Mandela’s first major challenge on promoting human rights and democracy
abroad came in November 1995, when Nigerian military ruler
Sani Abacha executed the Ogoni human-rights advocate Ken Saro-Wiwa
and eight of his fellow activists. Abacha had promised Mandela, who
was off to a Commonwealth summit in New Zealand, that he would do
no such thing. Enraged at the news of the Ogoni Nine hangings, Mandela
stepped out of the meeting and called for international oil sanctions
against Nigeria