How U.S. Dollars Fund African Horrors
By <
http://www.usnews.com/topics/author/michael_shank> Michael Shank,
<
http://www.usnews.com/topics/author/madeline_rose> Madeline Rose
August 9, 2013 <
http://www.usnews.com/blogrss/world-report.xml> RSS Feed
<
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/08/08/congress-should
-reform-security-assistance-in-africa_print.html> Print
This month, roughly 25 members of Congress will travel to Sub-Saharan Africa
for a wide range of discussions in Ethiopia, Liberia, Rwanda and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Riding on the heels of President Obama's
<
http://www.whitehouse.gov/africa-trip-2013> trip to the region, U.S.
policymakers appear keen to focus their conversations on
<
http://bass.house.gov/news-article/americans-must-change-our-africa-tunnel-
vision-commentaryhttp:/bass.house.gov/news-article/americans-must-change-our
-africa-tunnel-vision-commentary> trade and investment. What they should
prioritize, however, is what Obama fastidiously avoided on his trip: an
evaluation of existing - and American plans to ramp up -
<
http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/01/mapped_the_us_military
s_presence_in_africa_this_spring> U.S. security assistance across the
region. There are three reasons, in particular, why it behooves members to
be mindful of this mission.
First, the efficacy and return-on-investment of costly counterterrorism
operations has never been adequately measured. The U.S. spends
<
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/202920.pdf> more than $25
billion annually on security assistance to the military and paramilitary
forces of foreign countries, as a mechanism of U.S. counterterrorism aimed
broadly at improving the "security capacity" of recipient states.
While security assistance has been a component of the U.S. foreign policy
toolkit for nearly half a century - from Franklin Roosevelt's
<
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/LendLease> Lend-Lease
program, to <
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34027.pdf> anti-narcotics
training in Honduras throughout the 1980s, to recent efforts in
<
http://www.stimson.org/images/uploads/research-pdfs/A_New_Way_Forward_20110
420_1.pdf> Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Mali and Libya - it has
repeatedly done more damage than good to stability, peace, and US
perception.
[ <
http://www.usnews.com/cartoons/economy-cartoons> See a collection of
political cartoons on the economy.]
U.S. security assistance spending has never been audited or overseen in any
coordinated way, allowing U.S.-made and U.S.-delivered tear gas canisters to
be
<
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/15550-us-made-tear-gas-and-state-violenc
e-in-egypt> used against civilians peacefully protesting in Egypt and rape,
torture and abuse to be
<
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/29/kenya-police-abuse-nairobi-s-refugees>
committed regularly in Somalia by U.S.-backed Kenyan military troops.
Moreover, a
<
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/07/22/204516430/which-nations-hate-
the-u-s-often-those-receiving-u-s-aid> new survey conducted by the Pew
Research Center found that countries receiving the largest amount of U.S.
security assistance are often those with the least favorable perceptions of
America. Clearly, some rethinking is required.
Second, these members of Congress who are considering new investments in
trade and economic development will ultimately see deals backfire if they
are not properly coordinated with security assistance reform. The U.S. spent
more than $1.5 billion on security assistance to the
<
http://foreignassistance.gov/OU.aspx?OUID=325&FY=2013&budTab=tab_Bud_Planne
d> Congo since 2009, enabling a military regime to commit human rights
abuses upon its civilians, making the region more hostile to humanitarian
workers and more resentful to U.S. engagements. This is not uncommon.
Conflict-affected countries that
<
http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/0,,content
MDK:23391146%7EpagePK:64165401%7EpiPK:64165026%7EtheSitePK:476883,00.html>
have yet to achieve the Millennium Development Goals are often victim of
repeated cycles of conflict.
Finally, security assistance must be more consistent with Obama's commitment
to an <
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open> open government. The hypocrisies
plaguing U.S. security assistance policies are not lost on those impacted by
the rapes, murders and assaults by U.S.-trained soldiers throughout
Sub-Saharan Africa, the civilians threatened by the U.S.-funded military
coup in Mali, or the imprisoned journalists in Ethiopia whose guards are
protected by U.S. foreign military financing. As Sub-Saharan African
economies grow increasingly robust and interconnected, the U.S. must be
prepared to stand, ethically and transparently, by its policies.
[ <
http://www.usnews.com/cartoons/congress-cartoons> See a collection of
political cartoons on Congress.]
Despite serious concerns with security assistance and the urgent need for
reform, Congress continues to fund all of this with little oversight. This
is remarkable given how many American taxpayer dollars are spent on these
non-transparent programs. Last month, amidst the noise of political gridlock
in Washington, bipartisan members of the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees agreed to fully fund the president's fiscal year 2014 budget
request for U.S. security assistance in their respective State and Foreign
Operations appropriations bills (see
<
http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-113hr-fc-ap-fy2014-ap00
-stateforop.pdf> House and
<
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113s1372pcs/pdf/BILLS-113s1372pcs.pdf>
Senate versions).
Efforts to get transparency and oversight for these programs, however,
haven't been so easy. As these elected officials travel to Ethiopia,
Liberia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August, we hope
they will engage in conversations around the emerging patterns and needed
reforms of U.S. security assistance in Africa and return home committed to
establishing mechanisms of accountability, measurability and reform for
security assistance.
This is a unique opportunity to reclaim, for an
<
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/06/30/world/africa/20130629PREXY.html
> increasingly skeptical contingent of civil society on the African
continent, the faith and good intentions of U.S. engagement.
Will the senators and representatives get it right? Let's hope so, since
it's a rare moment for members of Congress to travel to Sub-Saharan Africa
in the first place. This likely won't happen again anytime soon, so let's
make the most of it now. The people of Ethiopia, Liberia, Rwanda and the
Democratic Republic of Congo are waiting and wanting something more and
something meaningful from America. It is about time that we listened to
them.
Michael Shank, Ph.D., is the director of foreign policy at the Friends
Committee on National Legislation.
Madeline Rose is a legislative associate for foreign policy at FCNL.
* Read Stephen Hayes:
<
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/08/05/africas-strong-
biapartisan-support-in-the-us-senate> Africa's Strong Bipartisan Support in
the U.S. Senate
* Read Andrew Natsios:
<
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/08/02/egypts-three-ch
allenges-its-coup-its-economy-and-the-nile-river> Egypt's Three Challenges:
Its Coup, Its Economy and the Nile River
Received on Fri Aug 09 2013 - 11:35:36 EDT