US and Nigeria are working together, Obasanjo says

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (AFP) — US President George W. Bush voiced support for Nigeria’s efforts at helping to settle conflicts in Ivory Coast, and Darfur in Sudan, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said after a visit to the White House.

US President George W. Bush (R) meets with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC., December 2, 2004. (AFP).

“Nigeria is leading in the area of solving the problems of these countries: Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sudan. And we are satisfied. And we are keeping the US government briefed. And we are getting support from the US government,” he told reporters after meeting with Bush.

Asked if there were any new initiatives on those fronts, Obasanjo said: “The only new thing is that we are working together.”

Prior to their talks, Bush thanked the Nigerian president, currently acting president of the African Union, for AU peacekeeping efforts stressing that he had worked with the Nigerian leader on Liberia, Sudan and other important regions in Africa.

Bush also said he hoped to bolster bilateral ties between the United States and Africa’s most populous nation, including more cooperation on fighting HIV (news – web sites)-AIDS.

Obasancjo said ahead of their talks that he hoped “to consolidate what we have been able to do together, … in the area of peace and security and conflict resolution in Africa, in the area of trade and resource flow for Africa, and in the area of fight against terrorism, and making the world, and particularly Africa, a more peaceful and a more conducive continent to live in.”

Bush took the opportunity to play up his policies toward Africa.

“Africa was a very important part of my first term. I have met with the president four or five times,” Bush said of Obasanjo.

“I have met with other leaders from the continent of Africa a lot. I have traveled to Africa. I have made fighting the pandemic of HIV/AIDS a central part of my administration.

“I helped work to extend AGOA on the full belief that economic trade and the benefits of trade far exceed the benefits of direct aid” and “I’ve worked on the Millennium Challenge Account to help encourage the habits of good governance,” Bush said, referring to the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

“I will continue that focus and attention on the continent of Africa,” the US president pledged.

“I think it is vital that the continent of Africa be a place of freedom and democracy and prosperity and hope, where people can grow up and realize their dreams,” Bush said. “It’s a continent that’s got vast potential, and the United States wants to help the people of Africa realize that potential.”