MIDWEST REGIONAL CONSULTATION ON U.S. POLICY TOWARD AFRICA HYATT AT UNIVERSITY VILLAGE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS FEBRUARY 28, 1998
The Africa Fund 17 John Street, 12th Floor New York, NY 10038
Tilden J. LeMelle, Chairman Jennifer Davis, Executive Director
Phone: (212) 962-1210 Fax: (212) 964-8570 E-Mail: [email protected] Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
Index to Conference Documents Document 1
Document 1 Index to Conference Documents
Document2 Participant Information Form
Document3 Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa Program
Document4 U.S. - South Africa Foreign Policy
Document 5 Provincial Legislatures in South Africa
Document 6 Africa Policy Outlook 1998
Document 7 Mobil In Nigeria: Partner in Oppression
Document 8 Action for Human Rights in Nigeria
Document 9 Human Rights Activism in Africa: A Frog' s Eye View
Document 10 Foreign Aid Programs Provide No Protection for Aid to Africa
Additional Documents
Global Connections: A National Conversation About A Changing World (InterAction)
Making a Difference in Africa: A Report on USAID Assistance to Africa (USAID)
Women in Africa: Profiles of Leadership (UNDP)
Together for Change: The Botswana Consultation (African Women in Politics)
Sister Cities International Information
Africa & U.S. National Interests (The American Assembly)
Report on The Africa Fund Delegation of Southern African Women Legislators to the United States, April/May 1996
The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
Participant Information Form Document 2
Please return this form before the end of the Consultation. In order to keep our records current, we are requesting that you give us as much informati
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The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
Consultation Program Document 3
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. REGISTRATION (Concourse Lobby)
9:00 a.m. - I 0: I5 a.m. OPENING PLENARY: Africa in the 21st Century (Conference Room ABC) Chair: Senator Jesus Garcia (Illinois)
Invocation: Reverend Dr. Thanda Ngcobo, Trinity United Church of Christ
Welcome: Dr. Cedric Herring, Professor and Interim Director, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago
Greetings: Edward Palmer, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Chicago at Illinois; Co-Chair, The PEOPLE Program
Introduction of Speakers: Tilden LeMelle, Chair, The Africa Fund
Speakers: US. -Africa Relations in the 21st Century: Two Perspectives
Mlulami Singapi, Vice-Consul, South African Consulate General and Dr. Alice Palmer, Professor, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago; Co-Director, The PEOPLE Program
I0:30 a.m. - II :45 a.m. PLENARY: Promoting Constructive Trade and Investment in Africa (Conference Room ABC) Chair: Senator Virgil Clark Smith (Michigan)
Honorable Danny K. Davis, United States Congressman, 7th District, Chicago, Illinois - The African Growth and Opportunity Act
Jeffrey Lewis, Managing Director and General Counsel, DST Catalyst, Inc. - Doing Good and Doing Business in Africa
Salih Booker, Senior Fellow, Africa Studies Program, Council on Foreign Relations - US. Aid, Trade and Investment- Getting the Mix Right
Professor Robert Stumberg, The Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center- The Multilateral Agreement on Investment -A Threat to Cities and States
The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Page 2 Midwest Regional Consultation
I2:00 p.m.- I :30 p.m. LUNCHEON (Conference Room CD) Sponsors: Enron Corporation and Eli Lilly and Company Chair: Jennifer Davis, Executive Director, The Africa Fund
Remarks: Representative Lois M. DeBerry, Speaker Pro Tern, Tennessee House of Representatives; President, National Black Caucus of State Legislators
Introduction: Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, President ofThe American Committee on Africa and Trustee of The Africa Fund
Keynote Address: Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., Special Envoy for the President for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa - U.S. Efforts to Promote Democracy
I :45 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. WORKSHOPS: State and Local Initiatives to Promote Constructive Trade and Investment in Africa
Conference Room AB Chair: Senator Donne E. Trotter (Illinois)
Representative Spencer Coggs (Wisconsin) -Sister Cities: Connecting People and Places
Harold Rogers, Executive Director, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists- Voices From the Field
Dr. John Metzler, Professor, African Studies Center, Michigan State University From the Academy to the Ground
Seminar Room Chair: Representative David Haley (Kansas)
Representative Irma Hunter Brown (Arkansas)- Trade and Jobs: Creating Win-Win Partnerships
Prexy Nesbitt, Former Consultant, Government of Mozambique- Locaf.to Global Impacts
William Martin, Professor, University oflllinois; Co-Chair, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars - From the Academy to the Ground
3:00p.m.- 4:00p.m. PLENARY: Democracy and Human Rights in Africa (Conference Room ABC) Chair: Representative Charlie Brown (Indiana)
Adotei Akwei, Advocacy Director for Africa, Amnesty International USA - African Struggles for Human and Political Rights
Barine Teekate-Yorbe, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People - Nigeria and the Struggle for Democracy Midwest Regional Consultation Page 3
4:15p.m.- 5:00p.m. CLOSING PLENARY (Conference Room ABC) Chair: Representative Johnnie Morris-Tatum (Wisconsin)
Honorable Bobby L. Rush, United States Congressman, I st District, Chicago, Illinois - US. -Africa Relations: A Critical Juncture
Jennifer Davis, Executive Director, The Africa Fund - Concluding Remarks and Thanks Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
U.S.- South Africa Foreign Policy by Jennifer Davis, The Africa Fund Document 4
This article was reprinted from Foreign Policy In apartheid repression intensified. In the 1970s South Focus, Volume 2, Number 22, January 199 7, Africa had absorbed about 50 percent of U.S. direct published by the Interhemispheric Resource Center investment in Africa as a whole, excluding oil and the Institute for Policy Studies. investments. By 1982, U.S. investment in South Africa amounted to some $14 billion, including Since 1994 U.S. statements regarding a newly approximately $8 billion in the country's mining democratic South Africa, under the leadership of sector. Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress Despite anti-apartheid rhetoric that waxed (ANC), have frequently been cast in the language of and waned through the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, a love fest. "The people of South Africa have Carter and Reagan eras, most U.S. policymakers, captivated and inspired men and women ... in this corporate and political, treated minority-ruled South country and around the world," Vice President Gore Africa as the regional power center, to be favored declared in 1995, characterizing U.S./South African and protected from destabilizing forces. Henry cooperation as "an example of the best that can Kissinger's 1969 National Security Memorandum come from peaceful negotiated change." NSSM 39 stated explicitly that "the whites are here Rewriting history, Gore implied that to stay and the only way that constructive change decades of crushing apartheid rule and centuries of can come about is through them." Variants of this brutal colonial oppression were eliminated in a view - dialogue, detente, and constructive peaceful transition initiated by negotiations, engagement - followed, all allowing for significant implemented by democratic elections, and measures of nuclear, military, intelligence, and facilitated by a benign U.S. policy. The reality is economic cooperation. All gave apartheid South otherwise. Africa the status of a reliable (even if sometimes U.S. policymakers had not always embarrassing) Western ally in the global described South African freedom fighters as an confrontation with communism. inspiration. Since the ANC initiated armed struggle South Africa's liberation struggle was not in 1961, Democratic and Republican conducted in isolation, but in the context of a series administrations alike had viewed its anti-apartheid of successful neighboring anticolonial wars that movement through a cold-war lens, constantly created strong bonds of solidarity between the referring to its members as terrorists and liberation movements. As Angola, Mozambique, communists. and Zimbabwe achieved their independence U.S. policymakers displayed consistent between 1974 and 1980, each moved toward hostility toward the ANC's call, first made in 1959, varying forms of socialism. Each also extended for international economic sanctions. Over the support to the ANC and each, in turn, became decades, the U.S. used its Security Council veto victim of South African destabilization, ranging many times to block mandatory universal economic from invasion and full-scale war to significant action against apartheid. support for "contra" activities. Far from opposing South Africa's white-controlled economy these aggressions, the U.S. gave South Africa a relied heavily on foreign investment and therefore green light, and in oil-rich Angola the U.S. joined was very extremely vulnerable to economic South Africa in supporting the UNITA rebels. sanctions. U.S. capital continued to expand even as According to analyst William Minter, "South Africa
The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those ofthe author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Page 2 Midwest Regional Consultation
could count on virtually unconditional U.S. the money was not always directed in the most willingness to blame Moscow and excuse Pretoria." beneficial ways [sic]. The $150 million allotted for U.S. policy was slow to shift. State education, for example, was spent primarily to provide Department officials only began their first cautious a U.S. university education for a small elite of less than meetings with ANC representatives in 1985, after 1500 South African students. some South African business leaders defied apartheid A further $174 million was devoted to law to initiate their own consultations with the ANC. economic private sector projects designed to achieve In 1986, Congress overrode President Reagan's veto black small business empowerment. After 1990, and finally voted to impose sanctions. The Bush approximately $113 million in grants and loans was administration, however, held fast to its belief in the used to support private-sector housing initiatives. "good faith" of the white minority leadership and Housing was one early arena for debate over how to ignored ANC charges that the apartheid government balance between fiscal caution and social spending. was pursuing a two-track policy, combining covert U.S. AID officials sought to ensure that a new violence and high profile government not attempt solutions to the KEY POINTS negotiations for reform. massive housing crisis based on ·During the cold war the U.S. treated subsidies or state intervention. South Africa as a reliable although Problems with Current U.S. Policy somewhat embarassing Western ally. Significant funding - close to $150 U.S. policymakers retreated million - was devoted to what the U.S. from their hostile stance toward the • Despite its anti-apartheid rhetoric, the government called promoting ANC after the mid-1980s, and set U.S. quietly bolstered white rule democracy. While some small legal aid through military, intelligence, nuclear about wooing new friends in its and human rights groups benefited from and economic cooperation. ranks. This task was facilitated by a this funding, AID administrators met newly developed assistance •The U.S. gave a green light to South both suspicion and hostility as they program. But behind the Africa aggressions against neighboring initiated the program. Angered by the anti-apartheid, prodemocracy states. Reagan administration's constructive rhetoric, another agenda was engagement, important forces within •Only in 1986, when Congress the United Democratic Front, the discernible: the desire to affect the overrode President Reagan's veto, did direction of ANC economic policies. the U.S. impose economic sanctions pro-ANC alliance, adopted policies During the last years of the against South Africa. refusing to accept funds under the struggle from apartheid rule to program. democracy, the U.S. government appropriated nearly But the program continued through the late $900 million in loans and grants to South Africa. This 1980s and by the early 1990s the U.S. had by far the financial support was large enough to give U.S. largest foreign aid mission in South Africa, with a staff policymakers access to the new players in the newest of over 100. Funding in the political development arena game in town. And once the tap was opened, the flow expanded swiftly after 1992, with intensive efforts to increased each year. support voter education and governance programs. By The first major assistance program to South 1994, the year of the first democratic elections, the U.S. Africa was initiated in 1986 and provided $40 million had become South Africa's largest bilateral donor of a year to help "bring an end to apartheid and lead to the political aid. establishment of a nonracial democratic government." Shortly after Nelson Mandela's election, the Between 1986 and 1994 the mandate was expanded as U.S. government announced a major new $600 million political transformation speeded up in South Africa. In aid package to the new Government of National Unity. addition to dismantling apartheid and preparing the It included private sector development aid, housing loan disadvantaged population for leadership roles, a guarantees, and financing for strengthening democratic sectoral focus on democracy and governance, institutions and improving education and health care. education, and economic empowerment was added. The funds have continued to flow, and few recipients The program provided some $530 million to a range of are willing to be openly critical. But some common South African and U.S. NGOs and consultants. themes are emerging. Although under the 1986 Comprehensive One criticism, heard both from South African Anti-Apartheid Act Congress prohibited the funding recipients and other donor agencies, is that AID institutions associated with the apartheid government, policymakers are reluctant to shape their programs via Midwest Regional Consultation Page 3
