Nigeria’s Time to Heal Itself

Peace is at hand in Sierra Leone because of the might of Nigerian peacekeepers who appear willing to salvage democracy in every West African country but their own. Their capture of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, and their victory over the military junta that ousted President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah represent an African solution to an African problem and demonstrate Nigeria’s clout in the region.

Earlier, the Nigerian army played a similarly impressive role in the conflict in Liberia, where Nigerian leadership in a regional peacekeeping force helped end a seemingly intractable civil war. Fresh from that victory, Nigerian soldiers continue to flex their muscles around the region, and the cause of peace in Africa, even if enforced, is the better for it.

But when will the Nigerian generals give aid to the cause of democracy at home in Lagos and toss out the illegal regime of their commander and president, Gen. Sani Abacha? What’s right for Sierra Leone should be right for Nigeria too.

Sierra Leone is largely pacified. Some fighting continues in rural areas, and keeping order could tie up the Nigerian peacekeepers for months or even years, which was the case in Liberia. As calm comes to Freetown, businesses are reopening, workers are returning to their jobs and a West African ministerial committee is preparing for the return next month of Kabbah, Sierra Leone’s first democratically elected president, who for now remains in exile in Guinea.

When he returns, Kabbah will face continued guerrilla warfare, widespread hunger and hospitals full of wounded patients still awaiting the arrival of medical supplies. Relief is on the way, thanks to the World Food Program, which has sent a ship carrying 850 tons of food and supplies, enough to provide for the 500,000 people who were displaced by the fighting. Sierra Leone will need much more than relief supplies. Future stability will require serious efforts at national reconciliation.

Nevertheless, a fragile democracy is on the rebound, mainly because of the superiority of the Nigerian soldiers. Now Nigerian civilians need to ask their military leaders when their time for democratic rule will return.