Posted by By Jamie Dominics, The Sun Reporter Washington DC. on
The United States government has restated its opposition to current move to amend the Ngeria's constitution to extend the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo beyond next year.
The United States government has restated its opposition to current move to amend the Ngeria's constitution to extend the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo beyond next year.
In the latest salvo indicating Washington's concern about the third term agenda, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said the administration remains against any move to amend the constitution despite intense lobby by Abuja and paid lobbyists to change the mind of the administration. " Our policy is very clear.
There should be respect for constitutional term limit," she said.
Franzer is however, wary of the US action being interpruted as an attempt to meddle in the internal affairs of an independent nation like Nigeria.
"For me, the difficulty has been to encourage African leaders to abide by their term limits without dictating to them that they can't change their constitutions, which is a constitutional right, if it's done by the rule of law," she stated.
The US Assistant Secretary of State is one of a number of important administration officials who have voiced their displeasure at any attempts by President Obasanjo to stay in power beyond next year. A few days ago, influential American lawmaker and son of a Kenyan father, Barak Obama, accused Abuja of persecuting opponents of the third term bid, like Abia State Governor Orji Uzo Kalu. He asked the administration to punish Abuja for continuing violation of citizens' rights.
Secretary Frazer, who made her comments at Howard University in Washington, D.C., during a speech about 'Transformational Diplomacy," and a broad range of issues about the continent, said growing questions about the administration's commitment to Africa was unfair.
"Having recently returned from a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, I'd like to note that transformational diplomacy is inherently a policy that supports African leadership and seeks to build Africa institutional capacity. Transformational diplomacy is about doing things with people not for them", she said.
Members of the influential Black Congressional Caucus and leaders of the Democratic Party said President Bush has failed to honour his pledge to double assistance to the continent.
But Frazer said the administration is giving priority to areas of conflict, like Sudan. She said the Bush administration has not been lax in its engagement with the conflict in Darfur. "What we need at this very moment is for the government of Sudan to recognize its interest, which is that it is to end the conflict in Darfur by negotiating the peace deal in Abuja. They're there, but we have to get a comprehensive package on the table and hopefully conclude that agreement by the end of April, that's what the U.N. presidential statement set as a target, and secondly recognizing its interest by stopping opposing U.N. presence in Darfur," she said.
On the conflict in Chad, where President Idriss Deby is planning to hold elections next month in spite of contuned rebel attacks, Secretary Frazer says the conflict was a complex one with both domestic and interstate dimensions.
"We believe as a matter of policy that Deby needs to reach out to the opposition and work with them. That's part of the conflict. And there is indeed, an inter state conflict between Sudan and Chad with both of them having rebels on the other side's territory. Those people who are rebelling against the Chadian government find themselves going into Darfur and into Sudan. They may be getting support from the government in Sudan. Probably its going the other way as well," she added.
On Liberia and the fate of former warlord, Charles Taylor, Frazer ruled out any deal with Nigeria that led to his arrest. " President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf basically said she wanted to get the issue of Charles behind her and she talked to President Obasanjo and said, ‘you know President Obasanjo had set the condition that when there was an elected government in Liberia, he would do what that government wanted him to do'. She said ‘I want you to turn Charles Taylor over to the court.' So we've been following her lead on that. That was no conspiracy, no deal cut. I don't even know what a deal would be," she stated.