Posted on Sat, Mar. 25, 2006 OPPONENT DESCRIBES TRAVEL ADVISORY AS FAVOR TO INCUMBENTBy Sarah DelaneyWashington PostROME - Opposition leader Romano Prodi says he got on the phone to the U.S. ambassador right away to demand an explanation: Why did the State Department issue a public announcement advising Americans in Italy to stay away from large crowds because of possible violence? Tuesday's advisory came in the final weeks of a vitriolic election campaign in which Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a close U.S. ally, is trailing in the polls. To opposition ears, the U.S. statement seemed to back up Berlusconi's accusations that Prodi's alliance harbors in its ranks leftist fringe groups that resort to violence. ``The U.S. alert surprised me,'' Prodi told reporters here. ``A move like this, with elections nearing, can cause a sense of anguish and fear, and there is no need for that.'' The advisory to travelers and a U.S. decision to allow Berlusconi to address a joint session of Congress in Washington on March 1, a rare honor for a foreign leader, have led to allegations that the United States hopes to help Berlusconi win a new term. The advisory ``is not political,'' a U.S. Embassy representative said. ``It's not taking sides. It doesn't even have to be necessarily a political protest. We're just urging Americans to be prudent in any public protest situation.'' The announcement cited a March 11 incident in Milan in which youths clashed with riot police, injuring some of them and causing considerable damage to streets, cars and shops. In a day of bickering over the advisory, Berlusconi criticized Prodi for contacting the ambassador, Ronald Spogli, calling it ``undue interference in American affairs.'' He said the State Department had been justified in issuing the advisory, because ``the United States addresses its citizens, as is its right, warning them that in Italian political demonstrations there are situations that may be dangerous for Americans.'' Prodi accused the Italian government of being behind the State Department announcement. The embassy said it had acted on its own initiative.
The Financial Times reported on February 28 that Nigeria is shifting its sourcing for military equipment to China because U.S. concerns about corruption within the Nigerian security forces have delayed the delivery of equipment. In July 2005, China signed an $800 million crude oil agreement with Nigeria, and Beijing is considering $7 billion worth of investments in Nigeria. #msg-10243530
Extraditing Taylor to stand trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he is indicted on 17 counts of crimes against humanity, would be a small step toward cutting the flow of weapons into the region.
by Douglas Farah Published on March 10th, 2006
Rising political instability fueled by billions of dollars in oil theft, coupled with growing religious tensions across much of the country have pushed Nigeria to brink of chaos and collapse. Such a collapse would cause oil prices to soar—Nigeria produces 2.5 million barrels a day--and plunge an already-unstable region further into disarray. A recent National Intelligence Council (NIC) conference report on "Mapping Sub-Saharan Africa’s Future" listed the "outright collapse of Nigeria" as the primary threat to the continent.[1]
The internal situation is further exacerbated by four factors: The ongoing recruitment, by both Saudi-funded Salafist Sunni groups and Iranian-backed radical Shi’ite groups, of Islamic youth for training abroad; the spread of Salafist teachings and the imposition of sharia law across more than one third of the country; the growing economic and physical presence of leaders of the international Muslim Brotherhood, including some who are designated terrorist financiers by the United States and the United Nations; and the presence in Calabar of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, who continues to use his extensive financial resources and military contacts to threaten the government of president Obasanjo and maintain destabilizing non-state armed groups in Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and possible Sierra Leone.
These factors, co-existing in a nation with a vast and easily-marketed resource, endemic corruption, deep religious divides with a history of turning violent, weak institutions, little democratic tradition and the free flow of weapons and transnational criminal organizations, make the long-term prospects of Nigeria’s stability questionable at best. While many of the problems have existed for years, all have been exacerbated in the past year and are likely to continue to grow more critical. The central government has demonstrated no capacity and little will to make significant headway in any of the critical areas.
The NIC conference report that currently "Nigeria’s are locked in a bad marriage that all dislike but dare not leave…If Nigeria were to become a failed state, it could drag down a large part of the West African region…Further, a failed Nigeria probably could not be reconstituted for many years—if ever—and not without massive international assistance."[2]
Nigeria worries about its declining influence in Africa
Sunday 26 March 2006.
Mar 25, 2006 (ABUJA) — Nigeria’s influence within the African continental body-African Union-seems to have waned in recent years: there is worry even among Nigerian diplomats, some serving and others retired, that if unchecked, this trend could endanger Nigeria’s traditional African-centred foreign policy direction and further dampen the country’s international image.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, right, in a jovial mood as he jokes with, from left, Omar Bongo President of Gabon, Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa and President of Comoros Azail Assoumani, second right after the opening of the African Union 6th Summit in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Jan. 23, 2006. (AP).Some diplomats are attributing some of that decline to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s extended chairmanship of the AU. The AU chairmanship is normally for a year, but Obasanjo got an extension for six months until January this year when Congo was chosen to assume the headship of union in Sudan.
The Guardian on Saturday has learnt exclusively that at least four specific diplomatic failures in the last few years have accentuated this worry within diplomatic circles.
President to Welcome Nigerian President to the White House
President Bush will welcome President Olusegun Obasanjo of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the White House on March 29, 2006. Nigeria is a strategic partner of the United States in Africa and the visit provides an opportunity for the President to thank President Obasanjo for his leadership as Chairman of the African Union in the deployment of African troops in response to the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The two leaders also will discuss a broad range of regional and international issues including continuing cooperation in the areas of Darfur, regional security, energy security, fighting corruption, strengthening democratic institutions, and the need to bring Charles Taylor to justice.
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