Post by Taxigirl on Dec 3, 2003 10:44:40 GMT
The Queen will arrive in Nigeria later on Wednesday for the start of a four-day state visit, amid tight security.
On Friday she is due to open the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Abuja, which Prime Minister Tony Blair will also attend.
The Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, will also carry out a programme of visits, including a trip to a Nigerian village.
This week campaigners accused Nigeria of widespread human rights abuses.
The Nigerian Government has rejected allegations made by the American-based group, Human Rights Watch.
The group claims violence is used to silence government critics.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has undergone something of a transformation in recent years, according to the BBC's world affairs correspondent Peter Biles.
Bush visit
"It is no longer the military pariah state that it was in the 1990s when it was suspended from the Commonwealth.
"When the Queen arrives here she'll find a country where democracy has now begun to take root," he said.
This point was reinforced by the fact that President Bush made a point of including Nigeria on his whistle-stop tour of Africa in July.
But questions remain over how committed the government of President Olesegun Obansanjo is to democracy.
Human Rights Watch insists his administration regularly uses violence and intimidation.
Zimbabwe
In addition to hosting the royal visit this week, President Obansanjo will also be presiding over the Commonwealth summit.
The meeting is likely to be dominated by discussion about the future of Zimbabwe, which was suspended by the Commonwealth last year over charges that Mr Mugabe had rigged his re-election.