Daily Independent (Lagos)
Okechukwu Emeh
5 January 2009
column
The incoming administration of Senator Barack Hussein Obama in the United States of America, is likely to face a myriad of tasking foreign policy issues.
Chief among them are the subversive threat of forces of political Islam (as seen in the ongoing bloody conflicts in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan where U.S. troops are entrapped in the snakepit of Islamic guerillas and tribal fighters), long-running combustible Middle East crises (including the seemingly implacable bloody hostility between Israelis and Palestinians), fears over possible acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons) by radical middle powers like the so-called pariah states of Iran and North Korea), newly emerging anti-U.S. firebrand leftist leaders like President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the old ones like the ghastly, oppressive regimes in Myanmar (Burma) and Sudan and resurgent ultra-nationalist Russia, which is increasingly opposing the Western military alliance (NATO)'s expansion into its backyard of eastern and central Europe and is widely condemned for its military incursion, not long ago, in Georgia's separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Other troubling foreign policy issues facing the incoming Obama administration include the growing economic and military influence of China, unsettled global trade imbalance, international financial meltdown, world food and energy crises and climate change.
Not oblivious of the centrality of such issues to the incoming administration in the United States, it is widely believed, however, that Africa would be part of its foreign policy thrust. This is not mainly because of Senator Obama's consanguinal affinity with the continent, through a Kenyan father, but because of the crucial position of this part of the world in international politics, as could be observed from its cross-cultural mix (blacks, Arabs, Jews, white Europeans, Asians), as well as its abundant human, natural and material resources.
Regrettably, in spite of such amazing endowments of Africa, successive Western governments, including those of the U.S, have put it on the back burner of their foreign policy formulation. In truth, there is a dismal record of failure on the continent on the part of the Western world that ought to shock and shame its civilisation. Encapsulating this is the failure of some of the countries like the U.S to help Africa wrestle with debilitating and regressive problems of oppressive government, economic mismanagement, corruption, excruciating poverty, killer diseases (HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis) and armed conflicts with atrocious and genocidal inclinations. Such face of neglect and cold indifference to macabre and traumatic events in Africa by the Western world is in total contrast to the avuncular and benevolent stance of its past visionary and liberal leaders who were warm-hearted friends of the continent while in power. These included leaders with charisma, calibre, compassion and political weight like John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton of the U.S., Will Brandt of Germany and Tony Blair of Britain.
Taking Blair, for example, who was British prime minister between 1997 and 2007, his African policy agenda rekindled hope for a continent that was groping for a renaissance. During his tenure in office, he established the Commission For Africa (in 2004) to help overcome obstacles to peace, stability and development on the continent, including maladministration, economic mismanagement, corruption, abject poverty, hunger, killer diseases, social exclusion, debt burden, decrepit infrastructure and epileptic social services, environmental pollution, global trade imbalances and Western neglect. As part of Blair's robust African policy commitments, he spectacularly displayed boldness and prowess in despatching British troops to help end the long-running brutal insurgency of the Revolutionary United Force (RUF) guerrillas in Sierra Leone, as well as played a galvanising role in initiating the Kimberley Process - an initiative that is aimed at controlling the illegal mining of diamonds (or the so-called blood or conflict diamonds) that were mainly blamed for funding the vicious civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.
It is, therefore, germane to note that the task of effecting recovery and rebuilding in Africa is a clarion call on the incoming Obama administration to be equal to the challenge of assisting the disconsolate continent in order to shore up America's prestige and profile in this part of the world. But in contradiction to the progressive, internationalist leaning of Blair's Britain, the post-Cold War U.S is seemingly reclining to isolationism of the World War I era, except in the area of confronting the hostile forces of Islamic fundamentalism and ultra-nationalism and the associated terrorism in different parts of the globe, as well as in containment of pro-nuclear regimes in Iran and North Korea. If not, how would one explain the apparent aloofness of Uncle Sam (America) from sombre and disheartening events in Africa in recent years, such as political repression and blatant human rights violations in Zimbabwe and Equitorial Guinea, genocidal conflicts in Sudan (in western Dafur) and DR Congo, deadly diseases (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria), hunger, starvation, acute poverty and economic and social collapse across the continent.
What is more, the post-Cold War America is known for pursuing an unabashed unilateralist policy on issues that adversely affect Africa. A clear example is the pull-out of the country from international agreements like the ones on climate change (the Kyoto Protocol of 1997), anti-personnel landmines (the Ottawa Treaty of 1997) and the International Criminal Court (for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity). The U.S. is also notorious for flouting the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s treaty on free and fair trade (the Doha Treaty of 2001), just as members of the European Union and developed countries like Japan and China. In this regard, it is noteworthy that Washington has, at different times, threatened leaving the multi-lateral trading institution, on account of her disagreement over the prickly issues of application of restrictive high tariffs on other countries' exports, agricultural subsidies and other export-oriented subsidies.
Considering that the era of Blair as prime minister in Britain was a curtain raiser for a hopeful moment for Africa, especially through his laudable Commission For Africa and European Union - African partnership initiative, the incoming administration of Senator Obama should assume more vigorous role on the continent. The administration is, therefore, expected to generate political will and financial backing for African-led initiatives like African Union (AU) and New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). Senator Obama should match his concerns for the continent over its deplorable situations with political commitments shorn of inaction and negligence.
Emeh, author/researcher, sent this piece from Abuja
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