Amb. Carrington at New York City Council

[The Africa Fund <africafund@igc.apc.org>]

                        PRESS ADVISORY
  
  U.S. Nigeria Ambassador Carrington, Former Mayor Dinkins To
  Testify At City Hall Hearing on Nigerian Human Rights Monday
                          October 27
  
  
  Contact: Mike Fleshman at The Africa Fund: (212) 962-1210  
  October 27, 1997
             
  The former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington,
  former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, American Committee
  On Africa President Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker and exiled
  Nigerian democracy leader Anthony Enahoro will testify in
  favor of a motion to name a New York street corner after
  slain Nigerian democracy activist Kudirat Abiola at New York
  City Hall on Monday October 27.  The military government is
  widely believed to have assassinated Mrs. Abiola, the wife
  of jailed President-elect Moshood Abiola, to stop her
  pro-democracy campaigning. The hearing, the fourth confrontation
  between pro-democracy and pro-government forces over the
  issue, is expected to begin at about 2:00 PM before the
  council's Parks and Recreation Committee.
  
  The street name change has encountered fierce opposition
  from the Nigerian military government and and far-right
  African American leader Roy Innis. In a hearing before the
  local Community Board earlier this month, unruly supporters
  of the regime repeatedly interrupted former New York City
  Mayor David N. Dinkins' testimony favoring the sign change
  with catcalls and insults. The crowd shouted sexual
  obscenities at Mrs. Abiola daughter, Hafsat Abiola,  at the
  same hearing.  
  
  Ambassador Carrington, who served as Ambassador from 1993
  until his retirement earlier this month, was unpopular with
  the dictatorship because of his strong support for the
  restoration of democracy and respect for human rights in oil
  rich Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. In September
  heavily armed Nigerian police stormed a going away reception
  for the Ambassador, threatening to kill a human rights
  leader in attendance and forcing the U.S. diplomat to leave
  the event. The incident has further damaged relations
  between the two countries already strained by a 1993 coup
  that ended a long planned transition to democracy and by a
  lack of Nigerian cooperation with Washington over drug
  trafficking. In 1995 the United States temporarily withdrew
  Ambassador Carrington to protest the execution of
  environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Monday's City Hall
  appearance will be the Ambassador's first public comments on
  the Nigerian crisis since his return.
  
  Speaking with Ambassador Carrington in favor of the sign
  change will be American Committee On Africa  President and
  Canaan Baptist Church Pastor Wyatt Tee Walker, who served as
  Chief of Staff for Martin Luther King; former Mayor David N.
  Dinkins and Chief Anthony Enahoro the head of Nigeria's
  leading democratic organization, the National Democratic
  Coalition of Nigeria (NADECO). Chief Enahoro, a leader of
  the Nigerian independence movement in the 1940s and 50s, was
  indicted for treason earlier this year, along with Nobel
  Laureate Wole Soyinka and other democracy leaders for his
  opposition to military rule. He is currently in exile in the
  United States.