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Africa Action: Bush Snubs Africa Again
Africa Action: Bush Snubs Africa Again
Date distributed (ymd): 021223
Africa Action Document
This special posting contains a press release by Africa Action
responding to President Bush's cancellation of his planned January
trip to Africa, as well as a copy of a letter to President by
members of the Congressional Black Caucus, calling for a greatly
expanded U.S. initiative to fight AIDS.
AFRICA ACTION
Press Release
December 23, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Africa Action 202-546-7961
Salih Booker 202-244-6310
BUSH SNUBS AFRICA ONCE AGAIN
War on AIDS subordinated to war on Iraq
Monday, December 23 (Washington, DC) - Africa Action's Executive
Director, Salih Booker, called the Bush Administration's decision
to postpone a long-planned trip to Africa, "wholly unjustified and
insensitive to those dying on the frontlines in the War on AIDS, a
war more just and important than any war on Iraq, and one which
George Bush refuses to acknowledge."
Over the weekend the White House announced that it was cancelling
the January 10-17 trip which would have been Bush's first official
visit to Africa as President. Citing unnamed "domestic and
international considerations", the White House said the trip would
be delayed to later in 2003. Bush was expected to visit Senegal,
Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius. Just last week, while
trying to distance itself from racist remarks by Mississippi
Senator Trent Lott, the White House cited the Africa trip as
evidence of Bush's and the Republicans' sensitivities to African
American concerns.
Africa Action's Booker said that, "Once again Africa is not a
priority for this White House and the Republican rulers on Capitol
Hill." "They think they've addressed enough Black issues with the
replacement of Lott and they callously dump Africa again. The Bush
Administration is disinterested in Africa aside from oil imports
and the use of African territory in Washington's war on terrorism.
The U.S. government continues shamelessly to limit funding for AIDS
programs in Africa and supports the pharmaceutical companies'
efforts to enforce patent laws against poor countries seeking
access to affordable medicines," he added.
Since its inauguration two years ago, the Bush Administration's
foreign policy priorities have been at odds with those of African
nations. Washington virtually boycotted the World Conference
Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2001 and the low level
delegation that did attend eventually walked out. This year,
Secretary Colin Powell was booed at the Earth Summit in
Johannesburg for representing unilateralist policies considered
antithetical to African interests in multilateral cooperation on
global issues. Massive U.S. subsidies for agribusiness have
severely impacted African farmers and agricultural development. And
the U.S. interest in promoting trade agreements for American
companies obscures Africa's efforts to throw off the yoke of
illegitimate external debts. Most importantly, Washington has
failed to support African and international efforts to defeat the
AIDS pandemic, whose epicenter is the continent. The White House
statement on the postponement of Bush's Africa trip doesn't even
make mention of AIDS.
Africa Action's director said that, "The HIV/AIDS pandemic is the
worst human catastrophe in recorded history and is by far the
greatest global threat of our time. Over 3 million people died of
AIDS this year worldwide, 80 percent of them in Africa. We ask -
as people asked years ago about the Holocaust - 'how can the U.S.
government know and fail to act?' The answer appears to be racism.
The U.S. just doesn't value African lives."
Booker noted that the Congressional Black Caucus wrote to President
Bush last week demanding a new U.S. initiative to fight AIDS that
would include greatly expanded funding for treatment, care and
prevention; support for affordable medicines; programs for AIDS
orphans; and debt cancellation. "Bush responded to the Black
Caucus' commendable effort to change U.S. policy by cancelling his
Africa trip altogether in order to remove this subject from the
debate over racism in the U.S. government."
The focus now will be on the Bush Administration's budget request
for FY2004. Any figure less than $2.5 billion for AIDS will be
strongly opposed as inadequate by AIDS activists and the
Congressional Black Caucus.
Africa Action, established in 1953, is the oldest US-based
advocacy organization on African affairs.
