DATE=2/15/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=NATIONAL SUMMIT ON AFRICA-PREVIEW
NUMBER=5-45455
BYLINE=JOE DE CAPUA
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: An unprecedented nationwide effort to guide U-
S relations with Africa is to be launched this week
(Feb. 16 -20) at The National Summit on Africa. V-O-
A's Joe De Capua previews the meeting in Washington,
D-C.
TEXT: The theme of the summit is - Africa and
America, Partners in the New Millennium.
Summit president and chief executive officer Leonard
Robinson says it is the climax of a four-year effort
to accomplish three major goals.
/// 1ST ROBINSON ACT ///
One, to inform and educate all Americans, and I
emphasize all Americans - this is a very open
and diverse process - about the continent of
Africa, its 800-million people, its diverse
cultures, languages, history, etc.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Robinson says the second goal is to strengthen,
expand, energize, and mobilize a broad base of U-S
support for Africa. And he says the third goal is to
formulate a national policy plan of action on what the
relationship with Africa should be in the 21st Century.
/// 2ND ROBINSON ACT ///
This was necessitated (made necessary) by the
fact that one, most Americans do not know much
about the continent. Two, as a consequence of
the cessation of the Cold War, U-S assistance,
U-S attention and engagement with the continent
of Africa declined precipitously (sharply).
/// END ACT ///
On the summit agenda are economic development, trade,
investment and job creation; democracy and human
rights; sustainable development; peace and security;
and education and culture.
Mr. Robinson says the importance of Africa comes into
question when comparing international responses to
human crises. He says there was quick action in
Bosnia, Kosovo, and East Timor, but little or no
response to Rwanda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
/// 3RD ROBINSON ACT ///
Is it that European lives are more valuable than
African lives? This is a rhetorical question
that needs to be answered, I think.
/// END ACT ///
He says the media place too much emphasis on the
negative aspects of the continent. These include the
border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the wars in
Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo and the
AIDS epidemic. The Summit will address those issues,
but Mr. Robinson says it will also emphasize the
success stories.
President Clinton is scheduled to give the keynote
address Thursday. (SIGNED)
NEB/JdC/RAE
15-Feb-2000 08:24 AM EDT (15-Feb-2000 1324 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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