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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Ministers to Meet With Nigerian Foreign Minister For Talks on Ending Military Rule

6 October 1998

The tenth meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the  Harare  Declaration (CMAG) will be held  in London from 8-9 October 1998 to review recent  developments in The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. This is the first time that CMAG has met since the new transitional programme for Nigeria was announced by its new head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

On 9 October,  the Nigerian Foreign Minister, Mr I C Olisemeka, will meet with the eight CMAG ministers and Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku over lunch. He will then lead a delegation which will hold a dialogue with CMAG that afternoon.

CMAG is expected to discuss bilateral and multilateral assistance to Nigeria to support the country's transition to democracy. In the run-up to December's local government elections and to February's National Assembly and Presidential elections, two consultants - one an Australian expert in election data systems and the other an Indian expert in electoral logistics - will be despatched by the Secretary-General for three-month attachments with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Two INEC officials are also being invited to attend an election management training workshop being organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in Zimbabwe in the first week of November.

In addition, 12 electoral training experts from throughout the Commonwealth will be sent as resource persons for INEC orientation and training workshops for senior electoral officials in all 12 INEC zones. And around the third week of November, five senior Electoral Commissioners from Commonwealth countries will attend a seminar for Nigerian Senior Electoral Officials.

Developments in Sierra Leone following the reinstatement of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah are also likely to be reviewed during the two-day meeting. It will be recalled that the CMAG Chairman led a ministerial mission to Sierra Leone on 31 March 1998 and the Commonwealth has been assisting the country in its efforts at national reconstruction. There will be discussion about the ongoing role of the Commonwealth, the United Nations and other development and humanitarian agencies in the country.


Note to Editors:

CMAG was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1995  to address serious and persistent violations of Commonwealth principles as  outlined in the Harare Declaration. It was reconstituted by Heads of  Government at Edinburgh in October 1997. As presently constituted, it  comprises Ministers from Barbados, Botswana, Britain, Canada, Ghana,  Malaysia, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe. It is convened by the Commonwealth  Secretary-General.

A press conference is scheduled to take place at !7.00 on Friday 9 October at Marlborough House, after the talks with the Nigerian delegation.

 

98/68 6 October, 1998

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