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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Excerpts of testimony speeches, and remarks by

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright on Africa

United States Department of State

AFRICA

 Focus on the Issues
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Public Information Series

United States Department of State

Bureau of Public Affairs

December 1999

Focus on the Issues

Africa

Excerpts of testimony, speeches, and remarks

by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright

on Africa

For full text of these and all testimony, speeches,

and remarks by the Secretary see the State

Department website at http:// www.secretary.gov
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Foreword

Africa, today, is more democratic than it has

ever beenmore economically open and more

focused on building civil society. And although it

suffers from instability in some regions, there is

reason for optimism about its future as we approach the new millennium.

Focus on the Issues: Africa highlights

Americas evolving partnership with Africa and the

common interest both share in ending conflicts,

promoting democracy, and supporting economic

reform across the continent. It is the third in a

planned series of publications of excerpts from

testimony, speeches, and remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright that highlight

key policy issues.
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Secretary General Kouyate, ECOWAS resident

representatives, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you for your warm welcome on this, my first

visit to Nigeria.

Although I am new here, I do not feel like a

strangerfor I have watched Nigerias progress

over the past year with the same mix of solemnity

and joy that I felt a decade ago to see tyranny

overthrown and nations reborn across central

Europe. I had never given up the belief that I would

one day hear freedom ring again in the streets of

Prague, my native city. And I had never stopped

hoping that I would be able, during my time as

Secretary of State, to visit a Nigeria whole and free.

Today, it is possible to envision Nigeria becoming, at long last, what Wole Soyinka has called an

unstoppable nation, rich in human and material

resources, a nation endowed with a seeming gift of

leadership, one whose citizens anywhere in the world

would be revered. . . simply by the very possession

of a Nigerian passport.

And when the history of this decade is written,

Nigerias transformation has every chance of

standing beside the Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution

and South Africas long walk to freedom, as a

shining example of the strength of human dignity

and the depth of the desire for freedom.

AfricaAfricaAfricaAfricaAfricaAfricaAfricaAf

Africa

Address before the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

and the Nigerian Community

Abuja, Nigeria

October 20, 1999
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Two days ago, I saw that same dignity and desire

written across the faces of the people of Sierra

Leone. I saw people who had suffered unspeakable

horror, yet who sought not revenge but renewal.

I met African children eagerly learning to use

prosthetics from an American veteran, himself a

double amputee. I watched the most bitter enemies

slowly learning to talk to each other. And I had the

pleasure of reviewing ECOMOG troopsNigerians

and other West Africanswho are providing the

stability Sierra Leone needs to begin again.

There is no message of easy optimism in the

camps of Sierra Leone or on the long path Nigeria

has still to travel. But there is an opportunity to build

a true partnership between the United States and

Africato leave behind the attitudes and habits of the

past and seize opportunities to work together to

achieve shared goals.

I am proud of what we have achieved thus far.

President Clinton and his Cabinet, myself included,

have made an unprecedented investment of time and

energy to develop our ties with Africa across a broad

new range of subjectsfrom agriculture and transportation policy to promoting trade and fighting

corruption.

Our nations are working together to end conflicts

and build peace: combat the crime and terror that

know no borders; promote economic reform and

integration; and support democratic institutions and

accountable government. It matters profoundly

whether we succeed, and it matters nowhere more

than here in Nigeria. Nigeria is important to the

United States and the world because you have the

potential to be an economic powerhouse for Africa

and global markets, because you are already a leader

for peace and because, ever since your struggle for

independence, you have been a signpost for others in

search of freedom.
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

President Obasanjo has already done much to

restore Nigerias democratic institutions. The steps

still to come include the repeal of the last repressive

laws, the return of Nigerias judiciary to its former

renown, and the consolidation of civilian control of

the military. These are the long-term changes which

will ensure that, this time, democracy has come to

Nigeria to stay.

Nigerians are also showing great determination to

come to terms with the abuses of the past. I applaud

recent progress toward bringing to justice the killers

of Kudirat Abiola, Shehu YarAdua, and others. I

welcome President Obasanjos courage and farsightedness in appointing a panel to investigate human

rights abuses committed since 1984, as well as

establishing a committee to review dubious government contracts signed since by previous regimes.

These investigations, if they are fully and honestly

carried out, are an opportunity to breakfor good

the cycle of impunity that has claimed so many lives

and done so much to discredit legitimate authority.

We also want to do all we can to help establish

justice and permanent peace among Nigerians of

every ethnicity and creed. Later today, I will visit

Kano, to gain a better understanding of that part of

Nigerias rich mosaic.

And I follow with concern the extraordinary

challenges that Nigeria faces in the Niger Delta

region. Communal tensions there have been fed by

past government neglect, police and military brutality,

and extreme poverty and despaireven as tremendous oil wealth is pumped from the Delta every day.

I want to commend President Obasanjo for his

efforts to defuse the crisis and to hear the concerns

of the Delta peoples. I stress Americas desire to do

what we can to help find solutions that are based on

the rule of law, not the law of forcesolutions that

give the Delta peoples a voice in their own future and

a stake in the future of Nigeria.
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

I believe we can help find ways to work with

American oil companies on these issues. They, too,

have a stake in seeing Nigerias transformation

succeed. And they can be partners in developing the

Delta and bettering the lives of its people.

Nigerias success in meeting the challenges of

democracy will be a welcome inspiration across

Africa. For our part, the United States will continue

to be a strong supporter of democratic forces across

the continent. We work with governments seeking to

make the transition. And we support the elements of

civil society, such as the journalists, labor unions,

womens groups, and other activists that have kept

Nigerias democratic vocation alive.

President Clinton has pledged to work to return

American assistance to Africa to its past high levels.

We will be making the case to the American people

that Africas peace and well-being are closely bound

with our national interests, whether fighting crime

and terrorism or promoting exports and trade. We

will be explaining that our assistance programs for

Africa are an investment in our common future.

We will be working with Congress to achieve a

substantial addition to our funding, including a threeor four-fold increase in our assistance to Nigeria.

As President Clinton stressed at the UN General

Assembly last month: The fight against poverty and

underdevelopment is a critical part of our struggle for

democracy and stability in Africa. . . .

The United States will continue to support

Africas modernizing economies and encourage

American investors to take a closer look at the

opportunities Africa has to offer. . . .

We will continue to seek out and initiate continent-wide projects such as our Safe Skies Initiative,

which is making African commerce easier by making

air travel safer and more secure. We will continue to

be a leader in reducing the crushing burden of

international debt which African nations face. The
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

international financial institutions and the G-7 have

approved President Clintons plan to make it easier

for countries to qualify for debt relief, to provide

relief more rapidly, and to ensure that savings are

used to meet social needs.

Ultimately, private sector investment will be the

engine of long-term growth across Africa. And if

domestic investment is to be profitable, and foreign

investment attractive, the battle against crime and

corruption must be won. . . .

As we work to fight transnational threats, we

must find ways to end the conflicts that block

African development and threaten regional peace.

I have said repeatedly that our involvement in

peacemaking in Kosovo, East Timor, and elsewhere

around the world is not an excuse for inaction in

Africa; it is a challenge to do better. One of the areas

where the international community must improve is

in developing the resources of our African partners

so that we can move together, quickly and effectively, to prevent and respond to crises: that is why

the United States is the largest contributor to the

OAUs Conflict Management Center; that is why

President Clintons Africa Crisis Response Initiative

has already trained and equipped battalion-sized

contingents from six countries for peacekeeping.

Yesterday, I reviewed a battalion of Malian troops

on its way to Sierra Leone. They are trained by

Americans, supported by the Dutch, and will serve

with soldiers from Nigeria, Guinea, Ghana, and

elsewhere. Such partnerships are an important step

and ECOWAS is a vital partnertoward ensuring that

the nightmares of Sierra Leone, and Rwanda before

it, will not be repeated.

For much of this decade, ECOWAS has been on

the front line of the struggle for peace in Africa. Too

often, in fact, you have been the only line separating

innocent civilians from utter chaos. Much has been

asked of you in Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, and

Liberia. You have stretched limited resources farther
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

than the international community had any right to

expect, and you have achieved more than anyone

dared hope.

The United States has been ECOMOGs largest

supporter, providing well over $100 million this

decade. We have allocated an additional $11 million in

logistical support for your mission in Sierra Leone.

