19 May 2000
Jesse Jackson and President Obasanjo Discuss Sierra Leone
(U.S. envoy and Nigerian leader meet in Benin City) (710) By Jim Fisher-Thompson Washington File Staff Correspondent Benin City, Nigeria -- Nigeria and the United States are in close agreement on the need for both countries to remain committed to and engaged in working for a regional solution to continued "warlordism" in Sierra Leone, said the Reverend Jesse Jackson after meeting May 18 with President Olusegun Obasanjo. Jackson, special envoy for the president and the secretary of state for the promotion of democracy in Africa, characterized the meeting as "a very successful one because of his [Obasanjo's] commitment to support the [Sierra Leone] government and to working out the modalities with our government and other allies" to preserve Sierra Leone's democratically elected government. Jackson told reporters that Obasanjo also "shared a broad ... analysis of what he believes needs to be done" to achieve that goal, which fits with U.S. policy toward Africa of finding regional solutions to political and economic problems. According to Jackson, Obasanjo basically affirmed "his commitment to helping with preserving the integrity of the democracy of Sierra Leone until there is no threat" to it, and he indicated a willingness to retain and beef up a Nigerian troop presence there if needed. But Obasanjo added, Jackson said, that the international community would have to provide logistical support for the troop commitment. Jackson, accompanied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Howard Jeter, former special U.S. envoy for Liberia, is on a six-day mission to West Africa at President Clinton's request to meet with regional leaders about the current crisis in Sierra Leone and to seek ways to get the peace process back on track. Obasanjo, on a tour of Nigeria's 36 states, met the U.S. delegation at the official residence of Edo State Governor Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion. The Lome Peace Accord, signed last year, seemingly came apart recently when warlord Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF) refused to disarm and attacked United Nations peacekeepers deployed to secure and implement the peace accord. The rebels, in violation of the Lome Accord, took 500 peacekeepers hostage more than a week ago, although 237 have since been released through the efforts of Liberian President Charles Taylor. Asked prior to the meeting if he was disappointed with how the Lome Accord turned out, Jackson said: "The role I played in Lome was to get Foday Sankoh to agree to a cease-fire. I was not a part of the agreement," but rather a party "in getting him [Sankoh] to agree to a cease-fire, getting him some equipment to communicate to his commanders that they should cease fighting, disarm, disengage, and open up roads so that food and medicine could get into the rural areas." The rebel leader "signed that agreement and dishonored that which he signed, and thus he has discredited himself and unequivocally discredited RUF. We must solidly and unequivocally support the democracy of President [Ahmad] Kabbah of Sierra Leone. Regarding the official U.S. view of Sankoh, Jeter said, "In principle, our position is that Foday Sankoh has been discredited. He has discredited himself and it will be difficult to see a role for him in any future peace process. But, again, it's not our decision to make." Asked what more the United States was willing to do to help resolve the Sierra Leone crisis, Jeter recalled that "during the period that ECOMOG [Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group] was in Sierra Leone, the U.S. provided logistical support that included helicopter lift, vehicles, vehicle maintenance, procurement of spare parts, etc. There is now a team here from the Department of Defense to actually look at what would be Nigeria's needs should Nigeria decide, presumably with others in the region, to reengage in Sierra Leone." He added, however: "I think it is necessary to assess what the needs are before we can say what will be provided, but certainly there is a desire on the part of this [Clinton] administration to be helpful to Nigeria." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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