Inside the African Union Mission in Somalia (Part II): Déjà vu Mogadishu

Uganda 7/11: Al-Shabaab Spreads Its Special Brand of Terror to the 'Pearl of Africa'
Draft Version


The African Union Summit held in Uganda last month was understandably overshadowed by the World Cup bombings in Kampala on July 11th. Following the closed-door meetings between African heads-of-state, AU and UN officials and the many representatives from governments and international institutions in attendance there were several public statements made about the shock and alarm at the attacks against innocent football fans trying to enjoy the 2010 Africa World Cup finals. To be frank none of the people attending the summit should have been surprised by the attacks because both al-Shabbab and al-Qaeda spokesmen had been warning of such action against Africans for some time. The only surprise is that al Shabaab chose to strike in Uganda and not against innocent civilians in Nairobi, East Africa’s economic hub and a city which has been serving for several years as a reluctant host to the largest Somali refugee and expatriate community in the world.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, acting as host to the 43 African leaders in attendance, has been pressing the hardest for a change in the AMISOM mandate and a ramping-up of boots on the ground in Somalia along with an increase in support for the mission (military and financial) from AU partner countries and presumably UN member states who have pledged support for the African Union Mission in Somalia. As a matter of fact AU officials and leaders of key East African and IGAD* countries had a very heated four hour long discussion over their dissatisfaction with U.S. support with President Obama’s point man on Africa, Asst. Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson. I have found no information that such a heated meeting took place with other ‘key partners’ to the African Union, countries i.e. China, India, Brazil, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and of course representatives from the European Union countries. This should be a ‘red flag’ for anyone who is paying close attention to the crisis in Somalia and the lack of international support for the African Union mission to prop-up the Somali Transitional Federal Government. Don’t forget that it is the lives of young soldiers from Uganda and Burundi that are being lost in Mogadishu as well your tax dollars that finance the AMISOM mission.

At the end of meetings and discussions in Kampala a unified call-to-arms was made by top AU officials and Uganda’s President Museveni along with other African heads of state against the growing threat from al-Shabaab militants in Somalia. Yet this so-called call for unity and action espoused in statements by AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping cannot hide the fact that many African countries who had promised troops for the AMISOM mission as far back as 2006 are more reluctant than ever before to send soldiers to the war-ravaged nation. Below are articles which help to explain the many difficulties faced by the poorly organized AMISOM mission to Somalia today.

Long War Journal
The African Union's beleaguered Somalia mission by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Seungwan Chung – July 20, 2010

VOA News (Washington DC)
Analyst says planned African Union troop surge in Somalia would be a strategic blunder - July 29, 2010

World Defense Review (Strategic Interests column)
J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.: 'Muddled on Mogadishu: America's Confused Somalia Strategy' – March 23, 2010

The New York Times
News Analysis - More Troops for Somalia, but No Peace to Keep by Jeffrey Gettleman – July 28, 2010
In Somalia, Talk to the Enemy by Bronwyn Bruton – July 24, 2010
Tea with a Terrorist (in Somalia) by Aidan Hartley – July 24, 2010

Note*: IGAD denotes the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a group of seven countries in the Horn of Africa and East Africa which includes Djibouti, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Eritrea has been suspended from the group since 2007 for bad behavior (supporting terrorists in the region).

And to make matters worse there are almost daily reports of the rapidly deteriorating situation in the country including mass defections of Somali government soldiers and police to the extremist al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam militias. Germany’s Deutsche Welle Radio reports that as many as 1000 German-trained Somali police have gone missing along with their weapons and newly acquired anti-terrorist training enroute from Ethiopia to Mogadishu. A recently completed internal IGAD report reveals that as many as 10,000 EU-trained Somali soldiers may have done the same thing (defected), and the New York Times reports that the personal bodyguards of the Somali president defected to the al-Shabaab in July. This is occurring at the same time that the African Union along with U.S. and E.U. lawmakers and ministers are trying to convince their respective citizens that the AMISOM mission has merit and the fight to support the struggling TFG to help stabilize Somalia must go on at all costs.

The Independent (Kampala weekly news magazine)
Why We Should Pull Out of Somalia by Andrew Mwenda
The Last Word: articles and commentary by Andrew Mwenda

Note: As Andrew Mwenda would tell you, despite his bias toward any policies for Africa emanating from Washington DC, President Museveni will use these terrorist attacks in Kampala to help cement his victory in presidential elections next year. Yoweri Museveni has been in power in Uganda since 1986 with no desire to step down and turn the reigns of power over to a younger, more capable person in sight. The guy is a bigger cult figure in the country than Idi Amin Dada could have ever dreamed! Then there is the problem with Museveni’s inability (and lack of willpower) to stop the murderous, brutal insurgency against women and children in northern Uganda that has been going on for nearly 20 years (Joseph Kony and the feared Lord’s Resistance Army), but hey I’m getting ahead of myself. That’s another can of worms re: M7 (Museveni undercover) for a later post down the road.

The East African (Kenya)
Al Qaeda veterans now run Al Shabaab militia
Kampala twin attacks expose US uncertainty over Somalia

Garowe Online (Puntland – northern Somalia)
African leaders blast US official Johnnie Carson for soft stance on Somalia
Hundreds of German-financed Somali police officers go missing
German government denies Somali child soldiers recruitment allegations (EU Training Mission for Somalia)

DW World (Deutsche Welle Radio Online, Germany)
EU launches new military training mission for Somali security forces
German military cooperation with African countries yields mixed results

The New York Times
Presidential Guards in Somalia Defect to Insurgents

Note: The European Union has at least three major initiatives in place to help the people of Somalia and support the Transitional Federal Government and the AU Mission to Somalia including military training of the Somali National Army (in Uganda and Ethiopia), the EU Naval Force for Somalia (Mission Atalanta against piracy) and loads of humanitarian aid and support logistics to fight hunger amongst the refugees from the long-running conflict. Approximate cost to date for EU taxpayers is more than €100 million Euros and counting. The cost to U.S. taxpayers for various forms of humanitarian and military assistance over the past two decades (1991-2010) is astronomical and probably will never be revealed, especially the cost of support for the Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia from 2007-2009. Financial support to the Somali Transitional Federal Government from the rest of the international community, especially fellow Muslim countries in the region (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and the Gulf States) and richer African countries (South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Tanzania, Angola, Kenya) is something that we do not hear much about in the international media, which makes one think that there is no financial support from these countries for the AMISOM mission in Somalia.

European Union websites and resources on Somalia
EU at the UN - Somalia: EU Commission allocates €35 million for victims of conflict and natural disasters
EU at the UN - EU Statement - United Nations Security Council: Debate on the Situation in Somalia
European Union Naval Force Somalia - Operation Atalanta
EU/Norway Joint Strategy Paper for Somalia 2008-2013 (pdf)
NATO - Topic: Somalia, Assisting the African Union in Somalia

The African Union Summit in Kampala was attended by 43 African heads-of-state, including Africa’s top democratic leaders (about 6-10 presidents, max), many whom I admire a great deal for the leadership they have shown on the continent and abroad. Of course there was also the usual crowd of less-than-honorable African leaders in attendance with Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe leading the pack. Libya’s flamboyant Colonel Muammar al- Gaddafi, who held the rotating Chairmanship of the African Union in 2009, was in Kampala protected by his famous troop of Amazon body guards. Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir managed to stay away from the summit due to pressing appointments (a naked fear of an ICC arrest warrant). Egypt’s President Mubarak also could not attend the summit due to urgent business back in Cairo (succession worries and poor health) but he did manage to send an ambassador.  President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo chose not to make an appearance for unknown reasons (coup fears). No troops for Somalia from any of these guys as they are desperately needed to continue the repression of citizens back home.

