UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- Amid the hoopla in Washington before President Obama's nuclear security summit, one of his bilateral meetings was tellingly not announced in advance: one with Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.
This was disclosed only in response to a reporter's question on a White House press conference call late Sunday afternoon. "We should have mentioned that," acknowledged Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications.
Yes, Nigeria has been in political turmoil, a Lagos source told Inner City Press. But a meeting is a meeting.
Only two and a half bilateral meeting has yet taken place by the time of Sunday's conference call. A short read out of President Obama's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Singh was given, with no mention of issues like Myanmar, despite some reported but unresolved potential nuclear issues, much less Sri Lanka.
A long read-out about Kazakhstan was given, including new locomotive contracts for General Electric and, "lastly," a discussion on democracy and human rights, including the case of Yvgeniy Zhotis. (Click here for previous coverage of l'affaire Zhotis from Inner City Press.)
Mike McFaul, Senior Director for Russia and the Caucasus, said that President Obama told Nursultan Nazarbayev that both countries have to work on their democracies. When asked if this meant they had equivalent problems, McFaul said of course not. But to many, it sounded that way.
The communique to come out of all this will be non-binding, said Laura Holgate, Senior Director, WMD Terrorism and Threat Reduction. It will be a "political" document, making reference to various UN Security Council resolutions.
Of Sudan, an issue the UN Security Council met about on April 8, there was mention. Even given the meeting with South Africa's Jacob Zuma, and the belatedly disclosed meeting with Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan, there was no discussion of this weekend's Sudanese elections on the call, and seemingly not in the bilaterals. Hey, one wag said, we all have to work on our democracies. Watch this site.
