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African American Leaders Reject Clinton Policy Toward Nigeria Call For Oil Sanctions, Political Pressure to Restore Democracy A coalition of African American civil rights leaders, elected officials and foreign policy experts today released a letter to President Bill Clinton rejecting the administration's "constructive engagement" accommodation with the Nigerian military dictatorship and calling instead for economic sanctions on that repressive regime and greater political and diplomatic backing for that west African nation's democracy movement. The letter is signed by a prestigious group of African-American leaders that includes Congressional Black Caucus Chair Maxine Waters, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and NAACP Board Chair Julian Bond, Africa Fund Chair Dr. Tilden LeMelle, TransAfrica head Randall Robinson, American Committee on Africa President Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Walter Carrington, Congresswomen Carolyn Kilpatrick and Cynthia McKinney, labor leader Bill Lucy, and human rights attorney Gay McDougall. The letter is a major rebuke to the Administration over its Nigeria policy and comes in response to softening White House support for human rights and democracy and signs of continuing disarray among policymakers. Those signs include conflicting statements by President Clinton and senior Administration officials over Nigerian military dictator General Sani Abacha's scheme to retain power as the sole candidate in upcoming Presidential elections. In March President Clinton gave tacit approval to Abacha's candidacy, saying, "If [Abacha] stands for election we hope he will stand as a civilian." Abacha's election scheme is bitterly opposed by the Nigerian democracy movement, which has mounted mass protests against Abacha's fraudulent election plan in recent weeks. The Administration failure to develop a policy response to the worsening repression and political turmoil caused by Abacha's candidacy was highlighted by the African American leaders, who called on the President "to immediately make a clear public statement confirming that the U.S. rejects the current transition process in Nigeria as being fatally flawed and illegitimate." "There is growing evidence that The White House is tilting towards an accommodation with the dictatorship, an accommodation that is a betrayal of the Nigerian people and an abandonment of principle in U.S. policy towards Africa," said American Committee On Africa President Wyatt Tee Walker. "The African American community cannot and will not stand idly by while our sisters and brothers in Nigeria are marching and dying for freedom. We support their struggle. The Clinton Administration should do the same. " The letter's call for oil sanctions challenges the Administration's refusal to use its considerable economic influence for human rights and democracy. Oil exports account for over 95 percent of Nigeria's annual hard currency earnings and fully 80 percent of government revenue, with U.S. purchases accounting for nearly half of annual oil output. This leaves the dictatorship extremely vulnerable to American sanctions. The International Roundtable on Nigeria, an alliance of U.S. and Nigerian human rights, environmental, pro-democracy and trade union organizations, of which The Africa Fund is a member, joins the African American leadership in support of a policy that puts African people and their inalienable rights to social justice, human rights and democracy at the forefront of U.S. policy towards Nigeria and not at the back of the foreign policy bus. Text of African American Leadership Sign on Letter on U.S. Nigeria
Policy President William Jefferson Clinton Dear President Clinton, In light of the confusion surrounding recent official statements on Nigeria and the lack of a clear policy, we the undersigned strongly endorse the following course of action.
(Signed)
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