By MUGUMO MUNENE, Nation Newspapers

A group of terrorists operating from Somalia had planned three bomb attacks in Nairobi during the visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month, the Sunday Nation can reveal.

A senior counter-terrorism official has recounted how the terrorists planned to stage simultaneous attacks at the Hotel InterContinental, the Kencom Bus Stage and the adjacent Hilton Hotel. Mrs Clinton stayed at the Hotel InterContinental during her visit.

The plan was hatched in Somalia and thwarted by Kenyan security officials who intercepted communication between the plotters and their accomplices in Nairobi.

   President Kibaki (right) and Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) receive US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (centre) at the
   Agoa forum during her visit to Kenya in August.

The security official — whose identity cannot be revealed without compromising antiterrorism operations — said that the terrorists linked to the Al Shabaab group had wanted to embarrass Kenyan and US governments but their plans were thwarted before the attackers could cross the border.

“The threats were neutralised a week to the Agoa meeting in combined efforts by the military and other security agencies,” the official said. “The operation in Nairobi netted five crucial suspects, one of whom carries Danish identification documents but is believed to be a Somali national. The other four, one of whom is a woman, hold Kenyan identification documents believed to be fake. Investigations into their identity and plan are on.”

The official added: “While in the past the real target of the attacks has been Western interests, the Al Qaeda leadership has since made Kenya a new target. So serious is the threat that during the Agoa meeting, the Al Qaeda intended to strike at the heart of Nairobi during the rush hour.”

According to the security official, the masterminds of the attack were in contact with Mr Saleh Nabhan, one of the most wanted men by the FBI, and whose personal assistant, a man identified as Anas, is believed to have been coordinating the plan.

Mrs Clinton was in Nairobi in August to officiate at trade talks between her government and African countries courtesy of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, an American law that seeks to promote trade between the US and Africa. While in Nairobi, Mrs Clinton and her entourage were booked at Hotel InterContinetal. She arrived in the country on August 4 and left on August 7.

To reassure themselves, Kenyan security officials detailed officers from the elite presidential guard to her entourage. The streets around the hotel and those adjacent to the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the venue of the meeting, had been closed to normal traffic as part of the security measures.

The information about the threat and what Kenyan security officials did to stop the deadly plans was shared with US security officials and has also been captured in a security dossier prepared for circulation in top security echelons.

The presence of Al Shabaab operatives in the country, the Sunday Nation learnt, is facilitated by helpers living mainly in Mombasa and Nairobi’s Eastleigh, South B, South C and Komarock estates.

Last month, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, Defence minister Yusuf Haji and Internal Security minister George Saitoti launched a public education programme in which political and religious leaders teamed up to discourage young men from North Eastern Province from recruiting into Al Shabaab.

Kenya has been in terrorism news since August 7, 1998 when bombers struck in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam killing close to 250 people and injuring close to 5,000. Later on November 29, 2002, terrorists struck in Mombasa, this time delivering a truckload of explosives to the Kikambala Paradise Hotel where they left 15 people dead. An attempt to bring down an Israeli jetliner which was taking off from the Moi International Airport failed.

Counter-terrorism officials are now investigating how Somali nationals are bribing their way into government offices and acquiring Kenyan identification documents.

“This has made Kenyan travel documents to be subjected to serious scrutiny by foreign governments,” says a government security brief seen by the Sunday Nation. “More recently, the Al Shabaab/Al Qaeda operatives have sought to penetrate the Kenyan justice system by going to court to bar deportation of their associates.”

The dossier talks of judges and court clerks who have previously been bribed by operatives but does not name them. During her visit, one of Mrs Clinton’s concerns that she raised with Kenyan leaders was about Somalia and the threat of extremism posed by al Shabaab. While in Kenya, Mrs Clinton met with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

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by Dr. Megalommatis Muhammad Shamsaddin

A shameful and disreputable representative of America’s most racist elites, who is a former ambassador to several African countries, gave – a few days ago – two speeches in order to embellish the role played by America in Africa. This inimitable person is Phillip Carter III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

To go through his two speeches, one may momentarily imagine that Africa reached such development and prosperity that is going to adhere to the ….. European Union.