This week, we will vote in the UN Security Council

to send a peacekeeping mission to Sierra Leone to

help relieve the burden you have carried so long.

We are also ready to help strengthen ECOWAS itself,

both in its security architecture and in its efforts to

promote regional economic integration and trade.

Elsewhere on the continent, the United States has

taken a lead role in reenergizing a regional peace

process in Sudan. We are working with the Organization for African Unity to help end the conflict between our friends Ethiopia and Eritrea. We are

working to defuse the escalating tensions in Burundi.

And we will help implement the peace agreement in

the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Each of these conflicts is a serious roadblock in

the way of Africas development, but they are not the

sum of Africas present or its future. Since becoming

a diplomat, I have come to Africa half a dozen times

and have seen both the continents problems and its

promise. From Addis to Luanda, and from Gulu to

Cape Town, some of what I have witnessed has

saddened me. But I have also been inspired.

Nowhere in the world are there stronger or braver

people than those working now to secure justice,

prosperity, and lasting peace across Africa. In recent

days, I have been reminded of the immense debt that

the world owes to President Nyerere and millions of

Africans like him, who in our lifetime have shown us

how to be champions of peace and forces of liberty.

Mwalimu was unique, capable of soaring vision and

deep humility. He believed, profoundly, in what Africa

could be. And he lived his beliefs as best he knew

how.
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Sixteen years ago, the writer Chinua Achebe

wrote that One shining act of bold, selfless leadership from the top, such as unambiguous refusal to be

corrupt or to tolerate corruption at the fountain of

authority, will radiate powerful sensations of wellbeing and pride through every nerve and artery of

national life.

I expect that I will see that pride on the faces of

thousands of Tanzanians tomorrow, as I join them in

paying Mwalimu homage. I see that pride here today,

in the faces of Nigerians who struggled for so long,

performing countless acts of bravery while refusing

to see their democratic will denied.

I believe that Nigerias new hope and pride will

radiate beyond your borders, just as the courage of

Nyerere, Mandela, and their million less-known

colleagues illuminated not just a continent but the

world. I believe they will spark more acts of leadership toward a better, freer tomorrow.

When I think about the future in Africa, I am

reminded of another great force for freedom, Vaclav

Havel. He has said that I am not an optimist,

because I am not sure that everything ends well. Nor

am I a pessimist, because I am not sure that everything ends badly. Instead

I am a realist who carries hope. And hope is the belief

that freedom and justice have meaning. . . and that

liberty is always worth the trouble.

I am a realistor, as a Malian newspaper called

me yesterday, an Afro-realist. In Africa, as across the

time zones and from pole to pole, liberty is always

worth the trouble. I hope you will join me in striving

to give freedom and justice one true meaning for us

all.

Thank you very much. ■
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

 . . .I appreciate deeply the chance to speak with

you this morning, because your 90 years of hard

work have made your name a synonym for justice.

Year in and year out, you have helped America to

confront its contradictions and move closer to its

ideals.

Your message has been heard far beyond classrooms and courtrooms here at home. The NAACP

long ago went global. Your founding inspired the

creation of the African National Congress.

You helped forge an invaluable partnership

between the people of the United States and the

people of Africa. It is this partnership that I would

like to discuss this morning. I do so at a time when

the United States and NATO have made a big commitment in southeast Europe to reverse ethnic

cleansing, return refugees, and help a war-torn

society to rebuild. That is the right approach for

Kosovo and the Balkans.

In the wake of that commitment, it is no surprise

that some of you are askingand comparisons are

being made with our policy toward Africa. But no

one would say that we must do the same thing

everywhere. And no reasonable person would say

that we should have done less in Kosovo because we

could not do the same everywhere.

Address to the Annual Convention for the National

Association for the Advancement

of Colored People (NAACP)

New York City

July 13, 1999
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

It is true that we have been able to do far more to

end conflicts in Europe than in Africa. In Europe the

United States has allies to share the risks and costs of

responding to crises. We have strong regional

organizations to promote understanding, and economic integration to foster peace.

In Africa, such resources are scarce. But that is

no excuse for disengaging or giving up. Instead, it is

a challenge, as President Clinton has suggested, to

use the lessons of Kosovo to help us do better in

Africa.

In the weeks ahead, Africans and the international

community together face tests in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone. If the peace

agreements that have been signed in those two

countries are implementedand we pray that they

willthen we must find the resources to support

peacekeeping, reconstruction, and reconciliation. I

hope I can count on your support as I work with

Congress to make sure we do our share.

For we should have learned by now that America

cannot be secure if millions elsewhere are trapped by

strife and scarcity.

I visited Africa several times as Americas

Ambassador to the United Nations, and every year

since I became Secretary of State. And I saw that the

continent is more democratic than it has ever been,

more economically open, and more alive with the

energy of a growing civil society.

But I also saw that Africa is being pulled two

ways. I watched war crimes investigators in Rwanda

excavate with great care the skeleton of a child about

the size of one of my grandsons, and the sights of

that day made vivid Eleanor Roosevelts statement

that within all of us there are two sides. One reaches

for the stars, the other descends to the level of

beasts.

Five years ago, when a campaign of genocide

was launched in Rwanda, neither America, nor the

nations of Africa, nor the rest of the international

community did enough, quickly enough, to try to
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

stop it. It is no secret that I was not satisfied with

our efforts then. And I say to you today that we must

do all we can now to see that such a nightmare is

never repeated.

I take great pride that the United States took the

lead in creating an international criminal tribunal for

Rwanda. The tribunal has offered the world a lesson

by prosecuting not just the perpetrators but the

leaders of genocide. And it has established, once and

for all, that those who see rape and sexual assault as

just another weapon of war must answer for their

crimes.

Nowhere in the world are there stronger or braver

people than those Africans working at the grassroots

for justice and lasting peace. I look forward to

meeting with these peopleas well as the regions

leaderswhen I return to Africa this fall. I will also

seek their counsel on how we can help make African

societies more peaceful and safe, more democratic,

and more prosperous, healthy, and free.

This morning, I want to focus on two areas

where the NAACP is also taking a leading role 

supporting Africas economic development and

assisting Africans in the search for lasting security

and peace.

Economically, the key to progress in Africa, as

elsewhere, is creating good jobs and sound economic

structures. So the Clinton Administration, starting

with the leadership of the late Ron Brown, has

worked hard to encourage American investors to

make the most of the opportunities Africa has to

offer.

In March, I hosted representatives of 50 African

nations for the first-ever U.S.-Africa Ministerial. It

was the largest gathering of American and African

officials ever, and an important opportunity to hear

the concerns of the continents leaders.

At the ministerial, African leaders told us in no

uncertain terms that one of the most helpful things

we could do would be to obtain passage of the
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

African Growth and Opportunity Act. This Act will

give a hand up to leaders who have been reforming

and modernizing their economiesand give new

reason for others to do the same. It offers a smart

path for Africa into the global economy.

I want to thank the NAACP for its decision last

year to endorse this measure. It is the most important

piece of legislation on Africa I can remember.

Together, we have fought for its enactment. And

together, we must win that fight . . . .

At the March ministerial, many of Africas leaders

also told us that international debt burdens were

crippling their ability to provide even the most basic

social services for their citizens. We have responded.

Last month, the G-7 agreed to the Presidents plan to

provide up to $90 billion in additional debt relief for

developing countries. The prime beneficiaries will be

African.

At the same time, President Clinton has committed to work with Congress to restore U.S. assistance

to Africa to its historic high levels. These steps are

essential. But economic growth is linked, as well, to

political development and peace.

The United States is a strong supporter of

democratic forces across the continent. We know the

critical importance to Africas future of the success

of Nigeria and other new democracies.

We are also working hard to halt conflicts and to

address the massive human suffering they have

caused. In the Sudan, for instance, we have taken a

major role in trying to energize a regional peace

process that could finally settle that countrys

disastrous 16-year-long civil war which has affected

the region.

As we seek an end to war, we also seek concrete

progress from the Sudanese Government on terrorism and human rights, an end to slavery and religious
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

persecution, and steps to address the historical

grievances of the south.

When I was in Gulu, Uganda, I met with young

people who had been abducted from their homes and

taken to Sudan to serve as slaves or child soldiers.

Some escaped from the Sudan-backed brutal lords

resistance army. All had been terribly abused, and

none could imagine a future free of violence and

want.

