Libya, Nigeria issue joint statement

Libya and Nigeria have expressed their concern over the increased conflicts inside and between the African states and agreed to support the efforts exerted by the Organization of African Unity OAU and other regional organizations in order to put an end to these bloody conflicts in the Great Lakes areas and in Congo, Sierra Leone and others.

This was expressed in a joint statement released on Thursday night at the conclusion of the visit held by President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to Libya. The visit lasted for several hours, during which talks with Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gaddafi dealt with several issues of mutual concern on various bilateral, regional and international issues.

The Libyan and Nigerian sides agreed that wars and conflicts taking place in the African continent obstruct development in various areas. They welcomed the agreements reached to end these conflicts and praised the Syrte peace agreements and Lusaka ceasefire agreement, the Lumi agreement to end the crisis in Sierra Leone and called on the parties which signed these agreements to abide by them and cooperate completely to put an end to end to the long sufferings of the African peoples.

The two countries called on the international community to provide logistic and material backing for African peacekeeping efforts as well as providing humanitarian and material aid to the people of Sierra Leone to rebuild the country.

The two countries also called on the warring sides in Somalia, Sudan, Burundi and Eritrea and Ethiopia to resort to a policy of dialogue and negotiations to reach peaceful solutions to settle such disputes very soon.