any process of consultation. U.S. priorities determine Africa as that young country grapples with the direction. President Clinton told the U.N. in September conflicting demands of growing the economy and 1993 that the expansion of "market-based redistributing resources to achieve social justice. democracies" was Washington's "overriding purpose." The U.S. and other Western powers, together It was predictable then, as Assistant Secretary for with the World Bank, have had a chilling effect on African Affairs George Moose reported to Congress economic policy debate in South Africa. In 1994 the that same fall, that "over the past several years we have ANC's socioeconomic policy document for the final provided training and information to the ANC and elimination of apartheid described development as others on various aspects of free market economics." "active involvement and growing empowerment." The The ANC came to power facing massive Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) economic inequalities that were the legacy of outlined the role of the government in building the apartheid, an economy with a zero growth rate, rising economy, creating jobs, and seeking cooperation with unemployment, aging, outdated regional neighbors. It was vibrant with industries, high debt, and no new KEY PROBLEMS ideas about how a people, when •After the mid-1980s, the U.S. set investment. Recognizing the need to mobilized, might begin to address out to woo ANC leaders with major fundamentally restructure the loans and grants to affect the massive social inequalities. economy, it adopted the direction of ANC economic policies. Only two years later South Africa's Reconstruction and Development Ministry of Finance produced a new Program (RDP) designed to provide •By the 1994 democratic elections, document entitled Growth, Employment, an overall economic framework the U.S. was South Africa's largest and Redistribution: A Macroeconomic bilateral aid donor. which would link reconstruction and Strategy. In outlining its strategy for development in a process leading to •The $600 million aid package to the rebuilding and restructuring the sustainable growth in all parts of the Mandela government emphasizes economy, popular participation language economy - with greater equity private-sector development and has disappeared. In its stead are the achieved through redistribution. building a "market-based" guidelines for privatization of significant U.S. officials proclaimed democracy. state-owned sectors, including their eagerness to link with the • By 1995, AID claimed success in telecommunications and transport, as objectives of the RDP, but South redirecting the Mandela government well as frequent references to the need to African officials found the U.S. far away from "unsustainable social "achieve an appropriately structured more willing to deal with individual programs." flexibility within the collective government departments than with bargaining system" - a warning to the the planning process represented by close consultation labor movement not to engage in excessive demands. with the RDP Minister, Jay Naidoo. Indeed, corporate pressures within South By 1995 U.S. AID reported that funding for Africa and from the U.S. and other Western private-sector initiatives had achieved a decisive effect governments led to the elimination of a separate RDP on ANC economic policies and "have led the office in 1996. South African writer Daria CaJiguire Government of National Unity leadership to endorse concluded that this move will effect downgrade the pragmatic economic policies and a fiscally importance of reconstruction and development in conservative approach to the RDP, contrary to prior government policy discussions. "The dismantling of the expectations than an ANC-dominated government RDP office," Caliguire wrote, "indicates that economic would opt for statist solutions [government-run] and growth, rather than redistribution, has won the day as a fiscally unsustainable social programs." national primary tool for change." Economic redistribution is central to the final Toward a New Foreign Policy elimination of apartheid' s legacy. Since 1975 the black U.S. policymakers constantly put the future of population's share of total income in South Africa has U.S.-S.A. relations on the foundation of market been rising. Even so, the top 20 percent of the African liberalization. This narrows the path dangerously. It population is getting richer, while the bottom 80 percent ignores the powerful social demand for poverty is getting poorer. U.S. political and economic policy has reduction that was an integral part of the movement focused heavily on helping the small black middle class, that destroyed apartheid rule. It denies validity to the in effect accelerating this dangerous trend. many creative policy proposals developed in South The U.S. must reconsider its emphasis on Page4 Midwest Regional Consultation
building a black middle class in South Africa. The Publications already volatile demands from South Africa's rural Africa Today, Lynne Rienner Publishers (1800 30th Street, and urban poor for sharing the fruits of victory will Suite 314, Boulder, Colorado 80301-1 026). intensify unless the government and the U.S., as its Patrick Bond. "Neoliberalism Comes to South Africa." major bilateral patron, are able to help provide Multinational Monitor, May 1996. housing, health care, schools, and jobs. On a regional front, the U.S. is eager to Jennifer Davis, "Sanctions & Apartheid: The Economic encourage South Africa in its role as a surrogate Challenge to Discrimination," in Economic Sanctions: regional power. To date, however, there have been Panacea or Peacebuilding in a Post-Cold War World, ed. by only a few open disagreements, such as U.S. David Cortright and George Lopez (Boulder, CO: Westview objections to South Africa's continued good relations Press, 1995). with Cuba and Libya. But an important shift in U.S. policy would give greater credence to South African Princeton Lyman. "South Africa's Promise." Foreign Policy (Spring 1996). positions on issues such as Nigerian democracy and the formation of an African peacekeeping force. Kenneth Mokoena. South Africa and the U.S.: the At the same time the U.S. Declassified History (New York: Norton, should strengthen its capacity to deal 1993 KEY RECOMMENDATIONS ). with the entire southern African •The U.S. government should shift Martin Murry. Revolution Deferred: the region, not only by expanding its some of its focus from the private bilateral relations with countries like sector to the role government can Painful Birth of Post Apartheid South Africa Angola and Mozambique but also play in redistribution of wealth an (New York: Verso, 1994). through support for the regional provision of basic services to the economic alliance, Southern African poor. Edgar Robert, ed. Sanctioning Apartheid (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1990). Development Community. •The U.S. and other aid donors need Encouraging South African regional to collaborate with, rather than John Saul. Recolonization and Resistance in cooperation and integration could dictate to, South African economic Southern Africa in the 1990s (Trenton, NJ: provide some additional reparation policymakers. Africa World Press, 1993). for the damage caused by direct U.S. intervention in countries like Angola •The U.S. support for a black middle South Africa investor (Investor class in South Africa needs to be Responsibility Research Center). and for apartheid South Africa's adjusted so that the gap between rich hostile regional aggressions. and poor blacks stops widening. Southern African Perspectives Center for Southern African Studies Working Papers •The U.S., together with South Series, University of the Western Cape Sources For More Information Africa, should help strengthen regional cooperation. (Private Bag X17, Belville 7535, South Africa). Organizations Human Rights Watch/Africa Southern Africa Report (603 1/2 Parliament Street, 1'oronto 33 Islington High Street, London N 19LH, England M4X 1P9, Canada). Voice: 011 44 171 713 1995/Fax: 011 44 171 713 1800 Contact: Browneen Manby Southscan (P.O. Box 724, London N16 5RZ, England).
Southern African Research and Documentation Centre World Wide Web P.O. Box 5690, Harare, Zimbabwe APJC E-mail: [email protected] http://www.igc.org/apic/ep/inet.html
TransAfrica Forum Africa News 1744 R Street, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20009 http://www.nando.net/ans/ Voice: (202) 797-2301/Fax: (202) 797-2382 Contact: Mwiza Muthali U.S. State Department http:/www/state.gov Washington Office on Africa 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. Weekly Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg Voice: (202) 546-7961/Fax: (202) 546-1545 http://www/mg.co.za/mg/ Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
Provincial Legislatures in South Africa Prepared by The Africa Fund Document 5 The nine provinces in South Africa created in the order to be represented by a member m the terms of the Constitution brought about a new Executive Council. system of second-tier government. The position of provincial/local government, which is Decisions are taken by consensus, as happens in recognized as a separate level of government, is the national Cabinet. In addition to making entrenched in the Constitution. provincial laws, a Provincial Legislature may adopt a constitution for its province if two-thirds The nine provincial premiers are: Rev. Arnold of its members agree. However, a provincial Stofi/e (ANC), Eastern Cape; Dr. Ivy Matsepe constitution must correspond with the final Casaburri (ANC), Free State; Mr. Mothole national Constitution as confirmed by the Motshekga (ANC), Gauteng; Dr. Ben Ngubane Constitutional Court. (IFP), KwaZulu-Natal; Mr. Mathews Phosa (ANC), Mpumalanga; Mr. Emsley Manne Provinces have legislative powers over: Dipico (ANC), Northern Cape; Mr. Ngoako Ramatlhodi (ANC), Northern Province; Mr. •agriculture; Popo Molefe (ANC), North West; and Mr. •casino, racing, gambling and wagering; Hernus Kriel (NP), Western Cape. •cultural affairs; •education at all levels, excluding university and The Government of National Unity' s technikon education; Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) •environment; acknowledges that the nine provinces are at •health services; different levels of socioeconomic development •housing; and are not equally endowed with resources. The •language policy; Constitution requires that the provincial levels of •local government; government and the Central Government develop •nature conservation; methods for cooperation. This will ensure that •police; development takes place evenly throughout the •provincial public media; country and that minimum standards are attained. •public transport; •regional planning and development; In accordance with the 1993 Constitution, each of •road traffic regulation; the nine provinces has its own Legislature, •roads; consisting of between 30 and 100 members, •tourism; depending on the size of the population. •trade and industrial promotion; Members are elected in terms of proportional •traditional authorities; representation. The Executive Council of a •urban and rural development; and province consists of a Premier and a number of •welfare services. members. The Premier is elected by the Provincial Legislature. A party must have at least Source: African National Congress (online), I 0 % of the seats in the Provincial Legislature in 1998. List updated by The Africa Fund.
