DATE=8/23/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S/NIGERIA PEACE KEEPING (L)
NUMBER=2-265797
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=
INTRO: U-S military personnel are arriving in Nigeria
to begin training hundreds of Nigerian troops for
peace keeping duty in Sierra Leone. Correspondent
Nick Simeone reports the Americans are the first of
what could be several hundred U-S soldiers sent to
help train and arm a military whose soldiers have been
accused of human rights abuses.
TEXT: During the past decade, Nigerian troops have
been deployed as peace keepers in Liberia's civil war
and now in neighboring Sierra Leone. In both
countries, they've been implicated in massacres and
other human rights abuses, including summary
executions of rebels and civilians.
Now, the first group of 20 American military experts
is arriving in Nigeria to help train these same
soldiers to return to Sierra Leone under a United
Nations mandate and restore order.
The program marks quite a turning point in the history
of U-S-Nigerian relations. While continuing to buy
its oil, for years Washington kept Nigeria
diplomatically isolated because of successive military
rulers who plundered the country's vast oil reserves
and kept Africa's most populous nation under brutal
dictatorship. With last year's democratic election
of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Washington now
considers Nigeria an ally and wants to use Sub-
Sharharan Africa's largest military to form the
backbone of the U-N keeping force in Sierra Leone.
But that's stirring concerns about whether Nigerian
troops could again commit human rights abuses, this
time with U-S training and equipment. Janet
Fleischman is Washington director for Africa at Human
Rights Watch.
// FLEISCHMAN ACT //
What we think has to be integrated effectively
into the training of the Nigerian and other West
African battalions is very rigorous vetting of
all those that would participate in this
program. It's imperative that mechanisms be put
in place for on-going monitoring of their
conduct in the field and ensuring accountability
if and when abuses occur.
// END ACT //
At a news conference with Albania's visiting prime
minister (Ilir Meta) Wednesday, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright told reporters she shares those
concerns.
// ALBRIGHT ACT //
The human rights issue is obviously very much on
our minds and we are going to be following
through on various aspects of the Leahy (U-S
Senator Patrick Leahy) amendment which prevents
us from dealing with those parts of the military
that have human rights violations.
// END ACT //
The American soldiers are being sent to Nigeria in
time for President Clinton's state visit Saturday. It
will be the first by an American president since Jimmy
Carter's visit in 1979. (SIGNED)
NEB/NJS/ENE/PT
23-Aug-2000 16:36 PM EDT (23-Aug-2000 2036 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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