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JUNE 1995 Vol. 72, No. 6
COVER F E AT U R _EJ> Focus ON AFRICA THE STUFF OF ENVOYS / 20 24 / WHY AFRICA IS IMPORTANT From Monticello to Hillwood to Dodona Manor, By Chester Crocker Envoys’ Collections Preened for Tourist Season By Francine Mod demo 27 / ENVIRONMENTAL CHAOS REIGNS BIJ Peter C. Majfitt AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC MUSEUMS / 23
29 / AIDS OVERWHELMS CONTINENT THE ART OF NEGOTIATION / 54 By Kathleen Henry How the US Recouped $16 Million 34 / US POLICY TOWARD AFRICA From Failed VOA Project — A Decade Later By Herman J. Cohen By Morton S. Smith F O C V s 40 / AMERICAN BLACKS AND AFRICA By Donald M. Pay ne
43 / A LESOTHO PEACE CORPS MEMOIR By Paul A. Bums
46 / A SUCCESS STORY: THE HORN OF AFRICA By Gilbert D. Kulick
50 / A SUCCESS STORY: SOUTH AFRICA Page 24 By Deborah Derrick
52 / A SUCCESS STORY: ERITREA By Karen Krebsbach COLUMNS DEPARTMENTS
5 / PRESIDENT’S VIEWS LETTERS/9 By F A. “Tex” Harris CLIPPINGS / 14 7 / DESPATCH AFSA NEWS / CENTER PULLOUT SECTION By Karen Krebsbach CLASSIFIED / CENTER PULLOUT SECTION 17 / SPEAKING OUT BOOKS / 57 BIJ Hans N. Tuch SCHOOL AD SUPPLEMENT / 60
76 / POSTCARD FROM ABROAD REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING / 71 By Wesley Ann Godard INDEX TO ADVERTISERS / 75 Cover illustration by Lina Chesak
THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS
Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0015-7279), 2101 E Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published monthly by the American Foreign Service Association, a private, non-profit organization. Material appearing Editor Editorial Board herein represents the opinions of the writers and does not necessarily represent the views of the Journal, the KAREN KREBSBACH Chairman Editorial Board or AFSA. Writer queries are invited. Journal subscription: AFSA Members - $9.50 included SHELDON J. KRYS Managing Editor in annual dues; others - $40. For foreign surface mail, add $18 per year; foreign airmail, $36 per year. Second- PHYLLIS DICHTER-FORBES NANCY A. JOHNSON class postage paid at Merrifield, Va., and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to JOHN ERIKSSON DAVID I. HITCHCOCK Foreign Service Journal, 2101 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037-2990. Indexed by Public Affairs Assistant Editor SUSAN KEOUCH-FISHER Information Service (PAIS). The Journal is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or illustrations. Liz ALLAN DOYLE MCMANUS Advertising inquiries are invited. The appearance of advertisements herein does not imply the endorsement DAN MOZENA of the services or goods offered. FAX: (202) 338-8244 or (202) 338-6820. TELEPHONE: (202) 338-4045. © Advertising O Circulation DANIEL O. NEWBERRY Manager DONALD R. NORLAND American Foreign Service Association, 1995. Printed in the U.S.A. Send address changes for the Foreign JANET G. EMERY ANNE SIGMUND Service Journal to AFSA, 2101 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037-2990.