To make sure America plays its full part in that

effort, I am announcing today that the President will

soon appoint a special envoy who will focus on

reducing human rights abuses, improving humanitarian responses, and revitalizing the regional peace

effort led by Kenya. We have taken this step because

the people of Sudan deserve not delay, but decisiveness; not starvation, but succor; not boundless

inhumanity, but lasting peace.

The United States remains far and away the

largest contributor to relief efforts in the Sudan,

having provided more than $1 billion in this decade.

We are also fully engaged in efforts to resolve the

other conflicts across the continent, from the

seemingly endless civil war in Angola to the bloody

dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we have

supported Zambian President Chilubas sustained

efforts to negotiate a cease-fire. The accord signed

last weekend by six countries is an important first

step toward a lasting regional peace settlement. We

call upon all the insurgent groups involved to sign it.

In Sierra Leone as well, a recent peace agreement

offers the hope of ending a conflict characterized by

horrendous abuses of human rights. If we can help

alleviate the suffering caused by these conflicts, we

should. This is the right thing to do; it is also the

smart thing. But while responding to these conflicts,

we must take broader steps to help prevent them;

that means supporting the Organization of African

Unity. It means enhancing Africas peacekeeping
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

capacity, as President Clintons African Crisis

Response Initiative does. And it means restoring the

UNs rightful place in ending war in Africas crisis

zones.

We must also be Africas partner in a larger

strugglea struggle being waged around the globe

between those with faith in the rule of law and those

who believe in no rules at all. From within and

without, parts of Africa are besieged by what

Langston Hughes referred to as the force that kills,

the power that robs, and the greed that does not

care. It does not have to be this way.

Those complicit are white and black, African and

non-African. They are diamond runners, arms

peddlers, and those who consider public office a

license to steal. They are mercenaries who would sell

drugs and guns to a kindergarten if the markup were

high enough. And they are international terrorist

groups that use Africa as a convenient base of

operations, such as those who killed hundreds of

Americans and Africans last summer by bombing our

embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

We will honor those victims in a memorial

ceremony on August 7. As we do so, we must vow

never to forgetand never to be complacent. The

world must come together with Africa, not to

compete for influence, but to cooperate for peace,

development, and law.

One place to start is by backing strong democratic leaders in their fight against corruption. As

Nigerias new President Obasanjo has observed, in

African tradition, gifts are given in public and

excessive gifts are returned. Secret offshore bank

accounts, he adds, are not part of this tradition.

A second priority is the need to halt the uncontrolled flow of guns and other weapons into Africa. I

know the NAACP understands this problem well, and

I have great respect for your work to reduce gun

violence in our own country.
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

In Africa, the end of the Cold War brought large

quantities of weaponry into the continent at bargainbasement prices, through transactions that were

neither regulated nor recorded. As a result, the

continent is awash in arms that feed conflict and

crime.

Today, I am releasing a special State Department

report ["Arms and Conflict in Africa"] describing the

dimensions of this problem, how the business of

arms sales to Africa works, and what its impacts are.

As the report makes clear, although prices are low,

the social cost of arms sales is high. Countries that

are among the worlds poorest spend hundreds of

millions of dollars buying tanks, jet fighters, and

small arms. Diamonds are smuggled, crops are

mortgaged, and relief supplies are stolen to finance

these purchases. In each case, it is the African people

who are the losers.

Of course, countries have the right to selfdefense. Many arms transfers are legitimate, but

many others are not. The United Nations has imposed

arms embargoes against two African countries and

three extremist rebel groups, which are responsible

for more than a million deaths in this decade. Unfortunately, the enforcement of these embargoes has

been lacking, and the arms have continued to flow.

The international community must do betterand

the United States is determined to do its part. Currently, we are working with the United Nations and

African leaders to find ways to strengthen the

enforcement of arms embargoes. We are negotiating

a global agreement to prevent the illicit manufacturing

or sale of firearms. And we are seeking support for

rules governing the export of shoulder-fired missiles

a threat to civilian aircraft and a deadly danger in

the hands of terrorists.

Curbing the illicit or destabilizing sale of arms

would help make Africans safer and Africa stronger.

The same would be true for progress against an even

deadlier threat, and that is HIV/AIDS.
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Neither numbers nor statistics are adequate to

describe the human destruction being caused by this

disease, especially in Africa. In the minutes since I

began this speech, 100 Africans became newly

infected with HIV/AIDS. By the time your convention ends, another 25,000 will have been infected.

The imperative in Africa now, as in our own

country a decade or so ago, is to face squarely the

reality of this disease, for we know that with national

leadership, international assistance and local interventions, the tide can be turned.

Uganda was among the first nations to be devastated by AIDS, but it has fought back. President

Museveni has urged every cabinet minister, every

school, every church, and every business to promote

AIDS awareness, prevention, and treatment. Ugandans call this the big noise, and it has cut HIV

infection rates by 50%.

Today, the big noise is starting to be heard in

more and more African nations. The United States

has helped by urging others to heed Ugandas

example, and by steering to Africa more than one-half

of the $1 billion we have invested in the global fight

against AIDS.

But so much more needs to be done. So I pledge

this morning that I will do all I can to see that we will

do moreand that we stick with this fight until it is

won.

Many years ago, in a speech at Lincoln University, the Rev. Martin Luther King confessed to being

what he called a maladjusted person. He said that

he simply had not been able to adjust to a world of

discrimination. He had not been able to adjust to

economic conditions that left a few with luxuries and

the vast majority without basic necessities. And he

said that the salvation of the world may well rest in

the hands of the maladjusted.
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Today, I hope that we, too, will be maladjusted

that we will never adjust to an America where hate

crimes still occur and discrimination persists; or to a

world where too many of our fellow human beings

are abused and exploited, denied fundamental freedoms, and lack the means for a decent life.

I hope that we will be true partners to our

brothers and sisters in Africa; that we will reach out

to those who share our belief in the power of free

institutions; and that we will help out those in need of

relief from illness, hardship, and war.

I hope that we will take our cue from the proud

tradition of the NAACP and never cease in our

striving to build a freer and more equitable world

and by so doing validate the last message of your

founder, W.E.B. Dubois, that human beings will live

and progress to greater, broader and fuller life.

Thank you very much for your attention this

morning and for the work you do every day for

America and the world. ■
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Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Thank you, Mr. President. A year ago, we held

the Security Councils first-ever Africa ministerial.

We hoped to build a new and lasting partnership

between Africa and the world based on common

interests; mutual respect; and a shared commitment

to peace, prosperity, and freedom.

Since then, some African countries and institutions have made inspiring progress: The majority of

African nations are registering economic growth, as a

result of the difficult but necessary steps they have

taken toward participation in global markets.

In nations such as Botswana and Mozambique,

democracy continues to put down strong roots. And

new hope has emerged for Nigerias long-delayed

return to democratic rule.

Organizations such as ECOWAS and the Organization of African Unity are pursuing innovative

approaches to preventing and ending conflicts.

Perhaps most encouraging is the moratorium on the

manufacture and trade in small arms proposed by a

group of West African nations.

In December, I had a very successful trip to six

African nations. In March, President Clinton and nine

African leaders pledged to work for peace, development, and the rule of law at the Entebbe Summit. And

in April, here in New York, the Secretary General

submitted a thoughtful and comprehensive report on

peace and development in Africa.

Statement to the UN Security Council

Ministerial on Africa

New York City

September 24, 1998
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December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

I wish that we had more good news. But the truth

is that tragedy and conflict have led the news from

Africa this year, and it dominates our thoughts as we

meet today.

Just last month, we were shocked and saddened

by tragic terrorist attacks in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam,

and Cape Town. Let me take this opportunity to once

again congratulate local authorities for their diligence

in pursuing those responsibleand to express

Americas sorrow for those who were hurt or lost

loved ones.

But acts of terror were not the only disturbing

events of recent months. From the Atlantic Ocean to

the Red Sea, and from Africas western coast to its

southern highlands, countries that had begun to

recover from strife are being swept back into it;

societies which were beginning to rebuild are seeing

their labors lost; governments which had moved

toward democracy are retreating into tyranny.

For example, the dangerous standoff in the Horn

of Africa threatens to become a full-scale interstate

war, Africas first this decade. A bloody crisis in

Congo has undone progress achieved since the

departure of former President Mobutu. It has

ensnared the armies of neighboring countries,

sparking interethnic violence, and raising again the

specter of genocide.