The Obama administration sent a high-level delegation of U.S. government officials that included the administration's lead diplomat on Africa, Asst. Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, the U.S. Ambassador to the African Union Michael Battle, U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan General (ret.) Scott Gration, and surprisingly the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (head of the U.S. Department of Justice). Eric Holder, who is America’s top law enforcement official, delivered a speech during the opening day of the Kampala Summit that is worth reading as it spells out U.S. policy for Africa in light of the bombings in Kampala. There is an exclusive interview with Asst. Secretary Carson over at allAfrica.com that highlights his perspective on U.S.-Africa relations and policies under the administration of President Barack Obama.

President Obama did not attend the African Union Summit in Kampala (he is still cleaning Gulf oil off of his shoes) and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was busy preparing for her daughter’s wedding day.  Actually, President Obama and Secretary Clinton have been busy hosting some of Africa's finest young people and budding entrepreneurs at The President's Forum with Young African Leaders in conjunction with the 2010 AGOA Forum on US / Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation. Nonetheless President Obama did manage to send his top cop (Eric Holder) and his Africa A-Team minus some notable figures such as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan E. Rice, an expert on failing and failed states and their links to extremism and terrorism (ref. her earlier work at the Brookings Institution before she joined the Obama administration).

Brookings Institution (Washington DC)
Weak and Failed States: What They Are, Why They Matter and What to Do About Them
Index of State Weakness in the Developing World by Susan E. Rice and Patrick Steward

Note: Many people may not know who Johnnie Carson is or what his responsibilities are in the Obama administration. An experienced U.S. diplomat in Africa serving several U.S. administrations, Secretary Carson is rather soft-spoken and reserved in his public comments___ a Jendayi Frazer he ain’t (the feisty, take-no-prisoners lead diplomat for Africa under Condoleezza Rice and George W. Bush). Dr. Jendayi Frazer always had strong rebuttals ready for Robert Mugabe’s demeaning slurs against her in comparison to the tepid response by Asst. Secretary Carson during a gala event at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington DC in May this year. The Zimbabwe ambassador to the U.S. referred to Secretary Carson as a ‘House Slave’, indirectly placing U.S. President Obama and other African-American lawmakers and political leaders into the racist category commonly referred to as ‘House Negroes’. Mugabe and other members of the Zanu-PF party have been making these kinds of statements about African-Americans for years (see his outburst at the 2009 African Union Summit in Libya). Yet, Mugabe remains a welcome guest and favorite son at the table of African Union summits and conferences, as does Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir and other despots and dictators from the continent. This is something else for the American electorate to keep in mind when the AU comes with hat in hand looking for support and money for a 'troop surge' in Somalia and a lot of other needs it may have in the near future.

Which brings me to the main topic of my short series of posts on Somalia:

What does the world do now that two Islamist extremist groups (al-Shabaab, Hizbul Islam) lead by an international terrorist network (al-Qaeda) have finally succeeded to within a gnat’s ass of taking over an African country that sits upon one of the most geo-strategic sea lanes and land corridors in the world?

Foreign Policy Magazine
Argument: Help Wanted in Somalia by Omar Abdira Ali Sharmarke – June 21, 2010
Prime Minister of Somalia, Transitional Federal Government

End Part II___ Part III coming ASAP

Somalia: Inside the African Union's Mission to Crush the Al-Shabab. Rolling Thunder or More Blunders?

Draft Version: Part I
From Somali blogger and Ph.D. candidate to presidential advisor in Mogadishu

Back in the early days of the blogosphere (2003-2005) when the total number of blogs in the world numbered around 7 million, African blog authors were at the forefront of the blogging movement working hard to educate readers about what life in Africa is really like. Social networking platforms i.e. Facebook with its 500 million+ users today were not on the horizon and Biz Stone, the founder and CEO of Twitter, was busy together with his small team of developers at Pyra Labs perfecting the online publishing software (Blogger) that was later bought out by Google. A lot has happened in the Sphere since then.

The majority of African blog authors in those early years were from Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana and handful of other countries spread around the vast continent. There were also a small number of blog authors who hailed from Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. Many of those early pioneering blog authors from Africa were members of the African Diaspora living, studying, and working abroad in Europe and North America where access to the latest computer technology, broadband Internet connections, and free software tools needed to publish online were readily available.

This short series of posts about Somalia that I am launching today is dedicated to two blog authors from those early days who did a great job in helping me and their many readers around the globe gain a better understanding of Somalia and the many issues and challenges the people face in that very troubled country.

The first author is Yvette Lopez, a Filipino humanitarian worker who spent a considerable amount of time in Hargeisa (Hargeysa), the capital of the generally peaceful, democratic, self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland, an incredible accomplishment when compared to the complete anarchy of central and southern Somalia since the breakup of the two regions in 1991. Yvette authored the very popular Inside Somaliland blog which was an outstanding work containing great stories and lots of photos about life in the region. Among her many accomplishments Yvette also helped pioneer the use and growth of blogs and social media among the youth of Somaliland.

To my knowledge there hasn’t been anything like Inside Somaliland published from within Somaliland since Yvette left to work on other projects in Africa (she was working in Sudan last I heard). Yvette Lopez was a favorite blog author for Ethan Zuckerman (Global Voices co-founder) and I am sure many other people around the globe. Her enthusiasm and strong belief in the chances for success driven by the ordinary people of northern Somalia (Somaliland) is sorely missed.

The second blog author, a man who wrote regularly about the politics and conflict(s) swirling around Somalia is Bill Ainashe, better known to his professional colleagues, friends, and family as ‘Mukhtar’ Ainashe. Bill, who fled the chaos and fighting in Somalia as a youth was educated in Europe (Norway) and the U.S.A. (he is/was a Ph.D. candidate at George Washington University in Washington DC). Bill also worked for the World Bank during his studies at GWU in Washington DC. He is married to a lovely Somali woman and they have two beautiful young daughters who are growing up in the Washington DC area.

NOTE: Now I know that this introduction is a bit long-winded and boring, but please bear with me a while longer ‘cause this is where the story gets interesting, especially in light of the recent bombings in Uganda by Somalia’s Al-Shabab militants and the recently concluded African Union Summit in Kampala.  Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni (the Great Liberator) together with other AU leaders have called for a (massive) troop surge in Somalia to counter the growing terrorist threat posed by Al-Shabab to the region and all African countries. The idea of a troop surge for AMISOM* is ‘whack!’ for many people who have earnestly been following news about Somalia and the decision defies logic and reasoning offered by numerous Somalia experts around the world. Yet, the whole deal has received approval and backing from the Obama administration,  the UK government and other members of the European Union, the United Nations, and other key governments and players inside and outside of the region. AMISOM* is the acronym for the African Union Mission to Somalia with the approval of the United Nations and various international bilateral partner countries to the AU.

Unfortunately, neither Yvette nor Mukhtar (Bill) have been writing and publishing to their personal blogs since 2006/2007 and their earlier work is no longer available online. The two have moved on to new challenges and opportunities but Mukhtar’s trajectory has been the most astonishing. You see, he went from a comfortable life in Washington DC living together with his wife and two kids to what many journalists have described as the Most Dangerous Place on Earth (Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times), Postcards from Hell (Elizabeth Dickinson at Foreign Policy magazine), and other demeaning labels however accurate they may be. Bill has gone from being an avid Africa blogger to being a close advisor to the (interim) President of Somalia Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed , which if you ask me is a pretty big God---- big ass leap! Bill is in Mogadishu, living and working at the Villa Somalia, dodging bullets, RPG-launched grenades and mortar rounds in the Presidential Villa Mogadishu (or what’s left of it).

So that is where this story will begin, with news articles about Mukhtar ‘Bill’ Ainashe and other Somalis who were living relatively comfortable (and relatively safe) lives in America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East but have decided to return home to help save their country from the chaos and anarchy that has been branded with a red-hot iron into the world’s view of Somalia, Somalis, and failing states in Africa and elsewhere.