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 3 AMERICAN
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The tremendous repercussions of complex expanses of the globe — pre¬ proposed budget cuts in foreign ‘Deeply in formed viously sealed off behind various walls affairs, coupled with the intro¬ and curtains, but historically and spective focus of tire American media, strategically significant — are now in dii idua l insighO t are being noted by some of tire most open to our ideas, investments and attentive foreign policy professionals in from die field is fast presence. Twenty-five “new” countries this country. One, Peter Krogh, took have appeared or reappeared since the the occasion of his recent retirement disappearing. ’ collapse of the Berlin Wall. from 25 years as dean of dre Walsh “Paying attention on the ground to School of Foreign Service at a... more insistendy pluralistic world is Georgetown University to deplore the more important than in the past new emerging isolationism: because the price of neglect and igno¬ “Over the span of more dran a score of its GNP to aid. Today that figure rance can be so much higher. The of years, two interrelated phenomena stands at half or .15 percent. These ready availability of weapons of mass have impressed, or, rather, depressed reductions translate direcdy into the destruction and the reality of nuclear me. ... Our public capacity to conduct closing of posts and die elimination of proliferation raise substantially, and foreign affairs has been reduced. ... So personnel. Since the start of the potentially catastrophically, the price has our private capacity to report on Clinton administration, 17 posts of avoidable conflicts. foreign affairs. These reductions have abroad have been closed, accompa¬ “As the world gets bigger, the for¬ our foreign affairs caught in a pincer nied by a reduction in force in the eign policy agenda simultaneously movement which threatens their qual¬ Department of State of 1,100. grows longer. Replacing the set agen¬ ity and effect. “Over the past 25 years die numbers da of the Cold War is a veritable “Widi respect to tiiis country’s public of foreign bureaus and foreign corre¬ avalanche of pressing international capacity to conduct its foreign policy, die spondents have declined. Deeply issues ... Our diplomats and journalists shocking statistics rise to the surface as informed individual insight from the need to inhabit these issues where die latest feeding frenzy on the federal field is fast disappearing. News and they reside in a far-flung world. budget unfolds. In die last 10 years, there media services compound the problem “In an age of real-time, multimedia, has been close to a 50 percent decrease by making news more homogenous. interactive fonns of communication, in die country’s international affairs bud¬ The media increasingly are reduced to diere is a tendency to declare obsolete get... There has been a combined 72 per¬ establishing a fleeting physical pres¬ die diplomat and die foreign correspon¬ cent reduction in the defense and inter¬ ence only after CNN announces there dent in the field. We will do so at our national affairs budgets witii internation¬ is a crisis abroad... Yet CNN itself is, by peril. The myriad forms of instantaneous, al affairs taking a 10 percent bigger hit its very nature, flawed. It provides interactive communication threaten to dian the defense budget. We are not unevaluated and sometimes exaggerat¬ substitute immediacy for insight, reac¬ turning swords into plowshares. ed reports of developments abroad tion for reflection, sentiment for judg¬ “When I arrived here as dean in which drive a domestic rush to judg¬ ment, hyperbole for reality, and deniabil- 1970, the U.S. contributed .3 percent ment and a correlated reaction. ity for integrity. No amount of technolo¬ ‘The world that we can and must gy can substitute for the educated, expe¬ E A. “Tex” Harris is president of the know is a bigger, more palpably com¬ rienced eyes and ears of observers, inter¬ American Foreign Service Association plex place than it was in the smaller, preters and advisers on the ground, in (AFSA). simpler days of the Cold War. Vast and the field, overseas.” ■
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No part of the globe is more press for more banking, legal and public threatened by impending U.S. Does the US have sector reforms. Many nations need eco¬ cuts in foreign aid and foreign nomic relief from die crushing burden affairs budgets than the continent of a moral obligation of overindebtedness. Although diere’s Africa. President Clinton has proposed no doubt diat the continents colonial spending $802 million next year on aid to help Africa? legacy has contributed to its failures, to Africa — about the same as this more culpable are die nations’ poor gov¬ years binding levels — which is just a erning, rife corruption and nepotism, small portion of the administration’s and perennial conflicts and civil strife. $14.7 billion foreign aid package. But But this requires change — from die Republicans, who call foreign aid On average, diese countries’ per capita inside. “international welfare,” intend to cut income dropped to $349 a year in 1991 Economists say die continent is rich those numbers, particularly in Africa, in from $369 in 1980. Among developing in untapped potential, from die mining part because the region is “unimportant countries, per capita income rose from of emeralds and gold to commercial to the security interests of the United $1,035 to $1,118 during diat same period. fanning of sub-Sahara’s fertile soil. Many States,” says Sen. Mitch McConnell (R- Yes, chaos is swirling in Somalia, entrepreneurs, bodi on and off die conti¬ Ky.), who chairs the Senate foreign Liberia and Angola; edinic conflict is rife nent, would invest more in Africa’s operations subcommittee. in Rwanda and Burundi; and corruption underdeveloped oil, agricultural, mining And AID recently announced plans is rampant in the majority of nations. But and fishing industries, if they were reas¬ to close 29 missions worldwide by 1996, Africanists say there is reason for opti¬ sured of improved infrastructure. including nine in Africa: Cote d’Ivoire, mism, pointing to growing evidence tiiat In this issue, the Journal explores Togo, Zaire, Burkina Faso, Botswana, die nations are undergoing dramatic the continents problems