This is the role of the missionaries of evil: they promise eudemonia and they deliver pestilence. The representatives of hypocrisy and prefab disaster see positive development everywhere, even where unspeakable degradation is obvious to all the locally concerned people who after all are the ultimate reality to be taken into consideration.

Read the criminal lies of the apostle of hypocrisy and the defender of the utmost criminality, Phillip Carter III!

Try to find in his speech the persecuted Nubians of Sudan who are asked to leave their homelands so that the Sudanese dictator builds a dam in the Nile; try to read a reference to the massacred Ogadenis of the criminal, terrorist pseudo-state ‘Ethiopia’ which gave Hitler an unsurpassed lesson on how inhumanity works! Search for a denunciation the well financed by colonial England and the pro-English American establishment warlords of Somalia!

In vain! Phillip Carter III has no time for them, and after all, they don’t disturb him at all; they serve him and his invisible masters. And their target to exterminate a great number of African masses through various methods.

Phillip Carter III hates Africans, and more particularly the Hamites and the Kushites of the North and the East.

Why?

Ask him!

Search in his speeches for a sentence in which Phillip Carter III condemns the racist Amhara and Tigray elites that propagate the criminal and inhuman program of ‘Ethiopianism‘, aiming at the cultural, national or physical extermination of a dozen of Kushitic African nations!

You will find nothing!

Why?

Because they are his (and his invisible masters’) servants.

Do your ingenious best to find in his speeches a clause for the independence of Darfur, the self-determination of Oromia, and the liberation of Kabylia from the Pan-Arabist pestilence of the colonial regime of Algiers, the puppets of the French…..

Again nothing!

Make an effort to detect the idea Phillip Carter III has about the oppressed tribes of Nigeria that struggle for independence! Attempt to imagine what this false prophet of American help intends to deliver to the multi-divided Afars and how he plans to terminate the criminal involvement of Rwanda and Uganda in Congo.

You will find nothing; all Phillip Carter III cares about is how he will identify new gangsters of nations like Meles Zenawi, new puppets like Kibaki, and new renegades like Rayale and AbdillahiYusuf of Somalia.

He will call them ‘new leaders of Africa“, and they will prove to be the latest gangsters.

At a certain moment, you will find his comical words about ‘democratic institution building’; this shows what excellent skills the disreputable ambassador has in Science Fiction.

It is up to you to denounce the felony Phillip Carter III; in fact, every African and every Human must.

Protest against his fallacious purposes, write to express your indignation; call his office (Bureau of African Affairs (AF) 6234) in the State Department: 202-647-2447 (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/112065.pdf). I republish here his two speeches, and his official biographical sketch.

Do not let him believe that you don’t know him — as one of America’s foremost enemies of Africa.

The United States’ Unprecedented Commitment to Africa, 2000 to 2008 and Beyond
Phillip Carter III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

The World Affairs Council of Arizona
Washington, DC
November 20, 2008

Good evening and thank you.

Since 1918, the World Affairs Council has opened the door for local citizens to engage in diplomacy through education and awareness of international issues — and through hosting global leaders.

The U.S. Department of State is proud to partner with you — and looks forward to continuing this successful relationship.

I would like to note that the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs is celebrating our 50th Anniversary this year. Created in 1958 by President Eisenhower, the bureau sought to change what had been a traditionally Eurocentric policy view of Africa.

We at the State Department are proud of the anniversary, and look forward to working with our sub-Saharan partners and organizations like your own, to advance Africa’s future as we transition into our next half century.

U.S. Policy in Africa

Over the past eight years, the United States has made an unprecedented commitment to Africa — this current Administration has gone further than any previously in engaging and assisting the continent. We are working with our sub-Saharan partners to pioneer a new era of growth and development in Africa.

The partnerships and programs forged during the past eight years have supported significant African progress — and have laid a foundation for sustaining that support in subsequent administrations.

Tonight — I would like to highlight these partnerships and programs — but also sneak a peak — towards the future and potential of the continent in the 21st century.

Over the past eight years, the United States has changed its approach to Africa. As part of our broader mission to build and sustain a network of democratic states that respond to the needs of their people and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system – we have partnered with African leaders, governments, and civil society organizations to combat disease, build peace, expand prosperity, and improve governance.

