Among international rights organizations, Human Rights Watch has one of the best research teams. It’s worth reading what they put out. Yesterday, they released a mid-length piece on Nigeria’s elections called “Nigeria: Post-Election Violence Killed 800.” Here is an excerpt:
“The April elections were heralded as among the fairest in Nigeria’s history, but they also were among the bloodiest,” said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The newly elected authorities should quickly build on the democratic gains from the elections by bringing to justice those who orchestrated these horrific crimes and addressing the root causes of the violence.”
The piece, based in large part on interviews with witnesses, examines the political and sectarian drivers of violence as well as the response by security forces. The piece includes details about the violence in a number of Northern states, and focuses particularly on Kaduna State, one of the worst-hit areas. The concluding sections contextualize the latest wave of violence within the larger trajectory of political and sectarian violence in Nigeria since 1999, the year the country returned to democracy.
HRW has also published a set of photographs related to the violence.
I encourage those with an interest in Nigerian politics to read the full piece. The violence is over, but its repercussions are not.
Sahel Blog 