The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has described Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Sudan as the clog in the wheel of Africa’s progress.

In her speech in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Merkel said the crisis of governance in the three countries would inhibit the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals for the continent by 2015.

Germany had, however, invited the President-elect, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, to participate at this year‘s G8 meeting to be hosted by that country, in Heiligendamm.

Empowered Newswire report said Merkel also criticized the conduct of the 2007 elections.

She was participating at the eighth Africa Partnership Forum in the German capital.

According to reports from the forum, Merkel expressed concerns about the crisis of governance in Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Her comments followed that of Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a top official in the US State Department‘s Africa Bureau, that last month‘s elections in Nigeria was an example of how elections could fail in its design to allow the people of a country to participate in their own democratic development.

Thomas-Greenfield, Acting US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, spoke at a press briefing in Washington, DC on the extension of the Africa Growth Opportunity Act.

According to her, in order for the US to do business with African countries,”we would like to encourage other governments as well to take into account conditions in countries and how governments treat their people as important criteria for doing business with those governments.”

She noted that”we think the fact that so many African countries have had elections -- and I don‘t promote elections as being the only sign that a country is a democracy.

“It‘s one step in the democracy process, and that step is an important step that allows people to participate in democracy and to express their views to the government.”