Washington, DC — "Perhaps overshadowed" by South Africa, Botswana has been "quietly plugging" away at development and meeting some success, despite being battered by HIV/Aids, says Africa-America Institute (AAI) President Mora McLean. "It's using diamonds for development," she says, "as against blood diamonds," referring to the diversion of diamond revenues in such countries as Sierra Leone, Angola and Congo to fuel conflicts over the past decade.
Botswana President Festus Mogae will receive the National Leadership Award at the AAI 18th annual awards dinner on September 17. Former South African president Nelson Mandela is the only other person to have received the award. The event will take place in the city of New York, headquarters of AAI, an educational, training and policy organization with a presence in 50 African countries. The non-profit group will mark its 50th anniversary next year.
Botswana health minister, Joy Phumaphi, will receive the AAI Distinguished Alumna Award. AAI's alumni are individuals from African countries who have participated in a long or short-term educational program administered by AAI.
Mogae and Phumaphi typify, "a leadership that is courageous enough to acknowledge and confront major problems such as the Aids pandemic, McLean told allAfrica.com.
In the 1960s, Botswana was one of the world's poorest countries. It is now one of Africa's few "middle income" nations, with an average annual GDP growth rate of over 7 percent. The GDP for all of Sub-Saharan Africa is just 3 percent. Larger than France, with a population 40 times smaller, Botswana has foreign reserves of US$6bn and a per capita income of $6,600.
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But HIV/Aids is a major threat to Botswana's progress. An estimated 300,000 people - almost 40% of the sexually active population - are HIV-positive or have full-blown AIDS. Life expectancy has fallen from 67 years to 42 years, devasting the country's core of trained professionals.
Faced with a challenge of such magnitude, Botswana has moved to put in place mechanisms for combatting the further spread of the disease and to treat those already affected. Last week during a visit to Botswana, in addition to praising the nation's economic strategies, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan praised its campaign against the HIV. "I must applaud Botswana for being the first country south of Sahara to give free anti-AIDS drugs to its people," he said. Annan is the first UN secretary-general to visit Botswana.
At the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Weekend that opens September 11 in Washington, DC, President Mogae will also receive a "Chairman's Award," honoring his commitment to democratic ideals.
Commenting on the AAI dinner's nearness to the September 11 terrorist attacks, the AAI's McLean said America seems more focused on foreign affairs. And such attention might benefit Africa. "In chaos and crisis, there is also opportunity," she said.