We have defined success not just in the narrow terms of resolving specific crises, but in the broader sense of supporting Africans in building institutions and adopting policies that sustain long-term growth, freedom, and justice.

The U.S. commitment to Africa reflects a recognition that our success and security increasingly depend on conditions in distant lands, and that we are at greater risk if Africa is a place where extremist ideologies are fostered, states are failing, and violence and instability spread across borders.

To challenge these potential risks, the United States has committed to fostering growth and development in Africa. At the 2005 Gleneagles G-8 Summit, President Bush announced that the United States would double its assistance (bilateral and multilateral) to sub-Saharan Africa from a base of $4.4 billion in 2004 to $8.7 billion by 2010.

By increasing investments in health and education, stimulating growth, improving the investment climate, and making trade work for Africa — the U.S. is on track to meet that pledge.

Programs and Initiatives

I would like to highlight some of the programs initiatives that have spurred African growth and development.

Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)

The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is a revolutionary foreign assistance program that seeks to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth by awarding sizeable grants — not loans — to countries that practice good governance, seek to take responsibility for their own development, and are committed to achieving results. Of the 18 compacts signed to date – eleven totaling over $4.8 billion have been signed with sub-Saharan African countries.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a program that rewards reforming African countries with U.S. trade preferences — this initiative has helped to reduce barriers to trade, increase exports, create jobs, and expand business opportunities for African and U.S. entrepreneurs.

With 41 countries presently qualified, AGOA has helped increase two-way trade between the U.S. and eligible African economies to over $50 billion — more than six times the level in 2001, the first full year of AGOA.

Agriculture and Food Security

The United States is also the world’s largest donor of food aid, providing over $5.5 billion to fight global hunger in 2008 and 2009. The Presidential Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA) is a multi-year initiative launched in 2002, providing a total of $1 billion for 2006-2010, and aims to increase agricultural growth and raise rural incomes.

PEPFAR

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative.

When President Bush launched PEPFAR, approximately 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving antiretroviral treatment. Today, PEPFAR supports lifesaving treatment for over 1.7 million people worldwide, care for 6.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during nearly 12.7 million pregnancies, allowing nearly 200,000 children to be born HIV free.

The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)

The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) was established in 2005. The U.S. has committed $1.2 billion in new malaria funding to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. In 2007, the Malaria Initiative reached more than 25 million people with effective prevention and treatment interventions.

Africa Education Initiative

In 2002, President Bush established the Africa Education Initiative (AEI), a multi-year $600 million initiative focused on increasing access to basic education in over 40 Sub-Saharan African countries through scholarships, textbooks, and teacher training programs. By 2010, AEI will have trained nearly one million teachers, provided 550,000 scholarships for girls, and distributed 15 million textbooks.

Peacekeeping

The United States has been the most important contributor to African force generation efforts through our Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program and large scale provision of peacekeeping equipment. Since 2005, the United States has directly trained nearly 60,000 African peace keepers in 22 countries. Of these troops, over 82% have deployed to African Union and United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Terrorism

The Trans-Sahara Counter-terrorism Partnership is a multi-year effort, funded at about $150m per year, to leverage and coordinate military, law enforcement, development, and public diplomacy elements to enhance the capacity of the trans-Sahara region to deter and defeat terrorism, and counter extremist ideology. We are seeking to build on the success of this program with a parallel East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative, to counter the terrorist elements that destroyed our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam ten years ago, and continue to threaten regional stability.

Conclusion

Over the past eight years, a renewed commitment to the African continent has been started or carried forward in large part on a fundamental, bipartisan agreement of what needs to be done — such as brokering peace agreements, training African peace keepers, PEPFAR, or MCC. While much has been accomplished, the United States Government will continue to build on the foundation laid by this and previous administrations. We still have a way to go — but with greater security, disease prevention, and political and economic freedom, the African continent of the 21st century can strive to reach its potential.

Thank you very much.

Released on December 3, 2008
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Address to the First Annual International Conference on Africa
Phillip Carter III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

The Africa Initiative Project,
Arizona State University, Tempe AZ
November 21, 2008

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here. I would like to thank Arizona State University for hosting us this afternoon — and especially The Africa Initiative Project for bringing us together for their first annual conference.

