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Susan E. Rice Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Remarks to the City Club of Cleveland Cleveland, Ohio, April 17, 1998

Executive Director Jim Foster, Chairwoman Nuruholm, ladies and gentlemen, honored guests: I am very pleased to be with you today here in Cleveland, home of the late Honorable Carl Stokes, a pioneering civil rights leader, and one of our proud ambassadors to Africa. He left this city and our country a distinguished legacy.

You invited me to speak about the Clinton Administration's policy toward Africa, and I am honored. Let me begin by telling you that these are, indeed, exciting times. Just two weeks ago, the President completed a historic 11-day visit to the African continent. He was the first sitting President ever to undertake a comprehensive trip to Africa, and it was my privilege to accompany him on each of his stops in Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Botswana, and Senegal. I wish you could have been there with me to see the massive crowds of cheering people greeting the President as he laid out his vision of a new American relationship with Africa. There was truly magic in the air. As a result of the President's trip, our relations with the African people are entering a new era of partnership for the 21^st century based on mutual respect and mutual interest.

We have numerous achievements to build on as we approach this decisive new phase in U.S. relations with Africa. I would just like to mention some of the milestones which preceded the President's trip.

• First, the Clinton Administration played a key role in the final dismantling of apartheid in South Africa in 1994. We provided substantial assistance--$600 million in the first three years--to the newly elected democratic government.
• In 1994, President Clinton hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Africa, which brought together key U.S. policymakers and American leaders to discuss the future of Africa.
• In 1994, the Administration also played a crucial mediating role and actively supported the UN peacekeeping mission in Mozambique, which culminated in lasting peace and democratic elections.
• In 1995, the Clinton Administration inaugurated the U.S.-South Africa Binational Commission to promote cooperation in trade, development, environmental, and security matters.
• The great Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown's several historic visits to Africa set the stage for a new era of economic partnership with the African continent based on trade and investment as well as aid.
• A year ago, the First Lady visited Africa and laid the foundation for her return trip with the President.
• Last June, the President unveiled his Partnership for Economic Growth and Opportunity in Africa, a sweeping initiative designed to expand trade and investment between Africa and the United States.
• Last September, the U.S. convened the first-ever United Nations Security Council Ministerial Session on Africa chaired by Secretary of State Albright. This session placed Africa squarely at the top of the world's foreign policy agenda.
• Last December's visit by Secretary Albright to Africa underscored our commitment to promoting conflict resolution, democracy, economic development, and human rights on the continent.

And now, President Clinton's historic African trip has further strengthened and deepened our links to the continent.

Two principal objectives underlay the President's trip: changing America's perceptions of Africa and forging a new partnership with the continent for the 21^st century. As President Clinton stated to the people of Ghana at his first African stop: We want to "build a future partnership between our two peoples" and "to introduce the people of the United States to a new face of Africa." "From Kampala to Capetown, from Dakar to Dar-es-Salaam," he declared, "Africans are being stirred by new hopes of democracy and peace and prosperity…it is time for Americans to put a new Africa on our maps."

The President made a point of engaging Africans from all walks of life, not just top government leaders. And in doing so, he made the international media take notice of images of Africa not widely publicized before--snapshots of a continent experiencing dramatic change. Let me recall for you just a few of these images.

• In Uganda, the President met with resourceful village women forming microbusinesses to create wealth and improve living standards at the grassroots level. Industrious women such as these throughout the continent are helping transform the social, political, and economic landscape of Africa as they begin to take their rightful place as full and equal members of their societies.
• In South Africa, the President and First Lady went to Guguletu Township outside Capetown to join enterprising women who, with U.S. assistance, were laying bricks to build new homes for their families. These determined people represent a new generation of Africans resolved to put the building of a better life for themselves and their children ahead of settling scores and seeking retribution.
• In Dakar, Senegal, the President met with democracy and human rights activists from around the continent to underscore that Africans increasingly are demanding good governance, strong civic institutions, and respect for human rights--what we all know to be the foundations of democracy, stability, and prosperity.
• In Dal Diam, Senegal, the President visited a village where the people came together to revitalize their shrinking community, starting small businesses and creating jobs with assistance from USAID and the National Council of Negro Women. This thriving village is a graphic reminder of the substantial benefits that accrue from development assistance properly administered and well-utilized.
• And the President's meeting in Botswana with African environmental activists who are working to preserve their continent's precious natural resources, highlighted the growing realization that achieving prosperity in Africa is inextricably linked to safeguarding their unique environment.