and prospects Cameroon, Chad, Lesotho and Cape political and economic reforms, compa¬ with some of the best-known Verde. Robert Berg, head of the rable to the growing pains Latin America Africanists, including career ambas¬ International Development Conference, went dirough 10 years ago. For example, sador Herman J. Cohen and Chester which organizes forums on developing as Assistant Secretary of State Geoige A. Crocker, both former assistant sec¬ countries, noted that die current U.S. Moose recently [minted out, nearly two- retaries of State for African affairs. political climate poses “the most signifi¬ diircls of die 48 countries in sub-Saharan Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), the cant drreat in aid levels to Africa in mem¬ Africa are at some stage of democratic chairman of die Congressional Black ory.” He has reason to worn: transition, compared to only four in Caucus, weighs in on American blacks’ Africa has always been die biggest 1989. Isn’t diat progress? reluctant relationship widi Africa. challenge for development advocates. But much more needs to lie done if If Congress approves major cuts to Chronic liealdi and population problems, the diverse nations of Africa are to not the U.S. foreign aid budget — widi political chaos, edinic conflict and envi¬ lose die ground diey’ve worked so hard some Republicans calling for an out¬ ronmental hazards often combine to to gain. Since die region attracts only 6 right end to aid to Africa — other make any substantial progress hard won in percent of foreign investment, help can¬ nations may follow America’s lead. But die region. In fact, of die 47 countries offi¬ not be expected from die private sector, as die global village grows ever smaller, cially labeled by the United Nations as diough it is potentially die best source to are the world’s wealthiest nations Least Developed Nations, 31 are African. advance progress once die infrastruc¬ morally obligated to recommit them¬ ture is in place. Government leaders selves to helping 600 million of the Karen Krebsbach is the Journal’s editor. both inside and outside Africa need to neediest of die needy? ■
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To the Editor: relevance for jobs at home serve die States; it depends on recognition by Most Americans accept die need for point. But similar success with more others diat we share security and eco¬ die United States to remain engaged in intricate and strategic issues — extend¬ nomic interests in common. the world. And most will agree that ing die non-proliferation treaty against To protect and advance our own clearly defined national interest should nuclear and other weapons of mass national interests as we go forward will guide diat engagement. But many are destruction, for example — plainly require careful articulation of diose finding it difficult in diis complex post- demands engagement with others. It is interests, dieir alignment where possi¬ Cold War world to reach consensus on illusory to think diat the nations needs ble with those of others, and a commit¬ what engagement means and where are so limited that they can be served ment to lead cooperative efforts. To do the national interest lies. without a high degree of planning and otherwise would invite fonns of inter¬ In die current debate over diese effort widi other nations, including at national anarchy bodi dangerous and issues we sense a tendency among die U.N. — the example of die Gulf costiy to our own national interests. some to equate a pragmatic pursuit of War is surely not forgotten. Bruce Laingen vital interests widi unilateralism — No country has so large a stake in the President arguing that international engagement effective functioning of such institutions The American Academy must be a one-way street and diat our as die International Monetary Fund and of Diplomacy interests are best served when the die World Bank and in die evolution of United States dictates die terms or die new World Trade Organization. acts alone whenever it chooses. This Development of export markets and appeal of unilateralism doubdess aris¬ investment opportunities is vital to our es from varied impulses, including the general prosperity. But these require a To the Editor: disappointments we have encoun¬ framework of international rules and I was delighted to see die “Focus on tered from the shortcomings of the cooperative action — as for that matter Info Superhighway” in the March United Nations. does coping with volatility in internation¬ Journal. At the same time I was disap¬ But in a world of instant communi¬ al currencies and any threat to the stabil¬ pointed that none of the authors gave cations, globally linked financial mar¬ ity of our financial system. The fact is Internet addresses for foreign affairs kets, easy migration of devastating dis¬ that die economic well-being of virtually resources, such as the Department of eases and impoverished peoples, every American is affected by what hap¬ State Foreign Affairs Network referred threats to the earths oceans and pens outside our borders. to in Dan Kubiske s article. By die way, atmosphere, terrorist networks oper¬ Finally, it should be clear diat unilat¬ how soon will we be able to send e-mail ating without heed to frontiers, it is eralism today, like isolationism in the to AFSA dirough the Internet? inconceivable diat the United States past, would risk nullifying American Robert Mikulak could go it alone successfully. When leadership in the world. Widi die Cold Arms Control and nuclear weapons can be delivered by War at an end, our allies and friends are Disarmament Agency missile, ship or in the baggage of a ter¬ no longer automatically responsive to U.S. Embassy The Hague rorist, die necessity for active interna¬ our judgments on security concerns. 100332.3171 @compuserve. com tional collaboration is self-evident. Nor are we able or ready unilaterally to Editor’s Note: AFSA’s e-mail The United States can and will do devote massive financial resources to address, as noted in the “AFSA News’’ some tilings alone. Recent negotiations the solution of international economic masthead, is [email protected]. The with China over protection of cultural issues. Effective leadership, therefore, gopher address for the State Foreign and artistic properties and dieir direct cannot be dictated by the United Affairs network is dosfan.lib.uic.edu.
