Nigeria
Practice Relating to Rule 108. Mercenaries
At the CDDH, Nigeria stated that it “appreciated the suggestion made by the representative of the United Republic of Cameroon and regretted that it had been made too late”.
Nigeria’s Operational Code of Conduct (1967) states: “Foreign nationals on legitimate business will not be molested, but mercenaries will not be spared: they are the worst of enemies.”
Nigeria’s Military Manual (1994) states that “mercenaries are however not to be considered as prisoner[s] of war.”
At the CDDH, Nigeria stated:
While recognizing the fundamental guarantees provided for in the new Article 65 of draft [Additional] Protocol I [now Article 75] and not denying the common humanity which mercenaries shared with the rest of mankind, [Nigeria] did not think that such considerations could serve as a pretext for giving mercenaries the rights of combatants or prisoners of war in any situation of armed conflict.