These are not the stereotypical images of famine, disease, and conflict the world has become used to seeing from Africa. They are images of a new generation of Africans embracing a dynamic new future. They are images of hope, renewal, and possibility, and for the first time they were being transmitted around the world in unprecedented scope and volume through both the print and television media.

Still, President Clinton was intent on more than starting to change American perceptions of Africa, as important as that is. He set out also to build on the achievements of his Administration with many new initiatives that would advance our two overarching policy goals in Africa.

The first of these policy goals is to accelerate Africa' full integration into the global economy. As the global village shrinks and nations forge closer economic ties, Africa must not be left behind. Increasing its trade and commercial links with the rest of the world is crucial to the sustainable economic growth and development Africa needs to alleviate endemic poverty.

Success will render both Africans and Americans safer and more prosperous. As extreme poverty is checked and the social unrest which often accompanies it subsides, the need for costly intervention by the international community will also diminish. At the same time, Americans will reap the benefits of increased trade and investment in Africa. Currently, 100,000 American jobs are linked to our exports to Africa. And as the huge, mostly untapped African market of some 700 million people grows and our market share increases, thousands of new American jobs will be created.

To achieve the goal of integrating Africa into the global economy, the United States has been actively working to ensure progress in three key interrelated areas.

First, promoting sustainable economic growth and development;
Second, promoting democracy and respect for human rights, which foster the social conditions necessary for growth; and
Third, preventing and resolving conflicts, since peace and stability are basic prerequisites for democracy and development.

During his Africa trip, the President announced a series of new initiatives aimed at reinforcing progress toward achieving each of these objectives.

To Advance Sustainable Economic Growth and Development

The President pledged to work with Congress to enact the landmark African Growth and Opportunity Act, which has passed the House and is now before the Senate. He also committed to work with Congress to restore U.S. assistance levels to Africa to their historic
high levels to help make sustainable Africa's transition from aid to trade in the 21^st century. And, to make a new, trade-based African economy a reality, the President will implement his Partnership for Economic Growth and Opportunity in Africa. This plan will accelerate Africa's integration into the global economy by encouraging necessary economic reforms and stimulating trade and investment.

To help alleviate Africa's crushing debt burden, the President is asking Congress for funds sufficient to eliminate the $1.6 billion in bilateral concessional debt owed by all Africa's reforming economies. And he pledged to raise with G-7 colleagues in Birmingham Africa's pressing concerns regarding multilateral debt relief instruments. In addition, the President announced that the U.S. has secured a commitment from the World Bank to increase lending to Africa by as much as $1.1 billion, with the focus on reforming countries.

To spur regional economic integration, the President announced a new $500-million infrastructure investment fund through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation--OPIC, which will also assist microenterprises and women-owned businesses.

In Uganda, the President announced a $61-million Food Security Initiative to enhance rural development. The initiative will help the countries of Mali, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda, and Ethiopia increase agricultural production, improve child nutrition, and enhance market efficiency and access.

While in Johannesberg, the President dedicated the Commerce Department's Ron Brown Center and promised to endow an institute in his name, which will help young African entrepreneurs acquire the business skills necessary to compete in the global economy. He also urged African nations to redouble their efforts to fight corruption by implementing a binding anti-corruption convention to affirm the rule of law and bolster investor confidence.

Finally, to ensure swift follow-up to these initiatives, the U.S. will invite African trade, finance, and foreign ministers to meet with their American counterparts every year to advance the cause of political and economic reform. The President will also invite leaders of reforming African nations to a summit meeting in Washington to continue the dialogue begun in Africa. And today, just two weeks after the President's return, the Chairman of the Export-Import Bank, James Harmon, will make an unprecedented trip to demonstrate that the U.S. truly means business in Africa. Later this year, the Secretaries of Commerce, Treasury, and Transportation will each undertake follow-up missions to Africa.

To Advance Democracy and Promote Respect for Human Rights

The President announced in Uganda a $120-million education for development and democracy initiative which will improve the quality of African education at all levels, especially girls' education. By promoting African access to the technology and information needed to compete in the 21^st century, it will facilitate economic development as well as bolster civic education and strengthen democratic values.

In Rwanda, the President outlined in detail a $30-million Great Lakes Justice Initiative, designed to strengthen civil and military judicial institutions and break the culture of impunity which has allowed genocide to recur in the Central African region.

In Botswana, the President announced the establishment of a new broadcasting service--Radio Democracy for Africa. As a division of the Voice of America, it will train African journalists and broadcast programs focused primarily on bolstering democracy, respect for human rights, and humanitarian principles throughout Africa.

And at the Entebbe Summit of Regional Leaders, the President endorsed a historic communique committing signatories to projecting human rights, strengthening democracy, and nurturing civil society.

