It’s
Time for a Genuine US-UN Partnership with Africa
By: Hossein
Kamali
Board
Member, UNA-USA San Francisco Chapter
Item 64 of the Sixty-fourth session agenda of the United
Nations General Assembly this year devoted to “New Partnership for Africa’s
Development”. It
was a follow up action of the United Nations General Assembly resolution with a
declaration on Africa’s development needs adopted by its High-Level meeting on 22 September
2008. The declaration stressed the eradication of poverty in Africa as the
greatest challenge facing the world today. It further requested the
Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report on the implementation of the
resolution to its sixty-fourth session.
President Clinton’s historic tour to Africa in March 1998
and the subsequent visits by African leaders to the United States opened a new
chapter towards US-Africa relations. The primary policy of President Clinton’s
administration towards Africa under “the African Growth and Opportunity Act
(AGOA)” was focused
on integrating Africa through trade, promoting democracy and conflict
resolution. Susan Rice, US Assistant Secretary of State
for Africa at the time said: “We must invest the dollars to help educate
Africa’s dreams, to train its entrepreneurs, and facilitate trade and
investment in the region”.
In his key-note address at the National Summit on US-Africa
held in Washington D.C., 16-20 February 2000, President Clinton stated:
"We must pledge that we will
never again, allow, Africa to be marginalized in the United States. We must
pledge that in this new millennium, we will help forge a genuine partnership
with Africa, one founded on the principle of mutual respect, trust, and good
will”
Africa entered the twenty-first Century as the poorest
region and has been deprived for decades of the international attention. The
misperception of Africa and western policies particularly by the United States,
which turned its back to the continent, did not help Africa in the past.
The World Bank and IMF structural Adjustment Programme made
the African countries more dependent on foreign aid. The failure of this
programme was mainly because the prescriptions were dictated in Washington
without examining the patient’s illness or the side effects. The lessons
learned indicate that before formulating any prescription, the needs assessment
must be conducted in the field in consultation with the local community,
traditional leaders and those engaged in the private and informal sectors.
Contrary to Bush policy on undermining the United Nations
and his anti-UN representative John Bolton, Obama’s administration with Susan
Rice, a competent diplomat as Ambassador to the United Nations has opened a new
window of opportunity in US-UN relations.
Despite pressing issues and constraints surrounding Obama’s
administration there are encouraging signs towards building trust in the United
Nations. In his address to the UN General Assembly, President Obama in support
of the UN stated:” we have re-engaged the United Nations, have paid our
bills and joined the Human Rights Council. We have embraced the MDGs and we
address our priorities here, in this institution” In this regard, the UN
Secretary-General told a gathering at University of Washington in Seattle: “the
US is central to the renewed multilateralism and welcomed President Obama’s
vigorous engagement within the framework of the United Nations”.
The new US approach to the United Nations, as the greatest
contributor to its budget, and re-engaging this global institution is a
significant development in restoring US-UN relations on one hand and the UN-US
partnership with the third world including Africa on the other. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary- General,
in his address to the General Assembly stated: “If
ever there were a time to act in a spirit of renewed multilateralism -- it is
now a moment to create a United Nations of genuine collective action”
President Obama’s historic victory and his first
presidential visit to Africa where he received warmest welcome in Accra, Ghana
raised hope and huge expectations among African people for a change in
US-Africa relations. In his address to the Ghanaian Parliament, President Obama
said that “the West has often approached Africa as a patron and a source of
resources rather than a partner”, but the West should not be blamed for
everything that went wrong in Africa”. President Obama further stated: “The time has come for
Africans to take control of their destiny” , “you can conquer diseases, end
conflicts, and make
change from the bottom up, you can do that, yes you can”, he said.
It is unfortunate however that while the crucial role of the
media is to raise public awareness by presenting credible information, the news
on Africa coming from the media is often focused on the conflicts and tribal
clashes with unfair interpretation. An example, among many, was the media’s
reports on Niger Delta unrest, a documentary film on Delta oil crisis in Nigeria. The film
entitled “SWEET CRUDE”, Nigeria/USA was presented at the United Nations Associations Film
Festival (UNAFF 2009) on October 16th in San Francisco. While the
panel discussion on the event was excellent and educational, the media’s unfair
reports disappointed the audience. Here’s what President Clinton stated about the media at the National Summit on
US-Africa in 2000.
“We must pledge that we will
strive every day to ensure that America and its relevant institutions,
especially the media respects our basic premise that Africa matters”
Now, Africa with rich culture and potential resources is a
fast growing region. China and India are currently the greatest partners doing
business and trade with Africa while Europe is also moving in the same
direction. At the G8-Africa Summit in July 2008, the group of eight
industrialized nations agreed on a stronger G8-Africa partnership on mutual
accountability and respect for common good. G8-Africa under the EU Presidency
in 2009 will further explore relations with African continent and cooperated
closely with the Pan–African institutions on peace keeping and
socio-economic development. So it’s time to initiate a genuine US-UN
partnership with Africa with the objective of achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). Here are some suggestions:
·
As
President Obama stated in his address to the United Nations, “democracy
cannot be imposed on any nation from outside”, but promoting democracy and sharing
experience in governance can be integrated in technical cooperation with
African nations, as deem appropriate;
·
Africa
needs help to recover from the current economic crisis. When addressing Climate
Change special attention should be given to the impact of global actions on the
poor. The question is “What the world expects from Africa in dealing with
issues such as global warming. First, one should know that many Africans,
particularly in rural populations, rely on wood or charcoal as the sole source
of household fuel. So the
international community is facing serious challenges to save the remaining
forests in order to protect the environment. The root cause of this serious
issue is nothing but poverty and the absence of basic education. While the
international partnership can contribute to challenge poverty related issues in Africa, there’s need for
public-private partnership where decisions are made in consultation with the
people concerned;
·
a)
Considering the high cost of food and energy, prior to banning charcoal use in
Africa to avoid cutting trees, proper alternative fuel such as electricity, gas
or solar energy specially for rural clinics along with affordable stoves for
the poor should be provided; b); any technical cooperation with Africa should
be in a form of a stimulus package
with a focus on the long term challenges on education, poverty reduction,
healthcare and institutional capacity building towards achieving the MDGs; c)
initiating pro-poor projects with micro-financing aimed at generating job and
income should be given number one priority. d) understanding the basic needs of
the target groups by involving the community and traditional leaders, NGOs and the informal sectors in the process
of project development;
·
Africa
should be assisted to access regional and world market. Small businesses as the
engine of growth can play a significant role in generating income and expanding
US-Africa trade partnership as well as South-South cooperation.