US fails to locate African Question, again

THE election of United States president Donald Trump was greeted with cautious pragmatism by a majority of African states, since he had failed to enunciate his Africa policy while campaigning. Six months on, we are beginning to understand how the Trump administration views Africa.

Over a week ago, they announced that they required more time to review sanctions against Sudan, while some reports said “pivotal Africa appointments in US government departments, including the National Security Council” still have to be made.

It is against this backdrop that we respond to remarks made by United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

During a UN Security Council meeting on Africa this Tuesday, Haley lashed out at the African Union for what she termed “collective failure” to address the famine affecting more than 14 million people in a number of African states: “These famines are a sign of a collective failure, and any effective response must begin with the nations of Africa themselves,” she said, adding that “African Union member states must ramp up their response to this crisis.”

We certainly agree with her that some of these humanitarian disasters are avoidable if countries like South Sudan or Central African Republic choose to live in peace.

But, we also feel that the United States’ top diplomat should realise that some of the countries affected by the ravaging famine that requires billions of dollars in assistance, have gone for successive seasons without rain. East Africa and the Horn of Africa are a case in point.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation, which is a UN agency, said poor rainfall has “worsened hunger and left crops scorched, pastures dry and thousands of livestock dead.”

Its Director of Emergencies bemoaned that “this is the third season in a row that families have had to endure failed rains — they are simply running out of ways to cope.”

Thus Haley has no moral standing to lecture African states on natural disasters and their responsibilities to each other considering that the Trump administration’s America First policy is alienating itself from all and sundry.

If Trump cannot agree on fundamental policy issues with his Republican Party counterparts, why would we expect him to be in sync with the rest of the world, Africa in particular?

When her government decided to cut down donor funding before sustainable programmes were put in place, what results did Haley expect?

On June 1, Trump said his administration would withdraw from the Paris Climate Change Accord. When he put the American economy and sovereignty ahead of the international community’s interests to combat global warming, who will Haley blame in future when the famines continue to ravage not just Africa, but all continents?

The continued civil strife cannot also be denied, but Haley’s argument is devoid of the causes of these tensions that result in loss of lives and lack of productivity.

While terrorism is now an international by-word, we would want to remind the United States envoy that it was the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by Al-Qaeda that awakened Africa and the world to this evil.

It would also be interesting to know the financiers of some of the internal conflicts on the continent. Why is the US military footprint so evident on the continent, through the US Africa Command (AFRICOM)?

Maybe Haley should read Nick Turse’s piece, “AFRICOM: America’s Empire of Military Bases in Africa” that says in part, “The Pentagon claims to have only a single US military base on the African continent. This is an outright lie. The number of US military installations, training missions, military exercises and deployments on the African continent has soared in recent years under the Obama administration, and the Pentagon has taken active measures to conceal the depth and breadth of its African activities.”

Haley also berated African member states for nominating the Democratic Republic of Congo to the UN’s top human rights body, arguing that it has committed serious human rights violations: “This is a pivotal time for the Human Rights Council. It has the potential to be an asset to the men, women and children suffering in Africa today . . . The nomination of (Congo) is an inexcusable failure of this process.”

But, the same meeting also spoke about the UNSC reform and Africa’s inclusion in the global body’s key decision maker. Why is it that this major right for Africa escaped the US’ top diplomat?