This conference is very important – it not only allows for a deeper understanding of African history – but contemporary U.S.–Africa Affairs. Combining a rich historical perspective – with an interdisciplinary vision and awareness for the future – provides a great means to address challenges on the African continent.

We at the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs are also celebrating an important milestone this year – our 50th Anniversary. Building upon a half century of accomplishment, the Bureau looks to the next fifty years with great hope and excitement.

U.S. Policy in Africa

Over the past eight years, the United States has made an unprecedented commitment to Africa — this current Administration has gone further than any previously in engaging and assisting the continent. We are working with our sub-Saharan partners to pioneer a new era of development in Africa.

This afternoon, I would like to highlight our policy priorities on the continent.

Democratic Institution Building

The first defining priority is Democratic Institution Building — we are engaged in supporting the rise of freedom and democracy throughout sub-Saharan Africa. During the past two decades, progressive democratic reform has adapted to local values, customs, and practices. Outgrowths of democratic, well-governed states that adhere to the rule of law, support the will of their people, and contribute responsibly to the international system are developing.

We have partnered with these nations to build democratic institutions, conduct free and fair elections, and govern justly. These outcomes mark an important historical shift. In the past four years alone, there have been more than 50 democratic elections throughout Africa. Almost three-quarters of sub-Saharan nations are now classified by Freedom House as ‘Free’ or ‘Partly Free’ – up from less than half in 1990.

Despite significant progress, recent elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe have hindered these advances. These elections, marked by voting irregularities, contestable results, and post election violence, demonstrate that the path to democracy is often challenging.
Notwithstanding these impediments, the United States will continue to work with our international partners to support democratic institutions, promote free and fair elections, and expand freedom and prosperity for the benefit of all.

For example, we will continue to strongly support the democratic transition in Liberia — and to strengthen democratic institutions in post-conflict countries, such as the DRC and Burundi.

Although conflict resolution is an essential part of our foreign policy objectives, we believe that to sustain long term peace and stability on the continent – it is not enough to just end wars – but we must move beyond post-conflict transformation to consolidate democracies.

Economic Growth and Development

Our second foreign policy priority is the expansion of Economic Growth and Development.

At the 2005 Gleneagles G-8 Summit, the United States committed to doubling its assistance (bilateral and multilateral) to sub-Saharan Africa from a base of $4.4 billion in 2004 to $8.7 billion by 2010 — We are on track to meet that pledge.

To accelerate growth in Africa, the United States implemented the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a revolutionary foreign assistance program that seeks to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth by awarding sizeable grants — not loans — to countries that practice good governance, seek to take responsibility for their own development, and are committed to achieving results. Of the 18 compacts signed to date since the programs inception in 2004, eleven totaling over $4.8 billion have been signed with sub-Saharan African countries – Senegal and Malawi are in the process of developing compacts – and another eight African nations have MCC threshold programs to help them qualify for full compact.

The United States Government has also enacted the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a program that rewards reforming African countries with U.S. trade preferences — this initiative has helped to reduce barriers to trade, increase exports, create jobs, and expand business opportunities for African and U.S. entrepreneurs.

With 41 countries presently qualified, AGOA has become a cornerstone of our trade and investment policy in Africa — it has helped increase two-way trade between the United States and eligible African economies to over $50 billion — more than six times the level in 2001, the first full year of AGOA.

Programs such as MCC and AGOA are strengthening African economic health and underscore our cardinal interest in the continent’s economic affairs. Not surprisingly, in 2007, sub-Saharan Africa experienced a growth rate of 6.5% – one of its highest in decades.

Disease

The third U.S. foreign policy priority in Africa is the fight against Disease. As the leading cause of death on the continent, disease is one of the greatest challenges to Africa’s future. Rising to meet this challenge – the United States is partnering with sub-Saharan nations to target the prevention, care and treatment of disease — most especially HIV/AIDS, malaria and neglected tropical diseases.

To address the severe and urgent HIV/AIDS crisis, President Bush led the world into action with The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative. Through PEPFAR, the U.S. Government has already provided $18.8 billion in HIV/AIDS funding, with a reauthorization of up to $48 billion for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria over the next five years.