Spiegel Online International (Germany, English-language edition)
Inside the World's Worst Hellhole: Somalia, the Perfect Failed State by Clemens Höges – May 18, 2010

An excerpt from the Spiegel Online International feature article:

Somalia, which has been without a functioning government for almost two decades, serves as a warning for what could happen to other failed states. Rival Islamic militias battle for control of the capital, where the president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, is in constant danger of his life. A visit to the worst place on the planet.

Dealers in the Somali capital Mogadishu are now selling cartridges for Kalashnikovs at 37 cents apiece. The price has dropped by almost half in recent weeks, probably because there is already a lot of ammunition in the city. Mukhtar Ainashe knows this. He steps on the gas and the large SUV he is driving shoots off.

Ainashe is an intellectual. He reads American philosophers like Thoreau and Emerson, he studied in Norway and, until recently, he made a good living working for the World Bank in Washington. He has a wife and two young children in the United States, and he has a passion for expensive watches. In fact, Ainashe is completely out of place in Africa's dirtiest war.

He drives the vehicle furiously across the unforgiving terrain, a former road now pockmarked with grenade craters. The SUV skids through the gravel and bounces along over rocks, its axles making cracking noises, past the ruins of bullet-riddled houses, which shimmer in the sun like the bleached bones of dead animals in the desert.

No Way to Stop

A "technical" -- a pickup truck typical of Somalia, with a machine gun mounted on the truck bed -- is visible in the rear-view mirror, also bouncing up and down on the rough road. It's manned by government fighters -- Ainashe's bodyguards. The driver of the technical can barely manage to keep up, driving as close to the rear bumper of the SUV as possible. Nevertheless, Ainashe cannot afford to slow down -- it would only make him a target for the Islamists' machine guns. Anyone who stops on this road dies.

The SUV circles "Kilometer 4," the notorious, often contested central roundabout where so many people have died. Then it passes the ruins of the parliament building, where the Islamists shoot at anything that moves. Finally, Ainashe reaches a driveway at the base of a hill.

Machine gun nests between battered walls protect the entrance. Ainashe maneuvers the SUV through a narrow alleyway, through checkpoints, around tank barricades, passing guards along the way. When he finally reaches the gate to the fortress at the top of the hill, he hears the guns of the president's forces, which kill people every day. Their task is to protect the five buildings inside the wall. Their enemies are less than a kilometer away, and they can be seen running and shooting.

"Welcome to Villa Somalia," says Ainashe.

END excerpt from ‘Der Spiegel’. Read the complete article here.

While you are at it, have a look at this Spiegel Online article about how one German company (mercenaries) has offered to help the country return to stability, peace and security, and democracy:
'Shadow Foreign Policy': Somali Warlord Hires German Mercenaries to Provide Security Services

Another article about Mukhtar Ainashe and his colleagues and associates who have decided to return to Somalia in recent years:
The National (English newspaper published in Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Appeal for Somalis to Return Home by Matt Brown – Dec. 20, 2009


More related news, editorials, and resources_____

Foreign Policy Magazine and The Fund for Peace
The Failed States Index 2010
In the Beginning, There Was Somalia by James Traub
Postcards from Hell - an FP photo essay, images from world's most failed states

And last but certainly not least, a fresh look inside Somaliland, which has recently completed free-and-fair democratic elections according to independent international elections observers but still cannot get any respect or official recognition by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and  the folks running Turtle Bay.

Aljazeera.net English (Doha, Qatar)
Inside Story: Somalia vs. Somaliland - June 24, 2010
A must-see half hour video about life in Somaliland compared to that in Somalia over the past 19 years.


END Part I: Part II to follow ASAP (Yep, the story gets even better folks.)

Africa 50 Years After Colonial Rule: From Ouagadougou to Tombouctou (Timbuktu) Africans Speak Out

Last Updated: June 07, 2010

Since the beginning of January a good friend and fellow blogger from Angola has been publishing a special series (in English and Portuguese) on the 50th anniversary of African independence from colonialism (see K Faktor 1960-2010: The Year of Africa – 50 Years On). To be more specific regarding these celebrations, seventeen nations gained their independence from European colonial rule in 1960, fourteen of which were under the rule of France (Nigeria, Congo-Kinshasa, and Somalia being the exceptions).

I do not know how many people have read Koluki’s series since she started the project but what has been somewhat surprising to me is the scarce coverage of this historic year for Africa by much of the news media outside of the African continent. If it were not for contributions online from some talented African journalists, writers and new media producers (including a small group of independent blog authors) along with a handful of international foundations and government websites, Africa’s Golden Jubilee of Independence from Colonial Rule (1960-2010) would go largely unnoticed in many parts of the world.

List of African countries which gained independence in 1960:
(Source: France24.com)

1 January 1960: CAMEROON
27 April 1960: TOGO
26 June 1960: MADAGASCAR
30 June 1960: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1 July 1960: SOMALIA
1 August 1960: BENIN
3 August 1960: NIGER
5 August 1960: BURKINA FASO
7 August1960: IVORY COAST
11 August 1960: CHAD
13 August1960: CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
15 August 1960: CONGO
17 August 1960: GABON
20 August 1960: SENEGAL
22 September 1960: MALI
1 October 1960: NIGERIA
28 November 1960: MAURITANIA

What also prompted me to write about this “golden anniversary” was a brief exchange between myself and Shay Riley of Booker Rising (Chicago, USA) regarding the visit of Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to Washington DC last month. President Sirleaf paid a visit to members of the U.S. Congress, the Whitehouse, the State Department, and she spent an evening with the public over at the Council on Foreign Relations.

As I expressed to Shay, Liberia’s President Sirleaf is without a doubt one of the best-loved and most respected political leaders on the African continent (from a Western democracy point of view) as well as being a key strategic ally in Africa for the U.S. Government and other Western capitals. Yet there was a lack of news coverage in the Western media regarding her visit with President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, House Speaker Pelosi, and others on Capitol Hill and inside the Beltway. The same can be said about the visits and appearances at key events and forums on Africa this year by several of Africa’s most prominent and respected political and civic leaders. I shall get to that subject ASAP after completing this short introductory post on 50 years of African independence from European colonialism.

New Addition June 07, 2010

Adam Nossiter reporting for the New York Times may have taken a hint about the poor coverage of Africa’s 50 year independence celebrations in the Western media.  He has just published a piece about the anniversary year and has included commentary on the France-Africa Summit 2010 in Nice. Here is an excerpt from Adam’s June 4th article at The New York Times.

African States Weigh 50 Bittersweet Years of Independence
By Adam Nossiter

DAKAR, Senegal — In a fancy resort on the French Riviera this week, limousines bearing African leaders gathered at the doorstep of France’s president for the France-Africa Summit, a time-honored ritual involving pledges of mutual love and, not surprisingly, some backbiting.

Conspicuously absent from the gathering in Nice, however, was a collective reckoning of a major milestone on the calendar: It has been 50 years since many of the countries gained independence.

Unlike the glittering extravaganza on the Riviera, where extensive retinues accompanied the leaders, the anniversary — and its potential for taking stock — is passing largely unnoticed. Few official celebrations have been organized to mark the passing of five decades since France tentatively let go, albeit with many continuing ties, of 14 of its colonies; in all, 17 African countries, including Nigeria, gained independence in 1960.

Perhaps the most substantial collective commemoration is, paradoxically enough, not being held in Africa at all. Leaders from Senegal, Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mauritania, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad and Madagascar have all been invited to Paris to parade their troops along the Champs-Elysées on Bastille Day, the national holiday of their ex-colonial ruler.

Here on the continent, the few remembrances so far have at times been freighted with just as much ambiguity. In one of the rare, large-scale commemorative events, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal inaugurated a giant bronze statue meant to symbolize “African Renaissance” on a desolate hill near the airport here. Built by a North Korean company in pure Soviet-realism style, it is 13 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty and its three gigantic figures — man, woman and child — tower over their surroundings.

