NYT: 200m inadequate

[Guest guest]

New York Times

May 23, 2001

Colin Visits Africa

ub-Saharan Africa is an unstable region of 48 countries and 600 million people that Washington cannot afford to ignore. Secretary of State Colin 's visit to the continent this week is a welcome recognition of that reality. But as the Clinton administration learned in eight years of energetic but often futile engagement, good intentions are not enough to help resolve Africa's formidable problems. Demonstrations of concern must be matched by sustained diplomacy with a clear emphasis on promoting humane and accountable government.

Africa's two largest nations, Nigeria and South Africa, have embraced democracy and deserve American support. General will visit South Africa, along with Mali in West Africa, and Kenya and Uganda in the east.

Secretary has said that he was motivated to travel to Africa early on by his concern about the continent's AIDS crisis. That is entirely appropriate. More than two-thirds of the 36 million people worldwide who are living with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, are in sub-Saharan Africa. Some 15 million Africans have already died, and 11 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. The Bush administration has offered $200 million to a United Nations fund to combat the epidemic. That offer is inadequate. Kofi n, the U.N. secretary general, has said $7 billion to $10 billion yearly will be needed worldwide to overcome the epidemic. Surely the United States can afford to contribute a larger proportion of that total.

The other great scourge of Africa is war. General can use his trip to underscore the responsibility of individual leaders for perpetuating Africa's wars for power and profit. In Uganda, in particular, he should ask President Yoweri Museveni to reaffirm his commitment to withdrawing his troops from neighboring Congo. A recent U.N. report concluded that Uganda's army was engaged in the "mass-scale looting" of eastern Congo. From the oilfields of Sudan and Angola to the diamond mines of Congo and Sierra Leone, making money is the primary objective of many African combatants, abetted by multinational oil companies and by diamond and weapons smugglers. Devising ways to curtail the financial incentives of war in Africa is essential.

President Clinton was keen to promote a new generation of seemingly enlightened African leaders, notably in Uganda and Rwanda and in the Horn of Africa, but they all went to war. General should be looking for ways to support institutions of law and accountability that represent the best foundation for stability in Africa as elsewhere.

--- Bryden

--- jdbryden@...