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Susan E. Rice Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Address at the School of International and Public Affairs, Institute of African Studies, Columbia University New York City, October 20, 1998

Released by the Bureau of African Affairs, October 21, 1998

(Text as delivered)

Thank you, Professor Bond, for the kind introduction. Dean Anderson, members of the faculty and Columbia community, students, Your Excellencies: It is a pleasure to be with you this afternoon. I thank Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and especially the Institute of African Studies for the invitation to be with you today.

I understand Columbia's Institute--with its distinguished faculty--has been designated a National Resource Center in African studies by the Department of Education. Moreover, Columbia students come from over 30 African countries. I hope we can have a lively exchange on a range of important issues.

I'm sure many of you would agree that this has been a momentous year in U.S.-African relations. It is the year we heralded Africa's substantial progress during the first-ever comprehensive visit to the continent by a sitting American president. But, more recently, it has also been a year tinged with skepticism, regression, and even by mourning.

The bombings of our East African embassies just 2 months ago were a sobering reminder of the real and continuous threat Americans and Africans face from international terror. The blasts in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam left over 200 dead, 51 of whom--Africans and Americans--were working on behalf of American interests in the region.

Some may point to these cowardly terrorist attacks as evidence of Africa's fragility. When viewed in light of recent conflict in the Horn of Africa, Congo, and Angola, cynics argue that the U.S. ought to give up on Africa or, rather, never give it a chance. Recurrent instability has led a number of commentators to conclude rather hastily that the so-called "African Renaissance" has been a hallucination. Others maintain we are witnessing the "birth-pains" of a new Africa.

Time will tell, but it may be relevant to recall that the European Renaissance lasted over two centuries. Bloody, protracted war--and often plague--dominated at least half that period.

But, analogies aside, Africa's future is, in fact, uncertain. Still, our stake in Africa's success has never been clearer. I believe the logic of the defeatists--the so-called Afro-pessimists--is both flawed and shortsighted. Dismissing Africa's promise as well as its problems is detrimental not only to Africa but to fundamental U.S. national interests.

Today, Africa stands at a crossroads--a decisive time when its future hangs in the balance. The challenges and opportunities facing the African people stand in stark relief. Africa can overcome its troubled past or lunge back into self-destructive conflict. The United States can stand on the sidelines, or we can recognize and act upon our growing interest in a thriving Africa that can take its rightful place on the world stage.

Despite today's headlines, there is considerable reason for optimism about Africa's future. Economies that were growing at less than 2% at the beginning of the decade are registering growth at more than twice that level. Some countries are recording double-digit growth rates. The citizens of over half of all Sub-Saharan African nations are choosing their own governments freely and holding their leaders accountable. Indeed, the number of democracies has more than quadrupled in less than a decade.

Regional organizations such as ECOWAS and the Organization of African Unity are intensifying their efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts. Others, such as the Southern African Development Community and the revitalized East African Community, are moving toward the establishment of regional common markets that can become economic engines for the future. From the resurgence of war-torn Mozambique to the demise of apartheid in South Africa; from the budding democracies in Benin, Mali, and Namibia to a fresh start for the great people of Nigeria, there is reason for real hope for the people of Africa.

Indeed, a politically reconciled, economically strong Nigeria would pay huge dividends for the entire African Continent. We thus hope Nigerians will stay the course. Let 1999 mark not only new South Africa's second democratic election but the true beginning of a lasting democracy in Nigeria.

Yet, clearly, in Nigeria as elsewhere, Africa's progress has been neither linear nor universal. In recent months, we have witnessed significant setbacks in several regions. Some countries which were beginning to recover from conflict have picked up arms again; some societies which were rebuilding are tearing down; and some governments which had taken fragile steps toward democracy and reconciliation are drifting back toward tyranny and repression.

At least eight African nations are involved in a bitter war in the Congo--potentially one of the most serious conflicts in the world today. Humanitarian crises in Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan; resumed fighting in Guinea-Bissau, the face-off in the Horn of Africa; and the faltering Angolan peace process all must be of significant concern to the United States.

Indeed, whether the challenge is adversity or opportunity, the reality is that the end of the Cold War calls for a new paradigm for U.S. policymakers in Africa. We must resist the temptation to dissipate our energies in responding solely to the crisis of the day. Our horizons must be longer term.

First, as one of our two major policy goals, we must work in concert with Africans to combat the many transnational security threats that emanate from Africa just as they do from the rest of the world. These include not only terrorism but weapons proliferation, narcotics flows, the growing influence of rogue states, international crime, environmental degradation, and disease. Continued and closer collaboration with Africans to counter these threats to our mutual security should be an important priority for U.S. policymakers. Therefore, we must invest in new strategies in partnership with African countries, the G-8, and others to combat global threats effectively before they become more pernicious and pervasive.

