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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Africa: Africa Fund Conference
Africa: Africa Fund Conference
Date distributed (ymd): 980325
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+ +US policy focus+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains the report from a conference in Chicago sponsored
by the Africa Fund, at which Jesse Jackson, Sr. stressed that U.S. policy
in Africa must give priority to human rights and democracy as well as trade
and investment. The posting also contains an Africa Fund background on
Aid for Africa and a note suggesting additional Web sites for following
President Clinton's trip to Africa and related issues.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa
Chicago, Illinois - February 28, 1998
Jesse Jackson Links Investment and Democracy at Africa Policy Conference,
Calls For Pressure On Nigerian Dictatorship
Speaking to state legislators gathered in Chicago at an Africa Fund
consultation on U.S. policy toward Africa on February 28, civil rights
leader Jesse Jackson, Sr., the Special Envoy to the President for the Promotion
of Democracy in Africa, linked expanded U.S. trade and investment in Africa
with respect for human rights and democracy. Emphasizing that U.S.-Africa
trade should benefit both Africans and African Americans, Rev. Jackson
declared that "Trade...without humane values is slavery," and
called for stronger American pressure on the Nigerian military dictatorship
to release political prisoners and restore democracy. The Consultation,
coming on the eve of President Clinton's March trip to Africa, provided
a unique opportunity for the legislators to impact on U.S. policy.
Introducing Rev. Jackson as the keynote speaker of the day, American
Committee On Africa President Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker spoke about the urgency
of action against the Nigerian military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha.
Jackson responded that "there is no shortage of democratic values
in Africa [but] from Abacha to George Wallace, despots don't want it."
Prominent state legislator attendees included Tennessee Representative
Lois M. DeBerry, President of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators;
Arkansas Representative Irma Hunter Brown; Indiana Representative Charlie
Brown; Wisconsin Representatives Spencer Coggs and Johnnie Morris-Tatum;
Illinois Senators Jesus Garcia and Donne Trotter; Kansas Representative
David Haley; Wisconsin Senators Gwendolynne Moore and Mary Panzer; Michigan
Senator Virgil Clark Smith; and Ohio Representative Vernon Smith. The legislators
were joined by Illinois Congressional Representatives Danny K. Davis and
Bobby Rush and church, union and community leaders who came together to
explore ways to participate in the policymaking process and strengthen
state and city economic, political and cultural ties to Africa.
Getting the right mix of aid, investment and trade in U.S. Africa policy
was a major theme of the Consultation. Mlulami Lucas Singapi, South Africa's
Vice-Consul in Chicago, noted that regional cooperation is key to development.
In his review of various African stock markets, Jeffrey Lewis, Managing
Director and General Counsel of DST Catalyst, Inc., noted that because
of its strong banking and financial system South Africa is an attractive
investment destination. Representative Irma Hunter Brown noted that when
she asks her state trade office for information on Arkansas trade with
Africa she is always surprised by how much is going on.
Several speakers addressed the African Growth and Opportunity Act now
being considered by Congress. According to Council on Foreign Relations
Senior Fellow Salih Booker, "even though U.S. trade with Africa is
greater than U.S. trade with all 15 countries of the former Soviet Union
including Russia, there has been no official trade policy on Africa."
The proposed Growth and Opportunity Act would for the first time give official
recognition to the importance of this trade link by mandating an annual
U.S.-Africa Economic Forum. However, Booker cautioned that African development
was "not just about trade and investment but getting the mix right
between trade and aid. It should not be an either/or situation."
In fact, Booker noted, except for oil, diamonds and such precious metals
as gold and platinum, African countries produce few products to export
to the United States and are unlikely to see short term benefits from the
legislation as currently drafted. While the aim of the act is not to replace
aid, Booker stressed, the reality is that U.S. development aid to Africa
has been drastically cut in recent years.
Professor Robert Stumberg of Georgetown University Law School warned
that a new global business treaty, the Multilateral Agreement on Investment
(MAI) currently being negotiated by the US, Japan and Europe, would give
corporations and foreign bureaucrats the power to veto local laws and override
decisions by local elected officials. If the MAI had been in place in the
1980s, he cautioned, states and cities could not have adopted many of their
sanctions against apartheid South Africa. It now threatens similar legislation
against countries that are major human rights violators, including Nigeria
and Burma.
Wisconsin Representative Spencer Coggs spoke about the city of Milwaukee's
sister city relationship with Queenstown, South Africa and Milwaukee County's
relationship with King Williams Town, South Africa. These relationships
are both cultural and economic and underscore the innovative ways that
local governments are expanding ties to Africa. Wisconsin Representative
Johnnie Morris-Tatum talked about her experiences as the head of a delegation
of 50 central city youth to three African countries and how the visit had
changed these young peoples' lives.
Human rights was a major theme of the Consultation. Amnesty International's
Adotei Akwei told the conference that, "There is a renaissance in
the realm of human rights and democracy" in Africa, but that there
was still a very long way to go. "African civil society must be supported
whenever and wherever possible," he noted. Akwei warned that if President
Clinton fails to address human rights issues in his upcoming Africa trip,
"his silences will speak loudly."
Nigerian environmental and women's rights leader Barine Teekate-Yorbe
of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) spoke forcefully
about how the major oil companies, "Shell in particular as well as
Chevron and Mobil, have sided with the military dictatorship... putting
profits before human lives." She highlighted the suffering of the
minority Ogoni people, whose peaceful protests against pollution by the
Shell Oil Company have been violently repressed. "Nigerians have come
to know that the military and the multi-nationals are good partners...in
injustice and killings."
