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POLITICS: Clinton’s Africa Tour to Stress U.S. Commitments
By Daniel Volman*
WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (IPS) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left yesterday on a seven-nation trip to
Africa that has elicited an appeal from Human Rights Watch for her to put
human rights at the top of her agenda. During her eleven-day trip, Clinton will
visit Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria,
Liberia, and Cape Verde.
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson will accompany
the Secretary on her travels.
In a press release issued Jul. 31, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW)
called upon Clinton to press host governments, and Somali President Sheikh
Sharif Ahmed whom she will meet with in Kenya, to hold human rights
abusers accountable, to ensure that military forces respect international law,
and to end corruption.
In South Africa, HRW said, "she should urge the new government of President
Jacob Zuma to play a more proactive role on foreign policy matters on the
continent, particularly in pressing for human rights reforms by its neighbour,
Zimbabwe."
"The U.S. rightly wants to promote Africa as a place of great opportunity, but
Africans will be unable to realise their potential if their human rights are
denied," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa Director at HRW. "Secretary Clinton
should make this connection clear."
On the other hand, J. Stephen Morrison, an Africa expert at the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, said in an Aug. 4
commentary on the CSIS website that "it is very important that expectations
be kept in check, and realism, patience and a long-term view prevail. Many
of the places where the Secretary can extend a hand, offer a new dialogue,
and lay down new tests are not necessarily ripe in the near term for change,
nor capable today of grasping the nettle. They need to be worked quietly and
seriously through time."
Regarding Nigeria’s repressive regime - which came to power after elections
that international observers concluded were neither free nor fair - Morrison
said, "we need to engage, be candid and tough-minded, offer our advice and
assistance, and try to get the Nigerian government to come to terms with
reality. But our leverage remains limited and for the moment we have no
ready reliable partners. We have to play a long game, build new linkages
within Nigeria, and take action outside Nigeria to halt grand scale theft of oil
and extensive arms trafficking."
Clinton, beginning her trip in Kenya, will be joined by a delegation of U.S.
businesspeople for the eighth U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic
Cooperation Forum - also known as the African Growth and Opportunity Act
Forum. She will also meet with senior Kenyan political leaders and
representatives of civil society.
The Secretary will travel on to South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia, and Cape Verde for bilateral discussions with
political leaders and public events with businesspeople, non-governmental
organisations, and private citizens.
While in Kenya, Clinton will meet with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed
to reaffirm U.S. support for his beleaguered government and to pledge
additional weapons for its fight against Islamist extremists.
In both Nigeria and Liberia, according to the U.S. State Department Bureau of
Pubic Affairs, "the Secretary will bring attention to the Obama
Administration’s commitment to helping nations around the world implement
self-sufficiency and sustainable food security."
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the State Department said, Clinton "will
highlight efforts to combat gender-based violence." In South Africa, she will
focus on such issues as Zimbabwe and HIV/AIDS.
And in Nigeria and Angola, the fifth and sixth largest suppliers of oil to the
U.S. respectively, she will discuss economic and political issues. At a Jul. 30
press briefing, Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson explained, "We are
concerned about having a good energy relationship with them."
"We also believe it is important for them to deal with some of their domestic
issues," Carson said, "which will help to strengthen their democracy."
In answer to a reporter’s question about America’s rivalry with China in
Nigeria and Angola, Carson insisted, "our presence there has nothing to do
with anyone else’s operations on the continent."
One other issue that is sure to be discussed at every stop on Clinton’s trip is
the new U.S. military command for Africa - Africa Command or Africom. The
creation of the new command, which became fully operational on Oct. 1,
2008, has provoked nearly unanimous opposition from civil society
throughout the continent.
According to General William Ward, the commander of Africom, his deputy,
Vice Admiral Robert Moeller, and other military officers, the new command
has three principal missions. The first is to handle security assistance to key
African regimes and - if necessary - direct U.S. military intervention to
protect U.S. access to oil and other resources in Africa. The second mission is
to make Africa a central battlefield in the ‘Global War on Terrorism’. And the
third is to demonstrate America’s determination to compete with China for
economic power and political influence in Africa.
Ward cited America’s growing dependence on African oil - the U.S. now gets
more oil from Africa than from the Middle East - as a priority issue for
Africom when he appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on
Mar. 13, 2008. He went on to state that combating terrorism would be
"Africom’s number one theatre-wide goal."
At an Africom conference at Fort McNair on Feb. 18, 2008, Moeller said that
protecting "the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global
market" was one of Africom’s "guiding principles" and specifically cited "oil
disruption," "terrorism," and the "growing influence" of China as major
"challenges" to U.S. interests in Africa.
Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and
Liberia all get large quantities of weaponry as well as military training and
other security assistance from the U.S. - and all of them are eager to maintain
those close military ties.
But, in the face of vehement public opposition to Africom, Liberia was the
only country in Africa willing to allow Africom to establish its headquarters on
their soil. The U.S., however, decided to decline Liberia’s offer to host the new
command - due to concerns about security and the country’s lack of
infrastructure. Africom is based in Stuttgart, Germany.
*Daniel Volman is the Director of the African Security Research Project in
Washington, DC. He is the author of numerous articles and reports and has
been studying U.S. security policy toward Africa and African security issues
for more than thirty years.
(END/2009)
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