PRESSER: CORLETT LETLOJANE [SA NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY SUPPORT GROUP] & PIERRE SANE [SECRETARY GENERAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL re: Crisis in Nigeria continues & calls for more pressure from SA government

Record ID: 893568

  • Title: PRESSER: CORLETT LETLOJANE [SA NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY SUPPORT GROUP] & PIERRE SANE [SECRETARY GENERAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL re: Crisis in Nigeria continues & calls for more pressure from SA government
  • Date: 8th November 1996
  • Summary: PRESSER: CORLETT LETLOJANE [SA NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY SUPPORT GROUP] & PIERRE SANE [SECRETARY GENERAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL re: Crisis in Nigeria continues & calls for more pressure from SA government
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  • City: JOHANNESBURG
  • Country: South Africa
  • Reuters ID: 96NOV08R03
  • Story Text:PRESSER AT HOLIDAY INN WITH CORLETT LETLOJANE [SOUTH AFRICAN NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY SUPPORT GROUP] & PIERRE SANE [SECRETARY GENERAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL] re: Human Rights violation crisis continues in Nigeria - comparison to Zaire vs Rwandan crisis

    10.41.20 TAKING SEATS BEHIND PRESS TABLE
    10.43.13 READING STATEMENT
    10.43.24 WANT DRAW ATTENTION TO CONTINUED STATE OF CRISIS IN NIGERIA - PEOPLE ARE DENIED THEIR BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS
    10.44.15 READING NAMES OF 9 PEOPLE EXCECUTED LAST YEAR
    10.46.35 ...the continued detention of at least 19 members of the movement...READS NAMES
    10.47.23 CUTAWAYS JUSTIN & INGE SITTING ON FLOOR
    10.53.00 CUTAWAYS
    10.54.15 PIERRE SANE [SECRETARY GENERAL AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL]...this week I've been here to talk about Nigeria & Zaire 2 countries in a human rights crisis...
    10.54.36 ...Nigeria's human rights crisis is on a different scale but the situation in Nigeria could deteriorate the same way unless preventive action is taken. The crisis in Nigeria could have consequences as serious as those that we are now witnessing in Central Africa...
    10.55.26 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HAVE LAUNCHED A WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN FOR NIGERIA
    10.57.37 READS NAMES...are all in jail in appalling conditions denied visits by family lawyers & doctors. The Nigerian authorities clearly wants us to forget about them & perhaps they are hoping that they will quietly die in their cells, forgotten and alone...
    10.59.01 CRITICISES THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN AFRICA
    10.59.48 RWANDA BURUNDI ZAIRE ...what we have recently seen in the Great lakes is that the international community of governments have actually been responsible for fuelling the conflicts...by either supplying arms directly to the warring factions or allowing ilicit weapon shipments into the region. These governments know very well the results of arms sales...
    11.00.38 ...our message to governments which supply these weapons is that whoever pulls the trigger, the ultimately the country which supplied the weapon or knowingly allowed the shipment shares responsibility for the killing...
    11.01.00 ...what lies behind the crisis in both Nigeria and the Great Lakes are implicit & erroneous assumption made by influential governments - the assumption that tribalism is ??? , that African governments are irredeemably corrupt & undemocratic and that contempt for human rights are part of the national character...
    11.01.27 ...the assumption that these problems are insolvable...
    11.03.00 CRITICISES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN AFRICA
    11.03.55 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HAS PUT FORTH A 10 POINT PRG FORHUMAN RIGHTS REFORM IN NIGERIA
    11.06.49 SOMETHING MUST BE DONE IN RESPONSE TO THESE ATROCITIES
    11.07.16 PLANNING PEACEFUL VIRGILS
    11.09.08 PRESS CUTAWAYS
    11.10.11 ...the initial reaction of the SA gov to the hanging was very encouraging for us in the human rights movement. What we have seen after that initial reaction for whatever reasons, the gov has been quite timid in its approach to the human rights situation in Nigeria. Whatever the gov is doing behind closed doors we think that it is always important that all governments air publicly their protests against violations of fundamental rights...
    11.11.18 ...the gov of Sa whenever it speaks is speaking on behalf of the SA people and if the SA people have been revolted by what has happened in Nigeria, we have to make sure that that outcry is articulated by the gov loud & clear, in the international forum and directly to the Nigerian gov...
    11.12.44 CALLS ON SA GOV TO PUT MORE PRESSURE
    11.13.20 WIDE ESTABLISHER & CUTAWAYS
    11.17.44 ...since independence of Nigeria in 1961 this country
    has been ruled for more than 26 years by military dictatorship...
    11.19.54 CUTAWAYS
    11.21.57 ...if we do not take action today to improve...if we do not end the contempt that the Nigerian military dictatorship has for the human rights...then tomorrow this attitude can lead to a major crisis...
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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