Meeting A Daughter Of The Soil



Ambassador Sanders:
‘I Am a Daughter, Sister Of Nigeria, I Won’t Do Anything Against My People’
(As published in The Guardian of February 3, 2008)
By Jahman Anikulapo

“As a daughter of Africa… I will never be in support of something that will be of negative consequence to the continent”.
Of course, with a committal statement such as this, dug up from the recesses of the soul, every doubt about the sincerity of the speaker’s position would vanish. The initial scepticism was instantly replaced by reverence for her courage to take on an issue that had become such a sore on the reputation of the institution she represents.
Madam Ambassador had earlier, on same issue of the rumoured intention of the American government regarding the establishment of an African Command – AFRICOM – in Nigeria, declared: “I am telling you as a sister of Nigeria, I will never be party to anything that would be detrimental to the welfare of the people of this country, who are also my own people”.
In truth, Sanders looks every inch like the sister next door, or one’s mum, or sister, or aunt.
The Ambassador of the United States of America, Robin Renee Sanders was having her very first chat with the media since she came in about six weeks ago. She played host last Wednesday to a group of six editors from print, television and radio media organisations at the US embassy’s guesthouse in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Much as her staff had attempted to create a bit of diplomatic formality around the event, Sanders eased the session into informality as soon as she began to give her introductory remark. She expressed her happiness at being posted to Nigeria, a country she had always, as many African Americans are won’t to do, regarded as home.
According to her, it is providential that she had been posted to the country at a most auspicious time; “I think this is an important time in Nigeria and its history to be the U.S Ambassador here. This is my second ambassadorship in Africa”, she said. “I think that the U.S -Africa partnership is very important, particularly the U.S. relationship with Nigeria. Nigeria is a very strategic country. We recognise its importance. We see Nigeria as a friend from the U.S standpoint and we see the relationship between our people as one of friendship and partnership”.
Listening to Sanders easily refreshed the eventful service of Walter Carrington at another momentous period of Nigeria history — in the thick of the agitation for the de-annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida had cancelled to prevent the presumed winner, MKO Abiola from assuming the office. The huge, personable Carrington had stepped boldly into the fray — fraternising with the pro-democracy movement; including participating in public protestation, aside of intervening at the most crucial diplomatic and global community levels. He was branded an activist envoy and cast in a very rare mode. However, the explanation had run then that Carrington must have been motivated in his action by the fact of his own background as an African-American.
Sanders, the first female ambassador of the United States to this country, is cast in an even more peculiar mode. Her approach is motherly and this she reflects strongly in her calm and composed personality. She appears to be an activist in the mode of a change agent; a catalyst operating on the template of visioning and transformational principles.
Still on the testy issue of AFRICOM, when she seemed to sense the intransigence of one of her guests, she had been moved to declare on an even more emotive manner: “You can choose to accept my explanation or not; I think that I have come home, I feel very much comfortable with being in Nigeria, ” she stressed. “So, I am telling you as a sister who has come home to Nigeria that Africa is the real deal.”
She was miffed that at the time the issue of AFRICOM broke in the media, following a statement President Umar Yar’Adua had allegedly made in Washington DC while at a meeting with President Bush late last year, “no one in the press has asked me” about it. Yet, she was willing to reiterate the content of a public statement she released earlier that Wednesday, in which she stated: “the only thing new about AFRICOM is the name AFRICOM”.
In the presence of the editors, she recalled that she was present at the meeting at which President Bush and Yar’Adua were supposed to have agreed on the need for the American government to establish the command in Nigeria. Responding to a question on why there had seemed a reluctance on the part of her office to quickly address the misperception of America’s intention, Sanders traced the beginning of a debacle that for weeks engaged the pen and wit of many public commentators:
“When I arrived here, and presented my credential on the 3rd of December, I immediately went back to be part of the delegation that received President Yar’Adua in Washington. We had a fantastic visit in Washington and then I came back and it was the holiday season. I am just coming back again from a ‘Listening Tour’; and I really have not had time to address the matter, because no one asked me what AFRICOM is all about.”


