nigeria: Action on Bakassi Boys Welcomed

For Immediate Release:

Nigeria's Action on Bakassi Boys Welcomed
More Fundamental Reforms Still Needed

(New York, October 10, 2002) - The Nigerian government's recent action
to crack down on the vigilante group known as the Bakassi Boys is
welcome but more fundamental reforms are needed, Human Rights Watch said
today. Human Rights Watch has documented grave human rights abuses
committed by the Bakassi Boys in the southeastern Nigerian states of
Abia and Anambra.

In a letter sent to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Human Rights
Watch welcomed the government's action, but deplored the federal
government's failure to act earlier. Human Rights Watch urged the
president to implement longer-lasting reforms of the police to ensure
that law and order are restored, with respect for human rights, and the
population no longer resorts to vigilantism for security.

"If the federal government and police had taken action earlier, they
could have saved hundreds of people from torture or killings at the
hands of the Bakassi Boys," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director
of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "But action now is
obviously better late than never."

In the past few weeks, police operations were launched in several
locations in Abia state, in August, and in Anambra state, in September,
resulting in the arrests of scores of Bakassi Boys and the release of
people detained unlawfully by the Bakassi Boys. Many of the detainees
had been subjected to horrific torture and mutilation.

Human Rights Watch, together with the Lagos-based Centre for Law
Enforcement Education (CLEEN), published a detailed report in May 2002
documenting a range of serious human rights abuses by the Bakassi Boys,
including a pattern of extrajudicial killings, torture and unlawful
detention. Many of these abuses were carried out with the support of
state government officials.

"We have written to President Obasanjo recommending a number of measures
that will be critical to the success of this initiative," said
Takirambudde. "We are urging him to implement them as soon as possible
to ensure that the grave abuses carried out by the Bakassi Boys are not
repeated and that the breakdown of law and order which gave rise to
their creation in the first place does not return."

Human Rights Watch's recommendations include:

· Bring specific criminal charges against the members of the Bakassi
Boys who have been arrested, where sufficient evidence exists, and
ensure that they are brought to trial promptly and fairly, with
guarantees of due process. Give clear instructions to police or other
officials responsible for their custody that they should not be
subjected to torture, ill-treatment or extrajudicial execution.

· Ensure that the police investigate not only the role of rank-and-file
members of the Bakassi Boys, but also the role of the individuals who
ordered them to carry out serious human rights abuses.

· Resist any pressure from state government officials or other
individuals to release members of the Bakassi Boys against whom there is
evidence of participation in human rights abuses, as has happened in the
past.

· Undertake a wide-ranging reform of the police force, particularly to
provide the police with an adequate number of personnel, better training
and working conditions, and eradicate human rights abuse and corruption
within the police force.

The full text of Human Rights Watch's letter to President Obasanjo can
be found at http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/10/nigeria-ltr1010.htm.

For more information, please contact:

In London, Carina Tertsakian: +44-20-7713-2783
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +32-2-732-2009
In New York, Peter Takirambudde: +1-212-216-1834

--
Jeff Scott
Africa Division
Human Rights Watch
Phone: +1-212-216-1834
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
http://www.hrw.org/africa/index.php
en français, http://www.hrw.org/french/africa/