Holbrooke Needs to Learn the Basics About Africa
(Opinion)
The East African (Nairobi)January 12, 2000By Grace
Bibala
Nairobi - Richard Holbrooke needs a crash course in
African affairs. He
cannot facilitate economic prosperity here without
filling the apparent
holes in his knowledge of Africa.
He needs to update his Aids fact file, refine his
attitude, learn from the
Syrian role in the Middle East peace process, review
the weight attached to
African Americans in Africa policy constructs, and
appreciate the need for
American peacekeeping troops on African soil.
Mr. Holbrooke, the United States ambassador to the
United Nations, honed his
diplomatic skills as President Bill Clinton's "point
man" in the search for
peace in the turbulent former Yugoslavia. He is now
presiding over the
"Month of Africa," the designation of January 2000 by
the United Nations
Security Council.
This is a rare opportunity for him to deploy his
exceptional expertise in
the search for peace and prosperity in Africa,
possibly the world's most
backward continent. To succeed, he needs to debug his
brilliant mind of
several misconceptions about Africa.
First, the facts on Aids in Africa. According to
recent press reports, Mr.
Holbrooke stated that it is only in Senegal and Uganda
that Aids sufferers
do not fear losing their jobs after admitting their
illness.
That statement is simply erroneous. There are many
countries in Africa
where, by law and in practice, Aids sufferers are
accorded special
protection from discrimination. The anti-Aids
organisations in Senegal and
Uganda probably have relatively more positive
publicity in the US. That
should not downgrade the valiant efforts of
organisations elsewhere. It is
imperative that a diplomat of Mr. Holbrooke's stature
not base his public
statements on mere PR.
Second, the attitude to Africa. Mr. Holbrooke has been
quoted as stating
that Aids is going to spread back into the rest of the
world if it is not
combated in Africa - which, as a continent, cannot be
quarantined!
The idea of Aids spreading "back" seems to be based on
the unproven
hypothesis that Aids originated in Africa. Coupled
with the thought of
quarantine, it lends undeserved credibility to the
accusation that the rich
developed countries would have ignored Aids had the
pandemic been restricted
to Africa.Mr. Holbrooke surely knows that, in
diplomacy, words and wording are
everything.
Third, the Syria analogy to the Central African wars.
It is no secret that
the US government is scornful of and starry-eyed about
the current
administrations in Sudan and Uganda, respectively. It
should also be evident
that sustainable peace and prosperity in Uganda is
almost impossible without
peaceful coexistence between Uganda and Sudan.
In the search for peace in the Middle East, the US
government is justifiably
accommodative of the Syria administration. In the
search for peace in
Central Africa, the US government may have to be
accommodative of the Sudan
administration.
Fourth, the misapplication of the African
American-Africa link. Yes, the
emotional link between African Americans and Africa is
real. No, it is not a
sufficient reason for United States engagement in
Africa.
It may be rational for a political appointee, like Mr.
Holbrooke, to be
conscious of African American votes while crafting and
implementing
Africa-related policies. However, it is foolhardy to
base the USA's
long-term interests in Africa largely on African
American opinion.
In the hard-nosed world of international economics,
long-term economic
co-operation with a whole continent cannot be
sustained by the ethnically
based opinions of a relatively poor one-tenth of the
citizenry of the
world's wealthiest economy.
Finally, the no-pain, no-gain lesson. The biggest
threat to Africa's
prosperity is war. No major problem, including Aids,
can be successfully
tackled in the midst of war.
It is well known that a shadowy mining-company
executive, from Mr. Clinton's
home state of Arkansas, had a hand in escalating, if
not triggering, the
military conflict in the former Zaire. He and several
other individuals and
organisations in the US have contributed to the pain
of the poor inhabitants
of central Africa.
The US cannot reduce the pain without feeling some
pain. US peacekeeping
troops are part of that painful equation.
The idea of American troops in a foreign land has
often been a source of
controversy in US politics. A sizeable section of the
US population wanted
the US to stay out of the European conflict that was
eventually designated
World War II.
A youthful and vocal section was against the US
engagement in Vietnam. A
cross-section of the population was against US troop
deployment in the
Balkans. A large majority was disgusted by the US
military fiasco in Somalia.
Thus, it is probably too optimistic to expect American
troops on African
soil any time soon. Is it too much, however, to ask
the super- rich US to
forgo a little money by suspending the sale of
military equipment, including
software, to Africa?
Peace is undoubtedly a key ingredient to prosperity.
It is usually worth the
attendant bitter medicine.
That is why the United States' diplomatic engagement
of Syria, regardless of
the Syrian administration's lack of popularity in
Washington, is essential
for Middle East peace and prosperity.
Similarly, the practice of isolating or shunning some
political rulers, like
those in Sudan, should be reviewed for the sake of
peace and prosperity in
Africa. Africa's economic potential is worth the few
lessons that the
well-schooled Mr. Holbrooke may have to learn.
*Grace Bibala writes on business and economic policy
issues. E-mail:
[log in to unmask] date: January 10 - 16, 2000
=====
21st Century African Youth Movement
International Coordinating Secretariat
P.O.Box 8582
Madison, WI 53708-8582
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." -- Einstein
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