• With Tim Gerhardson, Public Affairs Officer of te Us Consulate

Further on the content of the historical meeting (now controversial) between the American and Nigerian presidents, Ambassador Sanders stated: “I was at the meeting between the two presidents. We were talking about broader partnership issues and the issue of AFRICOM came up as part of the discussion. It was not the focus of the meeting. We were looking at a range of things in terms of business ties, democratic rules. The president (Yar’Adua) highlighted his seven-point agenda, discussed ways in which we could be in support of transparent democratic agenda and a lot of partnering issues surrounding that, including AFRICOM; which is really a positive idea”.
She adds: “Quite frankly, I am a professional within the United States government and I have worked on African issues most of my 27 years in the diplomatic world and I have always been a proponent of reorganizing that part of our governance so that we can be more responsive. It is a positive thing for the continent and I think it should be embraced in that regard. I think there has been a tremendous misunderstanding about the role and purpose of AFRICOM. There is no plan to have any military base in Nigeria. I wonder where that came from.
“The U.S has always had humanitarian services, capacity building and technical assistance, which is part of the U.S. military contribution and partnership with the African continent. We have just reorganized ourselves; so that all those capabilities are in one location, instead of the three locations where they were before. It just seems that there is reluctance to accept the fact that there is nothing unfair about AFRICOM. The grand plan now is that the headquarters of AFRICOM, as a command, is in Stuttgart, Germany”.
But the misreading of the agenda, especially by the media, really rankled her excellency; perhaps as she was just resuming at her post.
She recalled those moments:
“The other thing I found interesting is that no matter what dialogue we put out, there is a speculation that we have changed our position because of the reaction (the controversy) we are getting. There hasn’t been a change of position. It has been the same always. AFRICOM is just the name for the reorganization that we did; so that the US become more efficient, effective and responsive to some of the traditional things that we have always provided as part of the partnership we have with Africa for decades. Even more so, we are strengthening our partnership on a lot of ways by having all those resources in one location. There is no attempt whatsoever to militarize Africa and have a base in Africa”.
Sanders explained further: “AFRICOM is an internal reorganisation, so that we become more organized and responsive to the request that we have gotten over the years and which we will continue to get in terms of technical assistance, capacity building, humanitarian and disaster assistance. We thought it was better to organize it such that all these resources are in one location and we just decide to call it AFRICOM or Africa Command. We have commands in all the regions of the world. We have never had one for Africa, where everything is in one place”.
Continuing, she reproduced, off-head, a segment of her press statement on same troublesome matter: “What is happening today with AFRICOM is a strategic positioning of all this assistance and capacity building to one location, Stuttgart, Germany, as opposed to the three locations where this assistance and capacity building was housed before”.
Yet her disappointment at the politicking that seemed to have greeted the project could not be veiled, even as she attempted to be nice about it all.
Noticeably, it was more pleasant to listen to Madam Ambassador speak on even such a sore issue, enjoying the softness of her voice, warm candour and her trained cadences, than to encounter her strict-faced pen.
Well, in her press statement, she wrote: “ It is so unfortunate that there is a perception that our efforts to better respond to our African partners have been viewed here in Nigeria as nefarious. Why would we do such a thing to a strategic friend and partner such as Nigeria? There is not and has never been any desire by my government to have a military base in Nigeria or to militarise Africa or the sub-region. The bilateral relationship between our two nations is strong, it is a partnership, and the resources of AFRICOM, which have always been there, should be viewed as a positive addition to that friendship.”
Besides, the Ambassador reiterated that “with the number of Nigerians living in the United States, with the number of Americans living in Nigeria, I think this is a historical connection that supersede any government ties culturally, globally; why on earth would we try to do something at variance to one of our dearest friends on the continent? It doesn’t make any sense”.

