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afrol News, 10 October - In the past few weeks, police operations have been launched in several locations in Abia state, in August, and in Anambra state, in September, resulting in the arrests of scores of the vigilante group Bakassi Boys and the release of people detained unlawfully by the Bakassi Boys. Many of the detainees had been subjected to horrific torture and mutilation. The so-called Bakassi Boys are active in the south-eastern Nigerian states of Anambra, Abia, and Imo and have been responsible for scores of extrajudicial executions and hundreds of cases of torture and arbitrary detentions. These abuses have generally been tolerated, and sometimes actively encouraged, by state government authorities. Effectively, the Bakassi Boys took over the functions of law enforcement agencies in these states, yet they have remained completely unaccountable. The unchecked use of such vigilante groups in several Nigerian states had caused increased critiques from international human rights groups and Nigerian civil society. There had also been growing concern that such vigilante organisations may be used as hired thugs by local politicians in the forthcoming election period - cases of close interaction between the groups and local politicians have been known and there are reported cases of political intimidation using these groups. The Nigerian government's recent action to crack down on the main vigilante group, the Bakassi Boys, "is welcome but more fundamental reforms are needed," the US group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today. Human Rights Watch had earlier this year documented grave human rights abuses committed by the Bakassi Boys. In a letter sent to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, HRW welcomed the government's action, but deplored the federal government's failure to act earlier. The US group urged the President "to implement longer-lasting reforms of the police to ensure that law and order are restored," with respect for human rights, and the population no longer resorts to vigilantism for security. - If the federal government and police had taken action earlier, they could have saved hundreds of people from torture or killings at the hands of the Bakassi Boys, said Peter Takirambudde of HRW. "But action now is obviously better late than never." HRW, together with the Lagos-based Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), had published a detailed report in May 2002, documenting a range of serious human rights abuses by the Bakassi Boys, including a pattern of extrajudicial killings, torture and unlawful detention. Many of these abuses were carried out with the support of state government officials. - We have written to President Obasanjo recommending a number of measures that will be critical to the success of this initiative, said Mr Takirambudde. "We are urging him to implement them as soon as possible to ensure that the grave abuses carried out by the Bakassi Boys are not repeated and that the breakdown of law and order which gave rise to their creation in the first place does not return." Among the recommendations given President Obasanjo is that he should ensure that the police investigate not only the role of rank-and-file members of the Bakassi Boys, "but also the role of the individuals who ordered them to carry out serious human rights abuses." Further, Nigeria should undertake a wide-ranging reform of the police force, "particularly to provide the police with an adequate number of personnel, better training and working conditions, and eradicate human rights abuse and corruption within the police force."
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