World Tibet Network News Saturday, January 31, 1998

by Andre Viollaz

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (AFP) - The United States on Friday singled out the governments of Myanmar, Iran, Nigeria and others as violators of human rights but shied from harsh criticism of China.

In its annual report on human rights worldwide for 1997, the State Department was markedly less critical of China than it was last year. Then, it said the Chinese authorities had essentially snuffed out all dissent.

But in 1997, the report said, China had released several prominent political prisoners, including leading democracy activist Wei Jingsheng, and shown itself "somewhat more tolerant" of dissent.

Still, widespread and well-documented abuses persisted in China, the report said. It said these included "torture, and mistreatment of prisoners, forced confessions, and arbitrary arrest and lengthy incommunicado detention."

The report also criticized "repressive" policies in Tibet, saying these "risk undermining Tibet's unique cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage.

Overall, the report said, 1997 was another year in which "strong authoritarian governments in many parts of the world kept themselves in power through systematic abuse of the human rights of their citizens. The dismal scenario is all too familiar."

In Myanmar, formerly Burma, the United States said the ruling military junta had changed its name -- from the State Law and Order Restoration Council to the State Peace and Development Council -- but not its ways.

"Security forces continued to commit extrajudicial killings, beatings and rape. The Government continued its restrictions on basic rights of free speech, the press, assembly, association and privacy."

In Iran, President Mohamad Khatami is on the record as backing the rule of law and more democratic freedoms but "serious human rights abuses persisted," the report said.

It said these include summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrests and discrimination against women and minorities.

President Bill Clinton on Thursday endorsed a call from Khatami for more cultural exchanges between the two estranged countries, but he insisted that government to government dialogue was the only way to restore ties.

The report also dealt at length with Algeria, where Moslem fundamentalists have been battling the military-backed government since 1992. It put the death toll at around 70,000, and said that in 1997 alone, 6,000 or 7,000 people died in the fighting.

The report denounced massacres by Moslem guerrillas but said the government was at times incapable of or unwilling to protect its people.

"On some occasions, security forces failed to intervene to prevent or halt massacres of civilians. Questions have been raised about security forces' indifference to, or complicity in, civilian deaths," the report

said.

On Iraq, the report said human rights abuses continued, and estimated that last year 2,000 dissidents were summarily executed there.

Also criticized was Nigeria, where despite General Sani Abacha's promise of a transition from military to civilian rule, "there was no meaningful progress toward democracy."

The report said March 15 local elections were flawed, the winner of annulled 1993 presidential voting, Moshood Abiola, remained in jail on charges of treason and other dissidents were still imprisoned.

Nigerian security forces commit extrajudicial killings and torture, as well as other offenses such as sexual abuse of female suspects and prisoners. "Prison conditions remain life-threatening," the report said.

On Cuba, it praised President Fidel Castro for allowing the recent historic visit by Pope John Paul II. "Castro's totalitarian structure, however, remains unchanged."

It charged: "Police continued to use excessive force, occasionally resulting in deaths. Freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association and the right to privacy are denied."

Other countries where human rights are flagrantly violated were Algeria, Sudan and Afghanistan, the report said.

There were bright spots, however. Guatemala was said to have enjoyed "a marked decline" in abuses, although problems remained. Haiti and Egypt were also praised as having improved their human rights records.