From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Thu Apr 30 2009 - 02:46:16 EDT
Asked about perceptions that U.S. support for Ethiopia's incursion into
Somalia had destabilized the region and favored an authoritarian
Ethiopian regime, Carson promised a balanced policy that combines
short-term strategic interests with a recognition of the importance of
"a free and vibrant press," unfettered trade unions and other elements
of civil society that can hold governments accountable.
He further said that the hot war that erupted along the
Ethiopia-Eritrean border has gone "dormant".
Africa: Statement by Johnnie Carson at Confirmation Hearing Before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
29 April 2009
document
The following is the statement of Ambassador Johnnie Carson, nominee for
United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in front
of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on April 29, 2009 in
Washington, DC.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, it is an honor to appear
before you today as President Obama's nominee to be Assistant Secretary
of State for African Affairs. I am extremely pleased to have been
nominated for this position and I thank the President and the Secretary
of State for the confidence they have shown in me. In recent years U.S.
policy towards Africa has generally been built around broad, bipartisan
consensus. If confirmed, I want to continue that practice, and maintain
a constructive dialogue between the Congress and the Executive Branch. I
look forward to working with the Congress, and particularly this
Committee, to strengthen U.S.-African relations and to working in
partnership with African leaders in and outside of government to expand
their democratic institutions, to grow their economies and to end the
civil strife that has paralyzed development in some parts of Africa.
Mr. Chairman, my professional interest and service in Africa spans
nearly forty years. I was a part of that generation inspired by the now
famous words of President John F. Kennedy - "Ask not what your country
can do for you, but what you can do for your country." I began my
overseas experience in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania,
where I lived and taught in a small village for three years. I entered
the Foreign Service shortly after my Peace Corps tour ended. In over
three decades in the State Department, I had the privilege of serving in
six different African countries and in three of those countries, as the
U.S. ambassador. On various assignments and trips abroad, I have managed
to travel to 40 of sub-Saharan Africa's 48 states.
Mr. Chairman, my years of service across the continent have given me a
deep respect for Africa's people, their rich history and culture and the
challenges they face today in a world of rapid globalization,
technological advances and climate change. I also have a deep respect
for all the dedicated men and women who work at the State Department --
the Foreign Service officers, the Civil Servants and the Foreign Service
Nationals, especially those in the Africa Bureau. That respect also
extends to my colleagues in the U.S. Agency for International
Development. Service in Africa can be exciting and rewarding, but it can
also be difficult and dangerous. I am reminded of that every time I walk
into the State Department lobby or get off of an airplane in Nairobi or
Dar es Salaam. I applaud my colleagues for their dedication and work and
I look forward to leading the State Department's Africa team.
Africa is important to the United States for a number of reasons. Our
history and our heritage are directly linked to Africa. Over thirteen
percent of America's population is of African origin, including our
current president. But our interests and concern in Africa reach far
beyond ethnicity and national origin and are based on our fundamental
interests in promoting peace and stability, democratic rule and good
governance and sustained economic growth across the continent - the
absence of which invariably impacts the United States. We also see
Africa as a major trading partner, especially in the area of
hydrocarbons. Fifteen percent of America's oil comes from Africa and the
continent supplies the majority of the liquefied natural gas consumed by
the eastern United States. Africa's economic potential is vast and its
importance as a trading partner will continue to grow.
As we near the conclusion of the first full decade of the 21st century,
the greatest moments in Africa's long history have not yet been written.
Fifty years after most African states achieved their independence the
continent is still striving to realize its enormous potential and to
play a more significant role on the world stage. I am optimistic about
Africa's long term future and believe the continent has the capacity to
overcome its past problems and meet its current challenges.
During the past decade Africa has made great progress in
democratization, economic policy reform and the reduction of violent
conflict. The greatest progress has been made in the area of democracy
and governance. Africans support democracy and the values that underpin
it. The two most recent examples of this are to be found in Ghana and
South Africa. On January 3rd of this year, Ghanaians went to the polls
and selected John Atta Mills as their new president, marking the fourth
successful presidential election in that country over the past fifteen
years and the second time the ruling party has been replaced by the
opposition. And on April 22, over 13 million South Africans - blacks,
whites and coloreds -- went peacefully to the polls to elect a new
president, Jacob Zuma. Mr. Zuma is South Africa's fourth president since
the end of the apartheid era. These recent elections in Ghana and South
Africa are not unique and represent an aspect of Africa's unfolding
democratic history that is often overlooked. Since 1998, dozens of
African countries have embraced democratic rule. Today, 12 of Africa's
48 states are regarded as full democracies while 23 others are regarded
by Freedom House as partial democracies. This is a remarkable
achievement given that thirty years ago military dictatorships and one
party states predominated across the continent.
