Nigeria deporting missionaries

FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT TIE Nigerian Government was this week preparing to deport 32 Irish, British and American Catholic missionaries who had been working in the former breakaway province Of Biafra. Earlier they had been in jail and under house arrest in Port Harcourt.
After being flown to Lagos on Tuesday the missionaries, convicted of entering Nigeria illegally, were taken to the airport hotel where they held a prayer meeting attended by Mr. Paul Keating, Irish Ambassador to Nigeria, and Archbishop Aggey of Lagos.
Several reporters managed to speak to members of the group before police intervened. Brother Ignatius Traynor from Jarrow said: "There is another big group still in Port Harcourt and we have been advised we must not say anything."
"UNJUSTLY TREATED" Before police marched them away, Sister Gertrude of Dublin and Sister Aidan of Cork, both of the Order of Presentation, said that Federal soldiers had not molested them.
"We feel the fathers who were put in prison were treated very unjustly. They were not allowed any legal or diplomatic representation," said Sister
Ai
Asked how the priests were treated in detention, she hesitated and said "Half and half."
Originally, they had received either six-month prison sentences or fines. The decision to deport them instead came after a visit of Mr. Alhaji Kam Seim, the Federal Commissioner for Internal Affairs to the Eastern Region, as well as strong diplomatic pressure from British., Irish and American' missions in Lagos.
A Federal Government statement described the deportation as "an act of clemency" and further demonstration of the Government's policy of "magnanimity towards the former secessionist regime and those involved in its activities."
BISHOP FOR TRIAL
The statement made no reference to the 28 other Catholic missionaries, including Bishop Joseph Whelan. of Owerri, 61, senior Irish prelate in Biafra, who are still awaiting trial in Port Harcourt. Bishop Whelan has worked in Nigeria for 25 years and is due to retire this year.
Meanwhile, the four-nation observer team which criticised the behaviour of some Nigerian troops immediately following the fall of Biafra has made another visit to the former rebel area and reports a noted improvement in troop behaviour and the food situation.