Policy Report Africa Policy Outlook 2005 Ann Louise Colgan January 2005 There are some people in the world s wealthy countries who forecast that 2005 will be a decisive year for Africa In the U S President George W Bush begins his second term in office with administration officials and pundits claiming that he has done more for Africa than any previous U S president The U K this year holds the rotating presidency of both the European Union and Group of 8 G 8 wealthy nations and Prime Minister Tony Blair has declared that addressing Africa s poverty will be the centerpiece of his agenda In 2005 a confluence of major international events will also spotlight Africa s poverty related challenges and will highlight the need for the world s richest countries to do more in support of Africa s efforts In July Britain will host the G 8 summit in Scotland In September a United Nations UN Special Summit will review progress on the Millennium Development Goals which aim to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 In December the World Trade Organization s WTO sixth ministerial conference in Hong Kong will reveal whether the Doha round of global trade talks have secured new deals to benefit the world s most impoverished countries demand real action on priority issues defined by Africans Then how should we measure the outcomes of these opportunities For while a new international focus on Africa is warranted and while much more can and must be done to address the continent s challenges the sad reality is that 2005 risks being another year of compassionate showmanship rather than a year of sea change The poor track record of the U S and other rich countries when it comes to Africa requires us to watch carefully what transpires in 2005 and to be clear on how we will measure the success of their actions this year and beyond As genocide continues to unfold in Darfur Sudan the failure of the Bush administration and other rich country governments to stop another such crime against humanity in Africa may yet be the darkest stain on their record in 2005 The Bush Administration Africa s Friend Civil society campaigns in the U S and in the U K are also pushing 2005 as a special opportunity for rich country leaders to address poverty in Africa and other impoverished regions They are optimistic about victories on debt cancellation aid and trade this year Over the past four years George W Bush has sought to portray himself as a compassionate conservative who cares about Africa In some circles he has succeeded in displacing his predecessor Bill Clinton as the U S President who is considered to have done most for the continent As we face a second Bush administration term such high sounding claims deserve scrutiny as do our criteria for assessing the achievements of U S Africa policy It is important to note that these international meetings and campaigns are Northern dominated and rarely include African input Indeed they can have the effect of drowning out African voices Meanwhile on the ground African civil society campaigns and some African governments continue to The reality is that there has been a good deal of consistency in U S relations with Africa since decolonization and the Cold War Successive U S administrations have been motivated by calculations of Africa s geo strategic significance with the U S seeking to foster military and security relationships which Foreign Policy In Focus FPIF w w w f p i f o r g A Think Tank Without Walls advance its own agenda U S policies have similarly been driven by the quest for Africa s natural resources and have sought to promote greater trade and investment ties with key states on the continent Again as under the Clinton administration the compassion spin has in some ways succeeded in masking the aggressive pursuit by the Bush White House of its own economic and military strategic interests in Africa and the consequent marginalization of African priorities In other words the Bush administration s real interests in Africa are oil and strategic allies in the war on terror see Africa Policy Outlook 2004 at http www africaaction org resources outlook 2004policyoutlook php Its new initiatives on HIV AIDS and foreign aid reach very few countries and remain under funded and the U S has failed to take real action to stop the genocide it has acknowledged in Darfur In the 1990s through successful public relations efforts President Clinton became known as a great friend to Africa He made a much publicized trip to the continent the first substantive trip by a U S President in American history Clinton proclaimed great concern for Africa s challenges and a commitment to enabling Africans to reach the continent s potential by encouraging trade promoting debt relief and supporting democracy throughout the continent In fact the symbolism of Clinton s Africa policy in many ways succeeded in masking the real In other words the Bush administration s damage that was done by real interests in Africa are oil and his administration which ignored the genocide in strategic allies in the war on terror Rwanda failed to address Its new initiatives on HIV AIDS and the growing crisis of foreign aid reach very few countries HIV AIDS abandoned the and remain under funded and the U S democracy movement in Nigeria and reconstruction has failed to take real action to stop the efforts in Somalia and neggenocide it has acknowledged in Darfur lected peacekeeping efforts in West Africa and elsewhere Bush stated clearly in 2000 that Africa was not a priority and the past four years have confirmed that while also maintaining a good deal of continuity with the Africa policy of his predecessor Indeed we have witnessed a similar duplicity with the White House promoting its own economic and military agenda but seeking at the same time to portray itself as a great friend to Africa The White House emphasizes that President Bush met with 25 African heads of state in his first two years in office announced new initiatives on HIV AIDS and aid and pledged to significantly increase U S funding for both He traveled to the African continent in 2003 for a five day five country trip In 2004 his administration recognized that genocide was taking place in Darfur Sudan and claimed to be addressing this crisis p 2 Yet while we have seen similar U S policies toward Africa pursued over successive administrations what sets the current White House apart and harms Africa s interests in important ways
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