US embassy cable - 03ABUJA1432

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001432 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE PASS TO US COMMISSION FOR INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS 
FREEDOM 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA:  USCIRF VISIT 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. The ten-day USCIRF visit to Nigeria provided an in-depth 
opportunity to discuss many perspectives on intercommunal 
conflicts in Nigeria and the impact of Shari'a 
implementation on minorities in the northern part of the 
country.  The delegation traveled extensively, finding in 
many instances, that religion was being used as a 
mobilizing tool for economic and political purposes and 
issues.  Citing the Inter-Faith Mediation Council in Kaduna 
as an example of the possibility for dialogue, they 
advocated continued outreach efforts to lessen historical 
friction between the varied communities in Nigeria.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
2. David Dettoni and Dwight Bashir from the U.S. Commission 
on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) arrived in 
Abuja August 4.  After one day of meetings in Abuja, they 
journeyed north.  Their goal was to meet as many people as 
possible who could shed light on the past several years' 
intercommunal violence and its seeming link to religion. 
They traveled to Jos in Plateau State, Kaduna and Zaria in 
Kaduna State, Gusau in Zamfara State, and Kano in Kano 
State.  From Kano they flew to Lagos in the south for 
meetings, then returned to Abuja for a final day. 
 
 
3. The CIRF delegation and Poloffs met with a wide variety 
of interlocutors:  Federal and State officials, religious 
leaders of several faiths, human rights NGOs and lawyers, 
and academics.  Highlights of the trip included meetings 
with the Inter-Faith Mediation Center in Kaduna, Catholic 
Archbishop of Abuja John Onyeikan, Solicitor General Ayua 
of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Governor Ahmed Sani of 
Zamfara State and the Ulema Council in Kano. 
 
 
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POLITICAL EXPLOITATION OF RELIGION 
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4. The delegation asked virtually all interlocutors about 
religion's role in the country's continuing ethnic 
violence.  The answer invariably was that religion was 
merely an effective catalyst for mobilizing partisans for 
political and economic purposes.  All commented that more 
than forty percent unemployment country-wide has produced 
masses of people literally sitting idle.  Gabriel Makan, 
Special Advisor to Plateau State Governor Dariye commented 
that when an event occurs, such as the stabbing in Adamawa 
State in July, hundreds of people are present at the scene 
to respond in favor of one side or the other.  When it is 
to the advantage of politicians to encourage or allow 
demonstrations or riots to take place, such as the Miss 
World contest riots in 2002, a small event can quickly get 
out of hand, resulting in dozens, if not hundreds, of 
deaths.  Both Christians and Muslims in Kaduna state cited 
that example. 
 
 
5. Another aspect of the problem is exploitation within 
each community.  Nigeria has a very dynamic religious 
population, and extremists challenge more moderate leaders 
as being insufficiently zealous for their religion.  Many 
moderates, especially Northern Muslims, fear being labeled 
as irreligious, and their not speaking out allows more 
extreme leaders to promote violence and discord unopposed. 
 
 
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ONE RESPONSE:  INTERFAITH DIALOGUE 
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6. As a means to reduce the abuse of religion for such 
purposes, the delegation was extremely interested in 
dialogue between different groups, especially between 
Muslims and Christians, and asked their Nigerian 
interlocutors how dialogue can be improved.  The team was 
pleased with the efforts of the Inter-Faith Mediation 
Center in Kaduna to resolve disputes through dialogue and 
with the group's level of commitment to preventing 
conflict.  However, the admission by both Christians and 
Muslims that activists still received training in violent 
responses to provocations and that there were "many topics" 
the two sides refuse to discuss due to continuing distrust 
within the organization tempered the teams positive 
assessment. 
 
 
7.  The Inter-Faith Mediation Center was founded by a 
priest and an imam personally affected by the religious 
violence from the Shari'a Riots in 2000.  The priest lost 
an arm and the imam lost his brother in the conflict.  In 
the last three years, this organization, funded by USAID 
and other international donors, has worked to promote 
dialogue instead of violence in Kaduna and claims good 
results. It has not, however, been replicated outside of 
Kaduna. 
8. The (Muslim) Council of Ulema in Kano, on the other 
hand, made it very clear they were not interested in 
dialogue with Christians there.  This was confirmed by 
Christian organizations in the city who reported that all 
efforts to resolve disputes had been rebuffed by the 
Council. Christian groups in Zamfara and Kano states told 
the delegation that "violence (in general) is a fact of 
life here," however, and violence from the Muslim community 
was not something they worry about on a daily basis.  In 
many cases, minority communities live in compounds or 
enclaves, separating themselves from the majority group. 
The primary concern of these minorities is discrimination 
affecting their economic prospects and their ability to 
subsist as a community, not incidents of violence. 
 
 
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SHARI'A 
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9.  The delegation also looked into whether the 
implementation of criminal Shari'a (Islamic law) by 12 
Northern states over the last two years affected the 
freedom of non-Muslims to practice their religions.  This 
generally did not appear to be the case.  The team even 
discovered that some Christians in Zamfara State are 
assisting in the implementation of Shari'a.  Because the 
Christian community is so small (barely three percent of 
the population), it feels vulnerable to sexual segregation 
restrictions imposed by the majority.  Therefore, the 
Christian groups say they have "taken it upon themselves" 
to ensure that Muslims are complying, and, at the same 
time, turn a profit.  For example, they have accosted local 
male motorbike taxi service drivers whenever they observe 
Muslim women being ferried.  They give the riders two 
choices: they can either pay a "fine" to the Christian 
organization or be escorted to the local branch of the 
Shari'a enforcement committee.  The Christians enjoys a 
steady subsidy, according to the Christian Association of 
Nigeria (CAN) chairman in the state. 
 
 
10.  Shari'a implementation has, however, raised other 
human rights issues.  Most NGO's and lawyers agreed that 
these states' Shari'a enforcement is capricious, depending 
on the whims of the local courts.  The Solicitor-General 
confirmed that while state-level Shari'a court judges have 
to meet strict criteria for their qualifications, at the 
local level there are no serious standards.  Among the 
problems are denial of access to counsel, different 
standards for men and women giving evidence, and not 
adhering the Shari'a-required number of witnesses in order 
to prosecute.  Surprisingly, the team learned that apostasy 
is not currently part of the penal code in any of the 
Northern states that have adopted Shari'a. 
 
 
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EMBASSY OUTREACH 
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10. The CIRF delegation departed Nigeria encouraging that 
the Embassy monitor and support inter-faith organizations 
like NIREC (the national Nigerian Inter-Religious Council) 
and the Interfaith Mediation Center in Kaduna.  Many of the 
delegation's interlocutors actually asked that the Embassy 
put pressure on the GON to push NIREC to expand to the 
state and local levels.  Although the Ulema Council in Kano 
was antagonistic toward the USG, as well as to inter-faith 
dialogue, the delegation thought that it would appreciate 
more contact with the Embassy and that more contact might 
lead to dialogue.  The team expressed concern, however, 
that the USG maintained no consulate presence in northern 
Nigeria (since the closing of the Kaduna Consulate in 
1995). They also urged expansion of the VOA Hausa broadcast 
service, to address northerners for whom radio is a major 
influence. 
ROBERTS