We have made a start along this path but, in truth, we have a long way to go. Two years ago, the U.S. signed the Africa Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone Treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons now and forever in Africa, but too few African countries have ratified the agreement. We have cleared thousands of acres of land mines in Africa, but thousands more acres remain. We have provided modest amounts of anti-terrorism training to African countries as well as information on the activities of terrorist groups, but we need congressional support to do much more.

We have been working with law enforcement authorities from Nigeria to South Africa to interdict illicit drugs before they hit American streets. But the U.S. must go further to craft, fund, and implement a continent-wide counter-narcotics strategy. We have urged concerted international action to stem the flow of arms, ammunition, and explosives into Africa's conflict zones. But weapons sales, including from the United States, continue unabated.

Finally, the Administration has recognized the risk to U.S. citizens and soil from inadequate aviation safety and security systems in Africa. Thus, we are launching an innovative "Safe Skies for Africa" initiative to increase the number of Sub-Saharan nations that meet international aviation standards. The initiative seeks to make air travel safer for Africans and Americans and to strengthen airport security to help interdict would-be criminals and their contraband. The United States also is sharing our medical expertise through our Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to combat deadly diseases, like malaria and AIDS, that know no borders. For the protection of people everywhere, we cannot allow Africa to remain the world's soft and most accessible underbelly for terrorists and others determined to do evil.

At the same time, we must press ahead to achieve our second principal policy goal in Africa; that is, accelerating Africa's full integration into the global economy. Increasingly, the U.S. economy is fueled by exports. As we grapple with the consequences of turmoil in both our traditional and emerging markets from Asia to Brazil to Russia, the United States cannot afford to write off any potential new export market. A vast and growing market of 700 million potential consumers, Africa is in many ways the last frontier for U.S. exporters and investors.

For, despite areas of instability, Africa's economic trends remain positive. Two-thirds of African nations--roughly 3 dozen countries--have implemented economic reforms to open markets, stabilize currencies, and reduce inflation. African governments have privatized over 2,000 state enterprises in the past few years, raising over $2.3 billion in government revenue to invest in infrastructure, education, and healthcare. The U.S. relies heavily on the African Continent for petroleum and strategic minerals. In volume terms, nearly 14% of U.S. crude oil imports come from the continent, as compared to almost 18% from the Middle East. Within a decade, Africa is projected to be the source of well over 20% of our imported oil.

America's commercial interests in Africa will deepen as U.S. companies continue to tap this nascent market. American businesses exported over $6 billion worth of goods last year to Africa and imported more than $16 billion. The U.S. is now Africa's second-largest industrial supplier. U.S. companies have edged out European and Asian competition to complete major deals in the region. Examples abound: Coca-Cola recently made a $35 million investment in a production and distribution facility in Angola; a consortium comprised of Enron and the Industrial Development Corporation signed a $2 billion agreement to construct a steel plant in Mozambique; and, in West Africa, Ghana's stock exchange--although tiny--is one of the top performers in the world.

A visionary economic policy toward Africa is in our own long-term interest. Thus, we must continue and intensify our efforts to pass the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This landmark legislation remains key to establishing a mature trade and investment relationship with Africa just as we have with trading partners in other emerging markets.

At the same time, we are implementing the President's own Partnership for Economic Growth and Opportunity in Africa. We are providing technical assistance to help liberalize trade and investment regimes, launching an anti-corruption initiative, extinguishing bilateral concessional debt, and organizing the first-ever U.S.-Africa Economic Cooperation Forum. This ministerial level consultative group is scheduled to meet for the first time late this year. These various steps are important because sustained economic growth is key to eradicating Africa's endemic poverty--and the civil unrest which often accompanies it--and thus key to moving Africa toward lasting peace and prosperity.

Democratic governance and respect for human rights are also crucial to the goal of integrating Africa into the global economy. Recent history has taught us that governments which safeguard human rights as well as political and economic freedoms can more effectively establish the conditions for sustainable economic growth.

Therefore, the Administration is actively supporting emergent democracies in Africa. We do so in full recognition that elections--although necessary--are not sufficient to sustain democratic change. As a result, we are investing also in the institutional foundations upon which lasting democracy thrives. We are helping to train legislators, foster independent judiciaries, encourage constitutional reforms, and establish genuine respect for human rights. We are active in newsrooms, universities, churches, community centers, and even army barracks to bolster press freedom, build strong civil societies, and teach African militaries the virtues of subordination to civilian leadership.

