Washington, DC — U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill's 10-day visit to Africa is unprecedented. It is being seen as an opportunity for African officials to punch home their view that the continent's debt burden is unsustainable and that trade barriers in Europe and the United States must be dismantled.
O'Neill, who grew up poor and rose to the top of the U.S. business establishment,is known to be one of the most skeptical and critical voices in the Bush Administration when it comes to assistance for Africa.
"I have been outspoken about the results that have not been produced by what we've been doing," he was quoted Monday as saying. "I'm not skeptical about whether we should do it, or even that we should do a lot more of it. But I'm determined that we should get value for resources."
Briefing reporters Friday, deputy assistant Secretary of State of the Treasury for Africa, Steve Radelet, described the trip as a learning opportunity for O'Neill. "He really wants to sit down and talk face to face and learn from people who are on the front lines."
United States Trade Representative to Africa, Rosa M. Whitaker told allAfrica.com that she hoped the trip would bring her trade policy into sharper focus for Treasury officials and win their support for more and more effective dollars for Africa.
"He's going to be meeting with the people who are on the frontline working with this policy and benefiting," she says, "and he's also going to be listening and learning."
In addition to meeting government officials, O'Neill will visit education projects, USAID sites, health and HIV/Aids clinics, private businesses and a variety of development projects. In Ethiopia he will attend the annual meeting of the African Development Bank.
A key part of O'Neill's trip agenda is the new Millennium Challenge Account, announced by President Bush in March, that proposes an increase in official U.S. development assistance over the next three years of $5bn to nations working to eliminate corruption and to reform their economic systems.
During his Africa tour, says Radelet, Secretary O'Neill will be pondering "what the African governments need to do in terms of governance issues and what we can do in the international community to try and support those efforts."
But critics say this approach won't lead to meaningful development. A letter sent to O'Neill by more than 100 civil society organizations from the United States and Africa, blasted the Millennium Challenge Account as "inappropriately designed for promoting development in Africa".
"Most crucially", the letter said, the Bush plan ignores Africa's debt crisis. Attacking a policy of which O'Neill is the primary architect, it continued: "We strongly oppose the principle of tying aid to specific criteria, including economic policies and governance conditions defined by Washington... For development to be successful, it will require a paradigm shift away from dictating policy to poor countries."
In the arena of trade, which the U.S. has emphasised, critics believe a broader approach is needed. Kevin Watkins, author of a recent Oxfam report, Rigged Rules and Double Standards, told allAfrica.com: "I think the US could do far more in terms of improving market access to sub-Saharan Africa and it is not just a question of opening borders. It's a question of supporting production, of increasing aid and infrastructure to enhance the supply capacity of sub-Saharan Africa."
Citing the new farm bill which increases agricultural subsidies in the United states, Watkins said it would depress agricultural prices and contradict what the administration says it wants to encourage on the continent. "This sort of practice of giving with one hand and taking away with another has got this sort of initiative bad press in sub-Saharan Africa," he said.
In an interesting and surprising pairing, Irish rock star Bono, lead singer of U2, will accompany O'Neill on this trip. Although Bono supports the Millennium Challenge Account, he has been a long time advocate of debt relief and greater assistance to Africa.
The singer told allAfrica.com that he would consider the trip successful "if we can convince a tough guy like Secretary O'Neill that there are effective programs to fight the Aids emergency, that there are health and education initiatives in various countries like in Ghana. That there is stuff to get excited about."
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A press release sent out by Bono's new advocacy group, DATA - Debt, Aids and Trade in Africa, claims that during the ten days that Secretary O'Neill and Bono are traveling together, Sub-Saharan Africa will spend $400m repaying old debts and receive $160m less in development assistance than the region received ten years ago.
O'Neill plays down his differences with Bono although he has acknowledged when it comes to the music of U2; "I guess I wouldn't say I'm their number one fan." Nonetheless, O'Neill told reporters during a briefing about the trip last week, "It is possible for the two of us to see life through each other's eyes. I'm going to get a set of blue wrap-around glasses and I'm going to give him a gray wig."
Part of Bono's intention is to use his fame to bring greater attention to his Africa concerns, especially in media that do not often pay much attention to the continent. That seems to be working. Rolling Stone magazine and MTV are among the media organizations signed up for the trip.
