---

---

Liberia: U.S. Representative Calls for $225 Million in Funding

31 July 2008

---

interview

Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (Democrat - Illinois) has proposed legislation in the United States Congress which would authorize U.S. $225 million in assistance to Liberia over the five years from 2009 to 2013. In an interview with AllAfrica's François Gouahinga and Reed Kramer, Jackson explained the Liberia Stabilization, Economic Empowerment, Development and Security Act - the "Liberia Seeds Act" - and the importance he attaches to helping Liberia and the country's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to re-establish democracy and rebuild the country after 25 years of conflict and civil war.

Why are you proposing to assist Liberia in this way – with a five-year commitment that goes beyond normal bilateral assistance?

As a Congressman, and more recently as vice-chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the House Appropriations Committee, I have long taken particular interest in long-term sustainable development in Africa. Even before I was a member of the subcommittee, I promoted legislation to establish a new, fair, free-trade arrangement with sub-Saharan Africa, not based on any colonialist or neo-colonialist models, but on a true partnership between the United States and Africa.

I see the Seeds Act as an extension of that work. We worked through a number of supplemental spending bills when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf first came to speak to Congress shortly after having been elected president. On that occasion, we successfully advanced an amendment to provide nearly $50 million. Historically in our country we welcome visiting presidents - and they leave with an economic development package that allows them to help reestablish democracy, fight for basic human rights [and] create stability within their own countries. Sirleaf, the first woman to ever head an African country, came very close to leaving with nothing. But the day before her speech, we had an Appropriations Committee meeting, and the only amendment accepted to the supplemental appropriations bill after the argument that I made in a Republican-controlled Congress was one that would provide President Sirleaf with a small package, and she was extraordinary grateful.

On subsequent supplemental bills, we also fought for appropriations that in the short run provided the Johnson Sirleaf administration with potable water appropriations, appropriations that included the ability to turn on lights a little faster in Liberia, which is essentially a dark country given that there is very little power and infrastructure.

How is what you are proposing in the 'Seeds' Act different from previous aid packages?

Liberia [now] needs 'seeds planted' to provide her, the country, with sustainable development over a period of time that can ultimately garner international support so that the Johnson Sirleaf government can maintain and have some levels of stability. The bill seeks to provide critical assistance to Liberia in a couple of areas, particularly in post-conflict resolution areas that allow the administration to show some progress in infrastructure.

Our bill specifically [targets] the reconstruction of key roads and key bridges [to enable] commerce, and so that people within Liberia can move back and forth to work. The funds that we appropriate through the Development Assistance Account also help ex-combatants and war affected youth. Many of them have gotten used to the idea of hot and running water and electricity.

I was in Liberia about a year ago… with [subcommittee] chairwoman [Nita M.] Lowey and other members of a congressional delegation: Barbara Lee, Betty McCollum, Brad Miller and Maurice Hinchey. [There we saw] thousands of young people standing on the street corners, standing outside of former colleges and universities and high schools, idle, with nothing to do.

President Johnson Sirleaf shared with us that many of these young men were combatants. They've turned in their weapons through various programs and these efforts have been successful but she's always been very concerned that unless they can turn the economy around, any group of former revolutionaries or those who fought in the civil war could easily reorganize themselves. So some of these funds will help these young men and women to get gainfully employed, learn new skills and rebuild the infrastructure of their country.

Some of the economic support funds will be used to create a government training institute. Interestingly enough, at the end of the [U.S.] Civil War, the Reconstruction government brought former confederates in the government and allowed them to run for Congress again, and allowed them to serve in the United States Senate again. Well, the wife of Charles Taylor is a senator in Liberia. The president introduced her to me. So she functions in an environment where, from various regions of the country, leaders of the civil war—save for [former president] Charles Taylor and others—have been elected in their democracy to public office and are constantly challenging her. And so the idea of creating an institute to train elected officials on how to work within the context of a democracy; [to provide support for] a Liberian truth and reconciliation commission to help with healing; and support educational exchanges between Liberian government officials and U.S. government officials become important components of this bill.

And lastly, police capacity building. Some of the issues we resolved through the Foreign Operations Committee now help clarify funds that had been caught [in] the pipeline that were designed to help provide the Liberian people with the kind of military and police training that they need to keep stability within the country. One of the appropriations that we supported provided security for the president, and training for her security detail. But basic policing functions throughout the country and accountability for the police is an ongoing operation.

The Seeds Act essentially authorizes 225 million dollars over a five-year period to carry out these activities. The bill is very limited in scope, it doesn't address issues such as healthcare, general education, development of agriculture or political participation. This isn't about getting people to vote. This is about government stabilization.

All of our early indication is that this is a bill that will be accepted by the Foreign Affairs committee. Mr. [Howard L.] Berman [chairman of the committee] has expressed his support and his desire to have a very quick hearing on this bill. The Speaker [Nancy Pelosi] has indicated her preliminary support of the legislation and we believe that we have sponsors in the Senate who are prepared to act on this bill as well. The president [President George W. Bush] has said that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's administration is critical and an important foreign policy success of his administration.

This is a tough time for members of Congress to vote on anything in the way of spending. How confident are you that you will get this bill approved?

The argument to the contrary is that it would be a tougher time for the Johnson Sirleaf administration to fail; it would cost more to the U.S. because of the potential for destabilization in the region associated with a failed Liberia. So a democratic success, putting Liberia on its own feet, with its tremendous economic resources and potential in terms of raw materials—this is a country that can quickly be stabilized.

Liberia has a long and historic relationship with the United States. This is a country that was formed by former freed slaves. At a time during which there is the possibility of having the first African American president of the United States, creating stability in Liberia allows his administration to focus on issues of critical importance in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Iraq and other troubled areas of the world that immediately threaten the security of the United States.

We're going to be involved in Liberia one way or another. We can be there to provide and create stability and security, for this democracy under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was educated here in the United States and shares many of our values. Or we could be at the back end, and watch as Ghana and other countries are potentially threatened potentially by a failed state. We cannot afford a failed state anywhere in Africa. Failed states provide foundation for activities that could threaten the security of the United States.

Read comments. Write your own.

More News on allAfrica.com

Mine Galvanizes Civil Society As if they were going to the races, Emma Musako and Monica ...	State Govt Seeks Return of Stolen Benin Artifacts Edo State government wants the United ...
Small Size of Bus Stops Creating Problems Due to small size of the bus stop just after the ...	Fighting Graft in the Water Sector Having an independent regulator, improving the ...
Newmont and the Cyanide Spilage Saga About six communities, which Newmont and some chiefs ...	The Saga Behind Ignace Beraho's Preditable Fall Swifter, Higher, Stronger - such is the ...

See all comments (11).

---