AT the media meet, Sanders, who very recently served as the Deputy Commandant of one of US military’s premier colleges, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington DC, also explained that not even the over-arching situation in the Niger Delta, which had seen some Americans kidnapped or molested, will make the US government contemplate setting up a military command in the country.
According to her, the Niger Delta is a sovereign issue for Nigeria and it is the belief of the US government that Nigeria can handle the matter. However, in helping out on the crises on the creeks, the US government would rather offer assistance in the area of “community development and capacity building… that’s the expertise that we do have and will certainly be willing to provide that. But we haven’t been asked to do that”.
Even where it concerns the grave, poignant matter of peace and security in the troubled region, Madam Ambassador assured that: “Our response would be to work with the Nigerian government to help in some of the challenges in terms of peace and security. Niger Delta is a domestic challenge as I said earlier. I think what I understand through the discussions that I have had is that insecurity exists because there is no enabling environment to have alternatives. I think there is a way that these issues can be addressed, including through dialogue; having a dialogue about what people feel, what are their needs; and these are from the comments that I hear from Nigerians.”
And in response to another question on the earlier rumoured presence of US armed forces on the waters of the Niger Delta, a situation that had been flagged in some quarters as having contributed to the rising military temper in the creeks, Sanders who, aside DR Congo, had also worked in Sudan, Namibia and Senegal, with missions to Angola, South Africa, Cameroon, Botswana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia, Benin and Nigeria, assured:
“We don’t have any interventional module for the Niger Delta crisis. One of the reasons why I went to the Niger Delta to meet with community leaders and government officials was that I wanted to hear their views. I wanted to get some understanding of the challenges the community leaders face as well as the government officials. We don’t have any ulterior motive or intervention whatever. We can be helpful in community development by addressing employment generation or income generation issues. We sure will do that to support the grassroots. We haven’t been asked to do that yet; and if we are asked to, it would be in terms of development projects dialogue and technical assistance for civil society organisations.
“The challenges that exist in the Niger Delta is about education, jobs, changing the people’s lives and bringing the militants back into the community environment and finding for them jobs instead of the oil bunkering.
“This is a Nigerian sovereign issue. It will be up to Nigerians and those in the Delta to find ways of addressing some of the challenges they have”.

ASIDE being a dutiful, beloved daughter of Africa, Sanders had every cause to consider herself a defender of the continent’s interest. In her 27 years of service to the American government, she had (has) always walked the path of the motherland. Between 2000-2002, she had served as Director for Public Diplomacy for Africa for the State Department; and from 2002 to 2005, she had served as Ambassador to the Republic of Congo. Under former Presidents George Bush (in 1988 — 1989) and Bill Clinton (1997-1999), she served twice at the White House as Director for Africa in the National Security Council.

IT was clear that rather than expending her energies on the distorted information about the facts and fictions of AFRICOM, the Ambassador would rather share the joy and fulfilment she derived from the first leg of her ‘Listening Tour’ – which was designed to take her round the country.
On the first leg of the tour, which took her to Lagos, Plateau, Delta and Rivers States, she met with a wide range of public officials, business and community leaders. And relating the report at the parley with the editors, Ambassador Sanders said, it was to “meet and talk with Nigerians about the U.S partnership and bilateral relationship. I have had the opportunity to be in Plateau State, to come here to Lagos and also I had the opportunity to visit Port Harcourt yesterday (last Tuesday) and likewise Delta State. So it has given me an opportunity to talk to a range of Nigerians in the business sector, in the community development sector, in the civil society sector as well as government officials.
“So, it is heartening to know that the ties between the U.S. and Nigeria is recognized and appreciated throughout Nigeria. Of note, my team and I — and that includes the embassy in Abuja as well as the Consul General in Lagos — are really looking forward to a dynamic relationship and opportunities to really partner in a number of areas in business and economic ties including health, particularly HIV/AIDS, Malaria; and of course, the importance of democracy and transparency and the focus on anti-corruption in various segments of governance. We see all those things and we feel they are important to Nigeria and we can partner with you in a co-operative manner and in a friendship manner on the way forward.
“What I believe is that this is an important time in Nigeria’s history. Yes, we are disappointed with elections in the past, but I think it’s time for Nigeria to move forward and ensue those things that are recognized as positive aspects of democracy — transparency, good governance, investing in people... there are 140 million Nigerians and I think the most important thing as a nation is its people. We want to play a role and partner with Nigerian people in sustaining democracy in Nigeria”.
More assuredly, she remarked, “I think it is important in terms of working with the communities to address some of the day-to-day challenges that many Nigerians face in terms of economic development and growth. I think part of the dialogue on democracy includes the role of the private sector. The U.S. can be a friend and a partner in all of those areas.