But nearly everything about it has provoked controversy, rather than the outpouring of pan-African pride that Mr. Wade had hoped to generate: from the cost, in a country that ranks 166th on the United Nations’ Human Development Index of 182 nations; to the scantily clothed figures, in an overwhelmingly Muslim country (local imams raised a vigorous protest); to the questionable aesthetics of a monument that recalls Stalinist Russia rather than the distinctive Afro-Islamic culture of the Sahel. Some Senegalese debate whether the figures even look African.

Mr. Wade has said he simply traded state land, in exchange for building the statue, to the North Koreans, who then sold it at a profit; local and international media estimates have put the total cost at between $27 million and $70 million.

For some analysts here, the statue’s mixed signals symbolize this anniversary year’s uncertain meanings, calling it a monumental construction project conceded to foreigners and inaugurated in an April ceremony attended by heads of state like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, both of whom have been the object of international scorn for their human rights records.

“The monumentality is somewhat misplaced,” said Ibrahima Thioub, a Senegalese historian who teaches at Cheikh Anta Diop University here. “Does Senegal have the resources to invest this kind of money?” Besides, he added, “Why concede the African Renaissance to Koreans? We’ve got some very good African sculptors right here.”

Elsewhere, commemorations have been sparse or marked primarily by back-and-forth visiting by dignitaries from neighboring countries, as was recently the case in Cameroon, rather than by public outpourings.

“It’s tough to mobilize people for celebrations, because the flowers of independence have faded,” Mr. Thioub said. “The last 50 years have not at all met the people’s hopes and expectations.”

End Excerpt from the New York Times.  Read the complete article here.

Lastly, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France along with his colorful and outspoken Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner hosted 38 presidents and prime ministers from Africa along with over 250 business leaders at the 25th France-Africa Summit in Nice (May 30-31). Again, if you didn’t know where to look for information about this important gathering of French and African political and business leaders the event would have passed largely unnoticed by much of the global audience interested in news about French-Africa relations. On the other hand, when one reviews the list of leaders in attendance at the summit and reflects upon President Sarkozy’s low popularity in Sub-Saharan Africa combined with the ‘Stop Francafrique’ backdown by the French government and business community last year, a lower-profile summit may have been in France’s interest. (reference the 2007 European Union – African Union Summit in Lisbon)

So, let’s start this ball rolling with an outstanding multimedia presentation from a French/German co-production here in Europe.  I also recommend that readers view the video interviews on African independence at VoxAfrica.com, a new online African TV news service based in London  I shall follow up with a seperate post about a speech delivered by one of Africa’s favorite sons (no, not U.S. President Obama) as he addressed a group of African leaders last month attending the 50th anniversary celebration event in Cameroon.

The first video presentation is from the Franco-German news and cultural TV network ARTE TV (French and German language programming) who is airing a special production about life in 12 African countries celebrating their 50th anniversary of independence from colonialism. The 12-part series is produced and narrated by journalists, producers, and personalities who live and work in each of the countries featured. I highly recommend to my North American readers that you check out the ARTE Reportage even if your French and German language skills may be a bit rusty (my Canadian visitors of course will have no problem with the French reports at ARTE TV).

The second video presentation “Africa at 50” is from the new Pan-African TV channel VoxAfrica which produces programming about Africa in both the French and English language. You can read more about VoxAfrica TV here. VoxAfrica's "Shoot the Messenger" program host Henry Bonsu is joined in the studio by SYLVAINE DE BOGOU, Ivorian Writer and Journalist, and on the telephone ALBERTO AMURGO PACHECO, Economist at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Also featured in the 47-minute long report is Senegalese President ABDOULAYE WADE and DIDIER AWADI, an activist and founder of the hip-hop band Positive Black Soul.

ARTE TV (France, Germany) Special on 50 Years of African Independence
Afrique: 50 ans d’indépendence – Afrika: 50 Jahre Unabhängigkeit

http://afrique.arte.tv/ (homepage of the special feature program)
http://afrique.arte.tv/blog/ (the blog for the series)
http://afrique.arte.tv/blog/?p=2715 (blog post for June 2010: Burkina Faso)

Video clip of comedian and producer Aminata Diallo Glez reporting from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
(Note: the rocking music tracks and HD video is simply too hot to embed here.  Check the links above.)

Note: the ARTE TV website links to full-length HD Flash videos and multimedia presentations may not work for visitors outside of the select countries where the ARTE TV network is available due to EU licensing agreement restrictions. Please notify me via the comments sections if this is the case for visitors outside of the European Union and I will try to find an alternate source for the programs.

VOXAFRICA TV
Special Report on 50 Years of African Independence
Africa at 50 | Voxafrica, La télévision Pan-Africaine


Related articles, editorials, and other resources
Last Updated: June 07, 2010

European Union
Africa and Europe in Partnership - 25th Africa-France Summit in Nice

U.S. Department of State – Bureau of African Affairs
Celebrating "Africa Day": The 47th Anniversary of the Founding of the Organization of African Unity by Asst. Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson – Ritz Carlton Hotel, Washington DC (May 25, 2010)

VOA News (Voice of America online)
'Africa Day' Tuesday Focuses on Peace and Security
Senegal Marks 50 Years of Independence With Calls For African Unity
Senegal Set to Inaugurate Towering Monument of African Renaissance

Cameroon Faces Risk of Unrest Before 2011 Elections
Cameroon Celebrates 50 Years of Independence

Afrique Avenir (French, English)
EU congratulates Africa on 50 years of democratic process
Nice Summit’s outcome: towards a new Franco-African cooperation

Chris Blattman’s Blog
(Asst. Professor for Political Science and Economics – Yale University)
Zimbabwean ambassador calls Johnnie Carson a house slave. Carson spanks him.

Foreign Policy Magazine
The Cable blog by Josh Rogin (reporting inside the US foreign policy machine)
Zimbabwe ambassador calls U.S. diplomat a 'house slave'

BBC News (UK)
French President Sarkozy backs African global role
France-Africa summit in Nice seeks business boost
BBC Focus on Africa - How France maintains its grip on Africa

Agence France Presse (AFP)
After 50 years of independence, African states reflect

France24.com
Talking Points: France - Africa: a new relationship?
Franco-African Summit: relations for the future

Radio France Internationale (rfi)
UN Security Council reform on the agenda at Nice summit
"Africa is our future", says Sarkozy at Nice summit
50 years later, Françafrique is alive and well by Christophe Boisbouvier

The New York Times
Letter from Africa - President for Life, and Then Some by Howard French
Howard W. French is a former foreign correspondent and bureau chief (West Africa, Shanghai China). He is presently teaching at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His personal blog can be found here: A Glimpse of the World.

The Washington Post
In Africa, 50th anniversary of independence is an occasion to celebrate, lament

The Associated Press (AP)
Africa marks 1960, when 1/3 gained independence

Project Syndicate
Françafrique at 50 by Sanou Mbaye
Project Syndicate is supported by funding from the Open Society Institute and works with 431 newspapers in 150 countries

VAD Conference 2010 at Johannes Gutenberg University (Mainz, Germany)
Continuities and Dislocations: 50 Years of African Independence
Kontinuitäten und Brüche: 50 Jahre Unabhängigkeit in Afrika 7.-11. April 2010

Northwestern University Library - Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies
In the Spotlight: Exhibit Honors Fifty Years of African Independence

'Half the Sky': New York Times Magazine special on how to help empower the world's women and girls

Cover: The New York Times Magazine
Sunday August 23, 2009


Saving the World’s Women: How changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything

This week’s edition of the New York Times Magazine (Aug. 23, 2009) is a special issue dedicated to women’s issues and gender equality for the world’s women. Featured on the cover of the magazine (print edition) is a photo of a woman from Burundi, a woman who could not read or write, who was able to get away from literal enslavement in her hut, escaping the grinding poverty of life in her village, with the help of a US $2 dollar micro-loan. Now she is the main breadwinner for her family and a shining example for her whole community. She is living proof of what women can achieve with even the smallest amount of help from people who care.