Africa has also made measurable strides in the economic field. African
governments have liberalized their economies, embraced market reforms
and adopted pro-business policies. And prior to the on-set of the global
financial crisis in 2008, Africa had experienced nearly a decade of
steady economic growth, averaging over five point three per cent a year.
Although much of this growth was driven by oil and gas exports, and the
rise in mineral and commodity prices, significant policy changes by
African governments, an upsurge in agricultural exports and the
expansion of Africa's entrepreneurial middle class have played a major
role in this turnaround.
Mr. Chairman, there has also been a sharp reduction in the number of
conflicts around Africa over the past decade. The bloody and often
barbaric civil wars that ripped Liberia and Sierra Leone apart in the
1990s have ended. The hot war that erupted along the Ethiopia-Eritrean
border has gone dormant and the massive outside intervention that
threatened to cripple and divide the Congo has now faded away. African
leaders recognize the negative impact violent conflicts have on their
region and many of them have demonstrated a willingness to assume
greater responsibility for preventing and responding to conflicts. The
participation of African states in sub regional peace keeping missions
and the African Union's commitment to the establishment of five standby
brigades across the continent attest to this fact.
Mr. Chairman, despite these very meaningful achievements, Africa still
faces serious challenges in all of the areas that I have just discussed.
Africa's democratic gains cannot be taken for granted. Democratic
institutions across the continent remain fragile and vulnerable to
authoritarian leaders and ambitious soldiers. In the past twelve months,
African militaries have intervened illegally and unconstitutionally in
four different countries - Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Guinea (Conakry)
and Mauritania. And deeply flawed elections in a number of countries,
including Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, have caused deep concern at home
and abroad.
Africa's strong decade-long economic performance is also in jeopardy
because of the current global financial crisis. Although Africa accounts
for less than five percent of the global economy, it has not avoided the
negative effects of the current economic situation. The steep rise in
fuel, food, and fertilizer costs last summer and the wild swings in
commodity prices threaten to erode some of Africa's recent economic
gains. With declining export earnings and foreign exchange reserves,
Africa's poorest nations run the risk of falling backward into new
indebtedness and deeper poverty.
Mr. Chairman, although the overall level of violence and warfare in
Africa has also witnessed a sharp decline, several complex and deeply
rooted political conflicts persist in Somalia, Sudan and the Eastern
Congo. Somalia is a failed state and its deep decline has generated an
epidemic of piracy, a massive influx of refugees into Kenya and a
growing concern about cross border terrorism. Sudan faces two major
challenges in Darfur and southern Sudan. The Sudanese government's
brutal attempt to suppress a rebellion in Darfur has uprooted millions
of people, destabilized Chad and the Central African Republic and
generated one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. In southern
Sudan, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the twenty-one year
civil war between the Khartoum government and the SPLA has not been
fully implemented and at times has been on the threshold of collapse.
And in the Great Lakes region of the Eastern Congo, several different
rebel groups continue to defy central government authority, terrorize
the population and keep tensions high along the border with Rwanda and
Uganda.
Mr. Chairman, I think the United States has significant political,
economic and humanitarian interests in wanting to help Africa to deal
with its most pressing challenges, and if I am confirmed, I will focus
on four key areas: (a) Strengthening Africa's democratic institutions
and encouraging good governance and the rule of law; (b) Working with
African countries to prevent conflict and build local capacity in
conflict mediation and peacekeeping; (c) Fostering sustained economic
development and growth in the wake of the current global economic
downturn; and (d) Partnering with Africa to combat global threats like
health pandemics, climate change, food insecurity, narcotics trafficking
and maritime insecurity.
Strengthening Democratic Institutions: Democracy is a process, not an
event. We must work in partnership with African governments and civil
society organizations to strengthen their democratic institutions and to
protect the democratic gains they have made. To support those efforts, I
will speak out against corruption, abusive government and human rights
violations. I will encourage the development of independent judiciaries,
strong legislative bodies, robust civil societies and transparent
elections. If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for greater
resources for USG-funded democracy and governance programs and for
increased Africa programming by organizations like the National
Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute and the
International Republican Institute. In recent years, the amount of money
and support we have provided for democracy and governance activities in
Africa has declined sharply in relation to what we do in other areas. I
will work hard to reverse this trend.