Africa Action
1634 Eye Street NW Suite 810
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.africaaction.org
Letter from Congressional Black Caucus
December 18, 2002
President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush,
As members of the Congressional Black Caucus, we are writing to
draw your attention to the growing spread of HIV/AIDS throughout
the developing world. It would be impossible to overstate the
devastation caused to date by the global AIDS pandemic, or the
urgency of the need for a greater response from the United States
and the global community. With 42 million people currently living
with HIV/AIDS - 29.4 million of them in Sub-Saharan Africa -- 14
million children already orphaned by the disease, and 70 million
more people expected to die by 2020, we must do more now. We must
respond on an appropriate scale to address the greatest plague in
recorded history.
The United States, as the world's wealthiest nation, must take
greater action by contributing its fair share, and in doing so we
can help galvanize the global response that we so desperately need.
As you prepare to travel to Africa in January, and as you prepare
your budget for fiscal year 2004, you have a remarkable opportunity
to demonstrate United States leadership against AIDS at a moment
when the world will be watching. We urge you to launch a major new
US initiative to fight AIDS, as well as tuberculosis and malaria.
TB is the leading killer of people with HIV, claiming 2 million
lives each year despite the existence of an effective and
inexpensive cure, while malaria kills nearly one million people
each year, most of them young children in Africa.
An expanded US Initiative to fight AIDS must:
- Provide at least $2.5 billion for implementation of global AIDS
programs in 2004, as well as additional funds to combat TB and
malaria. At least 50% of this should go to the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, TB and Malaria
- Prioritize treatment, as well as prevention and care, for those
affected--including an expanded mother-to-child transmission
initiative that would detect and treat entire families, and
including funding and personnel as needed to implement the WHO call
to treat three million people with HIV by 2005
- Promote developing country access to sustainable supplies of
affordable medicines for AIDS and other diseases such as
opportunistic infections in accordance with the Doha Ministerial
Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health and oppose any
attempts to limit the scope of the Declaration
- Expand programs for children orphaned by AIDS
- Seek debt cancellation for impoverished countries, so they can
invest in poverty reduction and AIDS programs.
Most importantly, a US initiative should consist of new monies and
policies that complement existing US-supported programs and are
additional to the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). The MCA,
however, also must help meet the Millennium Development Goal of
halting and reversing the spread of these diseases.
We cannot win the war against AIDS without greater financial
resources and a clear plan of action for the United States.
Programs around the world are ready to scale up prevention,
treatment, and care to save lives now, and to develop the systems
needed to save tens of millions more in the future. Each day we
delay in mounting a comprehensive - and compassionate - response to
the global AIDS and TB pandemics, the cost in human, social, and
economic terms grows. You will have our strong support and the
support of the American people for a bold new initiative to save
families and communities affected by the AIDS crisis, to extend the
parent-child relationship, and to secure the future of young
people.
Sincerely,
Barbara Lee, M.C.
Maxine Waters, M.C.
Donna Christian-Christensen, M.C.
Danny K. Davis, M.C.
Edolphus Towns, M.C.
Robert Scott, M.C.
Charles Rangel, M.C.
Elijah Cummings, M.C.
Julia Carson, M.C.
William "Lacy" Clay, Jr., M.C.
Juanita Millender-McDonald, M.C.
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, M.C.
Eddie Bernice Johnson, M.C.
Sheila Jackson-Lee, M.C.
Bobby Rush, M.C.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, M.C.
Carolyn Kilpatrick, M.C.
Donald Payne, M.C.
Diane E. Watson, M.C.
Sanford Bishop, M.C.
Gregory Meeks, M.C.
Bennie Thompson, M.C.
Major Owens, M.C.
Melvin Watt, M.C.
Harold Ford, Jr., M.C.
Corrine Brown, M.C.
John Conyers, M.C.
Chaka Fattah, M.C.
Alcee Hastings, M.C.
Jesse Jackson, Jr., M.C.
James Clyburn, M.C.
This material is distributed by Africa Action (incorporating the
Africa Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the
American Committee on Africa). Africa Action's information
services provide accessible information and analysis in order to
promote U.S. and international policies toward Africa that advance
economic, political and social justice and the full spectrum of
human rights.
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