It is instructive that the confidence outsiders have in "one Nigeria" is not very different from that of the average BiafraNigerian.Is it not time to allow each and every one to go his/her way in peace?
Folks, what do make of the article below?
Tuesday December 18 9:27 AM ET
Study on World Freedom Released
By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - An annual study of world freedom released Tuesday highlights a gap between predominantly Islamic nations and other countries, rating only one majority Islamic country, the African nation Mali, as ``free.''
The Freedom House study rated 192 nations based on the civil liberties and political rights enjoyed by their citizens.
Of those nations, 86 were given the highest rating of ``free.''
Afghanistan (news - web sites), Cuba, North Korea (news - web sites), Syria, Sudan and Iraq were among 48 countries - 28 of them Islamic - that received the organization's lowest rating, ``not free.''
Fifty-eight countries - 18 of them Islamic - were rated ``partly free.''
``In the wake of the terrorist attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, it is imperative that policy-makers around the globe give serious attention to the democracy gap in the Islamic world,'' said Bill Richardson, chairman of Freedom House, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group founded nearly 60 years ago by Americans concerned about democracy, including Eleanor Roosevelt.
By population, the ratings showed 41 percent of the world's people living in ``free'' countries, 23 percent in ``not free'' countries, and 35 percent in ``partly free'' countries.
The overall breakdown in the ratings was similar to last year's results because 17 countries registered significant gains in freedom and 17 registered setbacks.
The report listed 17 states with significant setbacks in freedom, including Liberia, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Egypt, Haiti, Jordan, Yemen, Nigeria and the Central African Republic.
The study also cites progress: Peru re-entered the ranks of the free countries; the countries of Gambia and Mauritania improved from not free to partly free; and gains were recorded for Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bahrain and Congo, among others.
The Freedom House study was conducted by a team of 14 people who met with advisers and groups from around the world including political parties and associations, human rights monitors, religious figures, academics and journalists.
The group rated the countries on a scale based on the countries' records in granting citizens political rights, such as allowing them to form political parties that compete for positions of power, and civil liberties, such as respecting religious, ethnic, economic, gender and free press rights.
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In the Fullness of Time...
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