of Nigeria. In 1995,
President Mandela came out strongly against Abacha and urged
Nigeria's suspension from the commonwealth. Of late, however,
President Mandela has been referring to Abacha as "my brother". Our
ambassador to the United Nations, Jacob Selebi, played a very
instrumental role in getting a UN Special Rapporteur on Nigeria
appointed in April this year, but our government continues to grant
legitimacy to the Abacha regime. Despite consistent calls from the
Support Group for the denial of visas to all Nigerian military
officials, President Mandela has received at least two delegations
from Abacha in the past two months. In a meeting with our High
Commissioner to Nigeria, George Nene, in June this year the Support
Group was disturbed to learn of his position on the Abacha
"transition programme" as a fait accompli.
South Africa more than ever needs to come clean and make a clear
stand on Abacha. We cannot allow a situation where Abacha is able to
seek legitimacy and even tacit approval from our government. More
over, we can no longer tolerate a situation where human rights
abuses on the scale committed by Abacha goes without censure from
within Africa and where despots such as Abacha portray themselves as
"great sons of Afrika" when in fact they are the killers and jailers
of African people. Abacha must go, and every little action that can
lead to this must be undertaken. Nothing has changed in Nigeria -
except for the worse!
We call on you to make to the following recommendations:
1. Consistent with the decision of CHOGM, if between now (November
1995) and the Edinburgh CHOGM:
* political prisoners including Chief Abiola, General Obasanjo and
others imprisoned for an alleged coup attempt, and the Ogoni 21 are
not released;
* the military occupation and brutality in Ogoni do not cease;
Nigeria should be expelled from the commonwealth AND IN ADDITION the
various measures proposed by CMAG in April this year be imposed.
2. In the event of compliance with the bench marks in 1 above, and
pending 3 below - the current suspension should be extended, backed
by sanctions including, but not limited to the following:
*visa restrictions on members of the military regime and their
families;
*withdrawal of military attaches;
*cessation of military training;
*embargo on export of arms;
*ban on all sporting contracts;
*downgrading of all cultural links;
*downgrading of diplomatic missions;
3. If between the Edinburgh CHOGM and the middle of next year:
- all decrees curtailing due process and fundamental rights in the
country are not repealed,
- genuine efforts at national reconciliation through the setting up
of a national government headed by Chief Abiola, which will be
charged with the primary responsibility, amongst others, of
convening a sovereign national conference to patch the wounds of the
past and decide on the way forward, are not put in place;
a further incremental regime of sanctions including, but not limited
to:
* a freeze on financial assets and bank accounts in all Commonwealth
countries of members of the regime, their families and collaborators,
* ban on the export of support equipment for the oil industry;
*action against credits, action to prevent new investment including
banking loans;
should be imposed.
4. If after a year from the October Summit in Edinburgh, a genuine
democratic civilian administration on the basis of a truly
democratic government is not in place on the platform of a
constitution that should be the outcome of the national conference
so conveyed, an oil embargo should be imposed.
If you wish to receive a copy of the letter which the Support Group
has sent to the various officials please reply to: fxi@wn.apc.org .
We urge you to either copy this letter onto your letterhead or alter
it according to the demands you wish to make. If y wish to be on an
e-mail mailing list for further information or actions on Nigeria you
can also reply to: fxi@wn.apc.org . For more information on the
Nigerian campaign visit the Earthlife Africa Website at:
http://www.earthlife.org.za . To view some of the statements and
letters issued by the Support Group in 1996 and 1997, visit the Press
Releases section on the Freedom of Expression Institute's website at:
http://wn.apc.org/fxi/ .
Thanks
Raashied Galant
Patrick Bond
home: 51 Somerset Road, Kensington 2094, South Africa
office: University of the Witwatersrand
Graduate School of Public and Development Management
phone: 2711-488-5917
fax: 2711-484-2729, and 27-11-648-6919
home phone: 2711-614-8088
email: pbond@wn.apc.org or bondp@zeus.mgmt.wits.ac.za