Washington, DC — The Obama Administration is making a worthy effort to redefine and more carefully articulate a coherent US policy towards Africa. There is considerable emphasis on economic investment and trade. Critics state that much of this is simply a repackaged version of what the Administration is already doing.
To a large extent that is right, but one should not expect a major radical change in our approach to Africa at this political juncture. We are clearly limited by budget constraints brought upon by a global financial crisis which is not abating at a rate one would hope for. We also have a Congress, and perhaps a nation, that is bitterly divided on nearly any issue.
The Administration is moving in the right direction. We can only hope that the next Administration, regardless of Party, continues to do so.
At the same time, AGOA, the primary piece of legislation to which so much of our Africa policy is tied , continues to be the subject of Congressional debate, as Congress prepares to vote on the continuation of 'third party fabric provisions'. Essentially, the legislation, which expires September 30, allows African nations to import fabric, rather than to produce it domestically, necessary to making apparel.
The apparel has been, above all else, the most successful segment of Africa's ability to sell to America under AGOA. While I am optimistic that it will be renewed, perhaps even before this article is printed, the debate on this provision has been shameful.
Without the passage of the 'third party fabric provision' AGOA becomes essentially worthless, and the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of workers in Africa will vanish. We essentially will have set up nations in Africa with hope for the promise of AGOA only to cause more misery than assistance if this were not to pass. Our relationship with sub-Saharan Africa would be in shambles.
Perhaps the real tragedy of it all, however, is that until AGOA, there had really not been a major piece of legislation entirely and solely dedicated to US-Africa relations in our history. Since passage of AGOA nearly thirteen years ago, we have not had another major piece of legislation solely dedicated to our relationship with Africa.
We struggle simply to amend what most can clearly see as legislation necessary and crucial to our international relationship with forty-eight nations, not to mention the well-being of millions whose livelihood depends on this legislation.
Do we really believe that a continent from which nearly a quarter of our energy supply comes, as do many of our strategic metals, and a continent full of a billion people who look to the US as a beacon of hope, is so inconsequential as to not even merit an extension of only a part of this legislation? What message are we sending to Africa and the world through this delay?
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AGOA has not been as effective as we had hoped. This is a fact. It is not enough alone upon which to build our relationship, economic or political, with a billion people. The entry of China into the African marketplace does require that we reshape our entire policy towards Africa if we are to help our own economy and continue to create hope for a better Africa and the world.
This should be a major objective of the next Administration, be it an Obama or Romney Administration. We cannot link ourselves and our entire relationship with Africa to only AGOA. It has been a good first step but there needs to be so much more. It must start with the simple step of approving the third party fabric provision without further delay. It is but a step in a long and necessary journey to a more successful and mutually supportive relationship.