And in Angola, the parties have left the path to

peace laid out in the Lusaka Protocol and are poised

to drag the country back into civil war, fueled by

months of new arms purchases. These and other

conflicts are taking a tremendous toll in regional trust

eroded, in development opportunities lost, and, most

important, in human lives.

The leaders of countries in crisis have a choice:

They can stop now and prevent the slide back to

fullscale war; they can be statesmen and guide their

nations toward a future of cooperation; or they can

continue full-tilt into the pasta past of hatred,
22

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

violence, instability, and isolation. No one elsenot

their neighbors and not the international communitycan make that choice for them.

But the international community does have

a critical role to play. Our nations, acting together,

can make it harder to solve disputes through violence, and we can make it easier for African nations

to choose and keep to the path of peace.

We thank the Secretary General for his personal

engagement in these difficult challenges, and we

welcome the response his report has generated.

Already we have seen important proposals for

improving cooperation between the UN and the OAU,

improving the effectiveness of arms embargoes, and

developing African peacekeeping capacity. And the

United States looks forward to leading the working

group on maintaining the security and neutrality of

refugee camps.

The working group led by Japan has correctly

singled out an area where the international community could quickly make a great deal of difference: the

uncontrolled flow of arms, ammunition, and explosives into Africas tensest areas. This dirty business

fuels conflict, fortifies extremism, and destabilizes

entire regions.

All of us whose nations sell such weapons, or

through whose nations the traffic flows, bear some

responsibility for turning a blind eye to the destruction they cause. And all of us have it in our power to

do something in response.

Together, we should move now to curb arms

transfers to zones of conflict in Africa. We should

begin by committing to full and timely disclosure of

all arms shipments into those regions. And we should

seek to build international support, over the next 6

months, for a voluntary moratorium on arms sales

that could fuel these interconnected conflicts.

The United States also proposes that governments

and international and non-governmental organizations

meet to exchange information on regional arms

transfers and to explore further steps.
23

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Second, arms control and sanctions regimes are

only as strong as their enforcement. And whether the

sanctions in question are aimed at a war nearby or a

would-be proliferator far away, the international

community as a whole will gain from stronger

sanctions regimes.

We, therefore, urge UN Member states, with

relevant expertise, to prepare programs strengthening

the capacity of African governments to monitor and

interdict arms flows. The United States is currently

considering what training and equipment we could

usefully contribute, and we would welcome proposals from others.

The UN could also develop a clearinghouse for

technical information and for rapid exchange of data

on possible violations. Finally, sanctions cannot work

where there is no national legislation enforcing them

and no penalties for violators. Member states that do

not have such legislation should strive to enact it.

The threat posed by arms flows, particularly

small arms, is by no means limited to the African

Continent. The Government of Mali and others,

notably those of Norway and Canada, have done a

great deal to bring this problem to the worlds

attention. Let me take this opportunity to welcome

those initiatives and to propose two urgent steps for

worldwide action.

First, we must put in place responsible arms

transfer practices that are effective worldwide.

Negotiations have begun, under UN auspices, on a

convention based on the pathbreaking OAS Convention Against Illicit Trafficking. We should conclude

those talks by the year 2000. That should also serve

as a target date to restrict the export of shoulder-fired

missiles.

Second, we should establish an international

center to collect and share information on arms

transfers. Last year we left this ministerial with new

momentum behind us and high hopes before us. The

majority of African states continue to move ahead,
24

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

with able leaders and citizens committed to progress

and hopeful for the future. Unfortunately, in some

key countries, we have seen a failure in leadership.

And in too many places, the rule of law is losing out

to the law of force.

Secretary General Annan has eloquently appealed

to the continents leaders to summon the will to

resolve our problems by political, not military means.

For every day that we fail to do so, the innocent

people of the continent pay a terrible price. And he

has urged us all, Africans and non-Africans, to

summon our will, and rise to the challenges we

face in Africa.

I hope that we will all leave New York resolved to

summon our will and to act. I pledge that, through

the steps I have outlined today and by supporting

African aspirations for peace and justice, the United

States will do its part.

Thank you. ■
25

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Remarks at the site of the bombing

at U.S. Embassy Nairobi

Nairobi, Kenya

August 18, 1998

Mr. Foreign Minister, friends. . .: Good afternoon,

and thank you all for being here. I have come to

Nairobi todayto this sorrowful and now sacred

locationto deliver in person a message from the

American people. That message begins with sadness

and grief. As a result of the cowardly act committed

here, more than 250 people are dead. Five thousand

were injured. Almost every family in every part of

Kenya has been touched by this tragedy. So many, so

well loved, have been lost. Our pain is deepin

America, in Tanzania, and most of all here in Kenya.

To the people of Kenya, I express on behalf of

my country our deepest sympathy. The bombing here

10 days ago was a terrible injustice. The dead were

teenage girls, office workers, mothers, children.

They were not the enemies of anyone. They were

innocent, just as Kenya was innocent. Why should

this nation of good and proud people be singled out

along with Tanzania? There is no reason. But terror is

not about reason; its about hate, and we reject hate.

Its about destruction, and the peoples of Kenya and

the United States reject destruction. We are builders.

The terrorists would like nothing better than to drive

us apart. We must not let them. We will not let them.

Together, we mourn the friends and loved ones

we have lost. Together, we pray for the swift and

complete recovery of those who have been injured.

Together, we pledge to bring to justice the murderers
26

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

of our loved ones, colleagues, and friends. And

together, we must vow to maintain warm relations

between our two countries. Our friendship extends

back for decades. Even before independence, the

Kennedy airlift brought hundreds of Kenyans to the

United States to receive a higher education. We have

long been partners in supporting peace, stability, and

freedom in East Africa, and we have developed

strong and enduring people-to-people ties.

I know there is anguish about what happened in

the aftermath of the bombings. And I cannot say we

acted perfectly, but I believe that allegations of

callousness are wrong. In the circumstances, amidst

the horror, the fears, and the different jobs that had

to be done, its not surprising that there were misunderstandings. The U.S. Marines limited access not

out of indifference but because they were afraid that

the weakened building would collapse and trap new

victims, in order to keep people away from the

burning fuel tanks, and because they were concerned

about the possibility of a second terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, there were many heroes. The people

of Kenya may be proud of the efforts made with

nothing more than muscles, bare hands, and the

urgency of desperate caring to retrieve people from

the rubble and save their lives. A number of foreign

countries, especially the Israelis, earned our admiration and gratitude for all they did to help.

The United States, too, contributed much. We

provided massive quantities of search-and-rescue

equipment such as generators, hydraulic machines,

and listening devices. An urban disaster support team

from Virginia helped in the effort to find survivors

and recover bodiesboth from the embassy and

from Ufundi House. We provided large amounts of

medical supplies, and our military surgeons and

paramedics have been hard at work in Kenyan

hospitals. But our efforts to rebuild from this tragedy

are far from complete. They must and will continue.

When our Congress returns to Washington early next

month, the Administration will request substantial
27

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

emergency funds to help Kenya and Tanzania

recover. We want to work with the representatives of

the people of Kenya and with the NGO community to

identify and meet specific needs, such as medical

care, assistance for the victims and their families,

repairs to public infrastructure, and security improvements. We also want to reaffirm our commitment to

helping the people of Kenya build a more prosperous

and fully democratic society.

I know that some have said that the Kenyans who

were killed would not have been killed if America had

not been here in Nairobi. And that is probably true.

But why are we here? The Americans and Kenyans

who worked in our embassy and who were among

the victims wanted nothing more nor less than to

improve the quality of life for both our peoples. And

thats why we have worked, and will continue to

work, to broaden economic opportunities, strengthen

civil society, promote sustainable development, fight

disease, and safeguard the environment. These

efforts reflect values and aspirations that Kenyans

and Americans shareand no bombing can change

that.

We are also very proud that the efforts of the

United States are being carried out here by a most

amazing ambassador, Ambassador Prudence

Bushnell, and we are all incredibly proud of her and

everything that she has done to maintain solidarity

and to hold Americas head up high. Pru, thank you

very much.

I was very moved last week to read a story about

a man who was pulled from the Ufundi Cooperative

Building 36 hours after the bombing. He said he had

survived because the courage of the mind is greater

than the body. I never gave up hope, he said.