The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
..1: The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038 •=- Africa Policy Outlook 1998
- ---- I :- ... _ Formulated by the Africa Policy Information Center . - Document 6 =-·• - -:I As Africa moves into 1998, observers on the Economic Progress and Setbacks _.__-- continent as well as outside are divided on Africa's growth rate in 1996 exceeded whether to emphasize new hopes or the 5%. Although the rate was expected to drop persistence of old problems. There is evidence back to 3.4% for 1997, some estimates project .f: _--- to support each view. The continent's economic up to 4.7% growth for 1998. These results are 1 • growth is stronger than at any time since the higher than the 2% growth of the early 1990s. .. - -. early 1970s. But Africa still accounts for a However, they are still insufficient to reduce •-= - small fraction of world trade and investment, the highest average poverty rates in the world . and macroeconomic growth is accompanied by Food security in several African regions in stagnant or declining living conditions for the 1998 is expected to be threatened further by El majority of Africans. Nino's effects on the weather. • _. - Last year saw the removal of one of the A recent report from the International continent's longest-surviving dictators, Mobutu Labor Organization estimates that in Sese Seko of Zaire (now the Democratic Sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of the Republic of Congo). But the prospects for the population living in poverty will increase to I L • new Congo government are uncertain. Conflict --= over 50% by the year 2000. Unemployment in - .. IJ continues in eastern Congo and in the adjacent Africa's large cities is more than 20% and is . Great Lakes countries of Rwanda and Burundi, expected to approach 30% by the end of the - -iJ~ I - and in many other countries as well. decade. r - I. - •_.. I The demand for democracy continues Critics of the structural adjustment - --..!.- to grow, with an increasing number of groups packages of the last decade--and even many ... • -- engaged in different aspects of that struggle. analysts within the international financial - But momentum is hobbled by ambiguous institutions--stress that African countries are .: - :;...:-- results, disillusionment, and quarrels among unl ikely to break out of this trap without ~ --- L .... - ... Tl -~-- elites--a pattern that is unlikely to change massive investment in education, health and --.. --=- - - - decisively in 1998. public infrastructure. Doing so will requi.re "\-_ J Neither "Afro-pessimism" nor mobilization of domestic resources and private = ~-- "Afro-optimism" captures what is really a very foreign investment. It will also require steps to I mixed picture. The situation is different from reverse the downward trend in international aid - =1- I ;_I= J -- I country to country, sector to sector, observer to and to address the continent's crushing debt ---1 -"'- observer. Yet there can be no doubt that Africa burden. •" -. I- -. is taking its own initiatives to address the The World Bank/International .· .... -- problems of the "second independence" era. Monetary Fund initiative for highly indebted These range from grassroots efforts at survival poor countries resulted in approval of --- to regional initiatives for cooperation among substantial debt relief packages for Uganda and both governments and institutions of civil Burkina Faso in 1997, with Mozambique and
society. Cote d'Ivoire in line for 1998. But the size and I-
-- I The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie - Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation.
ii - ~ L t I - - :- - _~;::.-- .! Page2 Midwest Regional Consultation - - . pace of the relief still falls short of what Rwanda and Congo (Kinshasa). is needed. The continent's annual debt In Sudan, opponents of the fundamentalist military regime have service payments are predicted to rise I· from $30 billion in 1996 to $33 billion seen their military prospects improve. in 1998, a figure equivalent to 24% of But there is little hope of peace any time total exports. African and international soon. In Algeria the death toll from NGOs and churches will continue to massacres continues to mount. work for greater debt reductions m Extremist guerrillas, who previously .. 1998. targeted mainly government supporters, educated women and intellectuals, are L Macroeconomic Ongoing Conflicts increasingly going after ordinary growth is Fighting continues in Sudan, villagers as well. accompanied by Algeria and the Great Lakes region, The military regime's primary • stagnant or with little prospect of resolution during response is repression, which is often • declining living the year. These wars have caused indiscriminate and which has been conditions for casualties in large numbers and have unsuccessful in curbing the violence. the majority of had crippling economic effects. The international community is I Africans. More limited conflicts afflict growing more concerned but the other countries, including Uganda and response in 1998 is likely be limited to Senegal. Peace agreements being ' calls for investigations. implemented in Angola, Sierra Leone Among campaigners for and the Central African Republic are democracy on the continent, Nigeria fragile and incomplete. The military ' will remain the major focus this year. victory of Sassou-Nguesso in the civil The military regime of General Sani war in Congo (Brazzaville) last year Abacha has promised to return the - J -... •I• brought a new government to power. country to civilian rule by October, but .... ~ I ~ Sassou-Nguesso has promised a has stepped up repressive measures I transition to civilian rule, but so far the against its opponents. Almost no one - ---·-1::1 stability of his government is based on except the regime's own supporters ·-c military victory, not legitimacy. gives credence to Abacha's promise, but : -<, " In Burundi, neither sanctions by there is debate about what measures can -- regional states nor attempts at be taken to put pressure on the regime. -. -.. - - mediation have diminished the conflict In various other African between the Tutsi-dominated military countries, there is a persistent gap regime and Hutu rebel forces. Regional between governments' public - L observers also see increasing signs of commitment to democracy and a reality coordination among extremist Hutu which falls far short of that ideal. To forces and their allies in attacks in cite only a few examples, ruling Burundi, Rwanda and eastern Congo. governments in Kenya, Zambia and These forces were responsible Ethiopia can all claim mandates from for the genocide against Tutsis and recent elections, in 1997, 1996 and -- moderate Hutus in Rwanda in 1994 and 1995 respectively, as can Cote d'lvoire they still openly advocate the from 1995/96. But in each case critics extermination of the remaining Tutsis. cite major flaws in the electoral process Their resurgence has also led to and repression ofthe opposition. increasing abuses against civilians in In "no-party" Uganda and the counterinsurgency campaigns by one-party Eritrea, critics deplore the :::
Midwest Regional Consultation Page 3
• .,.: •• - -..... :.....- J ~- I
absence of competitive national Clinton visited Africa in March 1997 elections. But supporters of those and Secretary of State Madeleine . - governments point to development Albright went in December; both initiatives under way and to President Clinton and Vice-President opportunities for popular participation Gore are expected to make Africa trips and debate on public issues that exceed this year. Secretary Albright has named those in many countries that have held the African Growth and Opportunity elections. Act as one of the Administration's top There is particular uncertainty four foreign policy issues in 1998. ~- :. about the extent to which criticism In the larger picture, though, Many observers L r should be leveled against the new Africa is still very low on the agenda in stress the governments of Rwanda and Congo U.S. foreign policy circles. In its Winter danger of -=-- (Kinshasa). Some see Kagame in 1997 issue, for example, the influential ignoring human Rwanda and Kabila in Congo Foreign Policy journal graded the rights abuses (Kinshasa) as part of a self-reliant new President with three analysts from and delays in generation of African leaders who can Europe, two from Asia, and one each move their countries forward, despite from Latin America, the Middle East democratization. their emphasis on stability rather than and Russia, but none from Africa. And democratic rights. Africa rated less than a sentence in the Some contend that under the President's State of the Union address circumstances, democracy is a luxury on January 27. that must be put off for later. At the Among the key unanswered other extreme, some critics say these questions about U.S. Africa policy in • new leaders are just as bad as their 1998: predecessors (the genocidal former 1 Rwandan government and the Mobutu * Will the African Growth and dictatorship). The South African Opportunity Act, and similar initiatives government, among others, has to promote U.S. trade and investment, emphasized the potential for be balanced by attention to African cooperation with the new governments development priorities that include and the fact that they do face real equity and sustainability? --· ·- security threats. --- f' But many observers stress the * Will verbal support for African • danger of ignoring human rights abuses self-reliance and reconstruction be and delays in democratization. It will matched by a willingness to invest continue to be difficult for increased U.S. resources through nongovernmental organizations as well multilateral institutions, African ~ • as governments to shape policies that governments and civil society, as well = promote constructive engagement and as the private sector? reconstruction without providing support for authoritarian government * What will the U.S. government do to actions. support the struggle for democracy in Nigeria and around the continent, while U.S. Policy Questions avoiding the "one-size-fits-all" Attention to African issues by approach on the one hand and U.S. officials, never great, may be on a opportunistic excuses for human rights modest upswing. First Lady Hillary violations on the other?
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.. -. I I Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
Mobil in Nigeria: Partner in Oppression by Michael Fleshman, The Africa Fund Document 7
The Mobil Oil Corporation is the second largest environmental destruction. Shell charges that producer of crude oil in Nigeria, trailing only Mobil and other Western oil companies also the Shell Oil Company as a dominant force in provide guns and ammunition to the security the Nigerian economy. Nigeria depends on oil forces, a charge Mobil representatives deny. for over 90 percent of its export earnings and 85 The Africa Fund has been unable to percent of all government revenue. Mobil independently confirm or deny Shell's describes itself as a "partner for progress" in allegations. But Mobil admits that it too pays Nigeria, but its close financial, security and salaries and expenses for a special government political ties to the military dictatorship security force detailed to guard the oil demonstrate that Mobil is really a partner in companies. Corporate funding for any unit of oppression. the dictatorship's security forces raise important human rights and political concerns. Financing The Dictatorship Mobil is a strategically important Undermining The Democracy Movement business partner with the military government In June 1993 the Nigerian military through its joint ventures with the state oil annulled elections intended to restore elected company. Of the 700,000 barrels of oil civilian government. A few months later the currently produced by Mobil Nigeria every day, current Nigerian dictator, General Sani 420,000 barrels, or 60 percent, go directly to Abacha, seized power and launched a bloody the regime. Mobil's share is the remaining 40 crackdown on the Nigerian democracy percent, or 280,000 barrels per day. During movement. In July 1994 Nigerian oil workers 1997 Mobil generated over $8 million a day for responded to the arrest of the winner of the the dictatorship -- nearly $3 billion annually. 1993 vote, Moshood Abiola, with a heroic 12- This money sustains the dictatorship in the face week strike for democracy. While European oil of overwhelming popular opposition. companies were forced to cut back production, Mobil is also a major supplier of Mobil and another major U.S. company, petroleum products inside Nigeria, operating Chevron, undermined the strike by flying in · over 200 gas stations across the country. The foreign strikebreakers and actually increasing company has launched a multi-billion dollar production. Although Mobil denies expansion of its Nigerian operations, including strikebreaking, oil workers union leader Milton construction of a high volume natural gas Dabibi charged in November 1995 that, processing plant. "Chevron and Mobil stabbed us in the back during the strikes. They are the main cause of Ties To The Security Forces our failure. " The Shell Oil Company has been Dabibi was arrested shortly after he rocked by revelations that it arms and pays the made this statement and remains imprisoned salaries ofNigerian army and police forces sent without trial. Neither Mobil nor Chevron have to crush peaceful opposition to Shell's made any public statement about the arrests of
The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Page 2 Midwest Regional Consultation
Milton Dabibi, Moshood Abiola, Beko Lobbying For Abacha Ransome-Kuti or any of the other In November 1995, following estimated 7,000 democracy activists the execution of environmentalist and now in Abacha's jails. anti-Shell campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, President Clinton announced his A Killing Silence On Human Rights support for international oil sanctions Abuses against Nigeria. But during a recent The Africa Fund is unaware of meeting with The Africa Fund, a state any public or private statements from department official acknowledged that Mobil to the Nigerian military Mobil routinely lobbying by the oil companies had government about the deteriorating lobbies the weakened support for Nigerian human rights situation in the country. sanctions in Washington. In January Nigerian The company argues that it does not 1996 Mobil ran a small 'advertorial' in government on a "interfere" in the internal affairs of other The New York Times opposing sanctions full range of countries, but the record shows quite the as a tool of U.S. foreign policy. Mobil economic and opposite. Mobil routinely lobbies the ran the same anti-sanctions ad full page political Nigerian government on a full range of in the Nigerian press -- sending a clear matters. economic and political matters related message of support to Nigerian dictator to the company's commercial interests. Sani Abacha. It is only on human rights issues More recently Mobil has run that the company maintains a killing ads endorsing the regime's bogus 1998 silence -- even when oppression strikes democratization scheme, a cynical plan Mobil operations and Mobil employees to put a democratic veneer on as it did during the 1994 strike. continuing military rule. The company's support for the dictatorship Corporate Social Responsibility stands in sharp contrast to the views of In company publications and Nigerian church and human rights regular 'advertorials' in The New York leaders, who refuse to support an Times and other major newspapers, election from which Nigerian Mobil promotes itself as a good democracy leaders are banned and in corporate citizen in Nigeria -- spending which Abacha will likely be the only some $5 million a year on community Presidential candidate allowed. development projects. But in 1997 As a member of the powerful Mobil's share ofNigerian crude oil sales and secretive U.S. Corporate Council totaled almost $2 billion, a figure that on Africa, Mobil actively campaigns for excludes earnings from the company's a U.S. policy that puts corporate profits lucrative Nigerian retail operations. In a ahead of Black lives in Nigeria. country where military corruption has left 40 percent of Nigerian children malnourished, Mobil returns a fraction of a penny in charitable and development giving to Nigerian people for every dollar it extracts. The harm caused by Mobil's economic support for the dictatorship far outweighs the good done by corporate philanthropy. Midwest Regional Consultation Page 3
Talking Points on Mobil's Involvement signal continued Western corporate in Nigeria support for his regime and will add millions of dollars into his coffers. Mobil Mobil Bears Great Moral Responsibility should condition any future expansion For Human Rights Abuses In Nigeria program on the restoration of democracy and Must Withdraw. and respect for human rights.
