29 September 1999
Text: Amb. Holbrooke at UNSC Open Meeting on Africa Sept. 29
(He lays out four-part U.S. agenda for Africa) (2460) U.S. Representative to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, addressing a U.N. Security Council open meeting on Africa September 29, outlined a four-part U.S. agenda by which he said the United Nations can "do whatever is possible to support and foster" the ambitions of African people. To help Africans, Holbrooke said, the United Nations must do the following things: -- "work to enhance Africa's security by helping it resolve and prevent armed conflicts"; -- "help Africa grapple with such transnational threats as AIDS and terrorism"; -- "support Africa's ongoing political transformation toward open societies and markets"; and -- "assist Africa's economic development and address its humanitarian concerns." Holbrooke reiterated his pledge that Africa will be one of this highest priorities as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and announced that he plans to visit the continent a month after U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright travels there in October. Following is the text of Holbrooke's statement, as prepared for delivery: (begin text) Statement by U.S. Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, United States Representative to the United Nations, in the Security Council Open Meeting on Africa, September 29, 1999 Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen: I welcome this opportunity to speak before you on Africa, an area that I have pledged will be one of my highest priorities as America's Ambassador to the United Nations. I thank Prime Minister Kok for his leadership, and appreciate all the hard work done by his delegation to make this meeting possible. And I compliment the Secretary-General on his statement and thank him for all of his effort to focus our attention on this important set of issues. We could not hear from a more dedicated and expert student of Africa's problems and potential. Throughout this decade, the United States, under the personal leadership of President Clinton, has worked to revitalize and energize America's engagement with Africa. The United States is proud to have convened the first UN Security Council ministerial session on Africa two years ago. Last March, Secretary Albright hosted the first U.S.-Africa Ministerial, bringing together leaders of fifty African nations to discuss our common agenda. Next month, she plans to make her third visit there as Secretary of State. And I plan to travel there a month later. Africa today is, in many ways, a tale of two worlds -- a continent being pulled in opposite directions. Parts of Africa are now becoming more democratic and more prosperous. Peaceful and democratic transitions of power were once the exception in Africa; now they are becoming more common. But at the same time, the people of this vast and vital continent still suffer from great problems, many of them familiar to all of us: civil and interstate wars, vast poverty, disease, and conflict-generated humanitarian disasters. And in many areas, they are getting worse. No longer the victims of colonialism, or great power competition, the people of Africa now have an historic opportunity to see that in the coming century, their lives can be freer, safer and more secure than ever before. It is imperative that the United Nations do whatever is possible to support and foster their ambitions. Toward this end, I believe our efforts should address a four-part agenda: -- First, we must work to enhance Africa's security by helping it resolve and prevent armed conflicts, -- Second, we need to help Africa grapple with such transnational threats as AIDS and terrorism; -- Third, we have to support Africa's ongoing political transformation toward open societies and markets; -- And fourth, we must assist Africa's economic development and address its humanitarian concerns. Mr. President, allow me to take the opportunity to explain this agenda in more detail. First, and most fundamentally. African societies need peace. In my view, the continent's entire political, economic and social transformation flows from the African people's ability to maintain security, stability and a just order. Put simply, for democracy to take hold, people must feel safe. They must believe that governments exist to protect them, not exploit or terrorize them. Therefore, avoidance and rapid resolution of conflict will remain the sine qua non for domestic and foreign investment, improving economic performance, rising living standards, political stability and the rule of law. Today, war touches many areas of Africa. But these wars are not inevitable. Through our own efforts and within the United Nations, the United States wishes -- indeed, will intensity its efforts -- to support efforts to resolve these conflicts. As President Clinton said in his speech here last week, we must resolve "to strengthen the capacity of the international community to prevent and, whenever possible, to stop outbreaks of mass killing and displacement." It is a heavy burden; we may not always succeed, but we must try. In Africa, we have to work much, much harder to solve the conflicts that threaten the continent's future and imperil its people as we speak. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- a situation that has involved at least eight countries and become the widest interstate war in African history -- we support the effort now under way to implement the peace agreement so painstakingly negotiated by Zambian President Chiluba. We will consider recommendations of UN military liaison officers in regional capitals on how the UN can further the peace process. We are urging all combatants to adhere to the signed cease-fire. And the UN needs a strong, experienced Special Representative in the DRC as soon as possible to galvanize peace implementation. Similarly, in Sierra Leone, the United States has been working actively with the government, the various rebel groups, ECOWAS and the UN to implement a peace agreement. We are anxious to begin disarmament and demobilization in Sierra Leone while ECOMOG still has a credible force in the field. We need the UN to deploy the full complement of authorized observers as soon as possible and be ready to introduce a full peacekeeping operation in December, when the Nigerians plan to leave. And in Ethiopia and Eritrea, we must continue working to restore peace. Although both sides have committed themselves to the OAU peace settlement, much work remains to be done to forge agreement on the framework's implementation. What some considered two of the most hopeful countries in Africa, Ethiopia and Eritrea, now illustrate the dramatic impact of senseless war. Mr. President: our collective failures to prevent and contain such conflicts are lamentable. The international community has a responsibility to do more. The United States, for its part, has already started: Through President Clinton's 1996 African Crisis Response Initiative, we are enhancing Africa's own peacekeeping capacity. So far, some 5000 African peacekeepers from six different countries have received training through this program. And, as Secretary Albright explained last Friday, the United States has developed procedures to halt U.S. arms sales to regions of conflict not already covered by UN arms embargoes. We encourage other nations to establish and observe such moratoria. The United States also believes we must attack the economic structures that fuel the illicit arms trade -- the gray and black markets in diamonds, precious metals and narcotics. Next week, experts in my government will convene a conference to look specifically at the economics of war in the conflicts in Angola, Congo and Sierra