When President Bush launched PEPFAR, approximately 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving antiretroviral treatment. Today, PEPFAR supports lifesaving treatment for over 1.7 million people worldwide, care for 6.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during nearly 12.7 million pregnancies, allowing nearly 200,000 children to be born HIV free.

Responding to the malaria crisis, the President launched the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in 2005. The U.S. has committed $1.2 billion in new malaria funding to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. In 2007, the Malaria Initiative reached more than 25 million people with effective prevention and treatment interventions.

In the fight against what we call ‘neglected tropical diseases,’ – the President – in February 2008 – announced a five year – $350 million initiative to eliminate the burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as a major threat to health and economic growth in the developing world. Focusing on seven major diseases, from snail fever to hookworm, this initiative aims to provide integrated treatment for more than 300 million people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Through the prevention and treatment of disease, programs such as PEPFAR and PMI are touching the lives of millions. In collaboration with our regional partners, we will continue to develop sustainable healthcare infrastructure so African nations can address these challenges through their own national institutions.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution represents our final foreign policy priority on the continent. In the past seven years we have seen the end of major conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, North-South Sudan, Ethiopia-Eritrea and Angola. Although the current peace is fragile in several of these countries — and challenges persist in Darfur, Eastern Congo and Somalia — Africa has demonstrated a trend toward conflict resolution and stability.

I would like to highlight three distinctive areas demonstrating this trend – peacekeeping, counter-terrorism and maritime safety.

Firstly – through our participation in the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI), the United States, along with our G8 partners, is committed to building global peace and security by training and equipping 75,000 peacekeepers worldwide by 2010. The United States has been the most important contributor to African force generation efforts through our Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program and large scale provision of peacekeeping equipment. Since 2005, the United States has directly trained nearly 60,000 African peacekeepers in 22 countries. Of these troops, over 82% have deployed to African Union and United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Secondly – to combat terrorism, the United States is pursuing a multidisciplinary regional approach in the trans-Sahara region, as well as the Horn of Africa.

The Trans-Sahara Counter-terrorism Partnership is a multi-year effort, funded at about $150m per year, to leverage and coordinate military, law enforcement, development, and public diplomacy elements to enhance the capacity of the trans-Sahara region to deter and defeat terrorism, and counter extremist ideology. We are seeking to build on the success of this program with a parallel East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative, to counter the terrorist elements that destroyed our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam ten years ago, and continue to threaten regional stability.

Lastly – the United States is also partnering with African nations to support progress in strengthening maritime security — particularly — anti-piracy measures – in sub-Saharan Africa. The ability of African nations to control their coastal waters is critical to regional trade and economic growth – control of sovereign natural resources, including fisheries – the delivery of critical humanitarian assistance to Somalia – and efforts to stem the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and humans on the continent.

Conclusion

In closing, the United States Government is committed to work with our African partners to promote democratic institution building, conflict resolution, economic growth and development, and the prevention, care and treatment of disease throughout the African continent.

When African nations cultivate freedom, prosperity and justice, their populations are more likely to reject extremist ideology, build strong economies that benefit all people, and replace disease and despair with healing and hope. These are unwavering priorities of the United States Government today, tomorrow and in the months and years ahead.

Thank you very much.

Released on December 3, 2008
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Phillip Carter – Official Biographical Sketch

Phillip Carter was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs in August 2008. He previously served as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea. Mr. Carter has also served as the Director for West African Affairs and the Deputy Director in the Office for East African Affairs at the U.S. State Department.

Prior to that assignment, he was the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar and DCM in Libreville Gabon. Before his arrival in Gabon in 1997, he was an international financial economist in the State Department’s Office of Monetary Affairs in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. During this period, he dealt with international debt and capital matters and served as the Department’s point-person on International Monetary Fund issues with Africa.