A MASTER of Arts degree holder in International Relations and Africa Studies, with additional Masters of Science degree in Communications and Journalism from Ohio University, Ambassador Sanders highlighted the various areas in which the US government has been making input into development goals of Nigeria.
She stated: “The US mission is comprised of several US agencies and what we have tried to do is look at how we could be of support to Nigeria. The agencies are doing a lot of activities with primary and secondary education. We are also looking at the request to go into vocational training to provide skill for people — to transform their lives from poverty and difficult circumstances to employment.
“On HIV/AIDS, we are working with a number of hospitals, clinics and schools around the country to provide not only HIV/AIDS education and prevention but also keep dialoguing about the importance of being responsible in terms of sexual matters. We are providing a lot of equipment to support hospitals throughout the country. We are setting up mobile units that can go out to communities to provide not only testing but also medicines for mother-to-child transmission. We are helping people to learn to live a fruitful life, even if they are positive with HIV/AIDS.
“We are moving forward on democracy, on transparency, continuing the fight against corruption, strengthening some of Nigeria’s institutions. We want to support Nigeria in the things Nigerians want from their leaders; and I don’t know if that is really understood. It is not about what America wants for Nigeria; it is about how we can support Nigeria; and what I keep hearing is what I have said earlier: that we want a transparent democracy in Nigeria that will provide a better way of life for Nigerians in the future”.
Peace and security is an important fact in the ties that exist between both countries, and Sanders reiterated that the US is willing to play an important role in this.
On reported threat of terrorism from a certain section of the north, Ambassador Sanders said peace and security in the north is extremely important, but the US does not believe that its subjects are or have been specifically targeted by any group. Saying that the threat of terrorism is everywhere in the world, she averred that “those of us that make up the democracy voices of the world need to be vigilant all the time about the potentials of terrorism everywhere. Part of our partnership with other democratic nations of the world is really to combat terrorism everywhere”.
On human trafficking, she said, “There is a global fight against trafficking in persons and Nigeria is doing its part, we are doing our part; we just have one of the most Senior U.S official that works on trafficking in person issues meeting with local authorities. They have highlighted areas they want for partnership; they have had dialogue on the efforts that Nigeria has made to ensure that our cities are not used as areas of trafficking in persons. A lot of work is being done internationally on these issues”.
On issues of transparency and anti-corruption, particularly the response of the US government to the rumpus that engulfed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), in the wake of the federal government’s decision to send its head, Malam Nuhu Ribadu on a study leave, Ambassador Sanders said, “the U.S. has been very active in continued support for the EFCC and other transparency initiatives that are very much in the forefront of fighting corruption. We are ready to provide technical assistance and capacity building and we will continue in that vein”.
In particular, she said the American government had stressed to the Nigerian government the need to protect the integrity of the EFCC, ostensibly by not tinkering with its stability or the official comportment of its operatives.
“We issued a statement on the change in the EFCC. We were very much in the forefront with the others about the importance of maintaining the vigour that the EFCC has had today. We have been a very strong partner of the EFCC in terms of capacity building and technical assistance; we have lent our voice to the others in the international community to maintain the forthright vigour of the EFCC on issues of transparency, corruption and anti-graft; maintaining the integrity, energy and dynamism that marked the EFCC in its work because, without transparency, the challenge of moving forward in democracy is going to be overwhelming.
“Make no mistake, there is actually no retreat on our part in our commitment to fight corruption in Nigeria. We will continue our training and our interaction with the EFCC’s transparency, not only on the political front but also on our economic and business ties. Without transparency, you don’t have a democracy. Without that, you cannot move forward. We desire to work with Nigerian institutions to combat corruption and anti-graft issues”.
Robin Renee Sanders also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication from Hampton University, and is a recipient of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Civilian Honor Award; three State Department Superior Honor Awards; Four Department Meritorious Honor Awards, the ‘President Merit of Honour Award’ from the Republic of Congo. She also has several citations in Who’s Who of America and Who’s Who of American Women in Politics.
Earlier in her career, she had served as Special Assistant for Latin America, Africa and International Crime for the Under-secretary for Political Affairs at the State Department (1996-1997); and between 1994 and 1996, as Chief of Staff and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor for a member of the House International Relations Committee, where she worked in the area of democracy, reconstruction and nation building.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I see they brought out the big guns for this article.

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