By Ernest Corea
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – Somalia hit the top of the chart for the third consecutive year when the 2010 Failed States Index was recently unveiled by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace. Several African states followed Somalia in the first 20 listed. They are considered the worst failures.
The index was compiled on the basis of 12 criteria: demographics, refugees, illegitimate governance, brain drain, public services, inequality, group grievances, human rights, economic decline, security forces, factionalised elites, and external intervention.
The index will now become the happy hunting ground of policy wonks and others arguing intellectually about methodology and other exotica. It will also provide re-confirmation to those who are convinced, or want to be convinced, that the whole of Africa is a "basket case."
CONTEXT
Those who see Africa only in negative terms would do well to be reminded of what U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told the opening session of the "Teach Africa" Leadership Summit held at the State Department on June 3.
The event, organized jointly by the Africa Society and the State Department was unconnected with the failed states index but Carson’s comments have an important bearing on how policy makers of the present and the future might approach U.S.-Africa relations.
He pointed out that although news accounts often portray Africa in negative terms, "there is in fact another Africa, an Africa that is an integral part of the global community — politically, culturally, economically and socially — and one that is of major importance to the U.S."
So perhaps it would be useful to step back a bit and look at Africa in a broad, global context.
IGNORANCE
At the height of the cold war, a nationwide (U.S.) survey on international relations found that over half the respondents believed the U.S. to be a member in good standing of the Warsaw Pact. If ignorance is bliss, well, bliss thrives — and goes well beyond the Warsaw Pact.
Ignorance was no doubt greater in the past, when transnational communication was limited. Even today, however, so little is known by so many about the world at large although opportunities for communication across the globe are greater than they have ever been. There are, in fact, people who actually believe that all Indians are Hindus who speak a language called Hindoo.
Africa perhaps suffers most from this kind of ignorance, which is frequently born of prejudice. The fact that Africa is a continent and not a single country is not easily understood — or is shrugged off. The worst that can be said or written about the continent is pervasive. Stereotypes abound, and are accepted as fact.
LEADERSHIP
Yes, there are dictators in Africa, but only 60 percent of the world’s states can be called democratic, says Freedom House. This is a great increase from 28 percent in 1950, but it demonstrates that democracy is not an universally established form of government.
Yes, development has been slow in Africa where poverty persists, and for many living conditions are minimal. Yes, there is corruption in Africa. Yes, the fragile environment suffers assaults at human hands. The list of negatives can continue.
It would be interesting, however, to be able to list countries outside Africa in which some or all of these conditions do not exist.
Moreover, while critics are quick to point the finger at Africa’s dishonorable leaders (there are many elsewhere as well) the extent to which inspirational African men and women have helped to improve the human condition is not known, is forgotten, or ignored.
An African Honour Roll of international leadership would include but not be limited to (in alphabetical order) Jacques Diouf, Albert John Luthuli, Mandela, Wangari Mathai, Amadu-Mahtar M’bow, Kanayo Nwanze, Wole Soyinka, Desmond Tutu, and Kandeh Yumkella. These are all exceptional people. Five of them are Nobel laureates.
RELEVANCE
So there is special significance in what Carson told his young audience, as reported by the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs:
"Africa is important, and I hope that all of you today — throughout the day — will have the opportunity to realize how important the continent is. It does indeed have its challenges … but I think Africa’s future remains bright. Its future will be far more important than its past."
Carson told the students that Africa has "enormous relevance" for the U.S. – which, as it happens, gets 18 percent of its oil from the continent.
"It is important that we here in the U.S. continue to work alongside Africa and African nations to help them to realize the enormous potential that exists across the continent.
That potential "is reflected in its human capital, in its people, who are resilient, strong and surging forth. Africa has today some 800 million people across the continent, with its numbers increasing.
"With those numbers we are seeing important things happen. We are seeing more education, both at the primary and university level. We are seeing more engagement, more business and more activities," which signal the continent’s potential and promise.
