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Calls for Carter to Mediate in Niger Delta Conflict |
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First there were rumors (unconfirmed, mind you) that Obama would help negotiate a cease-fire in the Niger Delta, where the rebel group MEND's activities have crippled oil export capacity. Now MEND is calling on former President Jimmy Carter to mediate:
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said on Tuesday that Carter had expressed willingness to help mediate. The acceptance is "on condition that the Nigerian government and any other relevant stake-holder invites him", MEND said in an emailed statement.
John Stremlau, the Carter Centre's vice-president for Peace Programs, said the former president would take such a request for all parties seriously. However, he said it was "woefully premature to suggest [Carter] will plunge himself into mediating this conflict".
[snip]
The group publicly approached Carter earlier this year to act as a negotiator.
"We are ready to call off all hostilities and hold a temporary ceasefire in honour of president Carter should the Nigerian government accept president Carter's initiative," MEND said in the statement.
"However, if as expected, the government fails to seize on this new opportunity for peace, our actions will continue to speak volumes beyond the Nigerian shores."
Carter failed in a previous attempt to mediate in the restive Delta in 1999, but he is familiar to many senior members of the different armed factions.
The Carter Centre informed MEND on Monday that it would consider mediating in the long-running conflict only if all sides made the request.
"The absolute first condition (for mediation) is that the Nigerian government has to approach us," Stremlau told Reuters news agency.
I draw a few conclusions from this. First, MEND really wants someone to mediate, and they really want it to be a credible figure from the outside.
Second, their calling on Obama and Carter indicates that there are American leaders who are positively perceived by hardline groups abroad, even in conflicts that could be seen as stemming partly from American energy/foreign policy. With Carter's image as an elder statesman on the rise, I think it's a good thing that Obama's credibility on the world stage is rising too. If Obama seizes the opportunity, 2009 could be a transformative year for America's relations with the world.
Third, MEND wants American attention either way. To paraphrase their statement, It's either negotiation or escalation.
If one were really crazy, one might speculate that Carter's recent high-profile activism could even represent a deliberate attempt by the former president to open a window for Obama, one that would allow him to embrace a more progressive foreign policy. Or maybe that's reading too much into it.
UN Dispatch has more.
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