Nigeria to contribute troops to UN mission “if peace is reached”

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said his country would contributed troops to the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC) once peace was reached. “If peace is reached based on a real conciliation [between the DRC government and the armed rebels], Nigeria is prepared to contribute to the UN mission by sending troops,” he was quoted as saying in Brussels on Thursday by the Belgian newspaper ‘De Standaard’. Cooperation in ending conflict in Africa was one of the key themes of Obasanjo’s talks on Wednesday with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country has just taken over the EU presidency, Reuters reported on Thursday. “We are going to be partners with the European Union in bringing about peace and security and development in Africa,” Obasanjo said during a two-day visit to Belgium to meet EU and Belgian leaders. Belgium, the former colonial power in the DRC, has said it wants to use its six-month presidency of the 15-nation EU to encourage its European partners to help restore peace and prosperity to Africa’s war-torn Great Lakes region.