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Nigeria African and Regional Issues
Nigeria has been a leading spokesman on African
security
issues, such as internal and interstate conflicts, foreign
intervention, colonialism, and regional defense
arrangements. It
supported the strengthening of the OAU and the use of
diplomacy
to resolve intra-African conflicts, and it played an
active role
in continental security issues. The Nigerian head of
state,
Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo, and Mali's
president,
Colonel Moussa Traoré, undertook a mission in 1980 on
behalf of
the OAU's "committee of wise men" to mediate the Western
Sahara
dispute. Complaining of Moroccan inflexibility, Nigeria
withdrew
from the OAU Implementation Committee on Western Sahara
and
recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1984.
Obasanjo
also accused Tanzania of setting "a dangerous precedent of
unimaginable consequences" by overturning Idi Amin's
regime in
Uganda and by starting the conflict between the two
countries.
Although Nigeria steadfastly opposed foreign interference
in
Africa, it acknowledged Zaire's right to call on French
and
Belgian paratroopers during the 1978 crisis in Shaba
Province,
Zaire. Obasanjo gave qualified endorsement to Soviet and
Cuban
intervention on Angola because they had been invited "to
assist
in the liberation struggle and the consolidation of
national
independence," but he warned that "they should not
overstay their
welcome."
Nigeria actively participated in OAU discussions on the
formation of a pan-African defense force, to be either a
peacekeeping force on the UN model for African interstate
conflicts or an African high command to defend African
states
against outside powers and South African aggression. In
1972
Nigeria proposed formation of a joint African military
task force
to which all OAU members would contribute. It would be
stationed
in independent states bordering the Portuguese colonies to
defend
sanctuaries and rear areas of the liberation movements,
and
defend independent host states from colonialist attacks.
In 1981
Nigeria hosted an emergency summit of the southern Africa
frontline states that called on all OAU members to extend
urgent
assistance, especially military aid, to Angola to repel
South
African forces. The concept of an African high command has
not
gained widespread support, however. Some African states
advocated
a mission limited to defense against racist and
imperialist
threats, but not intra-African conflicts or insurgencies
within
independent African states. Others argued for a
continental
military command to deter external attacks, to intervene
in
domestic disorders to prevent or suppress military coups,
and to
counter South African forces.
Although Africa lacked a continent-wide collective
security
system, both informal and formal regional mutual defense
arrangements have developed. Nigeria participated in the
defense
pact of the sixteen-nation ECOWAS, the only regional
economic
organization with such a collective security arrangement.
ECOWAS was established by a treaty ratified by fifteen
states
in May 1975--Cape Verde joined in 1977--to promote trade,
economic development, and cooperation in West Africa. In
1978
ECOWAS adopted a nonaggression protocol, and in 1981
thirteen of
its members signed a mutual defense pact providing for
collective
military response against attack from non-ECOWAS
countries,
mediation and peacekeeping missions in the event of armed
conflict between member states, and defense against
external
states that initiate or support insurgencies within member
states. It also provided for a Defence Council, a Defence
Commission, and joint exercises, but no standing regional
force
or command structure. ECOWAS has been successful in
mediating
disputes between member states, particularly in attempting
to
resolve the civil war in Liberia. An ECOWAS Cease-fire
Monitoring
Group (ECOMOG) comprising about 8,000 troops led by
Nigeria was
dispatched to Liberia in August 1990. It succeeded in
implementing a cease-fire agreement between the main rival
factions and in appointing an interim president.
In this loosely structured defense system, only
Nigeria's
armed forces had the size, experience, equipment, and
logistical
resources to provide or serve as the core of an ECOWAS
rapid
deployment force. On the other hand, ECOWAS members were
wary of
Nigeria's aspirations to regional dominance. Many
francophone
states had long-standing military aid and security
agreements
with France, and seven of them were already parties to the
nonaggression and mutual defense pact of the francophone
West
African Economic Community (Communauté Économique de
l'Afrique de
l'Ouest--CEAO). Moreover, many ECOWAS members, including
Nigeria,
had found bilateral and less formal means to pursue their
regional security objectives, sometimes under the auspices
of
ECOWAS. For example, Nigeria and Guinea were mandated in
1986 to
mediate between Liberia and Sierra Leone after Liberia
closed its
border in the wake of a coup attempt allegedly launched
from
Sierra Leone. In mid-1990 Babangida also offered to
mediate
Liberia's civil war within the ECOWAS framework, but at
the same
time Nigeria was reportedly arming the armed forces of
Liberia
that supported President Samuel K. Doe (killed in
September 1990)
against the rebels. Although Nigeria's creation of a rapid
deployment force during 1988-89 suggested its intent to
rely on
unilateral means to intervene in regional crises, it did
not rule
out participation in multilateral deployments
(see Army
, this
ch.). Indeed, the history of Nigeria's participation in
international peacekeeping missions was second to none
among
African states.