This special issue of the New York Times Magazine is an excellent tie-in to the series I am working on at present about US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Africa and her tour of the hospitals and clinics for violent rape victims and brutal attacks against women and girls (and now men and boys as well) in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

So I will not waste a lot of your time with my opinions on how we all can do more, much more, to support women and girls in developing countries around the globe. The New York Times Magazine writers and contributors have done such a lovely job of bringing these important issues and needs to the forefront. Here are recommended ‘must reads’ in this special issue of the magazine:

The Women’s Crusade by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn 08/17/09
Nicholas D. Kristof is a New York Times Op-Ed columnist and Sheryl WuDunn is a former Times correspondent who works in finance and philanthropy. This essay is adapted from their book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” which will be published next month by Alfred A. Knopf. You can learn more about “Half the Sky” at Nicholas Kristof’s blog ‘On the Ground’.

Related multimedia and photo slideshows:
A Powerful Truth (audio/photo slideshow: Nicholas Kristof narrates, photography by Katy Grannan, produced by Zahra Sethna)
Must See: Holding Up Half the Sky - Lens Blog
Halftheskymovement.org – official website for the book and the network

Questions for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Madame President - Interview 08/18/09
Deborah Soloman interviews Liberia’s president in the wake of Secretary Clinton’s visit, photography by photojournalist and blogger Glenna Gordon (Scarlett Lion). I shall be writing more about Glenna Gordon’s wonderful photography of the people of Uganda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in my continuing series on Hillary Clinton in Africa.

Related posts at Glenna Gordon’s blog (Scarlett Lion)
Scarlett Lion - NTYM: Interview with Madame President 08/20/09
Scarlett Lion - “Ma Ellen n Hilary Clinton r Sisters” 08/14/09
Scarlett Lion - Context Africa: village life makes it to the mainstream media 08/11/09

New York Times Magazine (continued)
A New Gender Agenda interview by Mark Landler 08/18/09
Excerpts from an interview with Secretary Clinton shortly before here Africa trip re: the Obama administration’s strategies to help empower womaen and about the violence against women and girls in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo__

Q: I’m curious about what priorities you’re setting. Will the Obama administration have a signature issue — sex trafficking or gender-based violence or maternal mortality or education for girls — in the way that H.I.V./AIDS came to symbolize the Bush-administration strategy?

Clinton: We are having as a signature issue the fact that women and girls are a core factor in our foreign policy. If you look at what has to be done, in some societies, it is a different problem than in others. In some of the societies where women are deprived of political and economic rights, they have access to education and health care. In other societies, they may have been given the vote, but girl babies are still being put out to die.

So it’s not one specific program, so much as a policy. When it comes to our global health agenda, maternal health is now part of the Obama administration’s outreach. We’re very proud of the work this country has done, through Pepfar, on H.I.V./AIDS [the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was begun by George W. Bush in 2003]. We’ve moved from an understanding of how to deal with global AIDS to recognizing it’s now a woman’s disease, because women are the most vulnerable and often have no power to protect themselves. And it’s increasingly younger women or even girls.

But women die every minute from poor maternal health care. You know, H.I.V./AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria — those are all, unfortunately, equal-opportunity killers. Maternal health is a woman’s issue; it’s a family issue; it’s a child issue. And for the United States to say to countries that have very high maternal mortality rates, “We care about the future of your children, and in order to do that, we care about the present of your women,” is a powerful statement.
…………

Q: Gender-based violence is an enormous issue in much of Africa, and in places like Congo, rape, as you know, is an instrument of war. How can you, or anybody else, hope to combat that?

Clinton: President Obama and I and the United States will not tolerate this continuation of wanton, senseless, brutal violence perpetrated against girls and women. We don’t know exactly what we can do, but we are going to be delivering some aid and some ideas about how to better organize the communities to deal with it. We’re going to sound the alarm that this is not all just unexpected and irrational.

These militias, which perpetrate a lot of these rapes and other horrific assaults on girls and women, are paid well, or realize the spoils of guarding the mines. Those mines, which are one of the great natural resources of the Congo, produce a lot of the materials that go into our cellphones and other electronics. There are tens of millions of dollars that go into these militias that, in effect, get translated into a sense of impunity that is then exercised against the weakest members of society.

The ambassador for war crimes, Steve Rapp, has the distinction of being among the first international prosecutors to win a case on gender violence, and I specifically wanted him to take on this role, because I want to highlight this issue.

End excerpts___

Related article at the New York Times:
Clinton Presses Congo on Minerals by Jeffrey Gettleman 08/10/09


Technorati tags:gender equality women's rights human rights Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Michelle Obama government foreign policy USA Africa Asia Middle East Americas Europe global voices

Seven Questions Interview Q&A Nr.6: Africa and the U.S. Presidential Campaign

Note: I felt that I should publish my answer to interview question number 6 out of sequence so that readers would easily notice it. Bearing in mind the the state of world affairs being discussed at the UN General Assembly 2008 meeting in New York this week, the U.S. presidential campaign moving into its final critical weeks, and the recent Wall Street financial crisis that rocked stock markets and economies worldwide, consider this a 'Heads Up' post for the world.

Read Part 1 (Q&A Nrs. 1,2,3) of the Seven Questions interview here
Read Part 2 (Q&A Nrs. 4,5) of the Seven Questions interview here
Koluki is crossposting excerpts from the interview at her blog


Seven Questions for Jewels in the Jungle
(continued from Q&A Nr. 5)

6. How do you think each American Presidential candidate, Barack Obama and John McCain, would impact America's relationship with Africa if elected?

You know, when I first saw this question I thought it would be difficult to answer because I have heard precious little in this campaign from either John McCain or Barack Obama about how they view America’s foreign policy toward Africa. But after taking some time to do a bit of careful research on the subject I’ve come across some very interesting factual information on the subject.

One thing that should be noted is that this U.S. election campaign may be one of the most closely watched political events in human history. As I explained in a previous post about Senator Barack Obama’s July visit to Germany the overseas interest and excitement about this campaign is phenomenal. It is bigger than anything that has come out of American political life for decades and the outcome of this presidential election is important not only for U.S. voters but for citizens around the globe.

It’s hard for Americans living abroad to explain the dirty politics and negative personal attacks that have emerged in this campaign. The level of ‘political attack ads’ are shocking not only for Americans and veteran U.S. political journalists but also for many foreign observers following this election. Darrell M. West of the Brookings Institution describes this aggressive behavior as an all-time low in U.S. political campaign history. If patriotic Americans are truly sincere about improving the country’s standing and image abroad then the Republicans and Democrats need to rein in this toxic behavior at all levels of their respective campaigns. The presidential candidates need to get back to discussing real issues and offering solutions for the mounting problems that we all are facing. The upcoming presidential debate on September 26 would be a good place to start.

The global phenomenon surrounding the Obama campaign for President is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience and I shall not forget it as long as I live. This man’s candidacy has inspired people from all walks of life and has instilled a special feeling of pride and new hope for a better world in many people of every color, ethnicity, and nationality. It is a pity that the Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, an accomplished and distinguished U.S. politician, has not been able to arouse a similar level of excitement and interests in these elections outside of the United States.

