PRESIDENT Umaru Yar’Adua will not be attending the United Nations annual General Assembly and the Climate Change summits starting on Tuesday, September 22 in New York.
The President turned down the respective invitation of US President, Barack Obama and the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon at the last minute.
Up till Friday afternoon at the UN Secretariat, Yar’Adua still had a slot reserved to address the UN General Assembly on Day 2 of its meeting on Thursday.
But UN sources confirmed yesterday that the Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, would now represent Nigeria, which means that the country will lose that slot reserved only for presidents.
Maduekwe will speak at a later date before the end of the weeklong meeting.
President Yar’Adua was invited alongside other heads of state, with more than 100 world leaders confirming participation.
There are at least four crucial events where Yar’Adua was being expected to participate.
First is the Tuesday Climate Change conference, which the Secretary-General summoned to mobilise world leaders on the need to conclude negotiations for a treaty on Climate change before the December meeting on the subject in Copenhagen, Denmark where the deal is to be sealed on Climate Change.
On Thursday at a press conference, Ki-moon warned that only about two weeks was left for the international negotiators to complete their work, but no agreement had been reached as yet.
The Secretary-General’s plan is to use the Climate Change summit with presidents and heads of state in attendance to convince the world leaders to reach a deal soon.
Secondly, the Nigerian president is expected to participate at the regular annual General Assembly summit of heads of state, which starts on Wednesday.
Besides offering him an avenue to address the Assembly, such a gathering, according to UN sources, would have enabled President Yar’Adua to campaign for Nigeria’s election for a non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council with his fellow presidents and heads of state.
According to a diplomat, the UN is a very hierarchical community and only heads of state can talk to heads of state.
Although Maduekwe will be representing Yar’Adua, yet, no president will meet with the Minister, except presidents from very small and non-influential nations, a source revealed.
The election to the UN Security Council non-permanent seat comes up on October 15 and although the African Group has endorsed Nigeria, the country still needs 128 votes, which is two-thirds majority requirement to be elected into the Council.
Thirdly, the President is expected as a major participant in the unprecedented meeting of US President Barack Obama on Tuesday, September 22.
According to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, a well known pro-African American diplomat and official, Dr. Susan Rice, President Obama will “host on the 22nd a lunch for heads of state and governments from sub-Saharan Africa.”
The luncheon “will focus on how the United States can work in partnership with African governments to strengthen African economic and social development.”
“The talk will focus primarily on three topics: job creation, especially for young people; creating a more conducive climate for trade and investment; and ways to mobilise African agriculture to create jobs and help feed the continent,” she said.
Yar’Adua will miss this meeting as well, and it was not clear as at press time whether Maduekwe will be welcomed since this was clearly labeled a meeting of heads of state with the US President.
The following day, President Yar’Adua will miss a another crucial meeting, which, again is called by the US President only for UN member-States like Nigeria, which contribute troops to the UN international peace-keeping missions.
Apart from being the 4th ranking UN nations in troop-contribution, Nigeria is also the leader of the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping.
But Yar’Adua will meet such a crucial meeting on the subject of peacekeeping with the US President, who is apparently reaching out specifically to Yar’Adua, among a few other presidents.
As US Ambassador Rice said in a White House press conference during the week, President Obama “will host a meeting with countries that contributed the largest numbers of police and troops to the United Nations peacekeeping operations.”
She hinted at the importance of the meeting, saying, “this is an opportunity for the President to focus attention on reforming and strengthening U.N. peacekeeping for the 21st century, and to recognise the largely unheralded contributions of those that are providing the backbone of these critical peacekeeping operations.”
Regarding this Obama meeting with States like Nigeria, UN sources explained that Yar’Adua was, in fact, the “beautiful bride to the Americans.”
This is because, as diplomatic sources explained, the US government was concerned about the situation in Somalia and desires that a more robust UN peacekeeping force be deployed quickly.
In that regard, sources say the Americans are hoping that Nigeria’s president could be encouraged during the meeting with Obama to provide substantially more troops for the UN peacekeepers in Somalia.
A Nigerian diplomat working with the UN Secretariat said this would have been an opportunity for President Yar’Adua to negotiate directly with Obama in return for whatever the Americans want from Nigeria.
Before now, Nigeria had been reluctant to commit more troops for the Somalia deployment at the UN. And since the US government is keen on protecting its interests against the activities of terrorists in Somalia, the Americans have been clamouring for a stronger UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
Until this effort, White House had simply not been very friendly towards the Nigerian presidency. First, President Obama opted not to visit Nigeria in his first African trip.
Secondly, when US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, visited Nigeria, her public and indoor comments were considered very critical.
Even there are reports that in the planning of the Clinton visit to Nigeria, the US Government might have left the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Nigeria out in several aspects.
However, with the current veiled offer from the White House to Aso Rock, a rapprochement is being built, according to diplomatic thinking.