Sudan tops agenda as Maduekwe, Clinton meet
From Laolu Akande, Washington DC

NIGERIA'S Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, will this morning meet with his United States (U.S.) counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC to review Africa's security issues few weeks after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant of arrest on Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir.

U.S. State Department sources confirmed that the meeting, billed for 11a.m. today, is at the instance of the Nigerian Foreign Minister, although the Obama administration is also believed to be keen on partnering Nigeria on a broad range of security issues in Sudan, Somalia and other trouble spots in Africa.

Besides, the Americans might also be mounting pressure on Nigeria to take the lead in the African Union which has been sounding overly protective regarding the indicted president of Sudan.

A senior official at the U.S. State Department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said "Nigeria is the big boy in Africa," and the U.S. continues to see Nigeria as its partner in Africa's security matters.

It is the first high level meeting between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Obama administration, and U.S. sources say both Clinton and Maduekwe are expected to see today's meeting as largely exploratory, rather than a detailed one. Both dignitaries would want to start off the relationship on the right foot, according to observers.

Sources said there would be minimal discussions on bilateral issues, but that the focus would be more on how U.S. and Nigeria could cooperate on a multi-lateral international engagement on African issues. According to U.S. sources, while Nigeria is important to America bilaterally, the relationship is even more significant at the multilateral level.

But the Clinton-Maduekwe meeting is not expected to feature any detailed discussion about the Yar'Adua administration, coming only a few weeks after the State Department released a damning human rights report on Nigeria citing several unresolved human rights violations in Nigeria including the abrogation of the rights of Nigerians to freely change the government, police excesses and a litany of unresolved political murders over the years.

However, Maduekwe has been known in diplomatic circles to have expressed keen interest in meeting with officials of the new Obama administration. He had championed the case for Nigeria to rightly position itself to engage with the first African-American president of the U.S.

Maduekwe led a Nigerian delegation to the Obama inauguration in January even though the U.S. had only extended an invitation to resident diplomats.

But the focus of the U.S. State Department is how Nigeria, with four military battalions in Sudan and the Commander of the joint AU-UN force in Darfur, can become an active partner with the U.S. to bring justice for the people of Darfur, facilitate the peace process in the entire country and get Africans together for such an agenda.

According to the U.S. official, "we look to Nigeria as a leader in African policy issues," and the U.S. and Nigeria have a long history of collaboration on African issues.

Meanwhile, on Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama named new top officials - including his top adviser on Africa - at the State Department who would assist Clinton. Obama picked Ambassador Johnnie Carson as the new Assistant Secretary of State. He will soon face the U.S. Senate for confirmation.


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