Nigeria deal on national government

NIGERIA'S two army-created political parties agreed, after a meeting last night with the military President, Ibrahim Babangida, to form an interim national government to help defuse a political crisis.

The agreement was announced in Abuja, the federal capital, after two days of rioting brought the country's largest city, Lagos, to a standstill. Tanks and lorryloads of soldiers took control of key parts of Lagos yesterday.

After a meeting of its national executive earlier yesterday, the Social Democratic Party, whose leader, Mashood Abiola, won the 12 June election, announced that it would accept an 'interim government' as long as Mr Abiola was the President and it was a government of national unity in which the SDP was the dominant partner.

It was not clear last night whether the agreement reached in Abuja met these conditions. The SDP had also insisted that the existing elected institutions, the National Assembly and the elected state governors, should remain in place.

Whatever the fine print of the agreement, it is clear that General Babangida will not be handing over power to an elected civilan government on 27 August, and there is no certainty that the deal will be acceptable to the the Yoruba people of south-west Nigeria, who constitute Mr Abiola's main base of support.

'Both parties have agreed on the formation of an interim national government which, on August 27, will take over from the present military government,' Tony Anenih, the SDP chairman, told a news conference. At the same conference Hameed Kusamotu, chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC), said: 'This decision was taken so that peace will be restored in the country.' The NRC, whose candidate, Bashir Tofa, had opposed Mr Abiola on 12 June, had earlier said it favoured fresh elections before Mr Babangida's planned handover on 27 August.

The Information Secretary, Uche Chukwumerije, said: 'Government appreciates the manner in which the two parties have come together to help solve the crisis.'

President Babangida's plan to hold fresh elections with new candidates in time to hand over to a civilian elected government on 27 August has come up against growing opposition over the past few days. The United States warned yesterday that it would impose more sanctions against Nigeria if the military leadership continued to obstruct the path to civilian rule.

The centre of Lagos was quiet yesterday after the deployment of troops, but news agencies reported five deaths in other parts of the city, bringing the total of deaths to at least 17 since demonstrations started on Monday. What began as protests against continued military rule have turned into riots and looting, with youths burning buses. Incidents were also reported yesterday in Ibadan and Ikorodo, north of Lagos.

Late on Tuesday night Beko Ransome-Kuti, a leading civil-rights activist and the man who called for a general strike this week, was arrested at his home. His daughter said her father was detained by about 20 plainclothes security agents and it was not known where he was being held.

The author Ken Saro Wiwa has also been detained.