Those brave words remind us that the strategy of

terror is based almost entirely on replacing hope with

fear. It is a strategy of intimidation. It is designed to

make us forget our aspirations, to hunker down and
28

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

become passive, and turn against one another. I say

there is more real strength in a single tear among the

millions shed for the loved ones killed here than there

can be in any terrorist act. We grieve because we

care for each other, and that is also why we build

and why we have faith that if we work together, we

can create a future far better than the past.

Let us choose as those who died here would have

had us choose: to honor their memory by comforting

their families, caring for the injured, rebuilding their

society, and holding the guilty accountable; and to

honor their example by redoubling our efforts to

forge a future of greater freedom, security, and

prosperity not just for some, but for all people.

Thank you very much. ■
29

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Testimony before the Senate

Finance Committee

Washington, DC

June 17, 1998

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of

the committee. I am delighted to be here to testify on

behalf of one of our top legislative priorities: the

African Growth and Opportunity Act.

My focus this morning will be on the foreign

policy rationale behind the Act. And that rationale is

truly powerful, for this legislation frames a new U.S.

approach to a new Africa. For a century or more,

outsiders have either been telling Africans what to do

or manipulating loyalties for geopolitical advantage.

We have a chance now, which we must seize,

to usher in a better era based on changed attitudes

and a changing African reality.

I do not minimize Africas continuing problems.

And I will comment on two of them briefly before I

take your questions. But it would be a grave error to

let problems rooted in Africas past blind us to the

immense possibilities in Africas future.

Consider that within the past 10 years, the

number of democratically elected governments in

Sub-Saharan Africa has more than quadrupled.

Consider that of the 48 nations in that region, no

fewer than three dozen have begun economic

reformsso that the lost decade of the 1980s is

being replaced by the growth decade of the 1990s.

Consider that a new generation of Africans has

come of age, raised in the era of independence,

liberated from Cold War divisions, ready and increasingly able to assume an equal place at the world table.
30

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

And consider that today, we export fully one-third

more to Africa than to all the states of the former

Soviet Union. To those who think the United States

does not have important interests in Africas success,

I saythink again. Already, 100,000 American jobs

depend on our trade with Africa. Already Africa

supplies more than 13% of our oilnearly as much

as the Middle East. And already there can be no doubt

that a stronger, more stable and prosperous Africa

will be a better partner for security and peaceand

for our efforts to counter global threats such as drug

trafficking, terror, and crime.

In decades past, U.S. policymakers, when they

thought of Africa at all, would ask: What can we do

for Africa, or what can we do about Africa? Today,

the right question is what can we do with Africato

build real democracies based on open markets and

respect for human rights?

By asking this question, we undertake the most

fundamental change in our policy toward Africa since

the independence movement blossomed on that

continent four decades ago. And that change is

clearly embodied in the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This legislation was developed, on a bipartisan basis and with strong Administration support,

here on Capitol Hill. It reflects our strategy for

placing trade and investment at the forefront of our

economic relations with Africa, as they are with other

regions around the globe.

The philosophy behind the Act is simple. America

stands ready to help those African countries that help

themselves. Specifically, the Act would achieve this

by providing duty-free access to U.S. markets for

many additional African products.

It would provide reform-oriented African countries with special preferential access for textiles and

other labor-intensive products. It would pave the way

for hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment

through two new OPIC funds. And it would facilitate
31

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

technical assistance to help Africans take maximum

advantage of all the opportunities inherent in the

world economy.

The benefits contained in this bill are not entitlements. They will not be available to every country.

Some object to that. But, quite frankly, Mr. Chairman, we would be doing no favor to Africa or to

ourselves if we failed to recognize in our laws the

strides that African reformers are taking.

This bill is designed to encourage African governments to place their economies on a sound financial

footing, to allow private enterprise to function within

the rule of law, to permit outside investment, and to

liberalize trade. At the same time, the bill encourages

African countries to tend to such development

imperatives as poverty reduction, providing adequate

health care, creating educational opportunity, and

encouraging a new generation of African entrepreneurs.

This last factor is vital, because nothing will

contribute more to Africas future. Thats why the

legislation specifically supports microenterprise and

improved economic opportunities for women.

Those are the smart things for Africa to be doing.

And they are the right things for America to be

supporting.

I believe one of the most striking arguments for

this bill is that it is supported by many African

governments that may not even qualify initially for its

benefits. This reflects the dramatic change in philosophy that has been sweeping Africa.

Throughout the continent, this legislation is seen

as a catalyst for deepening reform and for opening

the door over time to full participation for many

African countries in the world economy.

During his visit to that continent this spring,

President Clinton heard warm praise for this legislation from most African leaders. And as the committee

may know, it is ardently supported by Africas

diplomatic corps here in Washington. Indeed, almost
32

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

every government in Sub-Saharan Africa, including

South Africa, is now on record in support of this

proposal. Given the diversity of Africa, that is

amazing evidence that the time is right, the time is

now, to enact this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I do want to emphasize that,

although trade and investment are increasing in

importance in our relations with Africa, that does not

mean we can ignore the continuing need in many

parts of Africa for aid. The Act does not impose new

conditions on current assistance. Instead, this

legislation explicitly states that we should continue to

provide development assistance to help establish a

more receptive environment for trade and investment.

And let me stress that we are continuing such aid.

During this decade, we have contributed more than

$15 billion in assistance to Africa.

Senators, as you know, some have expressed

concern that the African Growth and Opportunity Act

will lead to a major exodus of American jobs, especially in the area of textiles. The Administration takes

concerns of this type seriously, because we are

committed to strengthening core labor standards

around the worldand we do not want to see

American workers undercut.

So it is important to recognize a limit on the

legislation we are now considering. Because of the

difference in the size of our economies, its impact

will be felt far more in Africa than in the United

States.

An International Trade CommissionITCstudy

concluded that even if all quotas and tariffs on

African textiles and apparel were lifted, African

imports still would constitute just 1% of total U.S.

imports in these categories. So lets keep things in

proportion. Last year, our domestic textile and

apparel production was approximately $160 billion.

Our imports of these products from Africa amounted

to less than one four-hundredth of that amount. The
33

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

ITC estimates that the African Growth and Opportunity Act could impact, at most, 700 U.S. jobs. In the

current economy, we create more than 10 times that

many jobs every day of the year.

Moreover, American businesses, workers, and

farmers will benefit greatly over time as Africa

becomes more prosperous and open. The continent is

home to two-thirds of a billion potential consumers

as many as Japan and Southeast Asia combined. Yet

our exports represent just 7% of this vast untapped

market, compared to Europe, with more than 40%.

Mr. Chairman, in 1965, Nigerias GNP was equal

to Indonesiasand Ghanas was the same as South

Koreas. Over the past three decades, enormous

opportunities were lost in Africa, just as they were

seized in Asia. Today, we have a chance, with our

African partners, to begin to make up some of that

lost time. If we succeed, we can contribute to our

own well-being and to a world that is safer, more

prosperous, and more free than it otherwise would

be.

That would be a great gift to the future. And it is

ample reason, in my judgment, for the Senate to act

positively and soon to approve the African Growth

and Opportunity Act. . . . ■
34

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Address at George Mason University

Fairfax, Virginia

March 19, 1998

. . . I am very glad to be able to discuss with you

United States policy toward Africa and to provide a

preview of the President and the First Ladys trip to

that continent next week.

This historic visit will be the first comprehensive

trip to Africa ever undertaken by a sitting American

President, and it is occurring at an especially auspicious time, for a new generation of Africans has

come of ageraised in the era of independence,

liberated from Cold War divisions, and determined to

assume an equal place at the world table.

As a result of their efforts, within the past 10

years, the number of democratically elected governments in Sub-Saharan Africa has more than quadrupled. More than three dozen nations have begun

economic reforms, so that the lost decade of the

1980s is being replaced by the growth decade of the

1990s. Economies are expanding. U.S.-Africa trade is

booming. Today, we export more to Africa than to all

states of the former Soviet Union combined. . . .

Africa continues to face daunting problems of

poverty, debt, and instability. In many countries, the

democratic experiment has barely begun, and the

Great Lakes region remains a tinderbox. We cannot

and are notignoring these challenges. But we also

want the Presidents visit to spotlight the other Africa:

the new and forward-looking Africa; the Africa that is

eager to participate fully in the world economy.
35

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

This broader focus is important for two reasons.

First, we as a nation still have much to learn about

Africa. For many, our impressions are dominated by

images of famine and strife, exotic wildlife, and vast

deserts. The Presidents trip can help paint a more

complete picture, including modern cities, first-rate

universities, fast-developing economies, and

hardworking people with aspirations very similar to

our own.

