    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [March 29, 2006]
    [Pages 596-598]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria
    March 29, 2006

        President Bush. Mr. President, welcome back to the Oval Office. We
    have just had a discussion that covered a lot of topics. Every time I
    meet with the President, he

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    brings a fresh perspective about the politics and the situation on the
    continent of Africa, and I want to thank you. I want to thank you for
    your leadership.
        The President and I talked about Darfur and the Sudan, and I made it
    very clear to him that we're deeply concerned about the humiliation, the
    rape, the murder that is taking place among the--against the citizens of
    Darfur. He agreed. And I want to thank you for your compassion.
        We talked and strategized about how to move forward, how to make it
    clear to the Sudanese Government that there will be a international
    response in working toward a peace. We talked about a dual track, that
    the rebels must come together and negotiate with the Government, and at
    the same time, we talked about bolstering the AU peacekeeping force with
    a blue-helmeted force. And I explained to him my desire to have a NATO
    overlay to make sure that force is robust.
        We talked about economic development. Of course, I brought up energy
    to the President. He's--he and I talked about the situation in the
    Nigerian Delta. He talked to me about his strategy to deal with the
    energy issue.
        And finally, I appreciate the decision he made regarding Charles
    Taylor. In my visit last week with the
    President of Liberia, we talked about
    Charles Taylor. The fact that Charles Taylor will be brought to justice
    in a court of law will help Liberia and is a signal, Mr. President, of
    your deep desire for there to be peace in your neighborhood.
        So welcome to the Oval Office. It's good to have you here, sir.
        President Obasanjo. Thank you very much. And as usual, I want to
    thank you for the warm and hardy reception that you have accorded us.
        The areas that I would call the areas of concern, by the time I
    arrived here last night, seemed to have been definably dealt with by
    this morning, particularly the issue of Charles Taylor. And as I said to
    you about a minute--a few minutes ago, Charles Taylor should be landing
    in Liberia by now, which should start putting the issue of Charles
    Taylor behind all of us.
        I appreciate the understanding of everybody and the way that the
    issue has been handled. I met the press earlier today to actually give
    what was our own position and how we were hoping to deal with the issue
    of Charles Taylor's disappearance. And of course, I do not agree, must
    disagree that we have been negligent in the way we handled the Charles
    Taylor issue. If we had been negligent, then Charles Taylor would have
    got away. He would not have been arrested if there was connivance or
    condonation on our part.
        Having said that, we, of course, talked about the general situation
    of peace and security in the West Africa subregion, and how West Africa
    subregion, with Charles Taylor issue behind us, how West Africa
    subregion is gradually becoming a haven of peace. We have dealt with
    Togo; we have dealt with Guinea-Bissau; we have dealt with Sierra Leone.
    Hopefully, we are now dealing with Liberia. And things seem to be going
    fairly well in Cote d'Ivoire. Well, of course, we are keenly watching
    the situation in Guinea--Conakry.
        Then we looked at the rest of Africa, particularly Democratic
    Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Great Lakes, generally.
    Then we talked about the issue of development, particularly security--
    supplies, security, stability, and also price stability of hydrocarbons
    from the Gulf of Guinea area, and how we are working hard to establish a
    Gulf of Guinea commission that will also deal with the issue of
    reconciling and dealing with ending misunderstanding among those in
    that--among countries that are in the Gulf of Guinea, how we can protect
    and how we can monitor what happens in that area, because the
    hydrocarbon we need for our own development and we need for the economic
    development and progress of the world. We are moving in this regard not
    only by ourselves

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    but also by our--with our development partners.
        Then, of course, we talked about NEPAD, which is where we work with
    the G-8 and--politically and individually.
        And we--I briefed the President on what we are doing with the Niger
    Delta, which is very important. And we are very grateful that the
    measures we are taking, which are essentially socioeconomic measures to
    address some of the grievances, identified grievances, will resolve the
    issues of the Niger Delta.
        I think these are some of the points. And I think--I want to thank
    President for remaining his charming self. [Laughter]
        President Bush. Thank you, sir.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:30 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to former President Charles Taylor of
    Liberia, who was arrested on March 29 in Nigeria on United Nations war
    crimes charges; and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.