[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 7 (Tuesday, February 5, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S342]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE DISASTER IN NIGERIA

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Madam President, I rise to express my concern regarding 
recent events in Nigeria. On January 27, an armory of the Nigerian 
military located within the massive city of Lagos erupted in a series 
of explosions, prompting desperate residents to flee the area. Reports 
indicate that more than 1,000 Nigerians were killed that night, many 
trampled to death or drowned in nearby canals as they tried to escape 
the disaster. Many of those who escaped with their lives lost their 
possessions and remain displaced. Disturbingly, reports quickly 
surfaced suggesting that child traffickers attempted to take advantage 
of the tragedy, raising questions about the fate of the missing. The 
entire episode, is horrifying, and my deepest sympathies go out to the 
families of the area.
  But, I fear that this incident, whatever its precise cause, is only 
one more in a series of horrors visited on the Nigerian people. My 
colleagues have undoubtedly read about soaring levels of communal 
violence in this critically important African state. Such violence now 
grips parts of Lagos, adding to the sense of insecurity and fear in a 
city that just suffered such a terrible series of blasts. Yet sadly, 
reports of fighting in Lagos sound all too familiar, given recent 
history in Jos, in Kano, in Nasarawa, in Bauchi, and in the delta 
region.
  In some cases, the government failed to act. For example, Human 
Rights Watch recently released a report indicating that the Nigerian 
authorities could have done more to prevent the massacres in Jos in 
September, where as many as a thousand Nigerians may have been killed 
in one week.
  Yet in other cases, security forces have turned on civilians, as is 
alleged to have happened in Benue in October. Consistent and reliable 
reports indicated that many unarmed civilians were killed and a great 
deal of private property destroyed when members of the armed forces 
sought revenge for the murder of their fellow soldiers by a local 
militia group. The facts surrounding this incident are still in 
dispute, but coming in the wake of the 1999 incident in Odi, where the 
Nigerian military massacred hundreds of civilians, this incident calls 
into question the wisdom of continued engagement with the Nigerian 
military. If that force is truly committed to reform, those responsible 
for killing civilians in Benue must be held accountable for their 
actions.
  In addition, the manner in which sharia, or Islamic law, is being 
implemented in parts of northern Nigeria calls into question the 
country's commitment to fundamental and universal human rights. The 
case, recently highlighted by the New York Times, of a woman sentenced 
to be stoned to death after having been found guilty of adultery, 
raises a number of important questions. In her case, her pregnancy was 
evidence of her guilt in the eyes of the court, although the alleged 
father of the baby was set free after the same court concluded it 
lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute him. The relationship between 
the court's decision, the sentence, and the protections contained in 
Nigeria's constitution is utterly unclear. The Nigerian government's 
silence on these pressing issues is baffling.
  It is not my intention to encourage pessimism about Africa in this 
body. And no one wants Nigeria's democracy to succeed more than I do. 
But all is not well in Nigeria, and we do our Nigerian partners no 
favors when we pretend that the situation is better than it is. The 
Nigerian people want what all people want--a chance to improve their 
lives and the lives of their children. It is no surprise that many are 
dissatisfied, as it is hard to seize opportunities in a context of 
violence and corruption. Elections were an important first step in 
Nigeria's transition from the dark days of military rule. But for too 
many Nigerians, the days are still quite dark.

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