Obasanjo Holds Crucial Talks with the Gambian, Sudanese Presidents

Olusegun Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has held crucial talks with President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia and his Sudanese counterpart, Omar al-Bashir. 

Obasanjo, who was one of four African leaders invited to private talks with President Jammeh after the 50th Independence Anniversary of The Gambia, briefed reporters on his visit saying discussions centered on the recent coup attempt, security in The Gambia and the future of the nation’s economy.

“One of the points that we looked at together is what this country has going for it,” Obasanjo said. “There is relative peace, relative stability, relative continuity and relative security. These are necessary ingredients to fast track development and growth as a democratic country.

“This is why I said to my brother (President Jammeh) that nothing stops The Gambia from being the Switzerland of West Africa. Switzerland is a small country but it is a great country. Gambia is a small country but it is on the path of being great.”

He added that  it is in the interest of all Africans that The Gambia grows to become a great country.“I, therefore, hold myself ready to be a partner in pursuance of that great objective,” he said.

After the meeting with Chief Obasanjo, President Jammeh held further talks with the Presidents of Ghana, Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea.

The President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, also hosted Obasanjo in Khartoum to discuss insecurity and instability in Africa, especially the crisis in Libya which has adversely affected other parts of Africa.

Briefing local and international media after the private meeting which lasted over 30 minutes, Chief Obasanjo said the meeting provided both leaders opportunity to examine peace and security issues in Africa, particularly the situation in North Africa.“Peace, security and stability which are fundamental to the development of any nation must be our preoccupation,” Chief Obasanjo said. 

“We must do everything possible to ensure that all over Africa, and particularly in North Africa, efforts are made to guarantee peace, security and stability no matter where the need arises.

“My brother (President al-Bashir) and I have agreed to work together with other partners to ensure that stability is achieved in the region and across the continent,” he added.

Obasanjo chairs the Africa Union’s commission of inquiry on South Sudan and has been a leading advocate of peace and security in Africa.

In the 1990s, he initiated the Conference on Security, Stability Development and Co-operation in Africa (CSSDCA), a policy development process created to function within the framework of the African Union and adopted at the 36th Session of the Assembly in Lome, Togo, in July 2000.