Commonwealth Secretary-General to Meet Nigeria’s New Leader in London. Foreign Minister to attend Commonwealth Talks
21 September 1998
Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku will meet Nigeria's new Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar in London on Wednesday, 23 September. The Nigerian leader will be stopping over in London on his way to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The London meeting follows on from the Secretary-General's visit to Nigeria in June to open a dialogue between the Commonwealth and the country's new government. Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth in 1995 by Commonwealth leaders because of its serious breaches of the association's fundamental political values, including democracy, the rule of law and human rights.
The Commonwealth has welcomed General Abubakar's release of political prisoners in Nigeria and his pledge to end military rule by handing over the government to a democratically-elected President on 29 May next year.
A mission from the Commonwealth Secretariat returned last week from Nigeria where it had gone to discuss with the new Independent National Electoral Commission ways in which the Commonwealth could assist the Commission's efforts to organise the various elections of Nigeria's democratic structures at the State and Federal levels.
The Secretary-General said: "The Commonwealth has been impressed with the actions taken so far by the new authorities in Nigeria to ensure a speedy and workable transition to a credible democracy. We have offered our help to make sure the proper structures are in place for a transition that will genuinely reflect the will of the Nigerian people. I consider the contacts which we have once again established with Nigeria at various levels as important steps in this process and I am confident that a credible transition in
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Nigeria will re-open the way for its return to its rightful place in the Commonwealth family and the wider international community."
In a related development, Nigeria's new Foreign Minister, Ignatius Olisemeka, has been
invited to attend a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the
Harare Declaration (CMAG) which was set up by Commonwealth Heads of Government in November 1995 to monitor "serious and persistent violations" of the Commonwealth's principles.
The CMAG meeting will take place at Marlborough House, the Commonwealth's headquarters, in London on 8 and 9 October. The Group comprises ministers from Barbados, Botswana, Britain, Canada, Ghana, Malaysia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. The Chairman of CMAG is Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister, Dr Stan Mudenge.
Note to Editors:
Nigeria's transition programme envisages the election of Local Government Councils on 5 December 1998; the election of State Assemblies and State Governors on 9 January 1999; the election of members of the Federal House of Representatives and of the Senate on 20 February 1999; and the election of the President on 27 February 1999.
98/64 21 September 1998
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