Equally important, the United States continues to play an active role--diplomatically and operationally--to help prevent and resolve African conflicts. Peace and stability are essential to nurturing a civil society that protects democracy and human rights and fosters an enabling environment for economic growth and investment. Today, too many of Sub-Saharan Africa's 48 countries are involved in regional or civil wars, causing serious humanitarian suffering and destroying the daily lives of millions of innocent civilians.

U.S. leadership and resources were instrumental in bringing to an end the protracted conflicts in Mozambique and Liberia. We continue to work to encourage a peaceful solution to the standoff between Ethiopia and Eritrea and to avert the resumption of widespread conflict in Angola and Burundi. We are also pursuing an immediate cease-fire and a lasting solution to both the internal and external causes of the widening conflict in the Congo.

As we work to address the crises of the day, we remain committed to helping Africans over the long-term to build their own capacity for peacekeeping and conflict resolution. President Clinton's African Crisis Response Initiative is designed specifically to train rapidly deployable, interoperable peacekeeping battalions across the continent.

Indeed, African nations have already made important progress in safeguarding their own citizens and maintaining peace in their own backyards. West African ECOMOG peacekeepers, for example, helped restore the legitimate government in Sierra Leone in March and supported democratic elections in Liberia last summer. Peacekeeping units from West and Central Africa helped to secure the fragile peace in the Central African Republic. These are important efforts that we must help to continue.

For in Africa, as elsewhere, there can be no progress where conflict is pervasive. There can be no freedom and respect for human rights where neighbor is pitted against neighbor. There can be no honest trade nor honest day's work where government budgets are diverted from development to destruction, and no serious investment in the future where children are torn from schoolyards and forced to march in armies.

Ultimately, Africans themselves must determine if their dreams for a better future will become a reality. We cannot make that choice for them. Africa is not--and has never been--the United States' own to "win" or to "lose." But the United States must continue to work in concert with Africans to help secure the continent's future if we are to be smart about securing our own. If Africa succeeds, we all--Africans and Americans--stand to benefit. If Africa fails, we will all pay the price.

Still, we would be foolish to measure Africa's progress in months or even a few short years. It would be naive to assume that deep-rooted problems that have plagued parts of Africa for decades will disappear with the quick wave of a diplomatic wand. Future progress, as in the present and the past, will be uneven and fitful. There will be rough patches and occasional reverses. In this regard, Africa's experience will be no different than that of Europe, Latin America, or Asia. The difference is: America has never debated whether our interests lie in remaining actively engaged, even in difficult times, in these other regions of the world.

The dangers of taking a short-term approach to Africa policy--crisis by crisis, leader by leader, election by election--are akin to trying to make a fast buck in today's troubled stock market. If we seek quick returns over long-term gain, we will never be well-positioned to advance important U.S. economic and political interests in Africa.

We cannot stand idly by waiting for Africa to achieve perfection before we engage actively in helping to shape its future. If we temper our engagement, or hold back until the whole of Africa is on even footing, we will concede important opportunities to our competitors and worse still, leave doors open to our adversaries.

Let me conclude with a short story about the problems of taking a passive approach. A good and faithful man fell upon financially hard times. Every time he turned around, it seemed another demand was placed upon him until finally, he owed more and more to his creditors. One night in his distress, he dropped to his knees, lifted his eyes to heaven, and prayed, "Dear God, I am in trouble. Please let me win the lottery---and soon."

The next week he was optimistic his condition would change. After three months, his faith began to waver, and by the end of the year, he became angry. "Are you there God?" He pleaded, "I believed you would help me yet another year has passed and you refuse to answer my prayer." Suddenly, a dark cloud appeared in the sky, lightning flashed, and a voice boomed, "I hear you
. . .I hear you. In fact, I've heard your every prayer, but give me a break. The least you could do is buy a lottery ticket."

The United States and each of you must do your part. We must invest the United States' commitment, talent, resources, and energy in Africa in order to promote lasting peace, security, and prosperity here at home.

We all--especially students of African studies--have a role to play. You are the next generation of U.S. policymakers, business leaders, journalists, development experts, and international lawyers. U.S. interests in Africa will grow deeper still in the next decade--your decade.

Thus, I hope you will remember the words of President Nelson Mandela spoken just a month ago during his last visit to the United States as President of the new South Africa. He said, "Though the challenges of the present time for our country, our continent and the world are greater than those we have already overcome, we face the future with confidence. We do so because despite the difficulties and the tensions that confront us, there is in all of us the capacity to touch one another's hearts across oceans and continents."

Working with our African partners, we must continue to support democracy, economic reform, and political stability. Together, we can and must achieve the great promise of our common future and fashion a brighter next century for all our peoples. Thank you.

[end of document]

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