Foreign relations of Nigeria
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Since independence, with Jaja Wachuku as the first Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, later called External Affairs, Nigerian foreign policy has been characterized by a focus on Africa and by attachment to several fundamental principles: African unity and independence; peaceful settlement of disputes; nonalignment and nonintentional interference in the internal affairs of other nations; and regional economic cooperation and development. In carrying out these principles, Nigeria participates in the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now known as the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth,and the United Nations.
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[edit] Nigeria and the liberation of Africa
Upon gaining independence, Nigeria quickly committed itself to the liberation struggles going on in the Southern Africa sub-region. Though Nigeria never sent an expeditionary force in that struggle, it offered more than rhetoric to the African National Congress (ANC) by taking a committed tough line with regard to the racist regime and their incursions in southern Africa.
Similarly, in 1975, war broke out in Angola after the country gained independence from Portugal, Nigeria, a member of the English Commonwealth of Nations, mobilized its diplomatic influence in Africa in support of the MPLA. That support tipped the balance in their favor, which led to OAU recognition of the MPLA.
Nigeria extended diplomatic support to another Marxist cause, Sam Nujoma's SWAPO movement in Namibia, to stall the apartheid South African installed puppet government in Namibia. In 1977, the new General Olusegun Obasanjo's military regime made a donation of $20 million dollars to the Zimbabwean liberation movement. Nigeria also sent military equipment to Mozambique to help the new independent country suppress the South African backed RENAMO guerrillas. Although officially denied by the Nigerian government, Nigeria is known to have also provided secret military training at the Kaduna first mechanized army division and provided other material support to Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe's guerrilla forces during the Rhodesian Bush War(Renamed Zimbabwe in 1979) of independence against white minority rule of Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith which was armed and financed by the regime in South Africa.
Although her economy and technology could not have supported it, Nigeria announced to a bewildered international community that she was launching a nuclear program of "unlimited scope" of her own. To demonstrate her seriousness against multi-national companies in Nigeria that violated the economic/trade embargo on the racist South African regime, the local operations of Barclays Bank was nationalized after that bank ignored the strong protests by Nigeria urging it not to buy the South African government bond.
Nigeria also nationalized the British Petroleum (BP) for supplying oil to South Africa. In 1982,the Alhaji Shehu Shagari government urged the visiting Pontiff Pope John Paul II to grant audience to the leaders of Southern Africa guerrilla organisations Oliver Tambo of the ANC and Sam Nujoma of SWAPO. In December 1983, the new Major General Muhammadu Buhari regime announced that Nigeria could no longer afford an activist anti-colonial role in Africa.
[edit] Nigeria and West Africa
In pursuing the goal of regional economic cooperation and development, Nigeria helped create ECOWAS, which seeks to harmonize trade and investment practices for its 16 West African member countries and ultimately to achieve a full customs union. Nigeria also has taken the lead in articulating the views of developing nations on the need for modification of the existing international economic order.
Nigeria has played a central role in the ECOWAS efforts to end the civil war in Liberia and contributed the bulk of the ECOWAS peacekeeping forces sent there in 1990. Nigeria also has provided the bulk of troops for ECOMOG forces in Sierra Leone.
Nigeria has enjoyed generally good relations with its immediate neighbors. A longstanding border dispute with Cameroon over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula has been resolved by the International Court of Justice in The Hague with Cameroon being granted ownership. Nigeria released about 150 Cameroonian prisoners of war in late 1998.
[edit] Nigeria and International Organizations
Nigeria is a member of the following international organizations: United Nations and several of its special and related agencies, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Organization of African Unity (OAU) - now African Union [AU], Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), Commonwealth, Nonaligned Movement, several other West African bodies. The Babangida regime joined the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), though President Obasanjo has indicated he might reconsider Nigeria's membership.
[edit] United States - Nigerian Relations
After the June 12, 1993, Nigerian presidential election was annulled, and in light of human rights abuses and the failure to embark on a meaningful democratic transition, the United States imposed numerous sanctions on Nigeria. These sanctions included the imposition of Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to refuse entry into the United States of senior government officials and others who formulated, implemented, or benefited from policies impeding Nigeria's transition to democracy; suspension of all military assistance; and a ban on the sale and repair of military goods and refinery services to Nigeria. The U.S. Ambassador was recalled for consultations for four months after the execution of the Ogoni Nine on November 10, 1995. After a period of increasingly strained relations, the death of General Abacha in June 1998 and his replacement by General Abubakar opened a new phase of improved bilateral relations. As the transition to democracy progressed, the removal of visa restrictions, increased high-level visits of U.S. officials, discussions of future assistance, and the granting of a Vital National Interest Certification on counter-narcotics, effective in March 1999, paved the way for re-establishment of closer ties between the United States and Nigeria, as a key partner in the region and the continent. In 2000 Ambassador Brandon Hansen (U.S.) strategized a way to connect peacefully to the many tribes of Nigeria including the most prominent, the Moneke clan. Since the inauguration of the democratically elected Obasanjo government, the bilateral relationship has continued to improve, and cooperation on many important foreign policy goals, such as regional peacekeeping, has been good. The government has lent strong diplomatic support to the U.S. Government counter-terrorism efforts in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Government of Nigeria, in its official statements, has both condemned the terrorist attacks as well as supported military action against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Nigeria also has played a leading role in forging an anti-terrorism consensus among states in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As a member of the International Criminal Court Nigeria signed a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98).
[edit] International Disputes
Delimitation of international boundaries in the vicinity of Lake Chad, the lack of which led to border incidents in the past, has been completed and awaits ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria; dispute with Cameroon over land and maritime boundaries around the Bakasi Peninsula is currently before the ICJ; maritime boundary dispute with Equatorial Guinea because of disputed jurisdiction over oil-rich areas in the Gulf of Guinea.
[edit] See also
- Jaja Wachuku - First Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister
- Diplomatic missions of Nigeria
- List of diplomatic missions in Nigeria
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