NEW COUNCIL SWORN IN BY NIGERIAN LEADER

Nigeria's new military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha swore in a Provisional Ruling Council Nov. 24 that includes a key ally of thwarted presidential candidate Moshood Abiola.

In a ceremony in Lagos, General Abacha swore in the council with himself as chairman. The 11-member council is Nigeria's highest governing body and includes military officers as well as four civilians.

For the time being, the Nigerian military appears to have succeeded in weakening opposition forces by announcing the appointment of some civilian reformers to the new ruling council.

The appointees include Baba Gana Kingibe, Mr. Abiola's running mate in the annulled presidential elections. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Kingibe, a former ambassador, would take the job.

But Beko Ransome-Kuti, the leader of the umbrella Campaign for Democracy, an opposition pressure group, commented: ``It means Baba Gana Kingibe has decamped.''

Apart from Kingibe, the other civilian members of the council are Alex Ibru, publisher of the Lagos Guardian newspaper and radical lawyer Olu Onagoruwa. UN aid to Burundi

The United Nations on Nov. 23 launched an appeal for $9.5 million in emergency aid for some 250,000 people displaced by ethnic violence in Burundi.

A failed coup last month sparked tribal massacres, claimed tens of thousands of lives, and forced nearly 1 million people to flee their homes.

About a quarter of that number remain displaced within Burundi and some 700,000 have fled to neighboring countries, including Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zaire.

Funds raised would help meet basic needs over the next 90 days such as food, health care, domestic items for those uprooted, improving sanitation, purifying water, and agriculture.