JUNE 1995/FORE1CN SERVICE JOURNAL 9 L E T T E It S
Always More
Than You'd To the Editor: towards promoting a better life for Expect For It’s been ail eye-opening, eventful people in other countries. Less Than and sometimes dismaying first year in ■ We look out for American interests. the Foreign Service. As we are all From pushing the government to You'd Think. painfully aware, die State Department improve airport security so an Welcome to The Virginian. You'll is in die midst of a jolting period of American air carrier can expand into a enjoy a spacious reinvention, introspection and belt¬ new market to negotiating foreign suite with a fully tightening. The debate in the Journal government support for a study on the equipped kitchen on die nature of change in the depart¬ emission of greenhouse gases, FSOs ■ 1 and amenities like ment ranges from deep philosophical carry much water on behalf of the HBO, exercise questions about the role of the United States. facilities, saunas, Foreign Service in a post-Cold War Amidst the reform movements and free continental breakfast, same world to more mundane, and more congressional critiques of America’s day laundry and valet as well as hotly debated, issues such as differen¬ oversea involvement, the work of maid service. All this and more, for tials and post allowances. Foreign Service officers goes on. And, less than r With Congress, the press, and based on one year’s experience, it’s an ordinary department management asking so good work. I’m proud of what we do. hotel room. many questions about where we’re Jeff Hawkins It's a short headed and whedier we should be Junior Officer Trainee walk to tire doing more with less or less widi U.S. Embassy Abidjan Rosslyn more, a first-tour junior officer begins Metro, or our free shuttle runs to wonder: What have I gotten myself morning and evening. National into? Is what we do important? Will I Airport, the still be here in five years? National One advantage of working at an To the Editor: Foreign embassy in a smaller, developing The February 1995 Journal series Affairs country is that the effects of what we on retirement was most enjoyable and USEdl Training do are easier to see and feel than in the very well balanced. Doug Jones’ arti¬ Center, and most government larger posts. In one year, the influence cle was particularly to the point. I buildings are only minutes away. and importance of the Foreign Service noticed one gap, however. Francine 'Hie Virginian. For over a decade, abroad has been made evident to me Moddemo indicated that tire Foreign the first choice of corporate and in dozens of tangible ways. Affairs Reserve Corps (FARC) was a federal We shouldn’t forget the following: going enterprise. In my experience, it travelers. Rates ■ We help Americans. From the is a waste of paper. Especially Starting At consular to the commercial section, I am retired, and now an adult fam¬ those who we are in the business of helping ily member (or dependent spouse). I know a $48 Americans. In the last year, I’ve seen do not want or need a second career in great value when they find one. our consul rescue an American citi¬ the sense of working for pay. The privi¬ zen from an abusive spouse, get a lege of being in the Foreign Service, lonely, destitute American on a being able to study new languages, plane home on nothing more than learn new cultures, meet new people, his good word, counsel frantic explore new places and continue to ride Americans in the United States on my bike and scuba dive without having how to deal with the imprisonment to respond to urgent telegrams from of a family member here. Washington is quite reward enough. 1500 Arlington Bivd., Arlington, VA 22209 ■ We help other people. In a hundred But as I prepared to retire, I (703) 522-9600/800-275-2866 little and not so little ways we help applied for and was accepted into the FAX: (703)525-4462 promote development, democracy, FARC. On arrival at post, I said that I and human rights overseas; our aid would be available if needed for short¬ and moral support go a long way term jobs. My FARC membership
