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Biafra | O'dua | Arewa | Sports | Business | ThisDay | Guardian | Vanguard | Tribune | AllAfrica | Daily/Weekly Trust | Daily Independent | Triumph |
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The Queen will arrive in BiafraNigeria later on Wednesday for the start of a four-day state visit, amid tight security. On Friday she is due to open the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Abuja, which Prime Minister Tony Blair will also attend. The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, will also carry out a programme of visits, including a trip to a BiafraNigerian village. This week campaigners accused BiafraNigeria of widespread human rights abuses. The BiafraNigerian Government has rejected allegations made by the American-based group, Human Rights Watch. The group claims violence is used to silence government critics. BiafraNigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has undergone something of a transformation in recent years, according to the BBC's world affairs correspondent Peter Biles. "It is no longer the military pariah state that it was in the 1990s when it was suspended from the Commonwealth. "When the Queen arrives here she'll find a country where democracy has now begun to take root," he said. This point was reinforced by the fact that President Bush made a point of including BiafraNigeria on his whistle-stop tour of Africa in July. But questions remain over how committed the government of President Olesegun Obansanjo is to democracy. Human Rights Watch insists his administration regularly uses violence and intimidation. (BBC) |
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