From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Aug 05 2009 - 06:13:35 EDT
'Only Africans can unlock Africa's potential'
2009-08-05 11:49
Nairobi - The United States called Wednesday on Africans to take the lead in
stamping out corruption and crime, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
warning that bad governance was holding the continent back.
Clinton launched a wide-ranging Africa tour with a keynote speech in Kenya,
whose favourite son - US President Barack Obama - underscored the message in
a surprise video.
"Only Africans can unlock Africa's potential," Obama said, returning to a
theme of good governance he made on his first presidential visit to the
continent last month in Ghana.
"To all Africans who are pursuing a future of hope and opportunity, know
this: you have a partner and a friend in the United States," said Obama,
whose father was born in Kenya.
Clinton, addressing a forum of some 40 nations that enjoy preferential
access to the US market, said the United States sought to be a "partner, not
patron" of the continent.
Responsible governments
Clinton said the United States was committed to supporting Africa, including
by boosting investment and stepping up aid to agriculture to fight hunger.
But she warned that "leaders have to lead".
"True economic progress in Africa will depend on responsible governments
that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law, and deliver results for
their people," Clinton said.
"This is not just about good governance - it's also about good business,"
said Clinton, who arrived here on Tuesday.
The 11-day trip, which comes just three weeks after Obama visited the
continent, is Clinton's longest since she became the top US diplomat six
months ago and her first to sub-Saharan Africa.
Clinton, accompanied by Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack, said she sought not to lecture but to share with
Africa the "benefits of the mistakes" from the United States.
Favourable investment climate
"Creating a favourable investment climate also requires countries to
translate politics into governing," she told the forum, which was attended
by Kenyan President
<http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/Pages/profilefull.aspx?IndID=5197> Mwai Kibaki
and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Her remark was a thinly veiled reference to Kenya, a top Washington ally on
the continent but the target of some criticism over its failure to implement
key points of a power-sharing deal that ended a cycle of deadly electoral
violence last year.
Clinton was to head straight after her speech into a rare joint meeting with
the two leaders. An aide said she would press them to fully implement the
deal that includes the creation of a special tribunal.
Kibaki and Odinga, in separate speeches to the gathering, acknowledged the
problems in African economies but appealed to the United States to step up
investment.
"I would like to take this opportunity to urge American investors to
increase their investments in Africa as part of their efforts to support
development in the continent," Kibaki said.
Economic status of women
The United States was also set to ink an investment deal with Mauritius, its
latest partnership with the continent.
But Clinton said Africans' first priority should be to boost trade with one
another, not the United States and other rich economies.
"The United States has 300 million people - Africa has 700 million plus,"
she said. "The nations of Africa trade the least with each other of any
region in the world," she pointed out.
Touching on a theme that she will highlight throughout her trip, Clinton
also called on African nations to ensure the rights and improve the economic
status of women.
A strong role for women "is not only a moral imperative. It is an economic
imperative too," she said.
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