10 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAUJUNE 1995 Hungry For News From Heme? meant that I was an available cleared Commission regulations and guide¬ Subscribe to additional resource. lines, and several [affirmative action] Post asked Diplomatic Security lawsuits which contributed to the Weekly Edition: (DS) for verification of my clearance. development of the current oral exam¬ The Best of NPR News DS responded that they would verify a ination process. When he comes back on cassette. clearance only if requested by the from Germany, perhaps he should department, which in turn would find out what has been going on in the Whether you’re in Brussels or Botswana, request verification only if a position United States for the past generation. you can enjoy U.S. news from familiar had been created. The post must first Gilbert M. Joh nson and trusted voices back home. request approval for a position from Economist the regional bureau, then write a posi¬ Economic Bureau Each week, you’ll teceive a new cassette tion description and have the grade State Department with a full hour highlighting the best of approved by Washington, then go Washington, D.C. NPR’s award-winning newsmagazines, through a formal recruitment process, ® (g) make a selection, and submit various Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, forms to Washington. No post is going and All Things Considered. to go through this process for short¬ term employment. It is much easier to To the Editor: Special send a request for TOY assistance. As a retired FSO who spent six Three Month From my perspective, the FARC months as a deputy examiner, and as Introductory Offer: was a good idea that failed in imple¬ an “old timer” who came in under the For just $6.00 a week (including shipping mentation. These days, that means system where one had to pay ones and handling), you’ll get three months’ that the portion of a position used to own way to Washington for the oral worth of America’s best reporting. Plus a administer it should be abolished. exam, I agree in many ways widi surprise bonus. PS: To those who, like Doug Jones, Bernard Unden’s comments about the may suffer from IDS (Information shortcomings of the current oral Fax 202 4l4 3046, e-mail (subscription Deficit Syndrome): Get on the examination system. Most deputy @ npr.org), or call 202 414 3232, Monday - Friday, 10 am. - 5 p.m. ET, with your name, Internet and discuss far more than you examiners during my period of service address, phone number, and VISA or could ever hope for in the Operations (1977-78) would agree diat the bonus MasterCard information. Center. for offering a foreign language should Dan Gamber be restored, that an age limit be Retired FSO imposed again, and that applicants be U. S. Embassy Amman more intensively questioned about their own preparation and back¬ ground. But there are reasons compli¬ National Public Radio' cating the U.S. selection process which do not apply to the German sys¬ To the Editor: tem. My associates and I sent many It was surprising that Bernard memos to the Board of Examiners Unden (“Speaking Out,” April recommending improvements to the Journal) did not consider the legal system, virtually all of which proved environment in which die State impossible by reason of federal law: Department operates before suggest¬ ■ Requiring a foreign language: It ing that the Foreign Service emulate seems virtually no American university hiring practices of the German today requires a foreign language as a Foreign Service. graduation requirement. To impose a There are at least 25 years worth of language requirement means denying legislative history, executive orders, the Foreign Service most of the best Office of Personnel Management and brains otherwise interested in service Equal Employment Opportunity abroad. I nevertheless continue to
JUNE 1995/FOREICN SERVICE JO URNAL 11 LETTENS Experience the comforts of home
believe that the old system of affording requirement as part of die written a five- or 10-point bonus for a second exam. If its been tacked on to the oral language would be entirely possible. exam, I see tiiis only as progress towards ■ Requiring a masters degree: In fact, Undens worthy objective. no formal educational requirement is ■ A more broadly devised written imposed on American candidates for exam: The general knowledge part of the Foreign Service. As a deputy the exam in 1955 included questioas examiner I kept informal notes on suc¬ about European, American and world cessful candidates and found that history; questions about the great com¬ while many successful candidates posers; turd the tiiemes of die great indeed had graduate degrees, the operas. These questions were eliminat¬ THE WINSTON HOUSE highest proportion of successful candi¬ ed as it became increasingly evident Luxury living dates had been Eagle Scouts with that the U.S. educational system was at its finest experience as summer camp coun¬ not preparing culturally aware individ¬ selors, rather than MAs or PhDs from uals qualified for die Foreign Service.