I have been approached countless times by people in Germany who want to eagerly discuss the 2008 U.S. election campaign and the historic candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. They want to talk about everything from race relations in the U.S. to how national politics really works in America. This election campaign is especially exciting for my African friends and other people of color in Europe who seem to have adopted Obama’s run for President as if he were the leader of their own respective countries. Obama’s candidacy represents a powerful and symbolic break with these people’s own colonial past and collective dreams for the future. My experiences are something special and I think that we as Americans cannot afford to ignore this important message from so many people from every corner of the world. As reported in several newspapers and TV news networks Europe’s fascination with Senator Obama is unusually high. Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine conducted a reader poll that showed an overwhelming amount of support for Barack Obama over John McCain by a whopping margin of 83%. Newsweek’s new sister publication The Root.com has a related article on Obama’s global appeal titled ‘The World in His Hands’ that is also worth reading as it echoes what we already know here in Europe.

I try to caution people (especially young African men) not to be overly confident about Senator Obama easily winning this election in America but I get the feeling that many people are simply not listening. I enjoy explaining to them how U.S. politics works and the importance of this historical presidential election. Their interest has remained keen over the many months of campaigning and news coverage by CNN and BBC News and our conversations about politics in America and in Africa are lively and informative. My hope is that my young friends and acquaintances will take something from this experience with them back to their own home countries in Africa. That some of these young Africans will become active in the politics of their country and work hard to bring the benefits of a true democracy to their people. I expect to see their names in Africa’s good news headlines someday.

So as far as the presidential candidate Barack Obama impacting the U.S.A.’s relationship with Africa and Africans, he has already done it and he has done it in a very big way. Just the manner in which he has handled himself so far in this very challenging political campaign has inspired many African people for generations to come. If it were left up to the world to choose the next U.S. president, the 2008 race for the White House would already be over. The November polls in the United States would simply be a formality in keeping with our constitution.

I think that good people around the world are desperately trying to send a strong message to Americans, pleading with us to make informed and intelligent decisions about our leaders in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. They are trying to tell us that the person who sits in the Oval Office of the White House come January 21, 2009 is damn important for their lives and future too. These are voices that we must not ignore as American voters, no matter which political party we adhere to, we dare not ignore the pleas and hopes and dreams of our friends and allies around the world. So for the remaining few weeks leading up to the U.S. general election on November 4, 2008 I hope that my fellow Americans behave in a manner that is becoming of a great nation and a great people. It would go a long way in helping to restore the world’s confidence in America and it might help many of us to restore confidence in ourselves.
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Now to get back to your question, what was your question?
Oh yes, how do I think that each U.S. presidential candidate would impact America’s relationship with Africa?

I think that both U.S. presidential candidates, no matter who wins in November, will have little opportunity to devote a great deal of attention and energy toward Africa during their first year in office. It is not that John McCain and Barack Obama does not care about what happens in Africa or does not want better US-Africa relations. All of the U.S. presidential candidates have expressed their views and ideas about U.S. foreign policy and you can read what they have said at the Council of Foreign Relations Campaign 2008 website: The Candidates on U.S. Policy toward Africa.

In my opinion the problem is that the next U.S. president will be immediately faced by a mountain of problems as soon as he opens the door to the Oval Office on January 21, 2009. Like a swarm of locusts the world’s problems and crises will be all over the incoming president, things that need his immediate and special attention and his most valuable asset, his time. The urgent needs of African countries may be in danger of being shuffled toward the bottom of the President’s ‘TO DO list’ yet again as has been the case in previous administrations. It is not only the incoming U.S. president who will be confronted with these mounting problems as we shall witness at the UN General Assembly 2008 meeting in New York this week. Africa’s needs and challenges are at great risk in the face of a global financial crises, climate change, food shortages, and conflict.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, this is exactly what will happen in the first 100 days of next U.S. administration until the President can assemble his new cabinet and get a handle on what needs to be done immediately and what can wait until later. Once the President’s foreign policy team has been selected and assembled, African leaders and advocates and activists will concentrate on building a working relationship with the administration, including meeting with the next U.S. Secretary of State and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. This will be the first order of business in Washington DC for Africa’s diplomats and political and business leaders.

The new president as with administrations past will be listening very closely to the advice and recommendations of his national security and foreign policy advisors before he makes any decisions about steering a new U.S. policy course toward Africa or anywhere else in the world. The 2008 Democratic presidential campaign team has assembled about three hundred advisors to assist their candidate Senator Barack Obama with foreign policy issues. I’d say with that large number of policy experts and seasoned U.S. diplomats the Democrats are taking U.S. foreign policy seriously. I don’t know if the 2008 Republican campaign team has an equal number of foreign policy advisors to help Senator John McCain but perhaps he doesn’t need them. After all Senator McCain has been around for a long time in Washington DC and he is also well known by many diplomats and world leaders. John McCain does get his world leaders and their countries a bit mixed up every now and then like he did with Spain’s Prime Minister Zapatero and Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. Heck, a slipup like that could happen to anybody at that age. Whatever the number of foreign policy advisors and experts that are holed up in each party’s camp we shall see how well versed each candidate is on U.S. foreign policy issues in the opening Presidential Debate to be televised on September 26th.

CNN aired a special program this past weekend titled ‘The Next President: A World of Challenges’. Veteran news correspondents Christiane Amanpour and Frank Sesno played host to five (5) former U.S. secretaries of state. The program was taped on September 15 at George Washington University in a roundtable discussion titled “The Next President and U.S. Foreign Policy: Guiding Principles and Global Challenges”. Unfortunately for those of us who live outside of North America the CNN special aired at 03:00 CET on Sunday September 21st. I don’t know about you but I am asleep at 0300 hours unless there is an emergency or something. During the roundtable discussion at GWU former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked what he thought about an Obama victory in November. He made it clear that he had not yet made up his mind on who he would vote for but Colin Powell did say that an Obama victory “would be electrifying”. I agree with Powell, an Obama victory would stun the world. The CNN.com Election Center 2008 website has more on the roundtable event: Ex-secretaries of state share advice for next president and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° program blog has published two posts about the event as well:

Excerpt from Frank Sesno’s post at CNN’s AC360°

There we were, sitting alongside five people who had made history and shaped American foreign policy for nearly four decades. Vietnam and détente. Hot war with Iraq and Cold War with the Soviet Union. Mideast peace conferences and arms control. Kosovo and Iran. Rwanda and Iraq. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the scourge of drought, poverty and AIDS in the developing world. Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell. Five former American Secretaries of State. The conversation was remarkable for its candor, depth and realism.

We gathered at the George Washington University, where I teach, to talk about the challenges facing the next American president. Christiane Amanpour brought her experience and hard edge to the questioning. The list of challenges we asked about was daunting– from big global issues like climate change and poverty to decisions about how to deal with the new, more assertive Russia, how to handle Iraq and Afghanistan, whether to reach out to Iran, how to fight terrorism and fix America’s tattered image in the world.

Here’s what the secretaries’ bottom line was: get over it. Get real. Be smart. The world is a complicated place. America has to lead. Play down the ideology, they seemed to say, and approach the world rationally and with perspective. Imagine that.

Read more at AC360°
Former Secretaries of State to Next President: Get over it. Be real. Be smart.

Excerpt from Christiane Amanpour’s post at CNN’s AC360°

One of the most interesting areas where they differed was Darfur and the question of Genocide. These hardened diplomats were torn – but they agreed that U.S. intervention was not in the cards. Even Secretary Powell who told us he had first called it genocide on behalf of the US government:

Colin Powell: “You look at something like Darfur, and it just breaks your heart. But the ultimate solution to the crisis in Darfur is a political solution between the rebels and the government in Khartoum.”

Madeline Albright:” Well, I think it’s in the U.S. national interests, in fact, to do something about humanitarian situations that lead to or are genocidal. And the question is how you get the will of the American people behind it. It is not easy. But I’ll say this is, if you’re the United States, you’re damned if you do or damned if you don’t. We intervened in Somalia, and people thought that was a mistake. We didn’t intervene in Rwanda, and people thought that was a mistake.”

