From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Aug 31 2009 - 08:15:15 EDT
Africa: Bush's Africa Hand Faults 'Tough Love'
Kevin J. Kelley
31 August 2009
_____
Nairobi - A former US Africa policy chief is accusing the Obama
administration of not doing enough to advance American military, political
and economic interests on the continent.
In commentaries in two major US media outlets, former Assistant Secretary of
State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer charged that Obama's envoys took
the wrong approach when they spoke recently of presenting Kenya and other
African countries with a message of "tough love."
"US policy in Africa is not about love," Frazer wrote last week in The Wall
Street Journal, faulting the signals sent by both Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk. "It's about advancing
America's core interests: promoting economic growth and development,
combating terrorism and fostering well-governed, stable countries."
The Bush administration's senior Africa official went on to urge Obama "to
translate the rhetoric of love" into hard-nosed policies.Frazer's most
provocative suggestion is to move the headquarters of the US Africa Command
from Germany to Liberia.
"The command needs to be in the region its operations are charged with
shaping," she argued, citing the Liberia's offer to host Africom, but did
not take note of other African governments' opposition to a US military
command on African soil.
Frazer added that Africom should go beyond its current assessment of
conditions in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and begin training
DRC troops. She further advised Obama to convene a White House summit of the
leaders of Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC.
"Obama needs to spend more time meeting and engaging African leaders to
address the continent's challenges," Frazer wrote, adding that Bush had
helped end interstate wars in the region by holding individual and
trilateral meetings with the leaders of the three countries.
Eritrea should be placed on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism,
Frazer added, saying such a move would trigger sanctions against Eritrea as
a way of helping prevent a reprise of the 1998 US embassy bombings in
Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
She reasoned that since Al Qaida's East Africa cell is based in Somalia and
Eritrea is said to be aiding a Somali Islamist force linked to Al Qaida, US
economic and political action against Eritrea will prove effective in
combating terrorism in the Horn.
The Obama administration should also oppose a Bill in the US Senate that
would extend to some Asian countries trade preferences established under the
African Growth and Opportunity Act.
On National Public Radio, Frazer accused Obama of "talking the talk but not
actually doing the work back home", and him and his cabinet ministers of not
seeking to squelch a move in Congress to give "hyper-competitive Cambodia
and Bangladesh" the same advantages that Agoa offers to Africa.
Legislation proposed by California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein would
actually extend Agoa-type benefits to 15 countries in Asia, the Pacific and
the Middle East. Giving only Bangladesh and Cambodia duty-free access to the
US textile market would be sufficient to "wipe out Africa's textile sector,"
Frazer declared.
Frazer is not entirely critical of Obama's Africa policy. She acknowledged
in The Wall Street Journal that Secretary of State Clinton made wise choices
of countries to visit on her maiden Africa trip.
Kenya, for example, is "the regional hub for commerce in East Africa, and it
plays a key role in combating terrorism in Somalia and the Horn of Africa,"
she wrote.
Mrs Clinton also merits praise for speaking out for women's empowerment,
Frazer added. Her visit to a DRC conflict zone notorious for systematic
raping was particularly commendable.
Having worked from 2005-2009 in the State Department's top Africa post,
Frazer now holds a professorship at Carnegie Mellon University in the state
of Pennsylvania.
These sharp attacks suggest that she wants to play the role during the next
four years of chief Republican opponent of Obama's Africa policy.
She may also be seeking to banish her reputation in the aftermath of a
report by the State Department's inspector-general that implicitly faulted
her leadership of the department's Africa Bureau.
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