Conversations with super German diplomat
By Owei Lakemfa
MY favourite playwright and poet is Bertolt Brecht, the controversial theorist of the stage called the “Epic Theatre”. His famous plays include The Threepenny Opera, Baal, Mother Courage, Caucasian Chalk Circle, and The Good Woman Of Setzuan. When this German cultural giant passed away in 1956, he was sixty eight.
That same year, Walter Johannes Lindner, now the Director General for African Affairs in the German Foreign Office, was born. When he came visiting Nigeria, I was introduced to the tall, slim diplomat who walked in briskly and pumped all the hands available. He had been Deputy Head of Mission in Managua, Nicaragua; Counsellor, Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) Federal Foreign Spokesman and Commissioner for Crisis Management in the Foreign Ministry.
Linder had been Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Kenya, Seychelles, Burundi and Somali Republic. He said he had come out to familiarise himself in greater detail with Africa. His visit had seen him in Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and Congo but not Somalia because as he put it jokingly, “I am not bent on suicide”.
Germany, the European economic power house with some 84 million people is not a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a point he did not fail to make
Linder said his country is interested in what is happening in Nigeria and the rest of the African continent because “seventy percent of discussions in the UN centre on Africa”. In his short stay, he met with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission and civil society groups on preparations for the 2011 general elections, pointing out that with 25 elections in the continent this year, the size of Nigeria makes it important. “The Nigerian elections will make it more stable.
The registration (of voters) went very well with over 60 million out of possible 80 million voters registered. The CSOs seem to have confidence in INEC and I am relatively optimistic about the 2011 elections.However, the issue of free and fair elections in Nigeria is not the challenge of INEC alone, but of the people generally.
But I wonder, what do you do if you are registered in Lagos and want to vote in Abuja; can something be done? Can Nigerians in the Diaspora vote? I am sure that with every election, you can improve. On the primaries that just took place, are the parties open to democratic practices? I don’t know because I was not here and has not stayed long enough to reach a conclusion”.
Germany has a 91.5 ethnic German population. Lider said: “Germany is a pretty tolerant and open society, I am not saying there is no xenophobia, but we will do everything legal to check it. The issue of illegal immigrants is not something in the purview of the Foreign Ministry, but we obey the law. Personally, the part of Berlin I live has 60 percent foreigners and I love it. In a globalised world, what are borders? “
The Germans had colonies in Africa. Linder argues: “Our reputation in Africa is good. First, we don’t have a real colonial history in Africa; we had some colonies in Namibia and Cameroun, but that was long ago. Secondly, our position is always clear; maybe we should be more diplomatic rather than give clear yes or no answers. Thirdly, because for many years we were at the centre of the Cold War, we have become adept at making compromises, this has also helped us internally as we have various political coalitions. Germany has 16 states which we have to balance.”
On Germany’s position in world economy, he said: “We are a power house in Europe; we have the biggest economy in Central Europe. We sell a lot of products; some of you drive German cars. But above all, Germany is interested in the environment; we are all living in the same planet, so we all have to be collectively responsible.
On German interests in Africa: “Germany has no hidden agenda and we are fortright on issues. For instance, in Cote d’Ivoire, Quattara (Alhassane, the opposition candidate) won the elections. There are sanctions against the Laurent Gbagbo government, including travel bans . Now, the question is how to stop the financial flow to it. You have to make him know that there will be no money to pay the soldiers keeping him in power. But it has to be an African solution and bloodshed should be avoided; nobody wants to see tanks rolling through the streets of Abidjan”.
The Egyptian uprising, he said, “caught us by surprise. It is a combination of many things; autocracy, lack of transparency and lack of democracy. Many people are fed up with leaders that have been in power for thirty to forty years”. On Kenya, he said: “I really hope that people in Kenya have learnt lessons from the last election in which 1,200 people were killed. Even Kenyans were shocked about what their compatriots can do. It was a peaceful country and suddenly there was this outburst. Now, they have a good constitution and the hope is that this will help. Again, I see signs of some politicians wanting to play the ethnic card, this will be unhelpful.
I was ambassador there and was almost kicked out. The Kenyan elections are next year and we hope that violence will not be repeated”. On Somalia that has degenerated into complete anarchy, Linder confessed: “I was ambassador to Somalia but I can’t proffer a solution to the crisis there. We have to create islands of stability there.
For instance, Puntland has shown Somalis that it is possible to live in peace. We cannot say Somalia is a lost case”. South Sudan, he argued, has “brought the dream of generations to reality. But can they run a state? I see some soberness there. But the North has lost a third of the country, its oil wells and has the burden of a long border”.
As the evening wore on, it was time to leave. We shook hands and Ambassador Linder was gone.