From 1992-1994, he served as the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prior to Bangladesh, Mr. Carter was the Economic and Commercial Officer in Lilongwe, Malawi for three years. From 1987-1989, he worked in the Department’s Office of Caribbean Affairs as a desk officer responsible for bilateral matters concerning the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Eastern Caribbean, as well as regional economic issues such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative. From 1982-1986, he served as the Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Winnipeg, Canada and as vice consul at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

Mr. Carter received a Masters degree in International and Development Economics from Yale University and earned a Bachelors degree in Economics and History from Drew University where he was a member of the International Economics Honor Society (Omicron Delta Epsilon). He is the recipient of a Superior Honor Award, The Franklin Award, and several individual and group Meritorious Honor Awards. He speaks French and Spanish. A member of the Senior Foreign Service, Phillip Carter holds the rank of Counselor.

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 Author: Tongkeh Joseph Fowale
Introduction

Africa entered the 21st century with immeasurable optimism, hope and the promise of a bright future after decades of chaos. This new-found optimism in the hitherto “forgotten continent” was rooted on developments unfolding within Africa and on the international scene. “African renaissance” as this resurgence came to be called, was inspired by the birth of the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for African development (NEPAD). These new instruments of African power ushered the continent into a new century, and also signalled a new dawn in Africa’ relations with the outside world. This internal revolution coincided with the renewal of interest in Africa by great powers.

The prospects and challenges of African development in the 21st century have been (and continue to be) shaped by two conflicting forces. The first pressure emanates from outside players wrestling for Africa’s strategic and natural resources. This external pressure largely defines the pattern of trade, aid, investment and development in Africa. The second push comes from within Africa as the continent struggles to mobilise its resources in pursuit of development. “African solutions to African problems” as this new drive is called, attempts to give an African orientation to Africa’s developmental challenges which revolve around political instability, conflicts, poverty, disease, economic stagnation and lack of infrastructure.

Another significant cause for optimism in Africa in the Third Millennium was the coming of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2000. This ambitious scheme which has been adopted by 190 nations outlined eight critical goals which fundamentally touched on the roots of Africa’s developmental challenges. These goals include; the eradication of poverty and hunger, the achievement of universal primary education, the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, the reduction of child mortality, the improvement of material health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and the development of a global partnership for development.

The MDGs highlighted the need to co-ordinate global efforts in lending a hand to Africa and to bring the continent into the orbit of what French President Nicolas Sarkozy called a “globalized world” at the September 2008 UN Meeting on African development. “The globalized world needs Africa,” he said. “It would be a delusion to envision Europe’s prosperity without working for the emergence of a major economic partner.” Sarkozy’s hope-laden message is quite similar to those echoed repeatedly by many world leaders aimed either at placating or comforting Africa. President George Bush earlier in February 2008 inspired hope in the continent when he declared “Africa in the 21st century is a continent of potential.” Behind these loud promises of hope, there is also a large vacuum of undelivered promises to Africa.

A decade of undelivered promises

For all its efforts at development, for all its pleas for assistance, and in its struggle to escape from plaguing poverty, Africa has received several responses, among them undelivered promises This “… rhetoric or fancy accounting” as Takumo Yamada, spokesman for Oxfam International described it, has left serious repercussions on Africa’s way out of poverty. Though the balance sheet of African development shows positive improvements, these gains cannot be consolidated with Africa’s efforts alone. Commending Africa’s struggle for development, UN General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto observed, “Brave as its nations may be — and we know that they are brave indeed, — Africa cannot move ahead on its own.”

From the MDGs of 2000, through the aid promises of the G8 at Gleneagles in 2005, to promises made at bilateral and multilateral levels, Africa has been fed to the full with rhetoric. While traditional problems of political instability, violent conflicts, economic stagnation, poverty, disease and malnutrition continue to baffle the continent, Africa still has to make room for words. With the emergence of new global challenges such as the world food and fuel crises, the world financial crisis, and climate change, there are looming fears all around the developing world that the developed countries will hide behind such excuses to renege on pledges made to Africa.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon raised such concerns when he called on the developed countries to come to Africa’s rescue. “No one is more alarmed than you at the current trends which indicate that no African country will achieve the Millennium development Goals by 2015.” Ban cited the colossal $267 billion spent by OECD countries last year alone on agricultural subsidies to highlight his call for increased attention to Africa. It becomes even more pathetic to realise that these subsidies are part of Africa’s development frustration.