Preventing Conflict: If confirmed, conflict prevention and conflict
mitigation will be among my highest priorities. Conflicts in Africa do
more to undermine progress than almost anything else. They destabilize
states, halt economic growth, cause enormous loss of life and frequently
result in major refugee flows. They also tarnish Africa's image. I will
try to be proactive in working with African leaders, civil society
organizations and the international community in preventing conflicts
and trying to work with African leaders to defuse political, economic
and regional disagreements before they become sources of open hostility.
It is not enough to just stop new conflicts from occurring. We must
assist African leaders to resolve the conflicts that already exist. If
confirmed, I will work closely with President Obama's special envoy on
Sudan to avert a greater humanitarian crisis in Sudan, to resolve the
Darfur conflict and to ensure the full implementation of the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
I will also work with my colleagues across the Executive Branch to come
up with a comprehensive strategy on how to end Somalia's long nightmare
of instability and help bring peace to that country. I will try to build
on and expand the work of my predecessors to strengthen African
peacekeeping capabilities and to support the African Union's peace and
security initiatives. I will support the deployment of additional
infantry battalions to the UN-AU Hybrid Mission in Darfur and the
provision of more equipment and logistical support to the African Union
Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Fostering Sustained Economic Growth: Fostering sustained economic growth
will also be a priority. Africa remains the poorest and most
economically vulnerable continent in the world and the current economic
crisis threatens to reverse recent economic gains. Now more than ever,
the United States must help its African partners raise per capita income
levels, promote broad-based, sustainable growth, and improve their
business environment.
The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA) have been two cornerstones of the U.S. strategy
to jump start Africa's economic development and encourage pro-growth
policies. After getting off to a slow start, the Millennium Challenge
Corporation has signed compacts or grant agreements for $3.8 billion
dollars with ten African countries and the African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA) has allowed 40 African nations to benefit from
preferential access to American markets.
These two programs, as well as others, have been very successful and
very popular. But we - and others in the industrialized world - must do
more. I would like to see AGOA revised and expanded to permit high value
agricultural and semi-processed exports from Africa, to increase
utilization of the program by beneficiary countries and to have it serve
as a catalyst for greater intra-African trade.
We must place renewed and sustained emphasis on Africa's agricultural
sector, where more than seventy percent of Africans directly or
indirectly derive their income. To spur development, create jobs and end
hunger, we must help Africa transform its farming sector to achieve a
green agricultural revolution similar to the one that has improved the
lives of millions of people across Asia. We must promote private sector
growth initiatives, small and medium size businesses, more private
investment and continued government reform - including in the critical
area of transparency. We must ensure that Africa's women are included in
all these programs as well. But most importantly, we must - along with
the other G-8 and G-20 countries - live up to the financial commitments
that we have made to assisting developing countries.
As Secretary Clinton has pointed out, more than two billion people
worldwide - the greatest share of them in Africa -- live on less than
two dollars a day. These people are the first ones to bear the brunt of
the world economic crisis, because they are the ones who have the least
amount of cushion, and are the least likely to be caught by even a shred
of a safety net. Global poverty has a direct impact on America.
Combating health pandemics, climate change, food insecurity, narcotics
trafficking, and maritime insecurity: Africa's poverty has put it at a
distinct disadvantage in dealing with major global and transnational
problems like health pandemics, climate change, food shortages,
narcotics trafficking and the illegal exploitation of Africa's maritime
resources. In the fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, the
United States has been one of Africa's major partners. Working together,
the Executive Branch and the Congress have already provided $18.8
billion in HIV/AIDS funding through the PEPFAR program. The Congress
recently authorized an additional $48 billion for this program, which
will boost the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria across
Africa over the next five years. But Africa faces two other
transnational threats - narcotics trafficking and climate change.
Narcotics trafficking has become an increasing problem in West Africa
and could become a major destabilizing force in the years ahead if it is
not stopped. On a larger scale, climate change is already affecting many
parts of Africa, but most African governments are ill prepared to deal
with it. As Africa faces the impact of these new transnational problems,
we have to be equally active in working with leaders and governments
across the continent to address issues that are global in nature, not
just African.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I have laid out a broad
agenda, but it is an agenda that is mutually beneficial to the interests
of Africa and the United States. It is an agenda for progress - progress
that will strengthen U.S. -Africa relations and one that will hopefully
advance every African's goal of improved governance, sustained economic
growth and a more prosperous and globally significant Africa.
I am aware of the deep interest and the importance the members of this
Committee attach to U.S. - Africa policy. If confirmed, I look forward
to working with you to advance the goals we all share with respect to
Africa's future and our relations with that great continent. Thank you.
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