Second, the people of Africa should understand

and many of them need convincingthat when the

United States says it wants to work with them on the

basis of shared interests and mutual respect, we are

not just blowing smoke; we mean itand, in a big

way, over the long termnot only because it is right

but because it is smart.

Today, connections among nations exist on so

many levels that peace and prosperity are contagious.

But so, too, are chaos and conflict. People everywhere will benefit from an Africa that is growing,

developing strong institutions, and taking firm charge

of its own destiny. But we also understand that the

nature of the relationship between Africa and the rest

of the world has changed.

It used be that U.S. policymakers, when they

thought of Africa at all, would ask, what can we do

for Africa, or what can we do about Africa? Today,

the right question is what can we do with Africa to

build on the progress that is being made and to

encourage other nations to resolve conflicts and to

move from authoritarian to more open economic and

political systems.

Over the next 10 days, the President and the First

Lady will visit six African countries and attend a

summit in Entebbe hosted by Ugandas President

Museveni. Throughout, they will promote two

overarching goals. One, which I will discuss later, is

to work with Africa to defeat global threats. The

other is to accelerate Africas full integration into the

world community and the global economy; and, by
36

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

so doing, establish lifelines of commerce and investment that will help Africans reduce poverty, raise

living standards, and equip their people with 21st

century skills.

To spur progress and promote U.S.-African trade,

President Clinton announced last June a Partnership

for Economic Growth and Opportunity. Under that

plan, we are committed to helping Africans who are

doing the most to help themselves by

 Granting duty-free access to U.S. markets for

many African products;

 Increasing our technical assistance to help

Africans profit from the opportunities inherent in a

dynamic world economy;

 Paving the way for hundreds of millions of

dollars in new investment by working to extinguish

African debt, both bilateral and multilateral; and

 Meeting annually with African leaders to map

plans for economic cooperation and mutual advancement.

This past week, the House of Representatives

endorsed the Presidents approach by approving the

African Growth and Opportunity Act. This bill was

sponsored and approved on a bipartisan basis. It

enjoyed key backing from the African diplomatic

community. It embodies our strategy for placing

trade and investment at the forefront of our relations

with Africa. And it reflects a firm, broad-based

commitment to the African people by the representatives of the people of the United Statesall of which

makes it even more important that the U.S. Senate

join the House and approve this legislation as soon as

possible.

Although trade and investment are increasing in

importance, we cannot, and have not, ignored the

continuing need in many parts of Africa for aid. We

have contributed more than $15 billion in assistance

to Africa this decade. An increasing focus of our
37

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

programs is the empowerment of African women.

We have found that when women gain the knowledge

and power to make their own choices, they are often

able to break out of the cycle of poverty. Birth rates

stabilize; environmental awareness increases; the

spread of sexually transmitted disease slows; and

socially constructive values are more likely to be

passed on to the next generation. This is how social

progress is made and how peace and prosperity are

built.

Today, throughout Africa, we find grassroots

organizations made up of women and health care

practitioners, educators, and small farmers who are

reaching out to create the foundations of a civil

society to build the future from the ground upoften

despite great hardship and poverty and prejudice.

American policy is to support these efforts and to

strengthen them.

Thats why I met with several such groups

during my recent trip to Africa. It is why I am so

grateful to the First Lady for her efforts to inspire

community-building efforts around the globe. And it

is why I will continue to work closely with Congress

and USAID, and with American non-governmental

organizations, to see that we have the resources we

need to support the programs that work to aid people

who deserve our help.

It is essential to sow the seeds of prosperity if

Africa is to become a full participant in the world

economy. It is also necessary to build democracy. In

this decade, people everywhere have learned that

democracy is a parent to development, for people

who are free to choose their leaders, publish their

thoughts, organize their labor, and invest their capital

will build richer and more stable societies than those

shackled by repression.

As President Clinton will stress during his trip,

free elections are necessarybut not sufficientto

create democracy. And that is why we are working in
38

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

46 African countries to assist homegrown efforts to

develop durable and effective democratic institutions.

The fruits of these efforts will be on display in

several of the countries on the Presidents itinerary,

including South Africa, whose peaceful transition

from apartheid to multiparty democracy is one of the

landmark events of this century. . . .

Today, our relationship with South Africa has

moved beyond the celebration of its transition to

become one of our most serious, wide-ranging, and

mature. We share South African concerns about

challenges posed by crime and uneven development.

We consult often on regional and global issues. And

although we do not always agree, we have developed

a strong friendship based on shared values and on the

commitments to prosperity, stability, and justice our

peoples have in common.

Unfortunately, the democratic trend so evident in

South Africa and in other nations such as Mali,

Senegal, Ghana, and Botswana is not universal. Many

countries have found potholes on the road to participatory democracy. In some, even elected leaders

have placed undue restrictions on political activity,

press freedom, and the work of NGOs.

We Americans understand that every democracy,

including our own, is a work in progress. We

recognize and respect diversity in the democratic

institutions of other countries in the West, in Latin

America, central Europe, and Asia. We should respect

diversity in Africa as well. But we cannot retreat

from our conviction that human rights are universal

or from our knowledge that democratic values,

stability, and prosperity go hand in hand.

In many African societies, national identities and

institutions are fragile. A regime that suppresses the

rights of its people will destroy the very foundation

upon which a united and prosperous nation may

be built. A regime that respects those rights will
39

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

empower its people, no matter how diverse, and

create in them a sense of ownership of the nations

institutions and a commitment to its future.

Without compromising our principles or our

standards, we will sometimes be engaged in Africa,

as elsewhere, with countries that have flawed

governments. Some of these nations are struggling

against long odds to recover from natural disaster or

war. Many have been victims in the past of Cold War

manipulation or neocolonial ambition. We could walk

away from these societies to avoid any appearance of

support for policies we do not endorse. But that

would do no good at all, and it would not pursue

anybodys interests.

We will encourage our friends in Africa to take

steps in the right direction, even if those steps are

small. Moreover, we will continue to press the case

for freedom and human rights. And we will join with

Africas best leaders in declaring that the era of the

big man who comes to power, stays for life, and

robs his country blind, is over. A new era of everdeepening democracy must be built. . . .

Throughout the Presidents visit to Africa, the

issue of conflict prevention will be prominent. A

society cannot progress if it is being ripped apart by

violence. And a region cannot integrate itself into the

world community if nations within it are disrupting

stability, generating refugees, deepening ethnic

tensions, and illegally trafficking in arms.

The United States is sponsoring the Africa Crisis

Response Initiative to enhance the capacity of African

nations to prevent and contain disasters. This is part

of a larger international effort and corresponds to the

desire within the region to find African solutions to

African problems.

The President will review with his counterparts a

number of specific situations, including efforts to

overcome the remaining obstacles to a durable peace

in Angola. And he will express support for efforts to
40

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

counter terrorism and to negotiate a peaceful end to

the long and destabilizing civil war in Sudan. He will

also announce concrete steps to promote stability,

democracy, and the rule of law in the troubled Great

Lakes region.

One of the most unforgettable moments in my

previous job as U.S. Ambassador to the United

Nations occurred in Rwanda a couple of years ago. I

visited a church where many of the victims of the

1994 massacres had sought refuge, only to be killed

and dumped into a mass grave, from which bodies

were only then being excavated.

I dont think I have ever seen a place more

beautiful or a sight more horrible. There is no

forgetting genocide. And there can be no true

reconciliation without accountability. But neither can

there be a real future for the Great Lakes region

unless the cycle of violence and revenge is broken.

This will only happen if the peoples of the region

Hutu and Tutsi alikefind a way to live and work

together peacefully, as they did for so many years in

the past. African leaders can help by pointing to

African models of cooperation and by advocating

nonviolent solutions.

And the United States can help by supporting

these efforts and by working with the countries

involved to promote reconciliation; broaden political

participation; lay the groundwork for economic

recovery; andthrough the Presidents Great Lakes

Justice Initiativehelp build systems of justice that

are credible, impartial, and effective.

Ensuring justice is essential in this region, because

people who have survived terrible violence deserve to

knowand will not be able to live normal lives unless

they knowthat the experience will not be repeated.