This same EU which invests considerable energy and resources on subsidies to farmers, made a pledge of $15 billion to ACP countries under the Cotonou Agreement in 2000. Eight years on little is yet to be realised. President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal sounded his frustration with Europe, the West and the G8 over undelivered promises to Africa in very harsh terms. “I achieved more in my one hour meeting with President Hu Jintao — during the G8 meeting in Heiligendamm than I did during the entire orchestrated meeting of world leaders at the summit — where African leaders were told little more than that the G8 nations would respect existing agreements.” Continued he, “It is time for the west to practise what it preaches.”

When former British Prime Minister Tony Blair diagnosed Africa’s problem as “a scar on the conscience of the world” in 2005, expectations ran high that under his stewardship of the G8 Africa’s salvation was in sight. Under Blair’s leadership, the G8 vowed to “more than double aid to Africa,” backing this up with a promise of $25 billion worth of aid to the continent by 2010. Three years on, only $4billion of this money has materialised. “Does any body seriously think the 21 billion-dollar gap will be met in two years?” asked Glennys Kinnock, Chair of the ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly. Citing the current financial crisis as a possible excuse for developed countries to renege on their promises to Africa, she insisted “If the strongest economise need stability, the weakest economies need dependability.”

As African leaders continue to make their pendulum swings east and west in search of develop assistance, they always return with briefcase-loads of promises. President George Bush promised a “Lazarus effect” on the continent when he came visiting in February 2008. China had promised salvation to Africa in the form of a “win-win” relationship. The EU with a waning influence on Africa, continues to make overtures in the form of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Japan promised to make the 21st century “a century of Africa” through an agricultural revolution. India promised to transform the 21st century into a “Century of Asia and Africa.” President Sarkozy offered to be more transparent to Africa and cried out loud that “the suffering of the black man is the suffering of all men.”

It would, however, be grossly misleading o underestimate the role of external assistance in Africa’s development efforts. Africa’s current 6% growth rate, the reduction of conflicts, new democratic strides, the growth of trade, investment and infrastructure all owe significantly to new opportunities provided by outside players. Europe despite its declining trade with Africa, still remains a significant development partner. America’s Agricultural Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) have opened up vast trade and investment opportunities for Africa. Her role in advancing democracy, checking terrorism and contributing towards fighting AIDS and malaria are highly commendable efforts. China and India, the new “Southern drivers” of the global economy are the new forces behind Africa’s new growth patterns. These Asian powers have also made invaluable contributions in the area of infrastructural development in Africa.

These contributions notwithstanding, as long as the outside players continue to attach strings to their assistance to Africa, as long as the continent continues to be viewed as a place to be robbed in the name of aid or trade, as long as Africa is seen as a charity case, as long as their economic relations with Africa are shaped by ulterior motives, the MDGs will have little meaning. When trade with Africa becomes trade in arms, when the continent is militarised for any reason whatsoever, when promises of aid become practises of plunder, every effort will boil down to conflict and misery, the same ills the MDGs have vowed to check. Observed Ban Ki Moon, “The recent spate of conflicts over food and natural resources show that our security depends on building prosperity in the developing world.”

Africa’s fragile trade regime and the challenges of development

Among Africa’s countless economic problems, its fragile trade regime stands out distinct. According to a report published in September 2008 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the continent has not only lost its share of global trade in the last twenty five years, but the level and composition of its exports have not changed significantly.

The UNCTAD report which examined the effects of recent trade liberalization policies on African observed that these policies have not had any impact on intra-African trade. According to the report, intra-African trade accounted for only eight percent of total African trade in 2006, a figure much lower than in other regions.

The causes (and consequences) of Africa’s poor trade performance are many. Heavy dependence on primary products makes the continent very vulnerable to fluctuating commodity prices. Poor infrastructure leads to heavy transportation costs. Bad weather conditions result in crop failure hampering food production and trade. Low levels of technology and mechanization lead directly to very low productivity. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria and typhoid take a heavy toll on Africa’s youthful population leading to a shortage of manpower in production. Conflicts in the continent seriously hamper. Western agricultural subsidies send a direct and dangerous ripple effect on African farmers. This is further worsened by the erection of tariff barriers against African products in the markets of developed countries.