Leone, and what we can do to temper them. We will be looking for ways to tighten our own gemstone market and to strengthen certification regimes worldwide. These are some of things we must do. But our responsibilities must not obscure a fundamental reality: The African people and their leaders must provide the basis for peace. Let me be clear: where meaningful peace agreements are in place, the UN should work hard to support and implement them. Where an international presence is required to achieve a meaningful peace agreement, or to provide the last element to an already meaningful agreement, the UN has a vital role to play. But we must, in the end, work toward empowering Africa's people and leaders by enabling them to solve problems themselves and prevent conflict before it begins. In addition to the threat of instability from armed conflict, the United Nations needs to continue to help Africa grapple with those problems that lie outside the traditional realm of international politics -- the so-called transnational threats. The scourge of diseases like HIV/AIDS stands out. The statistics of this disease's toll are truly staggering. Today, two-thirds of global HIV/AIDS cases and 80 percent of global AIDS deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS kills over 5000 Africans a day. And, as President Clinton pointed out last week over the next 10 years AIDS is expected to kill more Africans than all the wars of the 20th century combined. In Africa, AIDS is clearly not just a health problem. Because it strikes the urban middle class, professionals arid entrepreneurs disproportionately -- putting the most generation of Africa's hope at risk -- AIDS threatens to undo recent progress in integrating Africa into the global economy. AIDS is decimating Africa's labor force, overloading many nations' health infrastructures, robbing families of bread winners, and leaving children behind as orphans. President Clinton is currently seeking from Congress an additional $100 million to fight global AIDS. This money would go towards prevention, counseling and care in Africa. President Clinton has also called for greater efforts to search for vaccines for AIDS and other diseases -- efforts that would focus as well on viral strains that specifically affect developing countries. But winning the battle against AIDS and other infectious diseases will not be won through the work of the United States alone -- success requires the concerted effort of the entire international community. Terrorism also continues to be a serious transnational threat, one that we also must all face together. The bombings of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were cowardly acts. Our African and American brothers and sisters who lost their lives in these attacks will never be forgotten. The United States has been providing anti-terrorism training to law enforcement officials in eight African states. At the same time, our Safe Skies for Africa Program is working to make the region's airports and skies more secure. We continue to share information with African authorities about terrorist groups and to fight the networks of support that terrorists maintain in the continent. Our third challenge is one the United States believes in strongly: Africa must continue to develop open societies and open markets. Working both bilaterally and with our United Nations partners, we are prepared to help. Put simply, to thrive in the 21st century, African societies need good governance and pluralism. Bad governance interferes with sustainable, equitable economic development and provokes political instability. There can be no doubt that throughout this decade, African democracy has made major, indeed historic strides. Today, more Africans live under democratically elected governments than ever before. Many Africans are finally tasting freedom. This is illustrated in such places as Mozambique, a country that left behind a quarter century of civil war for a future of democracy; or Namibia, a country that has gone from occupation by a neighboring minority government to a seat on the UN Security Council and the General Assembly Presidency. There was special symbolism in that nine years after UN peacekeepers helped his country to independence, Ambassador Ndjaba of Namibia ably led the Security Council's recent delegation to East Timor. These are but two examples that should give hope both to Africa's established democracies and to its young ones. It is for these reasons that the United States will continue to be a strong supporter of democratic forces across the continent. Through various assistance programs, the United States is working to strengthen the capacity of governments, NGOs and common citizens alike to implement democratic reforms and enable civil societies to flourish. We are working with our African partners -- democratic leaders like President Obasanjo of Nigeria -- to strengthen democratic institutions and to fight impunity and corruption. We hope that, through partnership with the United Nations, we will be able do even more to help these countries become safer, stronger, and freer. Fourth and finally, we must continue to work together to address the economic and humanitarian problems that still exist in too many African countries. Fighting such problems is intrinsically linked to building peace and stability on the continent. African societies need strong human capital, accumulated through investments in education and health. Abundant natural resources alone do not assure prosperity. Clearly, there's an enormous amount of work ahead of us. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 42 African countries are in the lowest third of the countries ranked: the 22 lowest ranked countries are all in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, urban unemployment persists at rates of 20 to 30%. Large numbers of undetonated landmines continue to cause deaths and casualties in sub-Saharan African countries. And Africa is also home to as many as three million refugees and almost eight million displaced persons. As some of you know, I have worked in the area of refugee assistance for over thirty years -- I have seen refugee camps and I know what needs to be done. The United States has taken an active role in helping Africans tackle these issues. President Clinton has committed to work with Congress to restore U.S. official development assistance to Africa to its historic high levels. The African Growth and Opportunity Bill, now before the U.S. Senate, would open U.S. markets more broadly to African products and give incentives to countries to reform and modernize their economies. The U.S. has also worked to provide humanitarian relief and demining programs both under the auspices of the UN and through bilateral efforts with African countries. These efforts go hand in hand with our work to ease Africa's transitions into the global economy. Economic liberalization -- not crony capitalism -- is needed to build a thriving private sector and diversify and broaden the economic base. Statism and corruption -- legacies of the colonial and immediate post-colonial periods -- are hard habits to break, but Africans are working to break them. It is incumbent upon all of us to help. Mr. President: The United States, the international community, and specifically the United Nations, all have an indispensable role to play in helping African nations progress toward peace, prosperity and greater human freedom. Important strides have been made, but much remains to be done. Throughout my tenure as the United States Representative to the United Nations, I will work tirelessly with all interested parties to further the agenda I have just outlined. (end text)
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