Subjects: Australia/Nigeria relations; CHOGM; Zimbabwe
E&OE...........
I would like to briefly say how delighted I am, and the Government is to have the President here in Australia. It';s the first ever visit by a Nigerian Head of State to this country but it';s particularly important because of President Obasanjo';s immense personal contribution to the restoration of democracy in his own country.
I said to him this morning that we share democratic ideals and values, but none of us in Australia who are in politics have had to go through the fire that the President has gone through, periods of imprisonment, persecution. Many people who were sympathetic to what he was trying to achieve feared for his life and we admire that very much, the restoration of democracy in Nigeria and the personal role that he';s played, and I am, for that reason and for the important bilateral interests at stake I am delighted to welcome him here. The bilateral relationship, although not as extensive as relationships that Nigeria has with other countries and Australia has with other countries is very positive and I know on something of mutual interest to both of us he enjoyed very much his visit to the Australian Institute of Sport this morning, and from that he';s developed some ideas in relation to the promotion of sporting excellence, although Nigerians are already very high achievers in that in many areas that make Australians envious, particularly on the endurance side of track events.
Can I say Mr President that you are welcome. I want to publicly thank you for the contribution that Nigeria';s made to the peace monitoring and peace keeping efforts in the Solomons and East Timor, I look forward to working with you as a Commonwealth colleague at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Coolum. We have issued a joint communique which canvases in more detail a number of the issues that we have dealt with. Mr President.
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
Mr Prime Minister, I want to again take this opportunity to express to you and to your Government on my own behalf and on behalf of my delegation, gratitude for the very warm reception and the hospitality you have accorded us since we came in. As I said to you, I will have more than just the fact that we share the ideals of democracy, the ideals of fundamental human rights, the ideals of rule of law that were most appalled duringthe…what I call the darkest days in the history of Nigeria. This country stood for what I believe is right for Nigeria, and the fact that we have democracy today is because Nigerians stood courageously firm against tyranny and the oppression of a ruthless dictatorship. And we also got support and encouragement of the international community and especially countries and Governments like yours.
We have reviewed of course, I took the opportunity of this visit to brief you on situations in our country, political, economic, social situations in our section of West Africa and situation in Africa in general. And I have no doubts and I';m happy that you share this with me, that if we are to continue to build on what we have now, be it a modicum of democracy that we have in Africa now, then Africa must also be strong economically. Because unless those of us that believe in democracy are able to give a democracy dividend to our people in terms of a house and quality of life, than sooner or later they will be disenchanted and have no faith or interest in democracy.
Now we must never allow that to happen and you must help us not to allow that to happen because if that happens then it would be much more difficult to bring back what we might have lost. We of course are looking forward to CHOGM because this is a family meeting and we believe that at such a family meeting we will discuss family matters in a family atmosphere and in a family way. Prime Minister, once again thank you very much.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] How will you approach the Zimbabwe issue with [inaudible]?
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
Well when we get together we will look at the Zimbabwe issue in all its entirety. I believe that the best starting point will be the Abuja Agreement and the Abuja Agreement is very clear. It started by saying the land is an issue in Zimbabwe. Everybody agreed to that. And it then says yes, Zimbabwe has certain things to do and upon that the international community led by Britain and assisted by UNDP has certain things to do. We have to examine that, that is on the land issue. Then on the election issue I had visited Zimbabwe not too long ago and I raised four issues. One – observers; two – foreign media; three – the issue of the violence, how to reduce the level of violence; and four – really communication and harmony within the different groups in Zimbabwe. Because unless they do that the economy of Zimbabwe itself is in bad shape, and it';s not only in Zimbabwe, it is having an effect on the neighbours of Zimbabwe.
JOURNALIST:
But sir is there a problem with regard to Zimbabwe';s presence within the Commonwealth, remaining in the Commonwealth, given the Harare declaration and the emphasis on the rule of law and democratic principles? Does Zimbabwe deserve its place in the Commonwealth?
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
We have to examine that.
JOURNALIST:
Do you support targetted sanctions against the Mugabe government [inaudible]
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
Well it is not a question of supporting or not supporting. It';s a question of as a family, we laid out certain rules and if you have gone outside that rule and it is proven that you have gone outside that rule and you have to be sanctioned then you';ll be sanctioned. But it must be proven beyond reasonable doubt that you have gone outside that rule.
JOURNALIST:
Mr President, what';s your position on the claims against Morgan Tsvangirai?
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
Well I have to be able to talk to both sides for me to….I don';t want to throw judgement. I have to talk to both sides. I have been trying to grab both sides since the issue was put out and I haven';t been able to talk to anybody on either side.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think there';s any veracity to the claims against him?
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
I can not make a judgement on that until I';ve spoken to both sides.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard what is your view on targetted sanctions against the Mugabe government?
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
I think what the President said about seeing the Abuja Agreement as something of a benchmark, I mean we were very positive about the Abuja Agreement. Our concern has been the evidence that the elements of the agreement have not been adhered to. I think the President';s also right when he says you make a judgement about sanctions after you';ve had a further discussion and heard all the evidence. I think it';s appropriate, given that the issue will clearly be discussed at the Heads of Government Meeting, I think it';s appropriate we have that discussion before I start making declarations about Australia';s attitude beyond stating the principle that if sanctions are necessary then they should be supported. But it';s also necessary as the President said to have a discussion about this issue and clearly the reports that have come through are disturbing and clearly if they are correct they indicate that the Abuja declaration or agreement has not been adhered to. But I think it';s unwise, given that we';re on the eve of the Commonwealth meeting, I think it';s unwise for me at this stage to go any further. There';s to be a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. The Nigerian Foreign Minister and the Australian Foreign Minister are both members of that and we';ll hear what they';ve got to say. In fact the President and I have jointly charged the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group with the responsibility of solving this very difficult problem. We have great confidence in the foreign ministers'; capacity to do that. But we';re obviously concerned about anything that violates the Harare principles. Our position';s very clear on that. But as to specific ways of dealing immediately with this issue I think the best thing to do is to discuss it at the CHOGM meeting and see what emerges from that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard when you say solving the matter….when you say you';ve charged the foreign minsters'; meeting…..
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
I perhaps was….
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
That is a bit of a joke.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
I';m sorry there was a little bit of frivolity between the President and I.
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
I said to …. I said to the Prime Minister, I say look our foreign ministers out of their wisdom will provide solutions to this, but that obviously is a joke.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
You just demonstrated Michelle it never does to joke about these things.
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
The foreign ministers will talk about it and they will make a report to us and based on the report they make to us we';ll decide what needs to be done.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Australia argued strongly for sanctions in January, sorry not for sanctions, for suspension in January. Has Australia changed its view?
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
No. Our position will always be consistent. But I';m just making the self evident point we are on the eve of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, we';re on the eve of the CMAG meeting, and without in any way retreating from anything that';s previously been said it is clearly an intelligent courtesy and an intelligent way of approaching it for the matter to be discussed and for me not to be drawn into any unilateral declarations much and all as you might tempt me….try and tempt Michelle into doing that. I don';t want to be rude, I don';t want to cut anything off, but the President does have to talk to the Opposition Leader and then we have to have lunch so I think we';ll have to terminate it there. Thank you.
PRESIDENT OBASANJO:
Thank you very much.
[Ends]