Bush Pledges to Cooperate with Nigeria in Building Regional Peace

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 14, 2003

Bush Pledges to Cooperate with Nigeria in Building Regional Peace

US President George W. Bush on Saturday in the Nigerian capital Abuja pledged continued cooperation of his country with Nigeria in building peace in Africa.

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US President George W. Bush on Saturday in the Nigerian capital Abuja pledged continued cooperation of his country with Nigeria in building peace in Africa.

Meeting with his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo, Bush said Nigeria's effort in building peace and stability in West Africa and the rest of the African continent was commendable.

He assured that the United States would support Nigeria in thatdirection.

"We will continue to cooperate with Nigeria and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) on regional peace," he said, stressing that it was in that light that his administration dispatched an assessment team to Liberia to find out the immediateneeds of the war-torn nation.

He said the assessment team was still working in Liberia and that the next line of action of the United States would be determined by the report to be submitted by the team.

He reiterated his earlier call on Liberian President Charles Taylor to leave the country to avoid a major humanitarian catastrophe.

He said the United States was committed to reducing the level of human suffering in Liberia and the restoration of peace and stability there.

Bush thanked Obasanjo for his "unwavering commitment to peace in Liberia and your honesty, openness and forthrightness in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic."

He added that the US government would stand side-by-side with leaders that were transparent in their fight to end the scourge.

Bush described Obasanjo as "a good example for all leaders on the continent," and Nigeria as "a fabulously important country to the United States."

He said he also shared the sentiments of Obasanjo that Africa be encouraged to produce enough food to feed itself.

The United States, he said, was interested in Nigeria's naturalgas deposits and the improvement of trade between the two countries.

He called for a similar zeal on the part of Nigeria.

Welcoming Bush, Obasanjo thanked the United States for the support it had given Africa within the G-8 nations, especially itssupport for the New Partnership for Africa's Development and the fight to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the continent.

"African leaders have made a commitment to the African peoples and the world to work together in developing the continent by consolidating democracy, good governance and implementing sustainable socioeconomic development programs," he said.

He pledged Nigeria's continued effort to end the crisis in Liberia, where he said, more than 12 billion US dollars had been spent since the crisis erupted in the early 1990s in addition to several lives that had been lost in peace-keeping operations.

These efforts would continue to be made to ensure total peace and stability in the sub-region, Obasanjo said, adding that it wasfor that reason that his administration decided to grant Charles Taylor asylum so that he could be eased out of the country withoutunnecessary shedding of blood.

Bush and his wife Laura arrived in Nigerian on Friday evening. Nigeria is the fifth and the last leg of Bush's current five-nation tour of Africa which also took him to Senegal, South Africa,Botswana and Uganda.

The US president is accompanied by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Walter Kansteiner. Other senior officials in the Bush entourage include National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

Bush is scheduled to leave Nigeria for home Saturday afternoon.

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