In the late 1980s, ECOWAS became the focus of regional
efforts to deal with emerging environmental and security
threats
posed by toxic waste, international smuggling, and
narcotics
trafficking. Two incidents affecting Nigeria attracted
international attention. In May 1988, after an Italian
ship
dumped toxic industrial waste at the port of Koko in
Bendel
State, Nigerian authorities evacuated the local population
and
seized the ship until the waste was removed by the Italian
government. In October 1989, Nigeria ordered out of its
territorial waters a Greek ship allegedly carrying frozen
meat
contaminated by nuclear fallout from Chernobyl, Soviet
Union. At
the eleventh ECOWAS summit in June 1988, chaired by
Babangida,
members agreed to make the dumping of toxic and nuclear
waste in
the region a criminal offense and approved a Nigerian plan
to set
up a "dump watch" alert and information-sharing system.
Babangida
also urged ECOWAS members to set up mechanisms to counter
smuggling.
Nigeria's most significant regional deployments were
its
intercession in the complex Chadian and Liberian civil
wars,
experiences fraught with lessons for future African
peacekeeping
missions. In 1979 it mediated between rival Chadian
factions and
Libya at two conferences in Kano and sent an 850-member
peacekeeping force to N'Djamena to police the cease-fire.
However, within three months Nigeria was asked to evacuate
after
a dispute about compliance with Chadian government orders.
Nigeria hosted a summit in August 1980 at which all eleven
rival
Chadian groups entered into the Lagos Accord on National
Reconciliation in Chad. Conditions continued to
deteriorate,
however, as Libyan intervention persisted and as French
troops
pulled out. A summit of four African presidents in May
1981
failed to find a formula for Libyan withdrawal and for
introduction of an African peacekeeping force. France
urged
Nigeria and friendly francophone states to constitute an
OAU-
sponsored joint force having logistical support from
France.
In November 1981, six African states--Nigeria, Senegal,
Zaire, Benin, Togo, and Guinea--pledged to form a joint
6,000-
member force under a Nigerian commander. Financial
constraints
prevented half of them from meeting their commitments, and
only
Senegal, Zaire, and Nigeria provided troops for this
second
Chadian operation. Lagos had to bear most of the burden,
including provision of three of the five army units, and
the
airlift and logistical units the others failed to provide.
Worse
still, the mission itself failed. The OAU's inability to
affect
internal Chadian politics, the delayed deployment of the
ill-
equipped force, and its limited, uncertain mandate left
Nigeria
dangerously exposed on a US$100 million mission in
deteriorating
military conditions. Habré's forces entered the capital
victoriously in June 1982. This episode undermined
military and
popular confidence in the government of Shagari,
contributing to
its downfall. Although stung by this experience, Nigeria
continued to pursue its security interests in Chad by
active
diplomacy, including mediation between Chad and Libya.
In the case of Liberia, when the seven-nation ECOWAS
mediation committee failed to end the three-way civil war,
ECOWAS
decided to send a peacekeeping force in August 1990. Five
nations
contributed to the 7,000-member force, dubbed the ECOWAS
Cease-
fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG). Nigeria's 5,000 troops,
logistical support, and naval and air force units provided
the
bulk of this multinational effort. Thousands of Nigerians
were
evacuated from the war-torn country, but ECOMOG's mission
as a
neutral peacekeeping force was soon compromised. Nigerian
units
became embroiled in the conflict, which spilled over into
Sierra
Leone, staging point for the ECOMOG operation. At least
500 fresh
Nigerian troops were then deployed to Sierra Leone to
defend the
supply lines and assist the Sierra Leone army in fending
off
Liberian rebel incursions.
Nigeria has been in the vanguard of African support for
the
liberation of southern Africa and defense of the frontline
states. It was one of the most consistent and generous
providers
of political, financial, and material assistance to the
Namibian
liberation movement, the South West Africa People's
Organization
(SWAPO), including substantial support to help organize
pre-
independence elections. Nigeria donated several million
dollars'
worth of military and financial aid to the African
National
Congress in its struggle against South Africa's apartheid
regime.
Nigeria also sent military equipment to Mozambique, which
was
attempting to suppress South African-backed Resistência
Nacional
Moçambicana (Renamo) guerrillas.
Data as of June 1991
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