DATE=8/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-AFRICA (L)
NUMBER=2-265855
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: For use until Clinton arrival in
Abuja at 3AM EDT Saturday. Clinton leaves Andrews AFB
at 2:55PM EDT Friday ///
INTRO: President Clinton is preparing to leave for
Africa (EDS: or is en route to Africa) to underscore
support for the democratic transition in Nigeria and
peace efforts in Burundi. He goes first to the
Nigerian capital, Abuja, and talks with President
Olusegun Obasanjo. V-O-A's David Gollust reports from
the White House.
TEXT: Though Nigeria is Africa's most populous country
and a major U-S oil supplier, Mr. Clinton made a point
of not stopping there while touring Africa in 1998
because of its military government and rampant
corruption.
But White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger
says the country has moved from "pariah to partner"
with Mr. Obasanjo's election last year. He says the
president wants to lend political and material support
to what Mr. Berger describes as the most important
democratic change in Africa since the collapse of
apartheid:
/// Berger Act ///
This is a make-or-break transition, not just for
Nigeria, but for Africa. If Nigeria succeeds,
this can help lift the whole region to
prosperity and peace. If it fails, it can swamp
the whole region in turmoil and misery.
/// End Act ///
Mr. Clinton's stay in Nigeria will include talks with
Mr. Obasanjo and an address to the country's National
Assembly.
He'll announce further additions to an annual U-S aid
program that has jumped in two years from seven-
million to over 200-million dollars and includes
training for Nigerian military units involved in
regional peacekeeping.
On Monday, Mr. Clinton goes to Arusha, Tanzania where
negotiations -- led by former South African President
Nelson Mandela -- have been underway since last
December on an accord to end warfare in Burundi
between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis.
An agreement will apparently not be ready for signing
by then. But Mr. Berger says the president decided to
go anyway in solidarity with Mr. Mandela's peace
efforts:
/// Berger Act Two ///
The President will be going to support President
Mandela, to urge the parties in Burundi to work
toward an agreement and to show that engagement
with the world can be one of the dividends of
peace, if such an agreement is actually reached.
/// End Act ///
U-S officials say they hope negotiators will at least
be able to endorse a statement of principles for
ending the Burundi fighting, which has claimed some
200-thousand lives. Mr. Clinton, who also meets in
Arusha with Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, is due
back in Washington Tuesday. (Signed)
NEB/DAG/JP
25-Aug-2000 12:10 PM LOC (25-Aug-2000 1610 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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