Nigeria's amnesty fails to punish politicians:group

By Randy Fabi

ABUJA (Reuters) - An offer of amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta fails to hold accountable corrupt government officials responsible for funding armed gangs and sets a bad precedent regarding the rule of law, Human Rights Watch said.

President Umaru Yar'Adua on Thursday offered a 60-day amnesty to gunmen in the Niger Delta who have been responsible for pipeline bombings, attacks on oil and gas installations and the kidnapping of industry workers over the past three years.

The rights group said Yar'Adua's programme will not solve the Niger Delta crisis because it does not punish the politicians that helped fund these armed gangs.

"The government's amnesty is at best a stop-gap measure that sets a bad precedent," said Eric Guttschuss, Nigeria expert with Human Rights Watch.

"No steps have been taken to hold to account government officials in the Niger Delta who have sponsored and funded armed criminal gangs to rig elections and unleash violence on political opponents and ordinary Nigerians," he added.

Many of the gangs behind the kidnappings, oil theft and violent crime in the delta were first hired by local politicians to intimidate opponents or rig elections.

The rights group in a report last year said prominent politicians in Rivers state, including a former state governor, had paid and armed criminal gangs to rig elections in 2003 in favour of the ruling People's Democratic Party and had since lost the ability to control them.

Human Rights Watch said the authorities needed to bring these gang leaders and politicians to justice.