20 April 2001
A Nigerian human rights panel opened discussions in the southeast of the country on Wednesday with a promise that a bloodbath such as the Biafra war (1967-1970) will never happen again, AFP reported.
The commission will "propose (to government) ways and means of ensuring that there will be no more military incursions into governance, no more coups, no more pogroms and no more civil wars," panel chairman Chukwudifu Oputa told the opening session in the city of Enugu, some 516 km east of Lagos.
The panel, set up in 1999 to look into rights violations dating back to Nigeria's first military coup, in 1966, began hearings across the country last year. Oputa said the panel would seek to "reconcile those who feel alienated by past political events to heal the wounds inflicted on our people and restore harmony in our country," AFP reported.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2001 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
