US human rights report criticises both Boko Haram and Nigerian military

Neither the Boko Haram insurgency nor the government itself escaped lightly in the new Country Report on Human Rights practices for 2013 just published by the United States State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour. 

Boko Haram - "which conducted killings, bombings, abduction and rape of women, and other attacks throughout the country, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries, and widespread destruction of property" - came in for first criticism. But the report gave over plenty of column inches for the security services, "which perpetrated extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, beatings, arbitrary detention, mistreatment of detainees, and destruction of property." 

President Goodluck Jonathan's pardon of former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who was convicted of money laundering in 2007, did not escape the attention of the report's authors. Indeed, the report was harshly critical of the small number of prosecutions against police abuse and official corruption. "Impunity remained widespread at all levels of government." The report also condemned the practice of "parading" arrestees: "Bystanders often hurled taunts, food, and other objects. Police defended this practice with the argument that public humiliation helped deter crime." 

It is a common practice. In the past week, reports appeared in the media of the parading of 13 suspected members of the "Supreme Eiye Confraternity", arrested in Lagos. In Cross Rivers State the commander of the NNS Victory arrested and paraded a dozen people who were allegedly transporting contraband worth millions of naira. While the arrests might win plaudits for the authorities, it looks like a clear violation of due process for the arrested persons whose names and photos appear in the media before they have come to trial. 

On a more positive note, the State Department researchers found that there were few reports of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) being used to harass political opponents of the ruling party. "Existing allegations tended to rise and fall with election cycles," the report dryly noted, leaving open the possibility that new accusations will appear as the 2015 elections approach. 

Other events were too recent to appear in the report. It said that "on 17 December a harmonized version of the 'Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill' passed the Senate." That bill, signed into law by President Jonathan in January 2014, triggered fresh round-ups of gays and lesbians and provoked international condemnation. It will be sure to feature more prominently in the 2014 report.

For more news and expert analysis about Nigeria, please see Nigeria Focus and Nigeria Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Ghana: Government is not doing enough to eliminate human trafficking

 

A 2013 US State Department report says that the government is not doing enough to eliminate human trafficking. While the government is making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, for example by drafting a new five-year action plan and initiating new prosecutions and convictions, it has not provided enough funding to properly run and maintain government-operated shelters and has not provided any specialized anti-trafficking training to law enforcement officials.

 

Instead, the anti-human trafficking unit of the Ghana Police Service has decreased efforts to protect victims in 2012. For example it identified 262 victims but only referred 33 on an ad hoc basis to government and NGO-run facilities offering protective care. The report recommends that Ghana increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offences, improve related data collection and ensure the maintenance of government-operated shelters.

 

Ghanaian boys and girls are subjected to conditions of forced labour in fishing, domestic service, street hawking, begging, artisanal gold mining, and agriculture. The Volta Region has the highest proportion of child prostitution, and possibly child sex tourism, but both are growing in the oil-producing Western regions. During the reporting period, a number of fraudulent recruitment agencies emerged, advertising jobs abroad in the domestic and retail service sectors. This encourages more and more Ghanaian women to migrate to the Middle East, some of whom are forced into prostitution upon their arrival, it said.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Libya: Western concern

 

Even if the explosion was an accident, the blast is yet another indication of the chaos and insecurity that is gripping the country. Libya seems to be gradually unravelling, as the extent of the government's lack of power is becoming increasingly apparent. Recent events have shown all the more clearly that the central authorities are almost completely impotent in the face of other localised powers that plainly have their own very different agendas.

The situation is certainly deemed serious enough for the US to prepare itself for the worst. Pentagon spokesman George Little announced this week that it had transferred 500 US marines from Spain to the NATO base at Sigonella in Sicily to be ready for rapid deployment if necessary.

Meanwhile, the US State Department announced this week that it had ordered the departure of a number of non-essential staff from Tripoli. State Department spokesperson, Patrick Ventrell, declared, “In light of the current unsettled conditions around major anti-government demonstrations in Tripoli, the under-secretary for management has approved the ordered departure of non-emergency personnel from Libya."

The British Embassy similarly pulled out a number of its staff on a temporary basis. The British Council also decided to close its office until the situation stabilised.

All this bodes very badly for Libya and its efforts to put the country back on a normal footing.