Closing the final session with a review of U.S. policy, Congressional
Representative Bobby Rush argued that because of its natural resource base
world interest in Africa was increasing but emphasized that the "terms
of engagement must be different" from the racist and exploitative
policies of the past.
Jennifer Davis, The Africa Fund's Executive Director, stressed that
"this is a new period for Africa with new opportunities," and
welcomed the President's upcoming trip to Africa as "long overdue."
But she also encouraged Americans to consider the impoverished and the
oppressed and ask "in whose interest?" when judging new policy
initiatives toward Africa. "Find the links to African peoples engaged
in struggles for justice," she concluded.
The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa was sponsored
by The Africa Fund with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
The Consultation was co-hosted by Dr. Alice Palmer of the Institute for
Research on Race and Public Policy. Additional support was provided by
Enron Corporation and Eli Lilly and Company. Founded in 1966, The Africa
Fund works for a positive U.S. policy toward Africa and supports African
human rights, democracy and development.
Selected documents from the Consultation will be available on the world
wide web at
http://www.prairienet.org/acas/afund.html.
For more information call
The Africa Fund,
50 Broad St., Suite 711
New York, NY 10004
Tel: (212) 785-1024 Fax: (212) 785-1078
E-mail: africafund@igc.apc.org
[Note new addresses and phone numbers for the Africa Fund]
Foreign Aid Programs Provide No Protection for Aid to Africa
by Jim Cason, The Africa Fund
February 28, 1998.
President Bill Clinton has proposed a $13.5 billion foreign aid program
for next year that provides no funding for the Development Fund for Africa
(DFA) and no protection for general development aid to the poorest continent.
The White House foreign aid proposals made in early February do specifically
earmark more than $5 billion for Egypt and Israel and nearly $1 billion
for the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. While
the foreign aid proposals in the budget President Clinton presented to
Congress in early February contain several new trade, debt and peacekeeping
initiatives that benefit Africa, they do not restore overall development
aid to Africa to the levels of the early 1990s.
Cuts in Aid to Africa
Three years ago, Congress cut development assistance to Africa by 25
percent and eliminated the specific designation of a dollar amount of development
funds for Africa.
Although aid to Africa has increased slightly since these dramatic cuts,
the level of funding is still well below the early 1990s figure of more
than $800 million in development aid channeled through the DFA. In 1998,
the Clinton Administration suggests that about $700 million in development
aid will flow to Africa through U.S. bilateral development aid programs.
Several years ago Congress also eliminated all funding for the DFA,
which directs aid toward projects that encourage long term, sustainable
development. Yet until this year, popular pressure has forced at least
a nominal suggestion that a specific percentage of all development funds
be devoted to Africa.
The 1998 foreign aid program, however, includes no requirement that
a specific amount of development assistance should be devoted to Africa.
Instead, Africa, Asia and most of Latin America will have to compete for
funds out the modest $1.8 billion in development funding that is not reserved
for specific regions.
Africa Aid in 1999
In his foreign aid proposals for the next fiscal year, President Clinton
has included about $1.8 billion in development aid, but again, the White
House has decided not to specify an amount of development assistance that
will be allocated to Africa.
Instead, the Administration's foreign aid proposals for next year offer
small piecemeal allocations to specific programs in Africa, including modest
funding for trade and investment programs ($30 million), peacekeeping ($35
million) and debt relief ($35 million).
Administration officials suggest they will probably slightly increase
development aid to Africa to about $730 million, but this level is still
well below the more than $800 million specifically designated in the early
1990s.
The Clinton Administration's foreign aid proposals will now be considered
by Congress,which will hold hearings on foreign aid in the next three months
and then is expected to vote on a foreign aid package sometime in May or
June.
Last year the Congressional Black Caucus argued that the U.S. government
should restore aid to Africa to at least $800 million and channel that
aid through the Development Fund for Africa. Some other groups have suggested
that given the tremendous needs in Africa, U.S. aid should be at least
$1 billion.
Additional Sites
http://www.whitehouse.gov/Africa
The official White House site, with emphasis on the President's itinerary,
speeches and additional background on the countries visited.
http://www.africanews.org/usaf/clinton.hmtl
http://www.africanews.org/usafrica
News from the Pan African News Agency and a variety of other sources,
including African press and non-governmental organizations. Includes important
pre-trip speeches on U.S. Africa policy by Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice.
http://www.africapolicy.org/featdocs/triptop.htm
Links to recommended country-specific sites for the countries visited.
http://www.state.gov/www/regions/africa/index.html
The State Department's Bureau of African Affairs, with a more extensive
archive of speeches and briefings by department officials.
http://www.info.usaid.gov/regions/afr/
USAID in Africa, including congressional testimony, reports and a special
feature on President Clinton's trip.
http://allpolitics.com/1998/03/23/time/africa.html
Time magazine's special "Africa Rising," which highlights
what Africans are doing right, with examples from Mozambique, Eritrea,
Mali and Ghana.
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the Africa
Policy Information Center (APIC), the educational affiliate of the Washington
Office on Africa. APIC's primary objective is to widen the policy debate
in the United States around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa,
by concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant information and
analysis usable by a wide range of groups individuals.
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