Mobil operations in Nigeria produce over $8 million a day for the Abacha military Corporate Lobbying For Abaclta Must dictatorship. Without these dollars the Stop. regime would not be able to survive. Mobil actively Mobil and the other major Western oil Corporate lobbying against sanctions has campaigns for a companies operate in business blocked effective U.S. action against US. policy that partnerships with the military regime and Nigeria and encouraged Abacha to ignore puts corporate therefore bear direct responsibility for the international condemnation of human profits ahead of suffering of the Nigerian people. It is rights abuses. Mobil must stop placing Black lives in wrong for Mobil to do business with the anti-sanctions ads in the Nigerian press, Nigeria. brutal Nigerian dictatorship just as it was halt its lobbying campaign in Washington wrong for Mobil to do business in racist and speak out publicly against repression. South Africa. Human lives are more Mobil's highly visible support for the important than corporate profits. regime is making the company a target for religious, trade union and investor action for democracy and justice in Mobil Must Immediately Cut Its Ties To Nigeria. The Dictator's Security Forces.
In January 1998, the State Department charged that in Nigeria "all branches of the security forces committed serious human rights abuses." Yet Mobil directly pays salaries and expenses for armed and uniformed Nigerian security forces assigned to protect Mobil facilities. This is direct complicity with the repressive apparatus of the regime and cannot be reconciled with Mobil' s claims of political neutrality and corporate good citizenship in Nigeria.
Mobil Must Cancel Its Nigeria Expansion Plan.
At a time when Nigerian democracy leaders are calling for international sanctions against the regime, Mobi I has commenced a vast expansion of its Nigerian operations. New investment will only strengthen Mobil' s ties to Abacha, Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
Action for Human Rights in Nigeria Document 8
Legislative Action on Nigeria What You Can Do Draft Resolution for the Release of Nigerian Political Prisoners
WHEREAS the west African nation of Nigeria, with a population of over 100 million, a multi-billion dollar oil economy and a rich and diverse culture, should be a focal point for democracy and people-centered development in Africa,
WHEREAS in 1993 the Nigerian army annulled free and fair elections and seized power in a coup, suspending the Nigerian constitution, shackling the press and arresting, exiling or killing thousands of Nigerian pro-democracy and human rights activists, trade unionists, journalists and religious leaders,
WHEREAS in November 1995 the execution ofNigerian environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others after a flawed trial before a military court was condemned by world leaders from Nelson Mandela to Bill Clinton, and at least 19 other environmentalists have been imprisoned for three years awaiting trial on the same charges,
WHEREAS the Nigerian regime has equipped itself with virtually unlimited repressive power, including indefinite detention without charge or trial and the authority to remove government decisions from judicial review, and the United States Government in January 1998 reported that in Nigeria, "Security officers tortured prisoners with whippings, suspension by limbs from the ceiling, burning with candles and extraction of teeth," and that "detainees frequently died while in custody," and
WHEREAS the recent death in detention of former Vice President Shehu Mus a Y ar 'A Dua raises grave concerns about the health and safety of other prominent Nigerian political prisoners, includi.ng 1993 Presidential election winner Moshood Abiola and former head of state Olesegun Obasanjo, and the crisis in Nigeria can never be resolved while key pro-democracy leaders remain imprisoned, and the peoples' basic liberties are denied,
Be it RESOLVED that the state legislature commends the Nigerian people for their peaceful struggle for democracy and human rights and calls upon the military government to immediately release all political prisoners as a necessary first step toward national reconciliation.
Be it FURTHER RESOLVED that the state legislature urges the United States Government to take all necessary steps, including the use of economic measures, to secure the release of political prisoners, to restore democracy and to protect the human and civil rights of the Nigerian people.
The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Wednesday February 11, 1998 CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
HUMAN RIGHTS: CRUCIAL To US FOREIGN POLICY By Senator Russ Feingold
Has the issue of human rights become the neglected stepchild of Abacha government has been working even harder to tighten its American foreign policy? This question is often raised during grip on the country, wasting no opportunities to practice the policy debates, especially where American economic interests are subjugation ofNigeria's people. involved, and the answer is often unsatisfactory. Late last year, retired Major General Musa Yar'Adua, a former Consider, for example, America's policy towards the west Nigerian vice president and a prominent opponent of General African nation of Nigeria, which is currently under review by the Abacha, died in state custody under circumstances that remain Clinton adminstration.By virtue of its size and geographic shrouded in mystery. General Yar'Adua was one of 40 people location, Nigeria, which has suffered under military rule for most arrested in 1995 during a government sweep and sentenced to 25 of its nearly 40 years as an independent nation, is important in years in prison for an alleged coup plot widely believed to have regional and international politics and thus is critical to American been a pretext to silence government critics. The past few weeks interests. But Nigeria's future is being squandered by the current have seen more accusations of coup-plotting and more arrests ruling junta, led by General Sani Abacha, through rampant (without the benefit of due process) under the ensuing government corruption, economic mismanagement and brutal subjugation of crackdown. Nigeria's people. It is unclear whether the administration's new Nigeria policy The calamity in Nigeria occurs against a background of will lead to increased efforts to cooperate with Nigeria's economic and political collapse of a nation that has the potential government or if we will see increased pressure to further isolate to be an economic powerhouse on the African continent, a key the recalcitrant Abacha regime. regional political leader, and an important American trading During Secretary of State Albright's trip to Africa in December, partner. The State Department's annual report stated, "the general there were disturbing news reports of statements by senior level of economic activity continues to be depressed." Oil officials that we would be unfair to hold the governments of revenues are the only reliable source of economic grO\vth, with the certain African nations to "Western" standards of personal and United States purchasing an estimated 41 percent of the output. political freedom. These reports contradicted the administration's Corruption and criminal activity in this military-controll~d insistence that human rights remains an integral part of economic and political system have become common, including U.S.-African policy. reports of drug trafficking and consumer fraud schemes that have Moreover, if accurately reported, those statements were a originated in Nigeria and reached profound insult to the hundreds, into the United States, including if not thousands, of courageous my home state of Wisconsin. Consider NigerifL Corruption, economic pro~emocracy and human After the military annulled the rights activists in many African 1993 election ofMoshood Abiola mismanagement and brutal subjugation of nations who put their lives on as Nigeria's president - through tlte country's people is the norm the line to win the basic rights what was considered by many that are not only recognized by observors to be a free and fair Western nations, but are election- Chief Abiola was thrown into prison, where he remains, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose as far as we know, supposedly awaiting trial. Reliable information 50th anniversary we celebrate this year. about his situation and condition is difficult to obtain. Chief On a moral level, the United States has a clear obligation to Abiola's wife, Kudirat, was detained by authorities last year and show determined and consistent leadership in the struggle for was later found murdered by the side of a road under human rights. On the practical level, the degree to which a circumstances that suggest the military may have been government respects human rights can be an accurate barometer responsible. of how far we can trust that government to respect its neighbors, On October 1, 1995, General Abacha announced a so-called its trading partners and the world community at ·large. A "transition" program whose goal was the return of an elected government that does not respect the fundamental rights of its civilian government in Nigeria by October, 1998. But even this people cannot be trusted to respect the obligations of a treaty or a flawed transition process moves at a snail's pace. A draft trade agreement, much Jess the rule of Jaw in general. constitution has not been completed, and the registration process This is not a call for disengagement, but a demand that for political parties has been extremely restrictive. Any criticism fundamental human rights be part of the rules of engagement in of the transition process is punishable by five years in prison. our foreign policy. Reports from many international human rights organizations and As is the case with other repressive governments, such as our own State Department document years of such brutality. China, the actions of the Abacha government should convince us Nigerian human rights activists and government critics are ofthe short-sightedness of isolating human rights concerns from commonly whisked away to secret trials before military courts and the rest of our foreign policy or relegating those concerns to imprisoned; independent media outlets are silenced; workers' second-class status behind economic or political interests. rights to organize are restricted; and the infamous State Security Governments, like individuals, are rarely selectively trustworthy. [Detention of Persons] Decree #2, giving the military sweeping It is not too much to insist our partners in the international powers of arrest and detention, remains in force . community demonstrate their trustworthiness, their respect for Perhaps the most horrific example of repression by the Abacha others and their adherence to the rule of Ia w. government was the execution of human rights and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others in November, 1995 on Wisconsin Senator Feingold is the ranking Democratic trumped-up charges. Since that barbaric act, it appears the member ofthe Senate Africa Subcommittee. Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois
The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038
Human Rights Activism in Africa: A Frog's Eye View by J. Oloka-Onyango Document 9
Introduction The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those ofthe author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Page 2 Midwest Regional Consultation d1amcter, sud1 as the struggles to abolish infancy of the post 1 Hcruy Scobie, 1~ ·Human Rights Orcanizations in Black Africa: Their Problems and Prospects in the Wake ol the Banjul Olarter·, in Welch and Meltzer. Hw11u11 Rigllts mtd D.·vdopmmt in Afric• (SUNY Press, Albany, p .183. . 