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Kerry, in Africa, presses Nigeria on human rights

Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia met in Addis Ababa.Jim Young/AFP/Getty Images

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Making his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as secretary of state, John Kerry urged Nigeria on Saturday to uphold human rights as it steps up its fight against Islamic extremists.

“One’s person’s atrocity does not excuse another’s,” Kerry said, when asked about reports of serious human rights violations by Nigerian forces.

“We defend the right completely of the government of Nigeria to defend itself and to fight back against terrorists,” he added. “That said, I have raised the issue of human rights with the government.”

Kerry’s visit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the African Union comes during a trip that is mainly devoted to Middle East diplomacy. Since he left Washington on Monday, Kerry has traveled to Oman, Israel, and Jordan, to which he will return Sunday.

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Even in Africa, the Syrian crisis was on his agenda. Kerry conferred with the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, on the international conference the United States is trying to arrange next month in Geneva with representatives of President Bashar Assad of Syria and the Syrian opposition.

Ban talked with Kerry about his meetings with Russian officials in Moscow. Kerry is scheduled to meet with the Russian foreign minister in Paris on Monday to discuss the planning for the Geneva Meeting.

As Kerry visits Africa, Nigeria is stepping up its fight against Islamist militants, France is preparing to hand over much of the responsibility for protecting Mali from Islamic fighters to an African force, and tensions between Sudan and South Sudan have flared.

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria recently declared a state of emergency in the country’s northeast provinces and ordered air and ground assaults against Boko Haram, a militant group. But reports that Nigerian forces have carried out extrajudicial killings, including against civilians, have become a problem for the United States, which provides law enforcement assistance and has cooperated with Nigeria, a major oil supplier, on counterterrorism issues.

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Earlier this month, Kerry, in a statement, noted “credible allegations” that Nigerian forces had been engaged in “gross human rights violations.”

Kerry returned to that theme on Saturday in a joint news conference with Ethiopia’s foreign minister, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Asked about reports of human rights violations — there have been reports of large-scale civilian killings by the army and police in Nigeria — Kerry said the Nigerian government had acknowledged that abuses had occurred.

“They are working to try to control it,” he said. But revenge was not an adequate strategy, he said. What is needed “is good governance,” Kerry said. “It’s ridding yourself of a terrorist organization so that you can establish a standard of law that people can respect. And that’s what needs to happen in Nigeria.”

Before meeting with the foreign minister of Sudan, Kerry noted that he planned to send a special envoy soon to work on reducing tensions between the countries.

The difficulties, he said, went beyond border disputes and involved the concerns of residents in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states of Sudan who did not want to be compelled by Sudan to live by strict Islamic rules.

“You have people who for a long time have felt that they want their secular governance and their identity respected,” Kerry said. “That’s the fundamental clash.”

The tensions, he added, had been exacerbated by the support rebels in Sudan had received from South Sudan.

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Kerry also met with Egypt’s president, Mohammed Morsi, calling on him to make further economic reforms so that Congress can approve more aid for Egypt.