To Prevent and Resolve Conflicts

The President reviewed a Senagelese/American peacekeeping training exercise and affirmed the United States determination to fully implement the African Crisis Response Initiative.This innovative training program is aimed at building African capacity to respond rapidly and effectively to peacekeeping and humanitarian challenges.

At the same time, the President announced his intention to establish an African Center for Security Studies modeled after the Marshall Center in Germany. This African Center will provide a forum for senior military and civilian officials to explore together complex defense policy issues and provide training to strengthen civil-military relations in burgeoning democracies.

Finally, in Rwanda, the President called on the community of nations "to strengthen our ability to prevent and, if necessary, to stop genocide." He declared that "we owe to those who died and those who survived who loved them, our every effort to increase our vigilance and strengthen our stand against those who would commit such atrocities in the future." The President committed the U.S. to work with regional partners to create an international coalition against genocide, pledged $2 million to a genocide survivors fund, and another $2 million to strengthen civil society institutions in the country.

As peaceful, democratic, and prosperous countries emerge throughout the continent, we will be better positioned to advance our second principal policy goal in Africa; that is, to protect the U.S. and its citizens from the threats to our national security that emanate from Africa as they do from the rest of the world. In addition to weapons proliferation, we must continue to guard against state-sponsored terrorism; narcotics flows; the growing influence of rogue states such as Sudan, Libya, and Iran; international crime; environmental degradation; and disease. To this end, the President announced several other important initiatives in Africa.

A new "Safe Skies for Africa Initiative," will help African states improve their air navigation services, aviation safety, and airport security. Secure airport facilities are essential to combating narcotics trafficking and terrorism. Improved air traffic control systems will protect Americans and Africans as they travel abroad.

To combat environmental degradation, the Pesident announced U.S. plans to provide over $80 million to help African nations protect their natural resources and an innovative project funded by NASA to assess and safeguard Southern Africa's environment.

The President also pledged to work for swift ratification by the U.S. Senate of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and pledged $16 million this year for research efforts to combat infectious diseases in Africa, including malaria and AIDS.

Ladies and gentlemen: This is an ambitious agenda. Its implementation will require congressional support and energetic follow-up. The Administration is committed--and I personally am committed--to seeing the promise of the President's trip fulfilled in tangible ways for years to come. When President Clinton traveled to Africa, he was not only reaching out the hand of partnership to a new generation of Africans, he was affirming Africa's great promise.

Realizing this promise will benefit both Africans and Americans alike. Our stake in Africa is simple: It is enlightened self-interest. As Africa prospers, new markets will open for American goods and services creating thousands of new American jobs. As democracy and strong civic institutions take root throughout the continent, the security of our political system will be enhanced by forging links with new partners who share our values. And as conflict is checked and peace spreads, we will find more stable and effective allies in combating transnational security threats.

Yet for all its promise, Africa plainly is not free from peril. The potential for renewed genocide in Rwanda, the recent civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and both Congos, pariah states that export terror, and military dictatorships all continue to threaten to reverse the fragile progress Africans have made. As the President noted in Rwanda, in Africa as everywhere else in the world, there are still many who wish to "tear down, instead of build-up." They must not succeed.

We must not allow the seemingly intractable problems of this huge continent obscure its great promise and the progress Africans are making every day in realizing that potential. We must be energetic and ambitious in working together with African partners to build democracy, foster economic growth, improve respect for universal human rights, and end remaining conflicts. We cannot sit idly by waiting for Africa to achieve perfection before we engage actively to help shape its future.

We will at times have to work with flawed governments whose record on democracy and human rights is not up to our standards. But it does not mean that we will compromise those standards. We will never retreat from our support for democratic principles and universal standards of human rights.

I firmly believe Africa is potentially at the point of take-off. As President Clinton so aptly stated in Independence Square in Ghana, "old patterns are fading away, the Cold War is gone, colonialism is gone, apartheid is gone, remnants of past troubles remain, but…nations and individuals finally are free to seek a newer world where democracy and peace and prosperity are not slogans, but the essence of a new Africa."

Today, many African people can dare hope that their children will achieve decent standards of living, enjoy peace and security, and freely select leaders who will govern responsibly and respect human rights. If Africa can achieve lift-off, then we all--Africans and Americans--stand to benefit. If Africa fails, we will all pay the price.

The United States cannot afford to be a bystander at this pivotal point in history. In the aftermath of the President's historic trip to Africa, we look forward to working with you and with our Congress to make certain that the United States is an active partner as Africans strive to secure their own future. Thank you.

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