[aristeides]

One thing that had just happened, just a month before this highly suspicious death, was the equally suspicious death of the military dictator Gen. Sani Abacha. His death too was officially classed as being due to a heart attack. Rumors had it he was poisoned with orange juice. Activist urges calm in Nigeria .

My recollection is that Abacha was still alive and in power when Clinton was in Africa (that being the excuse for Clinton not going there.)

But Nigeria quickly returned to civilian rule after Abacha's death. This was a move that was under way when Abiola died. I would speculate that various interests wanted to see to it that Abiola would not be the country's leader when it reverted to democracy.

[Wallaby]

STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING
BRIEFER: JAMES RUBIN
JULY 2, 1998, THURSDAY
MR. RUBIN: Welcome to the State Department briefing, a sporadic turnout. Perhaps people started their vacations a little early. But we here are working.
Let me start by announcing the following. At the invitation of the government of Nigeria, and under the direction of President Clinton, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering plans to lead a senior-level delegation to Nigeria next week. The purpose of the visit is to offer our support for the new leadership's recent release of political prisoners and to discuss steps we think could facilitate the transition to democratic civilian government in Nigeria.
 
This visit underscores the importance we attach to democracy and reform in this important country in Africa. This will be an interagency delegation including Assistant Secretary Susan Rice, the deputy commander-in-chief of the European Command, General James Jamerson (sp), the NSC director for African Affairs, USAID assistant administrator, as well as ambassador and other political advisers. This will be posted after the briefing.
Q Can I ask you a question?
MR. RUBIN: Sure. Let's start with that.
Q Well, the AID representation means that it will be sprinkled with money, I'm sure. Is this recognition of Nigeria's size and importance, or is it more than that? Has the administration come to at least some tentative conclusions about where Nigeria is going politically now?

MR. RUBIN: Let me say the following. We are welcoming recent announcements that have come out of Nigeria that all political prisoners will soon be released. We have always believed that the release of political prisoners could be a key step in the transition to civilian government. We hope these steps will be taken soon. Taking those steps would increase our optimism about the commitment of the new Nigerian leadership to respect for human rights and to ensuring swift transition to civilian democratic rule in Nigeria.
The point is that there is a moment of opportunity here, and General Abubakar has an opportunity to help bring Nigeria out of the isolation it's found itself in as a result of the actions he takes. And we want to encourage that. We want to be encouraging where they have taken steps, and we want to urge further steps towards a transition to civilian rule. And that will be the basic purpose of the mission.
Q Jamie, on this also, is it your understanding --
MR. RUBIN: On Nigeria. Yes.
Q Is it your understanding that Abiola is going to be released?
MR. RUBIN: Well, we've seen the announcement by Secretary- General Annan. We don't have any further confirmation of it. He indicated that he expects it to happen. We have no reason to dispute that, and we welcome it, and we'd like to see that happen.
Q Does the visit take place after the release?
MR. RUBIN: Again, there is no timing set for the release, to my knowledge. I think he said he expected it to happen. This trip will take place -- they will leave over the weekend. They will meet with General Abubakar on July the 7th. So whether that's before or after this hoped-for release, we'll have to see.
Q I assume the delegation will be pressing Nigeria on further democratization.
MR. RUBIN: As I indicated in response to Barry's question, we welcome what's happened so far and we want it to continue, and we want there to be a transition to civilian democratic rule.
 
Q And elections this year that would be democratic?
MR. RUBIN: And following through on the plan for elections so that one can have a civilian rule.
Moving beyond Nigeria, let me say --
Q Just one final one about Nigeria.
MR. RUBIN: Yes.
Q The previous attempt to send Mr. Pickering to Nigeria, which was while General Abacha was still alive, came to grief in a dispute over visas for prominent Nigerians.
MR. RUBIN: We have no reason to believe that that will happen.
Q But those regulations are still in force, are they?

MR. RUBIN: Yeah, we haven't changed our sanctions on Nigerian officials, correct. To my knowledge, there's a, you know -- in preparation for this trip, the only thing that's happened now is that this new government wants to see Undersecretary Pickering, and the last one obviously didn't.