For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focusand Libya Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Relations between Libya and the US strained again

The relations between Libya and the US have again been upset by minor events. The expulsion of a US diplomat has, according to sources in Tripoli, been carried through. The declaration of the diplomat as persona non grata is a small affair and seems to have been designed to embarrass the Americans and the Libyan authorities. US representation in Libya is already under par and is struggling to make a position for itself, despite the lukewarm treatment of Libya by the Obama Administration.

The tourism sector has received a considerable boost with the easing of visa restrictions for American visitors. Regular international cruise companies are once again calling into Libya to see key historic sites.

The US also courted animosity from the Libyans during the UN Human Rights Council meeting where the US spokesman decried the poor treatment of detainees and the torture which is widely reported as basic to the system of control at the Abu Selim prison and its offshoots.

In all the information circulating in the foreign and domestic media in the last week has tended to confirm US opinion that Libya has not yet qualified as an acceptable ally and for as long as petty infringements are magnified in the US State Department this position is unlikely to change.

The foreign business community might gain some confidence from the promised start of exploration operations by the major international oil companies, but without political acceptance of the Libyan regime by Washington, real progress by the US private sector in development will be inhibited.

For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.

© 2010 Menas Associates

Bushehr nuclear plant to come on stream in September

News emerged in mid August that the fuelling of the Bushehr nuclear reactor was to start on 22nd August. The plant is planned to come on stream on 16th September. Though the process of fuelling and eventual fully-fledged operation of Iran's first nuclear power plant will take a few months, the initiation of the final commissioning will have a significant emotional impact in Iran.

The construction of the Bushehr power plant began in 1975 – before the Islamic Revolution. Originally led by French contractors, the work was interrupted after the 1979 Revolution. Later, in 1982, work was resumed by German contractors; however, under US pressure the project was also abandoned by the German company. In the 1990s, it was taken over by Russian contractors, which committed to deliver the plant by the end of 2000. The 10-year delay in its final delivery as well as the decades-long process of Iran getting its first nuclear power plant have left a deep scar on the Iranian psyche, partly explaining the Iranian overnment's distrust of external promises in he field of nuclear technology. Nonetheless, now that the operation is in sight, the consequences of the commissioning of this plant should be assessed. In this context, one needs to consider the following:

> First, even at full capacity, the electricity generated at Bushehr will only have a minimal effect on Iran's energy balance. Bushehr's 250MW nominal capacity will at best cover 3 per cent of Iran's runaway domestic electricity consumption. Nevertheless, Iran's ambitious plans in nuclear power generation (a total of 7,000MW from seven new plants) will be taken more seriously in the future;

> Second, some analysts argue that the commissioning of Bushehr will give the government the opportunity to show that Iran has reached its nuclear goals despite external pressure. This sentiment is reflected in the following statement by Emad Hosseini, spokesperson of the Majles Energy Commission: “The move indicates that pressure exerted by western countries on Iran and UNSC [UN Security Council] sanctions have left no impact on the enrichment process as well as launch of the nuclear plant.” For the man in the street, the news that Bushehr has become operational will translate into Iran having achieved its goals in “nuclear technology”. In other words, the government may use this opportunity to declare victory in the nuclear stand-off and then announce a new round of negotiations – this time from a position of strength, at least in its domestic discourse. This could also explain why President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested a new round of negotiations for the end of September;

> Third, and ironically, the commencement of Bushehr operations will also improve the bargaining position of the external powers, especially Russia. In fact, Russia and others can argue that the final delivery of Bushehr would indicate that the external powers have nothing against the development of a civilian nuclear programme in Iran. This argument could partly facilitate the emerging negotiations about a nuclear fuel swap between Iran and the so-called Vienna Group (Russia, US and France). A positive outcome in those negotiations could facilitate further talks and an easing of tensions. That is why the planned commissioning of Bushehr was also welcomed by the US State Department. All in all, the commissioning of Bushehr could de-escalate recent tensions over the Iranian nuclear programme and pave the way for new negotiations.

Consequently, it can be said that both domestically and externally, the chances of a resolution to the Iranian nuclear stand-off will increase dramatically as a result. However, the success of the new round of talks will depend on many other factor. It is too early to predict the final outcome.

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

© 2010 Menas Associates