2 IHRIP/Swc>d.ish NGO Foundation (1994), 7k Status ofHumDII Rigltt:; OrganiZDtions itt Sub-S•Itar•n AfricD. Midwest Regional Consultation Page 3 Moi in Kenya) still survive. Lastly, involved in hW11an rights activity on the or simply for criticising governn1ent conditions of econorilic and social strife continent. What, only a decade ago was inaction. But there continue to be 111ajor have spurred a whole process of seeking the crusading. isolated concern of the limitations in the movement. greater popular participation as well as single sporadic activist, has been I:kspite U1e crippling burden of the more direct accountability and transfonned into the shared burden of a programs of economic reform. and transparency from the state. Together, broad mass. Tllis alone is progress. adjustment that have .been imposed by these factors hc~ve created a movement But what exactly do these groups do? the IMF in done-like fasluon throughout that is a far cry from the situation on the Much of the activity pa~allels that of the continent, very few groups are continent only c1 decade c~go. traditional human rights groups in the addressii1g economic and social rights 1l1e African hwnan rights movement West, viz.: information collection, rights such as to health, education; food is ,uuong the most dynanlic and versatile evaluation, dissemination, advocacy; and shelter in an activist fasluon. Even developments of r.;ent times. And yet, legal aid, education and assistanc-e; though African countries play host to 50% one is often disturbed by the fashion in litigation (Bill of rights or Constitutional of the world's refugees, virtually· none wllich Uwre has been an ~most uncritical test cases) moral comlenmation; and (local or international) spoke up on the embrace of the methodologies and lobbying national, regional and. issue of the forcible repatriation of U1e strategies of the glol1c1l (rec~d 'Western'} inter-governmental authorities. Despite Rwa..ndesc refugees from Tanza11ia. Even human rights movement. Such the relative conservatism of African rural if one 111ay agree with the underlying methodologies l1c1ve marked the hwnan communities, a formidable women's rationale, the danger of the precedent set rights moveme nt as the new 'mis movement has emerged in the wake of for other refugees cannot be sionaries' of the late 20th century, with the Nairobi 1985, and is systematically w1derestimated. Scmw linlitations of their predecessors of confronting the structures of patriard1y Despite the mythic belief in the the tum of the lc~st century. As we were and male donlination, manifest in the 'traditional' hospitality of African told to dose our eyes and -give thanks to systems of property-ownership, political communities, ·social and economic our christian father, our land had participation, inheritance, female realities, as well as a growing xenophobia, disappeared before we opened them! In mutilation and duld betrothal. At the have led to the imposition of several sinlilar fasllion, ciS we decry the abuse of African Commission o n Human and constraints on U1e daily existence and tl1e traditional hw11an and political rights Peoples Rights - the primary regional protection of refugees in several host (free expression, organization and organ for hw11an rights protection on the countries and the action of the tanzanian moveme nt), the insidious denial of continent - NGOs have successfully goverru11ent will certainly provide solace t>eonomic and social rights (healtl1, food, challenged and progressively altered the for others who are sinlilarly enburdened shelter and education) are rendering fue exclusionary and concealing rules of by the presence of refugees. Ulti111ately, human rights struggle a nullity. by procedure and forced U1e OAU to appoint the African hun1a11 rights movement has uncritically aping the global human two women Comnlissioners. Needless to still failed to breach the gap with popular rights movement, African hW11an rights say, the provisions of tl1e African Cl1arter society, and in tllis way n1ay cease to be of activists nm the risk of fading into stark remain grossly insensitive to concerns any relevance to the vast, dispossesseq irrelevancy. To fail to campaign for food, for shelter and for currently in place, rnethodolo~:.>ies that terized by conditions of exploitation and better health. In other words marrying the llilve largely been borrowed from their domination to do this the hwnm rights traditionaf dvil and political rights to the Westem counter-parts. movement must confront the links rights of solidarity and development, and Central to this task, is the removal of between local and national autocracy and tights in the economic and social. sphere. the facade that human rights activism is international c:onruvance and non-cha How is this to be done? apolitical work.1l1e first step in achieving lc~nce. ln t!Us sense, activism in Africa a fundamentc~l, transformation of· the must abandon the almost-exclusive focus Conclusion: Some Pointers to the human r·ights situation must on civil cmd political rights, and L"IE'gin FutUre consequently be directed at the complete action This article was reprinted from the CODESRIA Bulletin, Number 1, 1997, published by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, based in Dakar, Senegal. J. Oloka-Onyango is a Professor in the Department of Law at Makerere University in Uganda. Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038 Foreign Aid Programs Provide No Protection for Aid to Africa by Jim Cason, The Africa Fund Document 10 President Bill Clinton has proposed a $13 .5 development assistance should be devoted to billion foreign aid program for next year that Africa. Instead, Africa, Asia and most of Latin provides no funding for the Development Fund America will have to compete for funds out the for Africa (DF A) and no protection for general modest $1.8 billion in development funding that development aid to the poorest continent. is not reserved for specific regions. The White House foreign aid proposals made in early February do specifically earmark Africa Aid in 1999 more than $5 billion for Egypt and Israel and In his foreign aid proposals for the next nearly $1 billion for the countries of Eastern fiscal year, President Clinton has included about Europe and the former Soviet Union. $1.8 billion in development aid, but again, the While the foreign aid proposals in the White House has decided not to specify an budget President Clinton presented to Congress amount of development assistance that will be in early February contain several new trade, debt allocated to Africa. and peacekeeping initiatives that benefit Africa, Instead, the Administration's foreign aid they do not restore overall development aid to proposals for next year offer small piecemeal Africa to the levels of the early 1990s. allocations to specific programs in Africa, including modest funding for trade and Cuts in Aid to Africa investment programs ($30 million), Three years ago, Congress cut peacekeeping ($35 million) and debt relief ($35 development assistance to Africa by 25 percent million). and eliminated the specific designation of a dollar Administration officials suggest they amount of development funds for Africa. will probably slightly increase development aid Although aid to Africa has increased to Africa to about $730 million, but this level is slightly since these dramatic cuts, the level of still well below the more than $800 million funding is still well below the early 1990s figure specifically designated in the early 1990s. of more than $800 million in development aid The Clinton Administration's foreign aid channeled through the DF A. In 1998, the Clinton proposals will now be considered by Congress, Administration suggests that about $700 million which will hold hearings on foreign aid in the in development aid will flow to Africa through next three months and then is expected to vote on U.S. bilateral development aid programs. a foreign aid package sometime in May or June. Several years ago Congress also Last year the Congressional Black eliminated all funding for the DF A, which directs Caucus argued that the U.S. government should aid toward projects that encourage long term, restore aid to Africa to at least $800 million and sustainable development. Yet until this year, channel that aid through the Development Fund popular pressure has forced at least a nominal for Africa. Some other groups have suggested suggestion that a specific percentage of all that given the tremendous needs in Africa, U.S. development funds be devoted to Africa. aid should be at least $1 billion. The 1998 foreign aid program, however, includes no requirement that a specific amount of The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038 Participants List February 28, 1998 Adotei Akwei, Advocacy Director for Africa, Amnesty International USA, Washington, D.C. Dr. Lascelles Anderson, Center for Urban Educational Research & Development, University of Chicago Kimberly August, Enron Corporation, Houston, Texas Salih Booker, Senior Fellow, Africa Studies Program, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C. Lisa Brock, Ida W. Wells Forum, Chicago Representative Charlie Brown, Indiana House of Representatives, Gary Representative Irma Hunter Brown, Arkansas House of Representatives, Little Rock Nancy Brown, Women's Network, National Conference of State Legislatures, Stanley, Kansas Paul E. Bryant, The Gallup Organization, Lincoln, Nebraska Sam Burrell, Alderman, 29th Ward, Chicago Eloise Chevrier, Wellington AvenueUnited Church of Christ, Chicago Basil Clunie, Chicago Committee in Solidarity with Southern Africa, Evanston, Illinois Representative Spencer Coggs, Wisconsin House of Representatives, Madison Shirley A. Coleman, Alderman, 16th Ward, Chicago Scott Couper, Africa Office, United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ, Indianapolis, Indiana Representative William Crawford, Indiana House of Representatives, Indianapolis, Indiana Honorable Danny K. Davis, United States Congressman, 7th District, Chicago Michael Dawson, Director, Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture, University of Chicago James Day, Managing Director, Strategic Planning Group, Inc., Washington, D.C. Representative Lois M. DeBerry, Speaker Pro Tern, Tennessee House of Representatives, Nashville; President, National Black Caucus of State Legislators Michael Elliott, United Auto Workers, Local #551, Park Forest, Illinois Kweku Embil, Chicago-Accra Sister Cities Community, Chicago Sister Cities International Program, Chicago Senator Jesus Garcia, Illinois State Senate, Chicago Joan Gerig, Chicago Representative David Haley, Kansas State Legislature, Kansas City Michael Hanchard, Northwestern University, Chicago Dr. Cedric Herring, Professor and Interim Director, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago Barbara Holt, Alderman, 5th Ward, Chicago Eric Hudson, Amnesty International USA, Chicago Dr. Vincent Idemyor, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, Chicago Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., Special Envoy for the President for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa Virgil E. Jones, Alderman, 15th Ward, Chicago Elaine Klemen, Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, Chicago Thubi H.A. Kolobe, Forum for Southern Africans, Oak Park, Illinois Reverend Patricia Kyle, North Indiana Conference Board of Church & Society, United Methodist Church, South Bend, Indiana Tilden LeMelle, Chair, The Africa Fund, New York, New York James Lewis, Chicago Urban League, Chicago Jeffrey Lewis, Managing Director and General Counsel, DST Catalyst, Inc., Chicago The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Page 2 Midwest Regional Consultation Vernita A. Lewis, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University ofillinois at Chicago Gary L. Laster, Mayor, Saginaw, Michigan William Martin, Associate Professor, Sociology Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Co-Chair, Association of Concerned Africa Scholars Gaston Mbateng, CGM Data and Services, Glendale Heights, Illinois Dr. John Metzler, Professor, African Studies Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing Senator Gwendolyn S. Moore, Wisconsin State Senate, Madison Representative Johnnie Morris-Tatum, Wisconsin State Assembly, Madison Prexy Nesbitt, Former Consultant, Government of Mozambique Reverend Dr. Thanda Ngcobo, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago Linda Noonan-Ngwane, Southern Africa Network, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago Zolani Noonan-Ngwane, Southern Africa Network, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago Reverend Mangedwa Nyathi, Hartford Memorial Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan Senator Barack Obama, Illinois State Senate, Chicago Dr. Stella U. Ogunwole, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago Emmanuel W. Onunwor, Mayor, East Cleveland, Ohio Dr. Alice Palmer, Professor, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago; Co-Director, The PEOPLE Program, Chicago Edward Palmer, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago; Co-Chair, The PEOPLE Program Senator Mary Panzer, Wisconsin State Senate, Madison Brian Pawlowicz, Eli Lilly and Company, St. Paul, Minnesota Representative Coy Pugh, Illinois State Legislature, Chicago David Robinson, Deputy Clerk, Cook County Board of Commissioners, Chicago Harold Rogers, Executive Director, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Professor, City College of Chicago, Chicago Carl le Raux, Consul, South African Consulate General, Chicago Honorable Bobby L. Rush, United States Congressman, I st District, Chicago Mlulami Singapi, Vice-Consul, South African Consulate General, Chicago Senator Virgil Clark Smith, Michigan Senate, Lansing Robert Stumberg, The Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. Barbara Sykes, Former Member, Akron City Council, Akron, Ohio Representative Vernon Sykes, Ohio House of Representatives, Akron Barine Teekate-Yorbe, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, Des Moines, Iowa Evalyn Tennant, Administrator, Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture, University of Chicago Senator Donne E. Trotter, Illinois State Senate, Chicago Representative Arthur Turner, Illinois State Legislature, Chicago Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, President, The American Commmittee on Africa; Trustee, The Africa Fund,"New York, New York Dr. William E. Ward, Mayor, Chesapeake, Virginia Valerie C. Wells, Durban/Chicago Sister City Committee, Chicago Anthony Whitmore, Regional Representative, Governor's Regional Economic Development Office, Dayton, Ohio Standish E. Willis, Chicago Conference of Black Lawyers, Chicago The Africa Fund Jennifer Davis, Executive Director Susie Johnson, Director of Programs Michael Fleshman, Human Rights Coordinator Richard Knight, Project Associate Annie King, Office Manager Carol Thompson, Rapporteur Basil Clunie, Photographer Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038 Participant Biographies STATE LEGISLATORS Charlie Brown has represented Gary in the Indiana General Assembly since 1983. He is Chair of the Public Health Committee and of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus. He is active in the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), where he serves on the International Affairs Committee. Previously he was an Affirmative Action Officer and Director of the Youth Services Bureau. Irma Hunter Brown has twenty years of distinguished service in the Arkansas State Assembly. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Revenue and Taxation Committee. She chairs the International Affairs Committee of the NBCSL. She is active in many organizations concerned with civic and social matters, including civil rights and women's issues. In 1995, she was among the legislators who visited southern Africa under the auspices of The Africa Fund to exchange views with legislators from South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe and to observe and learn from the experiences of these recently independent nations. Spencer Coggs, now in his eighth term, is a senior member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, where he serves on the key budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance. He is National Treasurer of the NBCSL and has been elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures. A leader of the campaign for anti-apartheid sanctions legislation, he made his first visit to South Africa in 1995 and attended the African-African American Summit in 1997. He is one of four state legislators appointed to President Clinton's National Education Goals Panel. William Crawford represents Indianapolis in the Indiana House of Representatives. Lois M. DeBerry is President of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, which has more than 500 members nationwide. She is Speaker Pro Tern of the Tennessee House of Representatives where she has served since 1972. Her legislative agenda prioritizes children and youth, health care and women's issues, education, criminal justice reform and economic development. Jesus Garcia has served as a member of the Illinois State Senate since 1992. He is the first Mexican-American to be elected to the Illinois Senate and represents an ethnically diverse population. He is known as an advocate for worker's and immigrants rights, affordable housing, funding for education and neighborhood development and economic revital.ization. From 1986 to 1992, he served as an Alderman on the Chicago City Council and he served as a Deputy Commissioner under the late Mayor Harold Washington. He is a board member of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. David Haley represents Kansas City in the Kansas House of Representatives. Johnnie Morris-Tatum represents the 11th Assembly District in Milwaukee in the Wisconsin State State Assembly. She is the Chaplain for the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Afrikan American Association for International Trade and Commerce. Barack Obama represents the 13th Legislative District in the Illinois State Senate. He serves on the Judiciary, Public Health and Welfare and State Government Committees. As a lawyer he has specialized in civil rights litigation. In 1992, he served as Director of Illinois Project Vote in Chicago, organizing a voter registration and education campaign targeted The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those ofthe author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Page 2 Midwest Regional Consultation to minority and low-income areas that resulted in 150,000 newly registered voters for the Presidential election. Mary E. Panzer has served as a member of the Wisconsin State Senate since 1993 and has been a state legislator since she was elected to the House in 1980. She is a member of the Joint Finance Committee and served as the Ranking Assembly Republican from 1989 to 1993. She is active in the National Conference of State Legislatures, having served as vice-chair and chair of the Agriculture and International Trade Committee. In 1990 she participated in a state trade and investment mission to Asia. Coy Pugh was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1994 and currently serves as Chair ofthe Human Services Committee. His legislative priorities include fighting crime, bringing business and jobs to poor and neglected areas, protecting minority rights and promoting children's welfare. In 1985, he founded the Westside Small Business Development Corporation, which helps start and develop African-American and minority business. In 1992, he started Wescor Inc., a small construction company that trains and employs homeless men and women. Virgil Clark Smith is a member of the Michigan State Senate and is currently Senate Democratic Floor Leader. Prior to being elected to the Senate, he served 12 years in the Michigan House of Representatives. In 1995, he was a member of The Africa Fund's delegation of state legislators to South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Senator Smith is a founding member of the NBCSL. Vernon Sykes has served in the Ohio House of Representatives since 1984. He serves on several committees, including the Finance and Appropriations Committee, where he is the ranking Democrat. He has sponsored legislation to allow the state pension and insurance plans to invest in the African Development Bank. Prior to becoming a State Representative, he · was a member of the Akron City Council, and is past President of the Black Elected Democrats of Ohio and past Secretary for the Ohio Democratic Party. Donne E. Trotter is a member of the Illinois State Senate. He has represented the residents of the South and Southeast side of Chicago since being elected to the House of Representatives in 1988, and is currently the Democratic Spokesman on the Appropriations Committee. His special legislative agenda includes health care, education, economic development and job creation. He is Chair of the Illinois Joint Legislative Black Caucus and is a member ofthe International Committee of the Council of State Governments. Arthur Turner was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1997, where he is Deputy Democratic Leader of the House. He has served as Chair of the Housing Committee and Vice-Chair of the Higher Education Committee. Among his legislative achievements is the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Law, which passed in 1990. MAYORS Gary L. Loster is Mayor of the City of Saginaw, Michigan. Emmanuel W. Onunwor is Mayor of the City of East Cleveland, Ohio. William E. Ward is Mayor of the City of Chesapeake, Virginia. He is also a Professor of History at Norfolk State University. In 1972, he studied and traveled with the American Forum for International Study in Ghana. CITY COUNCILMEMBERS Sam Burrell serves as an Alderman representing the 29th Ward on the Chicago City Council. Shirley A. Coleman serves as an Alderman representing the 16th Ward on the Chicago City Council. Midwest Regional Consultation Page 3 Barbara Holt serves as an Alderman representing the 5th Ward on the Chicago City Council. Virgil E. Jones serves as an Alderman representing the 15th Ward on the Chicago City Council. SPEAKERS Adotei Akwei is the Director of Advocacy for Africa with Amnesty International USA. He helps to implement the U.S . governmental component of Amnesty campaigns and meets regularly with Africa policymakers in Congress and the State Department to raise human rights concerns. Before joining Amnesty, he served as Africa Program Director for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and Research Director of The Africa Fund. Mr. Akwei is from Ghana. Salih Booker is Senior Fellow and Director of the Africa Studies Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Booker has worked in Africa and the United States as a consultant for numerous international donor inst~tutions and African NGOs. He was a legislative assistant for TransAfrica from 1980-1983. Mr. Booker was the author of the UN Development Program's first two Development Cooperation Reports on South Africa, and has published articles and opinion pieces for numerous U.S. and international newspapers and journals. He is a member of the African Studies Association and the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars, a member of the Preparatory Committee for the National Summit on Africa and a Trustee of The Africa Fund. Danny K Davis was elected to represent the 7th Congressional District of Illinois in Congress in November 1996. He is the Regional Whip for the Midwest Region of the Democratic Caucus and a member of the Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus. Prior to his election to Congress, he served on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He served for eleven years as a member of the Chicago City Council. Jennifer Davis has been Executive Director of The Africa Fund and The American Committee on Africa since 1981. She played a key role in building public understanding of African issues, including efforts to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa, and has worked to achieve U.S. policies which support African democratization and sustainable economic development. Her work has brought her into close contact with a wide range of leaders of struggles for freedom throughout Africa, where she has traveled widely, most recently returning from Rwanda and South Africa. She has testified before numerous legislative bodies on issues such as democracy for Nigeria and aid for Africa. Her research on U.S. policy and into the U.S. corporate role in Africa has been extensively published. Cedric Herring is a Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Interim Director of the University's Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy. He is also past President of the Association of Black Sociologists and former Chair of the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Blacks at UIC. He has published several books and monographs, including African Americans and the Public Agenda: The Paradoxes ofPublic Policy. Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is President and founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. In October 1997, Reverend Jackson was appointed by President Bill Clinton as Special Envoy for the President and Secretary of State for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa. In his official position as Special Envoy he traveled to Africa in November 1997 and February 1998, visiting Kenya, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Tilden LeMelle is Chair of The Africa Fund. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was a special guest at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela. He frequently speaks on behalf of The Africa Fund and is a well known educator, having served as President of the University of the District of Columbia and Provost of Hunter College in New York City. Jeffrey E. Lewis is Managing Director and General Counsel of DST Catalyst, Inc. DST Catalyst conducts proprietary research and consulting work related to the development of financial markets and institutions. DST Catalyst has offices in six countries, including South Africa. Lewis played a key role in automating the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. He is co-chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Foreign and International Law Committee. Page 4 Midwest Regional Consultation William Martin is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois and Co-Chair of the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (ACAS), an organization that works for a progressive U.S. policy toward Africa. He has been published frequently on U.S. policy and African affairs. His current projects include faculty and student exchanges with African universities, including the historically Black University of the Western Cape (Cape Town). John Metzler is a professor of African Studies and International Education at the African Studies Center of Michigan State University. His work has focused on Zambia, Zaire, Malawi and South Africa. He coordinates the university's public outreach programs. Prexy Nesbitt has extensive experience working in support of African freedom. He was Senior Program Officer at the MacArthur Foundation, Director of the Mozambique Support Project and as a consultant to the government of Mozambique. He has also worked at the World Council of Churches Program to Combat Racism in Geneva and at The American Committee on Africa in New York. Edward "Buzz" Palmer is co-director of The PEOPLE Program, an interactive international leadership program for policymakers in the U.S., Africa and Europe. In 1997, he was co-chair of a conference at the University of Illinois on the Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Program. He was appointed chair of a special Advisory Council for Southern Africa for former Senator Paul Simon, when Senator Simon chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Africa. Alice Palmer is a member of the Executive Board of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois in Chicago and is co-president of The PEOPLE Program. She is a former member of the lllinois State Senate and served as Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the NBCSL. Bobby L. Rush has represented the First Congressional District in