DOCUMENT
Excerpts from the United States Department of State daily press briefing:
QUESTION: On Nigeria.
MR. VENTRELL: Yeah.
QUESTION: You'll recall you had a statement last week following some violence in the village of Baga --
MR. VENTRELL: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- in which the Nigerian military said that several dozen homes were burned. Human Rights Watch is out with a report today saying that satellite imagery shows that more than 2,000 homes were burned during that violence. Do you have any reason to doubt the Nigerian military's assessment of that violence?
MR. VENTRELL: I hadn't seen the Human Rights Watch report of the press coverage of that since coming down here. We did strongly condemn that violence that took so many innocent civilian lives. That was in Baga, Borno State. And we said at the time our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones who died or were injured. But I'd have to look into more information for you on the specific issue of further damage or wider assessment of damage from that particular attack.
QUESTION: Can you take that question then, on the HRW?
MR. VENTRELL: I'll take the question. I'd be happy to.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. VENTRELL: Go ahead, Dana.
QUESTION: Sorry. Is Nigeria still an ACOTA partner, and are we still funding part of their military to go into Mali?
MR. VENTRELL: I don't know the answer to the question if they're still an ACOTA partner. I'll check on it.
QUESTION: And if they are, I mean, has that been suspended at all, given these allegations of the military?
MR. VENTRELL: I'm not aware one way or another on the ACOTA piece, but I'll look into it. In terms of human rights, we've been very clear with the Nigerian Government, including when the Secretary was with his counterpart here in Washington just a few days ago, that there needs to be progress on human rights and that in terms of instability in the north and extremist violence, there's got to be an evenhanded way of dealing with this and the legitimate concerns of northerners. And the security response has to be done in a way that respects the human rights of people in the north as well.
Excerpts from the United States Department of State daily press briefing:
QUESTION: On Nigeria.
MR. VENTRELL: Yeah.
QUESTION: You'll recall you had a statement last week following some violence in the village of Baga --
MR. VENTRELL: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- in which the Nigerian military said that several dozen homes were burned. Human Rights Watch is out with a report today saying that satellite imagery shows that more than 2,000 homes were burned during that violence. Do you have any reason to doubt the Nigerian military's assessment of that violence?
MR. VENTRELL: I hadn't seen the Human Rights Watch report of the press coverage of that since coming down here. We did strongly condemn that violence that took so many innocent civilian lives. That was in Baga, Borno State. And we said at the time our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones who died or were injured. But I'd have to look into more information for you on the specific issue of further damage or wider assessment of damage from that particular attack.
QUESTION: Can you take that question then, on the HRW?
MR. VENTRELL: I'll take the question. I'd be happy to.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. VENTRELL: Go ahead, Dana.
QUESTION: Sorry. Is Nigeria still an ACOTA partner, and are we still funding part of their military to go into Mali?
MR. VENTRELL: I don't know the answer to the question if they're still an ACOTA partner. I'll check on it.
QUESTION: And if they are, I mean, has that been suspended at all, given these allegations of the military?
MR. VENTRELL: I'm not aware one way or another on the ACOTA piece, but I'll look into it. In terms of human rights, we've been very clear with the Nigerian Government, including when the Secretary was with his counterpart here in Washington just a few days ago, that there needs to be progress on human rights and that in terms of instability in the north and extremist violence, there's got to be an evenhanded way of dealing with this and the legitimate concerns of northerners. And the security response has to be done in a way that respects the human rights of people in the north as well.
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