NigeriansTalk

Via Jide Salu.

Sec­re­tary of State Hillary Rod­ham Clin­ton, British For­eign Sec­re­tary David Miliband, French For­eign Min­is­ter Bernard Kouch­ner, EU High Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Cather­ine Ashton

Lon­don, United King­dom

Jan­u­ary 28, 2010

We express our deep regret at the recent vio­lence and tragic loss of lives in Jos, and extend our sym­pa­thies to the bereaved and injured. We urge all par­ties to exer­cise restraint and seek peace­ful means to resolve dif­fer­ences between reli­gious and eth­nic groups in Nige­ria. We call on the Fed­eral Gov­ern­ment to ensure that the per­pe­tra­tors of acts of vio­lence are brought to jus­tice and to sup­port intereth­nic and inter­faith dialogue.

Nige­ria is one of the most impor­tant coun­tries in sub-Saharan Africa, a mem­ber of the UN Secu­rity Coun­cil, a global oil pro­ducer, a leader in ECOWAS, a major peace­keep­ing con­tribut­ing coun­try, and a sta­bi­liz­ing force in West Africa. Nigeria’s sta­bil­ity and democ­racy carry great sig­nif­i­cance beyond its imme­di­ate borders.

We there­fore extend our sup­port to the peo­ple of Nige­ria dur­ing the cur­rent period of uncer­tainty, caused by Pres­i­dent Yar’Adua’s ill­ness. We extend our best wishes to the Pres­i­dent and his fam­ily, and join the Niger­ian peo­ple in wish­ing him a full recovery.

Nige­ria has expressed its resolve to adhere to con­sti­tu­tional processes dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time. We com­mend that deter­mi­na­tion to address the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion through appro­pri­ate demo­c­ra­tic insti­tu­tions. Nigeria’s con­tin­ued com­mit­ment and adher­ence to its demo­c­ra­tic norms and val­ues are key to address­ing the many chal­lenges it faces, includ­ing elec­toral reform, post-amnesty pro­grams in the Niger Delta, eco­nomic devel­op­ment, inter-faith dis­cord and trans­parency. The guber­na­to­r­ial elec­tions in Anam­bra on 6 Feb­ru­ary will be a mile­stone in the jour­ney towards elec­toral reform and a sig­nal of Nigeria’s com­mit­ment to the prin­ci­ples of democracy.

We are com­mit­ted to con­tinue work­ing with Nige­ria on the inter­nal issues it faces while work­ing together as part­ners on the global stage.

See dis­cus­sions here, here and here.