DATE=3/22/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=AFRICA: TWO YEARS AFTER CLINTON'S VISIT: PART -I
NUMBER=5-45973
BYLINE=HILLETEWORK MATHIAS
DATELINE=WASGHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: It has been two-years since President Clinton
visited Africa, promising a new partnership with
Africa and pledging support for the continent's
emerging democracies. The six-country trip was the
first to the continent by a U-S president in 20 years.
In the first of two parts, V-O-A's Hilletework Mathias
examines U-S-Africa relations and developments since
Mr. Clinton's visit.
TEXT: Historically, the United States has given
relatively little emphasis to official relations with
Africa. Washington mostly played a humanitarian role
in the continent.
Some analysts say U-S policy toward Africa has been
dictated by cold war politics. They say U-S efforts
to contain the former Soviet Union prompted Washington
to support corrupt African rulers, such as the late
Zairian president Mobutu Sese Seko, who served as
buffers against communism.
With the end of the cold war, so goes the argument, U-
S interest in Africa diminished as Washington focused
its attention on the former-communist countries in
eastern Europe.
Thus, when Mr. Clinton went to Africa, it was widely
believed that a new U-S attitude toward the continent
was unfolding. He was greeted warmly by Africans who
told him they were amazed and pleased that an American
president spent 12-days on the continent. His notion
that the United States - should work with Africa
rather than for Africa - was seen as the first U-S
attempt to break with the outright paternalism of the
past.
Howard University professor of African Studies
Sulyiman Nyang says U-S-Africa relations are on the
right track.
// NYANG ACT //
The U-S government under Clinton has given
greater attention to Africa than any other
administration in the past. The secretary of
state has set a record in visiting Africa more
frequently than any other secretary of state
since the beginning of this republic. You have
important issues in the Great Lakes region. U-S
ambassador Richard Holbrooke went there to
somehow build bridges between the various
factions in Burundi, Rwanda, and at the same
time to mediate between Savimbi and the Angolan
government. The U-S government is very
supportive of newly-appointed facilitator,
former South African President, Nelson Mandela
in the resolution of the Burundi crisis.
// END OF ACT //
Most of these U-S actions were carried out during Mr.
Clinton's second and final term, when he was in the
midst of a personal scandal. Some criticize him for
being indifferent toward Africa during his first term
when he was politically stronger. They say a greater
decisiveness could have saved thousands of lives in
places like Rwanda, where ethnic violence killed more
than 800-thousand people in 1994.
Mr. Clinton has tried to present himself as a
president who could learn from his mistakes. He
admitted that the United States and the world
community did not act quickly enough to stop the
slaughter in the central-African country.
The American president did not go to Africa empty-
handed. He was equipped with a bill he introduced in
Congress to boost U-S trade and investment in Africa.
The legislation - widely supported by many African
States - was aimed at giving reform-minded nations in
the continent greater access to U-S markets.
Different versions of the legislation passed the House
and the Senate last year, but the bill has now bogged
down in a joint committee charged with resolving the
differences.
Marina Ottaway, a senior associate at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace in Washington D.C.,
is the author of the book "Africa's New Leaders." She
says the Clinton administration has not lobbied hard
for the trade measure.
// OTTAWAY ACT //
Mr. Clinton has not pushed very hard for the
trade bill. The administration did not want to
spend political capital to try to push the bill
through Congress. The administration has a
limited amount of political capital or political
I-owe-you to cash in. This (trade bill) is not
important enough to the Clinton Administration
to spend political capital convincing
congressmen and senators to move the bill out of
Congress.
// END OF ACT //
But not everyone agrees. Kenyan-born Ali Mazrui is a
professor of African history at the State University
of New York in Binghamton. He says Congress, not the
administration, is responsible for delaying the trade
bill.
// MAZRUI ACT //
Although the administration tried very hard to
push Africa as an important concern for the
United States, he (President Clinton), is faced
with a Republican-controlled Congress which at
the best of times is not internationalist
enough. And even when it is internationalist,
Africa is not a major priority within that
international horizon. So, we are not really
doing very well - apart from Egypt - in terms of
aid from the U-S.
// END OF ACT //
Professor Mazrui says this is because Africa lacks a
strong constituency in the United States -- a view
shared by many Africans. He calls for a formation of
a large pro-Africa constituency that can put pressure
on Congress, adding that U-S lawmakers respond to the
wider public.
/// OPT // We will have more on the issue of U-S
interest in Africa in the second part of this report.
/// END OPT ///
(SIGNED)
NEB/HM/RAE
22-Mar-2000 11:59 AM EDT (22-Mar-2000 1659 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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