That requires a recognition on all sides that those

who initiate violence will be opposed, held accountable, and stopped.
41

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Tragically, we have not yet fully reached that

point. Last December as I was leaving Rwanda,

another massacre of innocent civilians occurred, and

I sent back my special adviser on war crimes to

investigate. Clearly, the Rwandan extremists who

have been exploiting ethnic fears and goading their

people into violence are false prophets. They have led

their people into misery and exile. They have made

their followers victims and, worse yet in too many

cases, murderers.

There is an opportunity now to move ahead on

the basis of international norms. Leaders in Rwanda

and Burundi have made a commitment to do so. In

both countries, there are growing efforts from the

national level to the grassroots to marginalize the

extremes, end the killing, and establish political and

social networks based on interethnic cooperation.

President Clintons goal, as a participant in the

Entebbe Summit, will be to encourage this fragile

process and to consult with African leaders on bold

ways to strengthen and sustain it.

As I said earlier, the second overarching U.S. goal

in Africa is to work with the region to counter global

threats. Frankly, we have not always paid as much

attention as we should have to these challenges in

Africa. But now, we are determined to move ahead

on all fronts to develop a continent-wide counternarcotics strategy; to foil the efforts of rogue states

to gain a foothold for terrorists; to end the threat

posed by land mines to civilians everywhere in Africa

by the end of the next decade; to fight malaria and

prevent AIDS; and to promote environmental best

practices and join Africans in ratifying the Convention

to Combat Desertification. . . .

During their visit to Africa, the President and First

Lady will emphasize Americas desire to develop

productive and lasting relationships throughout the

continent. They will convey our pledge to consult

with African governments regularly about opportunities and problems, both urgent and long-term.
42

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Above all, they will articulate a message, which

we hope Africans and Americans everywhere

welcome, that a new chapter is beginning in U.S.-

Africa relations, and it is a chapter with many pages.

The Presidents visit is a dramatic beginning but only

a beginning. I will be returning to Africa. Other

Cabinet members will visit regularly. And the

Presidents special envoy for democracy, the Rev.

Jesse Jackson, will continue to play an indispensable

role.

Before becoming a diplomat, I was a professor

who specialized in the study of history and political

science. No lesson is more central to history than

that circumstances change and the fortunes of

societies rise and fall. History provides no guarantees,

but neither does it impose artificial limits. And for

Africa today, the reality is starting to catch up with

the dream.

Nelson Mandela said once that, in the history of

nations, generations have made their mark by

appreciating critical turning points and seizing the

moment. A new and better life will be achieved only if

we shed the temptation to proceed casually along the

road; only if we take the opportunities that beckon.

I am determined that the United States do all it

can to assist the peoples of Africa as they seize the

opportunities that beckon today. That is the best way

to bring the international system in which we Americans have the largest stake up to its full strength. It is

the smart thing to do for our economy, our security,

and our interest in a world free from global threats.

And it is the right thing to forge productive partnerships with people who share our values, our interests, and our commitment to the future.

To this new partnership for the new century, I

pledge my own best efforts for as long as I am

Secretary of State. And I respectfully ask your wise

counsel and full support.

Thank you very much. ■
43

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

. . .On my first visit to the continent as Americas

Secretary of State, I do not come with a ready-made

sermon, a long list of requests, or a sack full of

promises. I come rather to open a dialogue with you

and with people from all parts of Africawhether

they are powerful or impoverished, high officials, or

refugees.

This is my first visit as Secretary, but it will not

be my last. And our dialogue will reach new heights

when President Clinton makes his planned trip to

Africa.

I have come because it is time for the people of

the United States to open a new chapter in our

relations with the people of this continent. It is time

because Africas best new leaders have brought a

new spirit of hope and accomplishment to your

countriesand that spirit is sweeping across the

continent. They know that the greatest authority any

leader can claim is the consent of the governed. They

know that the greatest challenges to their plans are

the twin threats of corruption and cynicism. And they

know the value of cooperationwithin their own

societies, with their neighbors, across the continent,

and throughout the international community. . . .

The United States and the international community have not always worked together with Africa and

Africans as well as we might. In my view, if we are

Remarks at the Organization for African Unity,

Economic Commission for Africa

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

December 9, 1997
44

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

all more ready to listen, if we all push ourselves to

understand, and if we are ready to work as true

partners, we can do better. And we must do better.

We must do better because Africa matters. And

right now, no place matters more in Africa than the

Great Lakes.

Achieving lasting peace in this region will be as

difficult as implementing the Camp David agreement

and as complex as sustaining the Dayton accords. Yet

the rewards are surely as greatand success no less

important to us.

The regions natural and human resources as well

as its strategic location make it either a catalyst or a

stumbling-block to African unity. Central Africa can

steady or destabilize half a continent. It can inspire or

retard economic growth from Kampala to Cape

Town.

I have begun my trip here at the OAU because I

want the people of Africa to know that the people of

the United States care about what happens in Africa.

We care because we have our own important

interestseconomic, political, humanitarian. And we

care for the sake of Africans.

But we also care because Africas leaders have

embarked on one of the great projects of our time.

Can viable democratic societies be built to withstand

the challenges of our times, such as globalization,

environmental degradation, overpopulation? That

enterprise demands the ideas and energy of people

everywhere.

I will travel to the Great Lakes region to say that

building an enduring peace will require more than

words of concern and more than a few visits. We

must make the effort to know each other well, to

learn from each other, and eventually to trust each

other.

I will seek out the regions young people

in schools and hospitalsclubs and refugee camps,

because Africas youth have been for too long the

victims of our failures. They must instead be the

foundation of our success.
45

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

In the Great Lakes today, we have an opportunityunprecedented since African states gained their

independenceto build a true partnership. A successful effort will support peace and the rule of law,

promote good governance and democracy, and

encourage economic development and integration.

The United States is prepared to engage deeply in

this shared effortand to act as a catalyst to gain the

support of others. Together we must break the cycle

of violence within and between societies. For

decades, Central Africa has been the scene of

multiple conflicts fueled by the tragic legacy of

colonialism, by destabilizing Cold War rivalries, and

by a recent history of international neglect.

In too many places, those conflicts continue 

driven by ethnic rivalries, long-held grievances, or

simply lust for power.

We must put an end to the culture of impunity

that has claimed so many lives and done so much to

discredit legitimate authority throughout the region.

To do our part in addressing this challenge, the

United States hopes to work with leaders across the

region in a Great Lakes Justice Initiative, to develop

judicial systems that are impartial, credible, and

effective.

We are working to make $30 million available to

support national initiatives to train court and police

officials, rebuild legal machinery where it has fallen

into disrepair, and assist programs that promote

reconciliation and healing after conflict. . . .

The commitment of regional leaders to the social,

political, and economic empowerment of all their

citizens is fundamental. It is through such empowerment that citizens gain a meaningful stake in their

societies.

Those who would build democratic institutions

and market-based economies in the Great Lakes face

tremendous obstacles: societies weakened by protracted and brutal conflicts; devastated government

institutions; and the legacies of authoritarian rule.
46

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

The process will be long. And there will be

setbacks. Democracy is always and everywhere a

work in progress. But in all its formsand there are

manydemocracy has universal qualities that

transcend institutional choices: the primacy of the

will of the people; respect for the rule of law.

Openness and transparency in government will

also help release the regions economic potential.

Some of the regions governments are already

making important progress in reforming their economies, and their growth rates show it.

Through debt relief and President Clintons

Partnership for Economic Growth and Opportunity,

we are committed to helping countries that undertake

economic reforms find capital to develop their

industries and markets to sell their products. A

Presidential delegation of businesspeople, Members

of Congress, and U.S. Government officials was in

Addis Ababa just yesterday, as the Secretary General

mentioned looking at ways that this initiative can

reinforce reforms already in place.

Whether economically, politically, or socially, we

know that regional integration has worked wonders

for peace around the worldfrom Europe to South

America to Southeast Asia. None of us has all the

answers. Could it be that, for peace to take hold in

the Great Lakes, the barriers must come down and

the region must open upto free trade, to free travel,

to free exchange of ideas?

In this and other areas, I want to work with the

regions leaders to ask the right questions. And one

subject on which you are asking very legitimate

questions, and where we must help provide answers,

is the responsibility of donor countries, international

organizations, and African nations to learn from our

successes and failures to:

 Ensure that humanitarian aid is not used to

sustain armed camps or to support genocidal killers;
47

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

 Find more effective ways of preventing conflict

and reconciling former adversaries;

 Achieve justice and accountability in the aftermath of largescale human right violations; and

 Resist the emergence of new tyrannies.

