Pre-election violence increasing, says HRW

Pre-election political violence is on the increase in Nigeria ahead of the elections due in April and May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in a briefing paper on Wednesday. The Nigerian government, it said, was doing far too little to prevent the wave of violence. The 15-page paper titled: "Nigeria at the Crossroads: Human Rights Concerns in the Pre-Election Period" is based on research done in December 2002. It details how politicians across Nigeria had used violence as a tool to acquire or retain political support, wealth and influence. "A successful transfer of power means more than just keeping the country from falling apart," Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division at HRW said. "It means that voters must be protected from intimidation and violence aimed at silencing their voices. It means that candidates must be able to stand for office without fear of bloodshed." According to HRW, many politicians had taken advantage of rampant poverty and unemployment to recruit young men, who intimidate and even kill opponents or opponents’ supporters. It said in Kwara State supporters of the governor and the leading gubernatorial candidate had been in conflict, leading to the killing of a state party chairman in August 2002 and the bombing of a newspaper office in November. "Some of the worst violence took place during the primaries of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, particularly in the oil-producing state of Bayelsa, in the south. Politically-motivated killings and other attacks have occurred in many other areas, including the southeast and the southwest. In central and northern states, politicians have used religion and ethnicity to galvanise political support or opposition, stirring up sentiments that could spark further communal violence, as evidenced by the Miss World riots in Kaduna in November 2002," HRW said. The paper also details preparations for the elections and makes recommendations to the Nigerian government and the international community on how to help prevent political violence and ensure that the elections will be free of human rights abuses. Nigeria's upcoming general elections will be the first since the 1999 vote that brought President Olusegun Obasanjo to office and ended more than 15 years of military rule. The election is considered a crucial test for Nigeria’s young democracy. The HRW paper