20-Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Thank you for your letter of 10 January about
the elections that will be held in Nigeria in April.
As you note, the UK is contributing to these
elections through DFID's Elections Programme, which has a total
value of £7 million. The programme has two components. £4.5
million has been allocated to a consortium of civil society organisations
which is working with the electoral authorities, civil society,
the media and political parties to put in place the necessary
conditions for elections that improve on those held in 2003. The
remaining £2.5 million has been allocated to support the
independent National Electoral Commission in implementing critical
elements of the electoral process; to support civil society organisations
monitoring voter registration, women's participation in the electoral
process and the media; and for the conduct of domestic monitoring.
We are monitoring the electoral process closely
through the British High Commission and DFID offices in Abuja.
Lord Triesman visited Abuja on 1 February to discuss election
preparations with President Obasanjo, the Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission and other leading figures. Lord
Triesman conveyed to the President and other interlocutors the
importance we attach to the elections being free, fair and peaceful,
with a level playing field for all political parties and candidates.
We have no firm plans for sending a UK mission
to observe the elections. The European Union and the Commonwealth
both plan to send election observer missions to Nigeria and we
will consider what contribution we can make. Details of the EU
mission have yet to he finalised but we have been informed that
there should be a core team present from early March, which will
be reinforced by a second wave from mid-March and around 100 short-term
observers for the voting and counting in April. We support the
plans of the EU and the Commonwealth for sending observers and
aim to work closely with our colleagues in both organisations
to make observation of the elections as effective as possible.
Other international organisations, such as the
African Union and the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), may also send observers. An ECO WAS fact-finding mission
to assess election preparations arrived in Nigeria on 1 February
and will advise the ECOWAS Commission on whether it should send
an observer mission.
Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
6 February 2007
ACTIVE DIPLOMACY IN A CHANGING WORLD
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