CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 9, 1998 | RICHARD L. SKLAR, Richard L. Sklar is a professor emeritus of political science at UCLA
The sudden death of Nigeria's reclusive military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, could prove to be a turning point in Africa's most populous nation's struggle for democracy and its relationship with the world. Abacha had been a central figure in the conduct of several military coups d'etat and other, aborted military insurrections for two decades.
OPINION
November 19, 1995 | Michael Clough and Nancy Bodurtha, Michael Clough is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Nancy Bodurtha is a program associate with the council.
When Nigeria's dictatorship hanged famed author and political activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others--after convicting them of murder in a kangaroo court--the cameras and computers of an outraged world focused on the troubled West African giant. It seemed possible that Saro-Wiwa's execution might boost efforts by TransAfrica's Randall Robinson, Amnesty International and others to impose new economic sanctions on Nigeria.
BUSINESS
January 1, 1996 | EVELYN IRITANI, TIMES STAFF WRITER
U.S. executives worried about selling earthmovers and airplanes to China, buying oil and gas from Nigeria or assembling cars and televisions along the Mexican border will be looking much closer to home for help on their 1996 wish list. That's because the most outspoken opponents of unfettered U.S. economic expansion are home-grown.
NEWS
December 4, 1998 | ANN M. SIMMONS, TIMES STAFF WRITER
An upsurge of trouble in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta has been testing the new military rulers' tolerance of dissent, forcing them to deal with the aspirations of impoverished ethnic groups and further endangering an already weak economy. In the recent history of the world's sixth-largest oil producer, competing demands for the wealth generated by black gold often have made it seem more of curse than a blessing.