Nigeria cement ties over Nuclear Proliferation

The U.S. and Nigeria seal cooperation agreement on stopping Nuclear proliferation.

Nigeria and the United States have agreed to work together to counter the spread of nuclear weapons, a senior US official said after a weekend meeting with acting president Goodluck Jonathan.

Undersecretary of state for political affairs William Burns met Jonathan late Saturday as the West leans on the UN Security Council -- where Nigeria has a seat -- to slap tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.

"The United States and Nigeria are determined to live up to our responsibility on nuclear issues," Burns told Nigerian state radio after the meeting, which he described as "excellent".

Both nations would work together to "both reduce existing nuclear arsenal ...and work against the proliferation of nuclear weapons," he added.

They will also "look for ways in which we can increase cooperation on civilian nuclear energy," he added.

Burns met Jonathan on the same day that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in Kampala to lobby Uganda -- the other African member of the Security Council -- on the nuclear issue.

Iran has previously offered to help Nigeria build a nuclear power plant.

Iran faces new sanctions after it refused a nuclear fuel supply deal which would have sent its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for conversion into high-grade uranium and later returned for its nuclear energy needs.

Last weekend, Iran -- which is defying previous UN demands to halt uranium enrichment, and which denies it is on a quest for a nuclear arsenal -- said it would lobby all UN Security Council members against sanctions.

Jonathan met US President Barack Obama a fortnight ago when he travelled to Washington on his first foreign trip for an international summit on nuclear security.

Nigeria is the United States' biggest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, with about a half of Nigerian crude oil production crossing the Atlantic to the US market.

On April 5 the two countries announced a strategic partnership deal focusing on energy, regional security and good governance -- the first time that the Obama administration has afforded such status to an African state

More in depth information on US-Nigeria relations can be found at US State Department site.

African Union leaders meet US Security advisor.

On Friday,  leaders from the African Union where in Washington for some strategic meetings.

Senior African Union officials met US National Security Advisor General Jim Jones at the White House to discuss increased cooperation between the United States and their organization.

The AU delegation, led by chairperson Jean Ping, was on the last day of a three-day visit for the first high-level bilateral talks between the African Union and Washington on issues including fighting hunger, climate change, and boosting peacekeeping operations.

Jones and Ping "both greatly appreciated the opportunity to meet and discuss shared challenges and opportunities in the areas of peace and security and economic development," the White House said in a statement on Friday.

The two "agreed on the importance of sustained engagement to strengthen cooperation on bilateral, regional, and global issues."

Ping told reporters after the meeting that the AU's 53 member states face issues "which are global problems, which can be solved only globally.

"If you want to talk about climate change or trade, no single (African) country... could be heard. Its voice is too small to be heard individually," Ping said.

"When we speak collectively, then we represent a power."

The US ambassador to the AU, Michael Battle, said that Washington is "seeking to have a relationship with the African Union as a continental body, which does not replace the bilateral relationships we have with individual African nations."

In dealing with transnational issues like drug trafficking, climate control, and food security, "the only legitimately elected voice to speak for the entire continent is the African Union Commission."

The AU delegation also met with senior officials in the State Department, the US Agency for International Development, the Department of Justice and others.