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Darfur, Somalia gets adviser
31/01/2007 09:58 - (SA)
Abuja - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday appointed a special adviser for Sudan's troubled Darfur and Somalia because of the situation there as the west African nation "may have to contribute more troops", says an official.
The official said: "In view of the special situation in Darfur, Sudan, and in Somalia, where Nigeria may have to contribute more troops and especially in Darfur, where a Nigerian officer was abducted", Obasanjo had appointed a special adviser for the region.
Obasanjo appointed Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former minister of defence, who, according to the text "is acquainted with these issues".
A former civilian governor of northern Kano State, Kwankwaso, was expected to liaise from Obasanjo's office, with the offices of the chairperson of the African Union Commission, President Omar El-Bashir of Sudan and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, on issues pertaining to Darfur and Somalia.
Nigerian military authorities said last week that they were preparing a battalion (about 700 troops) for Somalia. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, last year hosted an inter-Sudan peace talks on Sudan.
- AFP
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