This unfavourable trade structure was highlighted earlier by South African President Thabo Mbeki who frowned at the nature of Sino-African trade. “The challenge is that you could — develop a relationship between China and the African continent which in reality isn’t different from that developed between Africa and the former colonial powers.” He made the same call at the Japan-Africa Summit in Yokohama in May 2008 when he insisted that Africa’s future economic development should be based on trade not aid. “Without discounting the importance of trade” Mbeki said, “improved terms of trade are critical to ensure [Africa's] full integration into the global economy.”

Among the many changes in Africa’s trade structure advocated by Mbeki was the call for greater access to new technologies at affordable prices and investment in research and development, technology and innovation as key instruments in enhancing African trade and ensuring economic growth. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete spoke the same language at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 1V) calling on Japan to increase its trade with Africa. “What remains to be seen” he said, “is increased trade and investment between Africa and Japan ….”

What prospects for the MDGs

2015 is the target year of the Millennium Development Goals. Halfway in 2008, Ban Ki Moon has made it clear that the goals cannot be realised with the current trends. What makes this prospect bleaker is the number of new challenges facing the developed countries especially the current global financial crisis. Africa as usual stands at the receiving end of these odds.

The current trend also shows that without any major changes in its relations with its “development partners,” Africa has to pay the price not only for their economic problems, but for their further development as well. For example, the EU, caught up in the middle of its integration and economic crisis is trying to force a bitter pill down the throats of Africa in the form of Economic Partnership Agreements. Fearful of loosing Africa to its perceived rival – China, the U.S. is embracing a military approach towards Africa in the name of an Africa Command (AFRICOM). China on its part has embarked on a wanton exploitation of Africa’s raw materials backed by a counter-productive arms trade and also raising environmental concerns in the continent.

Though the MDGs touched on pertinent issues affecting the continent, they significantly avoided the perennial problems of migration, brain drain, capital flight and ethnicity which threaten the growth, peace and stability of Africa. No discussion about African development can be complete without paying regard to Africa’s youths, a large proportion of whom are, or will become migrants in search for decent lives. This youthful population also constitutes the cream of Africa’s intellectual wealth and therefore the engine of its future development.

Conclusion

Development is a process rooted in time and space. Every development process requires resources (human and natural). The external factor is also significant. Among these however, the human resource is the most important. President Bush did not miss the point when he observed “Africa’s most valuable resource is not its oil; it’s not its diamonds, it’s the talent and creativity of its people.” It is only when Africa’s “development partners” realise the need to make Africa’s human wealth more productive that the MDGs would have scored a point. To think that promises and hypocrisy can bail Africa out of poverty would be wishful thinking and the consequences will be shared by all. Bush again, “We have seen that conditions on the other side of the world can have a direct impact on our security.”

Climate change for example is a vivid illustration of how Africa has had to pay for the crimes of others. Said Ban Ki Moon, “it is sadly ironic that the poor who contribute the least to global warming suffer most from its ill effects.” It was in this light that the UN boss reminded the world that investing $72 billion yearly to achieve the MDGs, to pull “millions out of extreme poverty in Africa looks like good value.” The promises, the prospects and the challenges of the Millennium Development Goals stare at Africa, they stare at the world. “Paternalism has got to be a thing of the past,” said President Bush. “Joint venturing with good, capable people is what the future is all about.”
Sources

Resources:

• Associated Press “Text of Bush on Africa,” Available at — http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iBAo1yCOOLr02NJfYtgrYmyZQKxAD8UQESG00

• Executive Intelligence Review Japan Pledges To Eradicate — Hunger in Africa in 10 Years, June 6, 2008 Issue.

• FINANCIAL TIMES “Africa-China Trade” Thursday, January 24 2008, p.6

• Millennium Challenge Corporation Fact Sheet. “MCC and Africa: A Growing Partnership for Success.” September 3, 2008. Available at www.mc.gov

• Offah Obale, “Africa’s Export Performance still Dismal, Says UNCTAD, IPS. — Tuesday October 7, 2008.

• United Nations General Assembly, Sixty-third General Assembly High-Level Plenary on Africa, GA/10748, New York, September 22, 2008.