---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 19:42:39 -0400
From: Will Cusack <[log in to unmask]>
To: Will Cusack <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: ACTION ALERT: President Clinton's Trip to Nigeria and Burundi


>                       -- August 24, 2000 -
>
> Dear Delegates & Participants:
>
>
>      As you know, President Clinton is preparing to make his second
> official visit to sub-Saharan Africa this week, where he will meet
> with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and former South African
> President Nelson Mandela in Burundi. Despite the importance of the
> President's visit to Nigeria's fledgling democracy and the
> international diplomatic effort in Burundi, the visit has sparked a
> firestorm of criticism, especially on Capitol Hill. We must not remain
> silent.
>
>      The National Summit on Africa was created, in part, to help
> strengthen, expand and energize the Africa-focused constituency. The
> February summit was a demonstration of the strength that our
> constituency possesses. A few months ago, a vigorous telephone and
> letter-writing campaign helped convince Sen. Judd Gregg (R-CT) to end
> his opposition to releasing the U.S. portion of its commitment to
> peacekeeping in Sierra Leone. We helped make a difference. We must do
> so again.
>
>      It is important that we marshal our human resources around the
> country this week to show our support for President Clinton's
> impending trip to sub-Saharan Africa - an unprecedented second visit
> by a sitting U.S. president. We ask and urge each member of every
> delegation to write your respective U.S Congressmen and U.S. Senators
> immediately to indicate your support for President Clinton's trip and
> the administration's enhanced involvement with Africa. This is even
> more important for delegations whose Congressional representatives
> have been critical of the President's trip.
>
>     Despite criticism from some quarters in the Africa-focused
> constituency, President Clinton has undeniably "raised the bar" in
> regards to U.S. relations with Africa. He has made a personal
> commitment to the continent and has acknowledged his interest and
> respect for Africa's challenges, its progress and its promise. Yet,
> there are only four months left in Clinton's term and there is a very
> real possibility that his successors will downgrade instead of elevate
> U.S. involvement with Africa. It is up to us to ensure that this does
> not happen.
>
>     If we sit around and make no attempt to challenge this criticism
> of the President's Africa trip, his successors will be reticent to
> follow the trail that Clinton has blazed. It has been 23 years since
> an American president visited Nigeria, Africa's most populous and,
> arguably, most important nation. If we do not speak out forcefully, it
> may be another 20 years before an American president ventures to
> sub-Saharan Africa.
>
>     We must make sure that our voices are heard, that we support the
> President's second trip to Africa not because it's a good thing to do,
> but because it's the right thing to do. The best way to demonstrate
> our commitment is to write and call Capitol Hill, to let our U.S.
> representatives know that Africa can be marginalized by the uninformed
> no longer. We also need to send our letters, e-mails, faxes and phone
> calls to the White House, to let them know that we are behind the
> President's trip.
>
>     If we fail to do this, it will give even more ammunition to the
> nay Sayers who claim that Africa is not important and that Americans
> don't care about Africa. We must demonstrate to them, and to
> ourselves, in a loud crescendo of many voices that "Africa Matters!"
> The responsibility is ours to make sure that our battle cry becomes a
> standard feature of American foreign policy in this new millennium.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Leonard H. Robinson, Jr.
> President & CEO,
> The National Summit on Africa
>
>

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