the Illinois House of Representatives since 1992. Prior to his election to Congress, he was an Alderman in the Chicago City Council for eight years. He has been active in the civil rights movement since the I 960s: he was a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee from 1966 to 1968 and a co-founder of the Illinois Black Panther Party in 1968. Mlulami Mzukisis Lucas Singapi is Vice-Consul at the South African Consulate General in Chicago. He acts as the media and cultural liaison, covering the areas of tourism, trade promotion and general representation of South Africa in the Midwest Region. He was born in Port Elizabeth and graduated from Fort Hare University. Robert Stumberg is a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he serves as clinical director for the Harrison Institute for Public Law. His past positions include Policy Director at the Center for Policy Alternatives and Legislative Counsel of Montgomery County, MD. Barine B. Teekate-Yorbe is from the oil-rich Ogoni region of Nigeria. In 1992, she joined the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), a non-violent movement established by Ken Saro-Wiwa to oppose the environmental destruction ofOgoniland by the Shell Oil Company. In recognition of her leadership, she was elected Coordinator and later National Vice President ofthe Federation ofOgoni Women Association. She is now in exile in the United States. Wyatt Tee Walker is .President of The American Committee on Africa and a Trustee of The Africa Fund. He has a long history in the U.S. civil rights struggle and has linked that to support for African struggles for human rights and economic justice. He led a delegation to South Africa to observe the historic 1994 election that ended apartheid and was a special guest at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela. He is Senior Pastor of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in New York's Harlem community, where he has hosted such African leaders as Nelson Mandela, Namibian President Sam Nujoma and Hafsat Abiola, daughter ofMoshood Abiola, the imprisoned winner ofNigeria's 1993 presidential election. Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois The Africa Fund, 17 John Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038 Resource List Adotei Akwei Paul E. Bryant Advocacy Director for Africa The Gallup Organization Amnesty International USA 300 South 68th Street Place 304 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E. Lincoln, NE 68510 Washington, D.C. 20003 Sam Burrell Dr. Lascelles Anderson Alderman, 29th Ward Center for Urban Educational 5902 West North Avenue Research & Development Chicago, IL 60639 University of Chicago 1040 W. Harrison Street (mc-147) Eloise Chevrier Chicago, IL 60607-713 3 Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ 615 West Wellington Kimberly August Chicago, IL 60657 Emon Corporation 1400 Smith, EB652a Basil Clunie Houston, TX 77002 Chicago Committee in Solidarity with Southern Africa Salih Booker 1620 Dobson Street Senior Fellow, Africa Studies Program Evanston, IL 60202 Council on Foreign Relations 1779 Massachusetts A venue, N. W. Representative Spencer Coggs Washington, D.C. 20036 3732 North 40th Street Milwaukee, WI 53216 Lisa Brock Ida W. Wells Forum Shirley A. Coleman 9636 South Winston Alderman, 16th Ward Chicago, IL 60643 1249 West 63rd Street Chicago, IL 60636 Representative Charlie Brown Indiana House of Representatives Scott Couper 9439 Lake Shore Drive Africa Office Gary, IN 46403 United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ P.O. Box 1986 Representative Irma Hunter Brown Indianapolis, IN 46206-1986 Arkansas House of Representatives 1920 Summit Representative William Crawford Little Rock, AR 72202 Indiana House of Representatives 200 West Washington Street, Room 405 Nancy Brown Indianapolis, IN 46024 Women's Network- NCSL 15429 Overbrook Lane Congressman Danny K. Davis Stanley, KS 66224 3333 West Arthington Chicago, IL 60624 The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those ofthe author and not the Carnegie Corporation. Page2 Midwest Regional Consultation Jennifer Davis Joan Gerig Executive Director 1034 South Oakly Boulevard The Africa Fund Chicago, IL 60612 17 John Street, 12th Floor New York, NY 10038 Representative David Haley Kansas State Legislature Michael Dawson 936 Cleveland A venue Director, Center for the Study of Race, Kansas City, KS 66101-1226 Politics & Culture University of Chicago I· Michael Han chard 5835 S. Kimbark Ave Northwestern University Chicago, IL 60637 339 East Chicago A venue Chicago, IL 60611 James Day Managing Director Dr. Cedric Herring Strategic Planning Group, Inc. Professor and Interim Director 1747 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 300 Institute for Research on Race Washington, D.C. 20006 and Public Policy 400 South Peoria Street Representative Lois M. DeBerry Suite 2100 ALH (M/C345) Speaker Pro Tern, Tennessee House Chicago, IL 60466 of Representatives President, National Black Caucus of Barbara Holt State Legislators Alderman, 5th Ward 15 Legislative Plaza 1817 East 71st Street Nasville, TN 37243 Chicago, IL 60649 Michael Elliott Eric Hudson United Auto Workers- Local #551 Amnesty International USA 2821 Western A venue 55 West Jackson Street, #1162 Park Forest, IL 60466-1802 Chicago, IL 60604 Kweku Embil Dr. Vincent ldemyor Chicago-Accra Sister Cities Community Movement for the Survival of Chicago Sister Cities the Ogoni People International Program 5305 South Drexel A venue 78 East Washington Chicago, IL 60615 Chicago, IL 60602 Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. Michael Fleshman Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Human Rights Coordinator 1002 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W. The Africa Fund Washington, D.C. 20007 17 John Street, 12th Floor New York, NY 10038 Susie Johnson Director of Projects Senator Jesus Garcia The Africa Fund 2500 South St. Louis 17 John Street, 12th Floor Chicago, IL 60623 New York, NY 10038 Midwest Regional Consultation Page 3 Virgil E. Jones Vernita A. Lewis Alderman, 15th Ward Institute for Research on Race 2358 West 63rd Street and Public Policy Chicago, IL 60636 400 South Peoria Street Suite 2100 ALH (M/C345) Annie King Chicago, IL 60466 Office Manager The Africa Fund Gary L. Loster 17 John Street, 12th Floor Mayor - City of Saginaw New York, NY 10038 1315 South Washington Saginaw, MI 48601 Elaine Klemen Wellington A venue United William Martin Church of Christ Co-Chair 615 West Wellington Association of Concerned Africa Scholars Chicago, IL 60657 University ofillinois 702 South Wright Richard Knight Urbana, IL 6180 1 Project Associate The Africa Fund Gaston Mbateng 17 John Street, 12th Floor CGM Data and Services New York, NY 10038 274 Loveland Drive Glendale Heights, IL 60139 Thubi H.A. Kolobe Forum for Southern Africans Dr. John Metzler 1040 West Ontario Professor Oak Park, IL 60302 African Studies Center Michigan State University Reverend Patricia Kyle East Lansing, MI 48824-1035 North Indiana Conference Board of Church & Society Senator Gwendolyn S. Moore United Methodist Church Wisconsin State Senate 4240-2D Irish Hills Drive P.O. Box 7882 South Bend, IN 46614 321 N.E. State Capitol Madison, WI 53707-7882 Tilden LeMelle Chair Representative Johnnie Morris-Tatum The Africa Fund Wisconsin State Assembly 17 John Street, 12th Floor State Capitol New York, NY 10038 P.O. Box 8953 Madison, WI 53708-8953 James Lewis Chicago Urban League Prexy Nesbitt 4510 South Michigan 502 Jackson Boulevard Chicago, IL 60653 Oak Park, IL 60304-1402 Jeffrey Lewis Reverend Dr. Thanda Ngcobo Managing Director and General Counsel Trinity United Church of Christ DST Catalyst, Inc. 532 West 95th Street 33 North La Salle Street, Suite 1900 Chicago, IL 60628-1196 Chicago, IL 60602-2604 Page4 Midwest Regional Consultation Linda Noonan-Ngwane Brian Pawlowicz Southern Africa Network Eli Lilly and Company Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 8725 West Higgins, Suite 810 5454 South Shore Drive, #734 Chicago, IL 60631 Chicago, IL 60615 Representative Coy Pugh Zolani Noonan-Ngwane Illinois State Legislature Southern Africa Network 1210 North Pulaski Road Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Chicago, IL 60651 5454 South Shore Drive, #734 Chicago, IL 60615 David Robinson Deputy Clerk . Reverend Mangedwa Nyathi Cook County Board of Commissioners Hartford Memorial Baptist Church 118 North Clark Street, Suite 3M 18700 James Couzens Drive Chicago, IL 60602 Detroit, MI 48235 Harold Rogers Senator Barack Obama Professor, City College of Chicago Illinois State Senate Executive Director, Coalition of. 2125 East 71 st Street Black Trade Unionists Chicago, IL 60649 6756 South Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60640 Dr. Stella U. Ogunwole Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Carlle Roux 8765 West Higgins Road Consul Chicago, IL 60631 South African Consulate General 200 South Michigan A venue, Suite 600 Emmanuel W. Onunwor Chicago, IL 60604 Mayor - City of East Cleveland 14340 Euclid A venue Congressman Bobby L. Rush East Cleveland, OH 44112 655 East 79th Street Chicago, IL 60619-3036 Dr. Alice Palmer Professor Mlulami Singapi Institute for Research on Race Vice-Consul and Public Policy South African Consulate General 400 South Peoria Street 200 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 600 Suite 2100 ALH (M/C345) Chicago, IL 60604 Chicago, IL 60607 Senator Virgil Clark Smith Edward Palmer Michigan Senate Institute for Research on Race P.O. Box 30036 and Public Policy Lansing, MI 48913 400 South Peoria Street Suite 2100 ALH (M/C345) Robert Stumberg Chicago, IL 60607 The Harrison Institute for Public Law Georgetown University Law Center Senator Mary Panzer 111 F Street, N.W., Suite 102 Wisconsin State Senate Washington, D.C. 20001-2095 P.O. Box 7882 Madison, WS 53707-7882 Midwest Regional Consultation Page 5 r Representative Vernon Sykes Anthony Whitmore (Mrs. Barbara Sykes) Regional Representative Ohio House of Representatives Governor's Regional Economic 615 Diagonal Road Development Office Akron, OH 44320 One South Main Street, Suite 2060 Dayton, OH 45402-2016 Barine Teekate-Yorbe Movement for the Survival of Standish E. Willis the Ogoni People Chicago Conference of Black Lawyers 1306 34th Street, Apartment 27 343 South Dearborn, Suite 604 Des Moines, Iowa 50311-2722 Chicago, IL 60604 Evalyn Tennant Administrator Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture University of Chicago 5835 South Kimbark Chicago, IL 60637 Carol Thompson 2021 West Hutchinson Chicago, IL 60618 Senator Donne E. Trotter 2954 East 32nd Street Chicago, IL 60617 Representative Arthur Turner Illinois State Legislature 3849 West Ogden Chicago, IL 60623 Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker President American Commmittee on Africa 17 John Street, 12th Floor New York, NY 10038 Dr. William E. Ward Mayor - City of Chesapeake P.O. Box 15225 Chesapeake, VA 23328 Valerie C. Wells Durban/Chicago Sister City Committee 2856 East 79th Street Chicago, IL 60649 •. The Africa Fund 17 John Street • New York, NY 10038 • (212) 962-1210 Tilden ]. LeMelle, Chairman Fax: (212) 964-8570 • E-mail: [email protected] Jennifer Davis, Executive Director A FRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT (H.R. 1432) Sponsors: Congressmen Phil Crane, Jim McDermott and Charles Rangel While there appears to be wide support for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, this may only reflect the lack of careful analysis on what this bill means in practice for both the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa. While dozens of Atrican ambassadors and other government leaders have publicly endorsed this bill, several African critics believe that the legislation fails to adequately address Africa's debt problems, poverty and overall economic crisis. These critics are joined by numerous NGOs with experience of conditions on the continent. They stress that opening markets by themselves will not produce economic development and lower trade barriers for African goods entering the United States will produce no benefit for most African states that are not in a position to export significant amounts of goods to the United States. They are backed by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Dvelopment economists who note that there is no simple relationship between trade liberalization and poverty. The Africa Fund is currently making a critical assessment of the bill which takes a wide range of perspectives into account. Belov,r is a summary of some of the pros and cons we have identified to date. Some Positive Aspects of the Bill *Recognizes the need for poverty reduction. The preamble of the Bill acknowledges the need to "promote stable and sustainable growth and development in Sub-Saharan Africa" and "to reduce poverty and increase employment among the poor." Further, it recognizes the importance of the provision of basic health and education for poor citizens, increased market and credit facilities for small farmers and producers and improved economic opportunities for women as entrepreneurs and employees. *Supports regional integration. The Bill supports regional economic integration efforts in Africa, an important step in creating larger and more viable regional markets on the continent. *Encourages more American-Af rican trade and investment linkages. The Bill would create equity funds for use by