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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Bush Will Find Few Surprises on Trip to Africa, USAID Official Says
Washington File
18 December 2002
By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- President Bush has a demonstrated interest and knowledge of African affairs and will find few surprises on his first official visit to the continent in January, says U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Africa Constance Newman.
During a December 16 phone interview with the Washington File, Newman said, "You know what, this man is serious in his interest and concern about Africa. A great deal of that comes from his in-depth conversations with the leaders of many African countries. And these were not just hand-shake and photo opportunities but serious conversations about drought, famine, conflict, poverty and HIV/AIDS."
The official said, "He [Bush] just had a substantive meeting with Prime Minster Meles [Zenawi] of Ethiopia and [President Daniel arap] Moi, so he knows a great deal about what the humanitarian and development challenges are and what the responses to those challenges should be."
The White House announced on December 13 that President Bush would travel to Africa January 10-17, 2003 "to continue to build America's partnership with the continent. This visit highlights the Bush Administration's commitment to working toward a free and prosperous Africa. The President also looks forward to opening the 2nd U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Forum (AGOA Forum) in Mauritius."
Newman, a former director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), said, "I know him [President Bush]. I worked with him on his father's first [presidential] campaign and I know him to be someone who is very serious" about foreign affairs. "So, I think he is personally engaged on what is happening on the continent and that is why he is going" on this trip.
Stressing that Bush's engagement went beyond mere personal interest, Newman said, "When you think about it, most of the major presidential development initiatives this year have been in Africa. There is an education initiative with an increase of $200 million. There is an initiative in agriculture; one on trade; an environmental initiative on the Congo Basin. This is over and above what is being done for Africa in health and on HIV/AIDS."
So, with the president's personal interest, his meetings with leaders and briefings on the issues, and his administration's emphasis on "new programs and new money" for African development, Newman said, "I don't think he is going to be surprised."
While Africa faces many challenges, the USAID official also said, "It also has good stories to tell."
Newman, who has a private sector background -- former president of the Institute for American Business and co-founder and president of the Newman and Hermanson Company -- said the "best story now on the continent is the desire by African leaders to solve their own problems while dealing with international donors as partners."
She said an example of that thinking is the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a guide for African development that is the brainchild of several African leaders, most prominently South African President Thabo M'beki, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Congressman Donald Payne, ranking minority member of the House Africa Subcommittee, described the action plan as "the first development program for Africa devised by Africans." It is a move to keep the continent from being marginalized from the free flow of goods, people, services and information known as globalization that many other regions of the world are taking advantage of. This means strengthening good governance and open markets -- the underpinnings of democracy -- while implementing plans for poverty eradication.
In the Bush Administration, Newman said, "NEPAD has engendered quite a bit of interest. At the outset there was some disappointment that the NEPAD leadership did not speak out against Zimbabwe [President Robert] Mugabe" whose oppressive political and economic policies are wrecking that southern African nation. But despite that, the plan is impressive, especially its "commitment to a peer review process," she said.
Congressman Payne said NEPAD's Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is "particularly noteworthy because it encourages political reforms and principles of [good] governance. However, since this mechanism is voluntary, it is important to have clear incentives for participation beyond winning the favor and support of the international community."
Newman said adherence to the peer process "will really be the proof" of the commitment African leaders say they are making; this is "something we say to them [leaders] whenever we meet. Now, what we are doing is waiting and watching to see what the process will be and whether they will really implement its provisions."
She added, "I was at a recent G-8 meeting in Ghana [an outgrowth of the commitment to focus on African development at this year's G-8 Summit in Canada] and we met with the NEPAD secretariat. We reinforced the concept that it was extremely important that they follow through on the peer review."
Asked what advice she had for the president before he left on his trip to Africa, Newman said, "I would tell him, 'Mr. President, you should reinforce the importance of the leadership following through on the principles of NEPAD. That means being serious about investing in people and in democracy and creating a friendly economic environment. In other words, following through on all of the principles that are part of the Millennium Challenge Account, that you established to help Africa.'"
[President Bush announced the Millennium Challenge Account during the U.N. Finance and Development Conference in Monterey, Mexico last March. The $5,000 million U.S. development fund -- 50% of which has been set aside for Africa -- would go to projects in nations, he said, that "govern justly, invest in their people and encourage economic freedom."]
For her own part, Newman, who administers more than $1,000 million a year in humanitarian and development assistance to the continent, said her message for Africans was: "You ought to do what you say you are going to do. If you follow through on NEPAD and take seriously the importance of removing corruption and conflict, you will be in a better position to deal with the donor community." Donors, she added, "will feel less inclined to put conditions upon the monies they give and will feel more inclined to help bring Africa into the world's economy if they [African nations] truly make the reforms they have pledged to do."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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Last Updated on: December 30, 2008 |