DECISIVE
The Leadership Summit was part of a continuing effort by NGOs, academic groups, diplomats, political leaders, and others to challenge the bliss of ignorance and indifference about Africa.
In this connection, a decisive event took place in February 2000 when the National Summit of Africa was held here. Six regional summits and three policy forums that took place across the U.S. preceded the main event.
The summit brought together some 8,000 participants representing an eclectic array of interests and talent, in addition to those who attended the preceding events. The active engagement of such a large community of people in an activity that showcased and supported all the states of Africa was unprecedented. "It showed that Africa matters," says an organizer.
Well and good, but that was a decade ago. Looking back at that event, and observing the ignorance and, sometimes, apathy, that persist, would it be fair to say that the effort which was expended on planning and creating a successful National Summit was a waste of time and resources? Not at all, insists the summit’s supporters.
As evidence of their claim they point out how the summit constituency has benefited legislation that:
– increased debt relief;
– expanded U.S.-Africa trade relations through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA);
– helped to combat AIDS through the World Bank-AIDS Prevention Trust Fund Act, and
– opposed political restrictions on UN funding for peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone.
In another significant development, the summit segued into the Africa Society which continues to build on the foundation laid at the summit.
The late Leonard Robinson, and Bernadette Paolo, co-founded the society. Robinson, an African-American, was a powerhouse of ideas whose intellect was matched by a broad range of experience in academia, community development, the corporate sector, diplomacy, international development, and the Peace Corps. He was a man of many passions; prominent among them was his love for Africa.
Paolo, a Washington DC attorney, has had several years of Africa-related experience, 12 of them as a senior staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives. She rounded off her career as Staff Director and Counsel for the Sub-committee on Africa of the Foreign Affairs Committee. She served as the society’s Vice President and counsel. Since Robinson’s death, she has been the society’s President and CEO.
A distinguished board of directors drawn from among Africanists, the corporate sector, and the NGO community supports and guides the society, its energetic staff, and programmes. Top of the list is chairman-emeritus, Andrew Young.
PROGRAMMES
The society works through the following programmes:
– Teach Africa series, its flagship program encompassing activities such as the Leadership Seminar referred to earlier;
– Andrew Young Lectures series covering discrete aspects of U.S.-Africa relations;
– In partnership with the Travel Channel on TV, films of African presidents, each conducting an in-depth guided tour of his country;
– Issues Series in collaboration with the Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University on topics that have included agriculture, education, legitimacy of elections in Africa, and terrorism;
– Conversation and dinner with African ambassadors.
The Teach Africa program is based on multi-phased planning that combines educators and students. The June 3 forum for instance included ten participating students who were chosen from across the U.S. after writing essays expressing their interest in Africa.
Others had already launched initiatives to bring about change in Africa: one of them has started her own non-profit organization and raised $6,000 to help educate conflict-affected youth in Uganda; another is helping to set up libraries in Africa; and a third, of Nigerian ancestry, wants to change the way African and American policymakers deal with each other.
AGENDA
Programmes such as these can redefine the relationship between African nations and the U.S. The path is not easy, and much is achieved only in incremental steps. The enthusiasm already mobilized, and the effectiveness of the programmes undertaken — with the full cooperation of Washington institutions such as African embassies, the State Department, and the World Bank — demonstrate that the momentum for progress is real.
Given the complex relationships between African nations and developing America, there is no reason why there should continue to be ignorance or prejudice between them. History holds them in an entangled embrace.
The most important actions, however, will have to be in Africa, with the initiatives launched in recent years by Africans themselves leading to improved conditions for the men and women of that continent. Much has already been achieved, but the agenda that lies ahead remains demanding. (IDN-InDepthNews/02.07.2010)
Copyright © 2010 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
—–
The writer has served as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the USA. He was Chairman of the Commonwealth Select Committee on the media and development, Editor of the Ceylon ‘Daily News’ and the Ceylon ‘Observer’, and was for a time Features Editor and Foreign Affairs columnist of the Singapore ‘Straits Times’. He is on the IDN editorial board.