American businesses willing to invest in Africa and would formalize meetings between African and American government officials through the creation of the United States-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum. This diversification of trade and investment linkages for both the United States and Africa is a potentially useful step for enhancing economic growth in both regwns. Established by The American Committee on Africa, 1966. Contributions are tax-deductible. Some Serious Problems with the Bill * Only helps a small number of countries. The Bill would only help a relatively small number of countries that are at the level of economic development to take advantage of the major incentives in the legislation; it could potentially threaten regional trade initiatives. Hence, trade concessions are in fact quite minor because most African countries are not at a point where they can take serious advantage of the GSP tariffs. *Backs Structural Adjustment Programs that deepen poverty. The Bill imposes stringent criteria for participation and some of these criteria contradict the aim of alleviating poverty. For example, the Bill requires adherence to the International Monetary Fund' s Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), even though these programs have been responsible for major cutbacks in the provision of health and education to the poorest citizens. Even James Wolfensohn, current President of the World Bank, recently admitted this in his November 5, 1997 discussion with Cardinal Roger Mahoney, Archbishop ofLos Angeles. In fact, SAPs have transferred the cost of adjusting the economy to the poorest, particularly women and children, and need to be rethought. This has been well documented by numerous scholars as well as UNICEF. * Makes no firm commitment on debt reduction. The Bill acknowledges that crippling debt is a serious hindrance to economic growth on the continent and recommends, in non-binding language, support for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) of the IMF/World Bank. However, the HIPC imposes extremely harsh conditions. Even the few heavily indebted countries considered for debt relief will have to continue to commit to structural adjustment for six years before they will be considered for assistance in the HIPC. The cost of this wait in terms oflives lost to preventable diseases and children's missed education is immense. For example, the debt service payments for Uganda in 1996 amounted to $184 million or more than one third of Government revenue. This sum represents twelve times as much per person spent on primary health, and nine times as much spent on primary and secondary education. In The Economisr ofF ebruary 21 , 1998, Gordon Brown, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a striking plea for more flexibility in implementing the HIPC. He cites Mozambique as a test case of the international community's commitment to debt relief. It is a country that has struggled to reform - it spends twice as much on servicing its debt than on basic services. Even then the burden of debt is so great that Mozambique manages to service only one third of its obligations! There is a growing understanding, then, that effective Africa policy will require complementary initiatives to reduce Africa's debt. which currently exceeds $314 Billion. Yet the Bill hardly deals with this situation. This is true even though efforts to promote private investment cannot be successful within the context of this persisting debt crisis. The United States at present continues to use its influence to delay implementation of debt reduction under the HIPC. This Initiative. while a move in the right direction, still fails to address the debt problem of the majority of African countries. Fundamentally, the development of a self-reliant African economy involves mobilizing knowledge, skills and energy. Such development cannot occur until the G-7 countries and international financial institutions dramatically reduce Africa's debt and free up resources for health, education and the productive capacity of local people. The vague language in the Bill does not yet suggest that the U.S. is serious in it's commitment to debt reduction. *Ignores unequal playing ground, especially in agriculture. While free trade may be a good way of promoting growth, to achieve greater equity it requires a relatively level playing ground. As the Bill admits, the playing ground between the United States and Africa is grossly unequal. owhere is this problem more important than in the realm of agriculture. The average American farmer gets $14, 000 worth of subsidies a year. Contrast this to the average African farmer, who is most likely to be a woman and who receives no subsidy or worse, actually suffers from government interference in local markets. While internal agricultural liberalization would be a good thing, the reduction of tariffs on American agricultural products would likely result in dumping. Dumping would cause the fall of local prices hurting the majority of small-scale African farmers. The net result, then, would be lower food production locally and increased dependency of foreign imports. This means less food security and more dependency for the continent, not the "economic self-reliance" that the Bill claims as a goal. *Provides no mechanism for ensuring adequate labor and environmental standards are maintained. Adherence to acceptable environmental and labor standards are not part of the eligibility requirements for African countries to participate in this Initiative. Thus, this Bill misses an opportunity to apply pressure to improve these standards in Africa, where repression of labor and disregard for basic environmental standards are not uncommon. Prepared by Jackie Klopp and Susie Johnson. The Africa Fund 17 John Street • New York, NY 10038 • (212) 962·1210 Tilden J. LeMelle, Chairman Fax: (212) 964-8570 • E-mail: [email protected] Jennifer Davis, Executive Director H.R. 1786 THE NIGERIA DEMOCRACY ACT Over 100 million people are enduring injustice and oppression at the hands of a brutal military dictatorship in the oil-rich west African country of Nigeria. The Nigerian military annulled the results of the Presidential election in 1993 and seized power, installing General Sani Abacha at the head of a military government. Thousands of people, including the democratically-elected President, have been imprisoned without trial. Nigeria's democratic Constitution has been suspended, stripping the Nigerian people oftheir most basic human and civil rights. In this wealthy nation, nearly 40 percent of Nigerian children suffer from malnutrition and the diseases of acute poverty. Condemnations of the dictatorship come from such organizations as Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Commission and world leaders from Nelson Mandela to Bill Clinton. There is one piece of legislation before Congress that addresses the human rights situation in Nigeria. H.R. 1786, the Nigerian Democracy Act, was introduced in Congress by Representative Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Representative Amory Houghton (R-NY). This Bill would impose economic and diplomatic sanctions against the military government. The Bill's sponsors report that many Nigerian pro-democracy, human rights and religious leaders have called for sanctions to weaken the dictatorship. They note that oil sales to the United States and other Western countries generate 95 percent ofNigeria's hard currency earnings and over 80 percent of government revenue. The Bill's key provisions include: • A ban on new U.S. corporate investment in Nigeria, including the strategic energy sector; • A ban on U.S. arms sales; • Denial of visas to members of the military government; • A ban on direct air travel between the United States and Nigeria; • Denial of U.S. economic aid except for human rights and democracy programs; • A freeze on the personal assets of members of the regime; and • l'.S. opposition to loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and a cutoff of American trade loans and guarantees. The following Members of Congress are currently co-sponsoring the Nigeria Democracy Act: Neil Abercrombie (D-HI); Gary Ackerman (D-NY); Rod Blagojevich (D-IL); Douglas Bereuter (R-NE); Howard L. Berman (D CA); Corrine Brown (D-FL); Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Steve Chabot (R-OH); William Clay (D-MO); John Conyers, Jr. (D-rv1I); Willia m J. Coyne (D-PA); E lijah Cummings (D-MD); Rosa DeLauro (D-CT); Ronald Dellums (D-CA); Eliot L. Engel (D-NY); Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA); Eni Faleomavaega (D-AS); Sam Farr (D-GA) ; Chaka Fattah (D-PA); Bob Filner (D-CA); Barney Frank (D-MA); Elizabeth F urse (D-OR); Henry Gonzalez (D-TX); Luis Gutierrez (D-IL); Amory Houghton (R-NY); Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX); J oseph P. Kennedy (D-MA); Dennis J . K ucinich (D-OH); Tom Lantos (D-CA); Thomas Manton (D-NY); Cynthia McKinney (D GA); George M iller (D-CA); James P. Moran (D-VA); Richard E. Neal (D-MA); Eleanor Holmes No rton (D OC); John Olver (D-MA); M ajor Owens (D-NY); Donald Payne (D-NJ); Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); J ohn Edward Porter (R-IL): Lynn A. Rivers (D-MI); Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA); Bobby L. Rush (D-IL); Bernard Sanders (1-VT); Christopher Shays (R-CT); Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY); Christopher Smith (R-NJ); James M. Talent (R-MO); Esteban Torres (D-CA); Nydia Vehizquez (D:NY); Maxine Waters (D-CA); Henry A. Waxman (D CA); Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). February 28, 1998. Established by The American Committee on Africa, /966. Contributions are tax-deductible. Repression in Nigeria ·'The human rights record remained dismal. Throughout the year, [Nigerian General Sani] Abacha 's Government relied regularly on arbitrary detention and harassment to silence its most outspoken critics. The winner of the annulled Presidential election, Chief Moshood K. A biola, remained in prison on charges of treason, as did prominent politician Olu Falae, pro-de mocracy activist Fredrick Fasehun and several others. Security forces committed extrajudicial killings and used excessive force to quell anti-government protests as well as to combat crime, resulting in the death and injury of many individuals, including innocent civilians. Security forces tortured and beat suspects and detainees. There were many reports of sexual abuse offemale suspects and prisoners by the security forces. Prison conditions remained life threatening; many prisoners died in custody. Security services continued routine harassment ofhuman rights and pro-democracy groups, including labor leaders, journalists and student activists. "Citizens do not have the right to change their government by peaceful means. Despite the announced timetable for a transition from military to multiparty rule, there was little progress toward democracy. '" Other human rights problems include infringements on freedom ofspeech , press, assembly, association, travel, workers rights and violence and discrimination against women." Nigeria Country Report on Human Rights Practices U.S. Department of State January 30, 1998 '·Jam constantly contacted by African-American ministers, heads oforganizations and business people on [Nigerian ruler Sani Abacha's} behalf They say he is doing for Nigeria what no one else is doing. And I almost always ansv.;er 'yeah, in the name ofdictatorship. ' We are allowing them to advance the wrong leaders, leaders that are not about democracy, leaders that are killing people." Congresswoman Maxine Waters Chair, Congressional Bla~ k Caucus April19, 1997 "!join with freedom-loving people in New York, our nation and around the world in telling the Nigerian military that we >rill not ignore or forget the needless and unjust slaughter that for too long has characterized their rule; that we will not ignore or forget their continued disregard for human life and democratic principles. General Abacha. like too many Nigerian military rulers before him, shuns democratic rule and does not hesitate to enforce his ryranny by unleashing his military hardware against unarmed, impoverished, innocent civilians. ,. Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins September 17, 1997 Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa February 28, 1998, Chicago, Illinois The Africa Fund, 17 J ohn Street, 12th Floor, New York, New York 10038 Information Questionnaire 1. What category best describes you or your organization? D Legislator D Religious Organization D Public Official D Non-Governmental Organization D Labor Organization D Academic Organization D Other ______ 2. Which one of the following areas is of most interest to you or your organization? 0Aid D Women and Development D Trade/Economic Development D Rural Development D Peace and Security D Human Rights D Other ------ 3. Would you be interested in hosting a forum for The Africa Fund to meet with local legislators, public officials and non-government, labor and religious representatives in your community? _____ Yes No 4. What did you like best/least about today's Consultation? Name ------Mailing Address Phone The Midwest Regional Consultation on U.S. Policy Toward Africa is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation ofNew York. The views expressed in this paper are those ofthe author and not the Carnegie Corporation.