James A. Baker III: “When you formulate and implement foreign policy — and I bet you everybody here would agree with this — you have got to take America’s principles and values into consideration. And we’re talking here now about principles and values. But you also have to have a healthy dose of national interest involved, because otherwise you lose the support of the American people. Your foreign policy can only be sustained as long as you bring the American people along with it. They are the final arbiter of foreign policy in our democracy. We cannot be the policemen for the world“.

Yes, but Darfur is a big topic on US campuses, with a serious grass roots movement to stop the genocide there. When the Secretaries started laying this on “bringing the American people along”, I was sorely tempted to turn to the audience for a show of hands. I am sure there would have been an overwhelming call for action from the floor. I’m sorry I didn’t ask.

Read more at AC360°
Five Former Secretaries of State: Cracking diplomacy, and jokes


Here are more reasons why I think that Africa’s issues and concerns will not be a very high priority in the first 12 months of the incoming U.S. administration:

1. Just this week Wall Street and major financial markets around the globe are facing yet another economic meltdown. Financial mismanagement and very reckless behavior by top managers at key multinational investment banks and mammoth insurance companies will be costing U.S. taxpayers dearly if and when the dust ever settles over this mess. I’ve read news analysis that say that the bill to American taxpayers for the failures on Wall Street this year alone could reach US$ 1 trillion___ that’s right, 1 trillion dollars with a t!

Fingers of blame are pointing in every which direction while it is clear that there has been poor government oversight and regulation of the U.S. banking and insurance industries. And it is also evident that the Barons of Wall Street have gone completely mad with a lot of other people’s money. People are deeply pissed off at America about this financial crisis from Peoria to Persia and if it were not for massive financial help from the central banks in Europe and Asia the U.S. economy would be near collapse.

One of the first things that the new U.S. president must do immediately after taking office in January is to come up with a solid plan and expert team to address this massive problem. “It’s the economy, stupid!” happening all over again just like on the eve of President Clinton’s first administration but this time even the world’s smartest economists are dumbfounded about what to do next and how global markets can dig themselves out of this deep hole. So if you have any good ideas about how to fix this mess send them to the expert panel of economists assembled by the New York Times.


2. The War in Iraq is looking as if there may be some light at the end of the tunnel after all with the handover of command of coalition forces by General David Patraeus to General Ray Odierno. Although the terrible sectarian violence and number of suicide bombings and wanton killings are down in most parts of the country, Iraq is still a nation desperately seeking peace and stability and resolution to its many problems and challenges.

The next U.S. president will be saddled with the responsibility of managing continued U.S. involvement in Iraq, including the drawdown of U.S. forces in the country and helping the Iraqi government with reconstruction. Iraq and Afghanistan will be as great a burden on the next U.S. president as it was on President George W. Bush, and the emerging tensions between the U.S. and the nuclear-armed unstable government in Pakistan may prove to be the nightmare that nobody dared dream. These conflicts and crises will continue to weigh heavily on America’s human and financial resources and God forbid that all Hell breaks loose somewhere else on the planet. If it does, we are all doomed for sure.

3. The elusive search for peace in the Middle East, the nuclear negotiations with North Korea and Iran, combating the resurgence of the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan and fighting extremism and terrorists worldwide (including in Africa), dealing with a wide assortment of problems that impact U.S. relations with our many neighbors south of the border (Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti…) __ all of these foreign policy challenges will be stacked high upon the next U.S. president’s desk in January 2009.

And right next to this stack of red hot foreign affairs issues will be another pile of problems and challenges labeled “U.S. Domestic Crises and Issues”. This stack has absolute top priority in the lives of U.S. citizens and voters. Addressing these issues expediently and successfully in the eyes of the American people will determine if the new U.S. president and his administration can keep their jobs. These U.S. domestic issues include the following but is not limited to this short list:

a) The U.S. economy and the huge mess in the investment banking industry
b) National security and public safety
c) U.S. job security and reducing unemployment to negligible levels
d) Addressing America’s business needs and stimulating economic growth
e) Providing healthcare insurance for all U.S. citizens (100%)
f) Improving access to higher education and better education for all Americans
g) Energy issues ranging from sourcing and securing America’s energy supplies to reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil and gas
h) Developing new and renewable energy technologies for new energy sources
i) Straightening out the legal/illegal immigration mess that affect millions and millions of Latino families in a way that works best for everybody

I think that you get the idea, that the list of problems and challenges facing the incoming president is unending___ always has been for U.S. presidents since the birth of the republic. And it shall always be this way so as long as the United States of America stands and attempts to maintain its position as a leader among democratic nations in the world.

So where does Africa fit into this picture, into the strategic foreign policies of the United States of America?

Where are African issues in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign?

What do Africans need to know about the U.S. presidential candidates?

How will the outcomes of the U.S. elections affect the everyday lives of Africans and will they help improve the prospects for Africa’s future?

The Africa Focus Bulletin team at the University of Illinois and in Washington DC has just published a feature article that addresses some of these questions. The collection of editorials from the editors and distinguished scholars is titled “U.S.A./Africa: New Policy Prospects?” Here is an excerpt from that fine Africa Focus feature:

Wanted: A New U. S. Africa Policy
by Merle Bowen and William Minter

[Merle Bowen directs the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. William Minter, in Washington, DC, edits the on-line publication AfricaFocus Bulletin.

…Almost 15 years after Nelson Mandela took office in South Africa, the United States still lacks a coherent Africa policy. There are pieces of such a policy - support for the war against AIDS is now a bipartisan consensus, and both presidential candidates have pledged to focus on Darfur. Neither candidate, however, has laid out a policy framework that can serve both African and American interests.

…In recent years some other African issues have attracted attention, and activists have pressured Washington to act.

On AIDS the results have been significant, even if still inadequate. President Clinton, whose administration was missing in action on AIDS in Africa, became an effective campaigner on the issue after leaving office. President Bush, whose USAID administrator initially dismissed antiretroviral treatment for Africans as impractical because "Africans can't tell time," now finds that the presidential AIDS program is one of the few accomplishments he can claim for history.

On other issues - conflict, human rights, debt, trade, and development - the record is less inspiring. The Clinton administration shared the international failure to act against genocide in Rwanda. On Darfur, the Bush administration has offered heady rhetoric but little effective action. More generally, neither the Clinton nor Bush years provide a good model. Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush raised the U.S. profile in Africa, but neither followed up the hopes they raised with consistent action.

This record looms large today given the absence of new proposals from the candidates and the projected makeup of their foreign policy teams. McCain's Africa policy may well resemble the disastrous Reagan years, noted for U.S. collaboration with the apartheid South African regime and African dictators. One of McCain's top strategists, Charles Black, was a lobbyist for Angola's Jonas Savimbi and other U.S.-backed African warlords. Obama's most prominent advisors, veterans of the Clinton administration, include Anthony Lake, who presided over the failure to respond to Rwanda, and Susan Rice, who has proposed direct U.S. troop intervention in Darfur a step which would almost certainly escalate the killing.

Neither candidate has criticized the disastrous Bush policy on Somalia, where it encouraged Ethiopian military intervention and worsened one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Both have endorsed AFRICOM, a new military command that risks reinforcing an already over-militarized U.S. response to Africa. Opportunistic support for dictators continues, while crises and conflicts - some, such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, surpassing Darfur in casualties - are ignored.

With his openness to multilateral cooperation and his personal connections, Senator Obama has the potential for crafting a constructive Africa policy. But without an alternative framework, and active public pressure, the path of least resistance will likely follow narrow conceptions of U.S. national interests, as in the Cold War and post-Cold War periods. Anti-terrorism, Africa's oil, and competition with China are all real concerns. But pursuing those goals without attending to Africa's own needs would be self-defeating.

