Olusegun Obasanjo

=== International activities: 1979–1993 ===
[[File:Nelson Mandela 1998.JPG|thumb|right|In 1986, Obasanjo met with [[Nelson Mandela]]. He related that it "was an encounter never to be forgotten. I saw in [Mandela] a South African indeed an African and a world leader of no mean order. He towered physically and metaphorically above all the leaders we met inside South Africa."{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=122}}]]

Seeking to retain influence on the global stage, Obasanjo launched the Africa Leadership Forum from his Ota farm.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=120}} From 1981 to 1982, he also sat on the Palme Commission, a group chaired by the former Swedish Prime Minister [[Olof Palme]] which discussed disarmament and international security.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|pp=120–121}} Obasanjo followed this with membership on similar panels for the United Nations, the [[World Health Organization]], and the [[Inter-Action Council of Former Heads of Government]].{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=121}} When [[Javier Pérez de Cuéllar]], the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary-General]], fell ill, Obasanjo was considered as a potential successor.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=126}} After Pérez de Cuéllar announced his resignation, Obasanjo began campaigning to replace him. At a vote of the [[United Nations Security Council|UN Security Council]], he came third, with Egypt's [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]] taking on the role.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|pp=130–131}} He left his home on several visits; in 1986 he visited Japan,{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=102}} and in 1987 the U.S.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=114}}

Amid a dispute in the Commonwealth of Nations over the UK's more lenient view of South Africa, it was agreed that an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) would be formed to initiate dialogue with the South African government in the hope of encouraging it toward dismantling apartheid. At the recommendation of Nigeria's Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, [[Emeka Anyaoku]], Obasanjo was nominated to co-chair the group alongside former Australian Prime Minister [[Malcolm Fraser]]. Obasanjo reluctantly agreed.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=121}} In February 1986, he and Fraser travelled to Cape Town where they asked to meet with the imprisoned anti-apartheid activist [[Nelson Mandela]], a prominent member of the banned [[African National Congress]] (ANC). Obasanjo alone was permitted to meet with Mandela; he later commented that he was greatly impressed by him. Obasanjo then met with senior ANC figures in exile in [[Lusaka]].{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|pp=121-123}}

In March 1986, the entirety of the EPG visited South Africa, during a period of growing domestic unrest and violence.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|pp=122–123}} There they met with senior government figures, including Prime Minister [[P. W. Botha]], whom Obasanjo later described as the most intolerant man he had ever met.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=124}} The EPG's report stated that while a majority of South Africans desired a non-violent negotiated settlement between the government and anti-apartheid groups, the former was unwilling to contemplate this and had made no significant progress towards ending apartheid. The EPG thus proposed that further international pressure was necessary. A Commonwealth committee accepted the report's findings, with the UK dissenting; this left Obasanjo further frustrated with Thatcher.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=125}} The Commonwealth then commissioned him to head a committee to determine what the Frontline States needed to defend themselves from South African incursions.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=127}}

After Botha was replaced by [[F. W. de Klerk]], the latter freed Mandela from prison. One of Mandela's first foreign trips was to Nigeria, where he visited Obasanjo at his home.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=126}} Two months later, Obasanjo led a Nigerian delegation to South Africa for talks with prominent political figures. In September 1991, he visited again, where he urged the Zulu leader [[Mangosuthu Buthelezi]] to engage in negotiations with other factions to help end apartheid and hold a fully representative election.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=126}}

Obasanjo also worked on developments elsewhere in Africa. He visited Angola twice during 1988, contributing to efforts to end the civil war there.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=126}} He also visited Sudan three times between 1987 and 1989, unsuccessfully encouraging negotiations to end the [[Second Sudanese Civil War]].{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=127}} He then served as an [[Election monitoring|observer]] at the [[1994 Mozambican general election]].{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|pp=131–132}} In 1994 and 1995, he visited Burundi, where he worked to calm tensions between the [[Hutu]] and [[Tutsi]] ethnic groups.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=132}} He had begun calling for closer integration across Africa, proposing this could be achieved through the formation of six regional confederations.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=129}} In June 1987, he had sketched out plans for an [[Africa Leadership Forum]], which would help to provide skills and training for politicians from across the continent. It began holding meetings, known as the Farm House Dialogues, from Obasanjo's home about six times a year.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=127}} It also held quarterly international meetings and issued a quarterly magazine, ''Africa Forum'', between 1991 and 1993.{{sfn|Iliffe|2011|p=128}}