Let me be totally clear on where we stand. The

United States has made a strong commitment to

supervise our refugee assistance far more closely and

to work to keep humanitarian aid from falling into the

wrong hands. Prime Minister Meles and the OAU

have taken an important step toward learning from

past mistakes by proposing that an international panel

of eminent persons be convened to study the recent

genocidal violence, to examine the international

communitys response, and to consider how such

humanitarian disasters might be prevented in future.

The United States strongly supports your proposal. We will cooperate with you in every way

possible to help such a commission do its work. Let

me begin that process here today by acknowledging

that wethe international communityshould have

been more active in the early stages of the atrocities

in Rwanda in 1994 and called them what they were

genocide.

We also welcome the joint initiative the OAU and

UNHCR have undertaken to promote respect for

humanitarian principles. In this as in so many other

areas, the OAU is at the forefront of the search for

African solutions to African problems.

But even more important than these steps toward

a new chapter in our relations is the tone in which

our partnership is conducted. It must rest on shared

responsibility, mutual respect, and mutual selfinterest. It must allow us to speak frankly and

disagree openly, without putting into question the

principles we share.

And it must contain a long-term commitment to

meet formidable challengesby promoting peace,

building democracy, and supporting economic

growth.
48

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Today we have a choice. We can pursue shortsighted rivalries, seek short-term gains, and make

only commitments of short duration. Or we can

decide to move forward from the failures and

recriminations of the past and begin to forge pragmatic, enduring responses to the immense challenges

we face.

We have reached a point in history when no

nation need be left out of the global system, and

every nation that seeks to participate and is willing to

do all it can to aid itself will have Americas help in

finding the right path. This view is not based on any

illusions. Africa, and its friends, have seen far too

much of poverty and suffering to indulge in sentimentalism. But we live in a world that has been

enriched immeasurably by those who have emerged

from the ravages of war to rebuild their lives,

recreate their communities, and renew the progress

of their nations.

It is from the best efforts of those citizens that a

new Africa can be built. It is my belief that we are

seeing just that from Africas groundbreaking

leadersand people. And we pledge our best efforts

to nurturing a new partnership that will work to the

benefit of Africans and Americans alike. ■
49

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

Statement at the UN Security Council

Ministerial on Africa National Intervention

New York City

September 25, 1997

The United States welcomes this ministerial

session of the Council and the opportunity it affords

to recognize and support a new quality in Africas

relations with the world. . . .

Ours is a supporting role. We must listen carefully

to what African leaders and African citizens have to

say about the challenges they face and the solutions

they favor. We must be clear about what our own

interests are and about what we are prepared to do to

help Africans to guide change in directions that create

new opportunities for their people.

We are requesting that the Secretary General

report on how we can better identify sources of

conflict, prevent or resolve them, and help Africans

lay the groundwork for peace and prosperity.

 And we take this opportunity to urge support for the

Secretary Generals reform proposals, which provide

an important opportunity for the UN to use better its

resources to address security, humanitarian, and

development needs in Africa.

Our starting point is peace and securitythe

Councils traditional responsibilitybut we should

take this opportunity to look at the broad picture of

our interactions with Africa. A decade ago, Africa

was the scene of multiple conflicts fueled, in large
50

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

measure, by Cold War rivalriesand, in southern

Africa, by the vicious and destabilizing effects of

apartheid.

Today, the greatest threats to peace are posed by

civil strife caused by ethnic tensions or by a straightforward competition for resources and power. These

threats are aggravated by the lack, in some societies,

of strong and representative institutions of government and by economic prospects so poor that hope is

starved and desperation fed.

In this environment, a security strategy must

include political, economic, and humanitarian components. But to implement these components, a climate

of relative safety must be established and maintained.

The UN is central to meeting those challenges

through its peacekeeping operations, good-offices

missions, and emergency relief programs.

Throughout Africa, the United States supports the

OAUs role in preventing and responding to crises,

and we are assisting its plan to build a conflict

management center and improve its ability to react

quickly to emergencies. We urge the Secretary

General to strengthen the ties between the UN, the

OAU, and Africas regional security organizations in

recognition of the work they are doing.

In Liberia, we congratulate ECOWAS for its

success in helping to end the civil war and monitoring democratic elections. We also commend the

efforts of ECOWASs C-5 group of ministers to bring

peace to Sierra Leone, and we are strong supporters

of the peace process there.

In Angola, as one of three observer states to the

Lusaka Protocols, we endorse strongly the efforts of

the UN, supported by SADC, to ensure full implementation. We will use the powers of this Council to

penalize any party that fails to meet its obligations.

The United States is also working, in partnership

with Africans and donors, to enhance the ability of

African nations to respond when peacekeeping is
51

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

needed. This is a capacity-building initiative, with

long-term goals, openly conducted and aimed solely

at preventing, ending, and alleviating the consequences of conflict.

The United States would also welcome the

Secretary Generals ideas on improving the overall

response of the international community to complex

humanitarian emergencies in Africa, including the

transition from crisis to development.

We should pay special attention to lessons learned

during the past 4 years in the Great Lakes region and

consider steps for ensuring that refugee camps are

not used as a safe haven for war criminals or as a

base for military operationsand for achieving

justice and accountability in the aftermath of

largescale violations of human rights. We suggest that

the Secretary General outline a comprehensive

approach for the issues still confronting the Great

Lakespreventing further conflict and promoting

human rights, democratization, and reconstruction.

In shaping his ideas, we urge the Secretary General

to consult closely with leaders in the region and to

encourage a spirit of mutual respect and mutual

responsibility.

At the same time, Africans themselves must reject

the culture of impunity that has protected those guilty

of gross violations of human rights or the export of

terror to other nations. In this regard, let me say

today that there can be no compromise with Libya

when it comes to terrorism. With respect to the case

of Pan Am 103, the responsibility for the effect of

this Councils actions on the people of Libya rests

squarely on the Government of Libya. We must be

united in our demand for full compliance with this

Councils resolutions. To do less is to insult the

memory of those who died so tragically and to deny

the victims families the demands of justice.

UN efforts also play a central role in Africas

plans for developmentdevelopment that gives

citizens more opportunity, government more capacity, and peace a firm foundation.
52

Focus on the Issues: Africa ■ December 1999

Today, we know that in Africa, as elsewhere, the

primary impetus for economic growth must come

from the private sector. That requires strategies that

make indigenous investment rewarding and foreign

investment welcome. It requires privatization, more

open markets, and regulatory and financial reform.

And it requires efforts to improve education, training,

and health care, so that all peoplemen and

womenmay reach their potential.

Today we know that aid cannot substitute for

reform. But that does not mean stepping back from

the good that only aid can do. Last year, the U.S.

contributed more than $1.5 billion in direct humanitarian and development aid, plus another $1 billion

through multilateral organizations such as the World

Bank and the African Development Bank. In addition,

more than 2,400 Peace Corps Volunteers are working

in Africain a total of 29 countries. And President

Clinton has proposed a Partnership for Economic

Growth and Opportunity to stimulate commerce,

reduce debt, encourage investment, and provide

technical aid.

It is no accident that Africas current economic

upturn is paralleled by a growing embrace of democratic principles. Today, more than half of the 48

countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have leaders chosen

in elections that were deemed by international

observers to have been free and fair. This is important politically and economically, because development depends on people. A democratic people free to

exchange ideas, publish thoughts, organize labor, and

invest capital will build a richerand ultimately more

stablesociety than a people shackled by repression.

Free elections are a necessary part of democracy, but

they are not sufficient in themselves.

The United States is committed to working with

Africa and the international community to help

develop durable and effective democratic institutions,

such as legislative assemblies, judiciaries, and an
53

December 1999 ■ Focus on the Issues: Africa

independent press. We have democracy-building

programs in 20 countries and are also helping to

strengthen civil society in order to improve governance and bolster the rule of law.

Finally, we welcome Africas increasing contributions to the solution of global problems that concern

us all, such as proliferation, crime, terrorism,

environmental degradation, and the spread of infectious disease.

Today, the greatest divide in the world is not

between East and West or North and South. It is

between those trapped by the grievances and preconceptions of the past and those who have the vision

and courage to shape the future.

We are all here this morning to salute the Africans

who have that vision and courageand to make sure

we have the vision and determination needed to

support them. . . .■