A new policy must encompass the diversity of African countries and of U.S. interests. There are no magic formulas. Nevertheless, there are principles that should apply:

Build on the example of the response to AIDS, both multilateral and bilateral to address African needs in health, education, food, economic infrastructure, and the environment, with all countries paying their fair share.

Open a genuine dialogue about trade and development policy, instead of imposing rigid free-market policies that are systematically biased in favor of rich countries.

Minimize bilateral military involvement in Africa, which risks sucking the U.S. into local conflicts, in favor of multilateral diplomacy and peacekeeping, including paying U.S. peacekeeping arrears at the UN.

Stop aiding repressive regimes, and support democratic African solutions, as in the aftermath of the election in Kenya. This crisis, which threatened to turn into a civil war earlier this year, was peacefully resolved through African mediation led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The U.S. played a supportive rather than an ostentatious role.

Rely on skilled African diplomats, who include many distinguished former presidents, for dealing with other crises, as was done in Kenya. Despite the negative example of Thabo Mbeki's ineffective mediation in Zimbabwe, the fact remains that no initiative is likely to succeed unless African civil society and political leaders are in the forefront.

Support the large community of recent African immigrants to the U. S., many of whom are engaged in family and community projects to help their countries.

In short, if the United States takes a narrow view of Africa, as a recipient of "charity," a place to pump oil, and an arena for fighting terrorists, then African hopes being evoked by the Obama candidacy will almost certainly be disappointed. If, however, the United States takes a long view, understanding that its security depends on the human security of Africans, then there are real prospects for a new era of collaboration and good will.

Read more of “U.S.A./Africa: New Policy Prospects?” at AfricaFocus.net
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The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation in Washington DC planned to hold a special Presidential Town Hall meeting on U.S.-Africa policy back in October 2007. Working together with fourteen organizations that advocate constructive U.S. policy toward Africa the Sullivan Foundation sent out questionnaires to all of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. Only four (4) candidates, all Democrats, bothered to return completed questionnaires to this influential group of NGO’s and the event had to be cancelled due to a lack of interest and participation.

This prompted the Sullivan Foundation’s President and CEO Howard F. Jeter to write the editorial which appears below. Howard F. Jeter, a career foreign service officer, was a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and Botswana and among other State Department posts served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. This man knows Africa and he knows it well but he wasn’t able to convince many of the former 2008 U.S. presidential candidates that Africa’s needs and wants are also important for America.

Presidential Hopefuls Must Match Bush Legacy
by Howard F. Jeter – October 18, 2007

The 2008 presidential campaign started earlier than ever, with a multitude of debates this past spring and summer before union officials, conservative caucuses, African-American activists at historically black colleges and even users of the web site phenomenon YouTube. But it appears that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Africa continues to be an afterthought among the issues American presidential candidates deal with despite the growing importance of Africa to the well-being and security of the United States.

Africa is a continent that matters increasingly to the United States and the rest of the international community. African countries are reservoirs of the world’s vital natural resources, including petroleum, natural gas, gold, titanium, cobalt and the newly-important coltan (used in computers, personal digital assistants, etc.). Meanwhile, transnational diseases such as HIV-AIDS and West Nile Fever now plague the developed world, and for global health reasons, the control of potential epidemics in Africa is increasingly of interest to the United States and all countries throughout the world. African poverty and preventable disasters draw American development and humanitarian assistance and charitable contributions that could be devoted to sustainable development and a rising African standard of living. Due to a lack of transparency and accountability in too many African countries, billions of dollars in national revenue have been diverted from their originally intended purposes. Poor governance in Africa provides havens for international criminal syndicates and terrorism that threatens us all.

In what may come as a surprise to some, President George W. Bush clearly understands the importance of Africa, more than any other contemporary President – Democrat or Republican. President Bush was the first Republican President to visit Africa (although his father visited Africa as Vice President), a dramatic departure from past Republican Administrations. Moreover, he is only the second President of any party to visit Africa in his first term. The Bush Administration has devoted considerable time, energy and resources to resolve some of Africa’s most intractable problems, including internal conflicts in Sudan and Liberia.

According to a study by the Center for Global Development, President Bush has increased the amount of money spent on assistance to Africa more than fourfold, and his annual bilateral aid to Africa is more than twice the level of any previous Administration. The Bush Administration created major new aid programs that benefited African nations, such as the Millennium Challenge Account, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Africa Education Initiative, the President’s Malaria Initiative, the Congo Basin Forest Partnership and the Initiative to End Hunger in Africa. President Bush also extended and enhanced the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

The current Administration has created new partnerships with Africans, such as the Trans-Sahel Counterterrorism Initiative to fight a common threat. For the first time in U.S. history, the United States has appointed an Ambassador to the African Union. And also for the first time, all Africa military operations are being consolidated into one unified command so that African issues can be a focus and not an afterthought when the U.S. military must become involved on the continent of Africa in support of African peacekeeping operations, humanitarian relief and security assistance.

A significant portion of our country’s population is directly descended from Africa. However, interest in Africa goes far beyond the African-American community. A growing number of Americans owe their jobs to trade with Africa. Many churches fund humanitarian operations in Africa. American oil companies have discovered Africa as a new frontier in our quest to guarantee our national energy security. Why then does the current crop of U.S. presidential candidates ignore the rising importance of the world’s second largest continent?

The Leon H. Sullivan Foundation leads a coalition of 15 national organizations interested in how the next Administration plans to address major issues involving Africa. A 10-point questionnaire was sent to all Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in June. As of this writing, only Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Governor Bill Richardson and former Senator John Edwards thought it was important enough to respond to that questionnaire. None of the candidates had time to attend a planned October forum on Africa, and only a few of the candidates even bothered to offer a representative for that forum to answer questions about significant issues facing Africa and their importance to the United States. It is surprising and disappointing that other candidates did not respond to at least the questionnaire since most have experience on Africa and presumably know that African issues will demand their attention if they are elected President. Consequently, one wonders why it was considered more important to answer a question from a guy in a snowman suit on YouTube than organizations representing millions of stakeholders and voters on issues of critical concern.

The next Administration will still have to deal with the genocide that occurred in Darfur and the continued suffering of people in that country and its neighbors. Sometime during the next decade, Africa’s supply of oil to America will rival the Middle East as a source of petroleum. Concerns about what role the U.S. military will play in humanitarian and security operations through AFRICOM will largely fall to the next President. Whether African countries become full economic partners or continue as recipients of American and Western largesse will depend on what the next President does. It is important to America that our next President understands the vital role Africa plays in America’s future. Fortunately, our current President does seem to understand, and we applaud him for that.

We need to know the intentions of those who would be President Bush’s successor before we vote and not after they are elected. We need them to tell us more than vague generalities so we can make an informed choice in the polling booth. The days when Africa only mattered to a few activists are over. Africa matters to all Americans, and candidates who do not recognize that fact may lose the support of important constituencies throughout the country.

Ambassador (ret.) Howard F. Jeter is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation. He was a career foreign service officer who served as U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and Botswana, Special Presidential Envoy for Liberia, State Department Director for West Africa and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
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In regards to what a President Obama or a President McCain would do to improve U.S.-Africa relations is something that would be hard to predict. We can read their statements and listen to their speeches for clues about what they want to do, but in the end we just have to wait and see. A lot can happen between now and January 20th (U.S. Presidential Inauguration) that may influence their plans and ideas and hopes regarding U.S. relations with African countries. I do believe based upon what I have read, seen, and heard from the two U.S. presidential candidates and their policy advisors that U.S. foreign policy toward Africa will continue to improve and mature for another 50 years.

Link to Seven Questions Q&A Nr. 7 (coming soon)
Link to Seven Questions Q&A Nr. 5 (previous)
Link to Seven Questions Q&A Nr. 4
Link to Seven Questions Q&A Nrs. 1,2,3


References, related articles, and additional resources
Coming this week.



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