-SHORT OR LONG TERM STAY- Yale or Princeton. On top of this, my months as an ■ Requiring a maximum age: examiner came during die worst days Furnished one and two bed¬ Congress in its wisdom has banned of so-called affirmative action. A room apartment homes age as a recruiting qualification. group of oral examiners wrote a mem¬ F ully equipped with washer and ■ Sending examination panels abroad: orandum questioning the legality of dryer in each apartment Examining panels now travel to every arbitrary “ethnic nonning,” which took Garage parking available major regional capital in die United place following die work of the exam¬ 24-hour front desk States, including Hawaii, and the writ¬ iners, whereby Personnel raised the Fully equipped exercise center ten exam is given in virtually every city necessary number of lower-scoring with dressing rooms and saunas of any size — including at U.S. individuals of desired ethnic back¬ Kiclilv decorated library embassies abroad. The cost of sending ground, placing them above higher¬ and entertainment suite entire oral examining panels abroad at scoring individuals on the list. This left On-site deli, dry cleaners a time when die department is under¬ many of us wondering where the and beauty salon going budgetary cutbacks is unrealis¬ Service would be in 20 years. Of Attractive rooftop sundeck tic. Indeed, I think a more attainable course it may well be that many of with lounges suggestion would be to return to die those to whom this form of social gen¬ Short walk to Farragut West, previous system, imposing the rela¬ erosity — which many minority lead¬ Foggy Bottom Metro, tively modest expense on candidates ers are beginning to consider was mis¬ Dupont Circle of paying their own travel to placed — were selected out early. A Nearby shopping, grocery, Washington, thus assuring that only disappointment to them and wasted restaurants, and theaters the most serious candidates perse¬ taxpayer money in training and post¬ Attentive, service-oriented vered witii dieir candidacy. ing costs. Of course this memo, too, staff to pamper you ■ Writing an essay: Composing an essay got nowhere. Under per diem rate on an assigned topic, together vvidr edit¬ D.B. Timmins 90-day minimum stay ing a paper containing a number of sub- Retired FSO tie orthographic and syntactic errors, Bucharest THE WINSTON HOUSE took up most of one morning in the old 2140 L Street, N.W. two-day exam. Given die continuing Washington, DC 20037 importance of written communications Tel. (202) 785-2200 to a successful Foreign Service career, I Fax. (202) 785-5185 recall diat virtually every officer To the Editor: assigned to die examination process A Bronx cheer to the Journal for back in 1977-78 endorsed a memoran¬ running without accompanying criti¬ IQIil HOUSliS dum arguing for the re-introduction of orriiToaiTY JBG PROPERTIES cal comment the nonsense- the English grammar/composition crammed article by Jim Anderson,
12 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 CeaVe your
“Chugging up the Onramp of the reporting wifi be less important than Info Interstate,” in the March issue. the ability to analyze available infor¬ most The idea of policy-making through mation quickly.” I ask, in the USSR a kind of consensus-building town successor states? In the Middle East? meeting conducted via computer ter¬ In South and Southeast Asia? important minals, including foreigners to whom The whole thrust of the article is, in the policy would apply should have fact, that the media is the message. been instantly labeled as idiotic. Well, the media isn’t the message. investment The article posits as an example of William E. Knight the New Thinking: “The embassy’s Retired FSO primary purpose would be to create a Bethesda, Md. With the platform, supporting the work of all agencies involved in foreign affairs,” and “A chief of missions success management would be judged on how well the interlocking team worked.” New? To the Editor: That was long established boilerplate In the article on Lu Bloch (April professionals when I first became a senior Foreign Journal), a reader might feel that Lu Service inspector 23 years ago! had been abandoned by all her Foreign The idea that traditional ambas¬ Service contacts. While active mem¬ you trust. sadors “signed cables at the end of the bers of the Department of State were day” and that such ambassadors “will silent indeed, a number of former 'Rental and Management soon be an anachronism,” attributed Foreign Service friends, retired or of Tine 'Properties in to a deputy assistant secretary, sug¬ working in new fields, rallied to form a Northwest “DC, CheVg Chase, gests that whoever uttered this has core of support for her and her cause. “Bethesda and Potomac never served overseas. I do not know the names of all who The article asserts diat “traditional have worked hard to be of help but surely they are a goodly number. A inniiiiniiiiiC NOTICE woman of Lu Bloch s quality does not walk through life without making last¬ The Foreign Service Journal is ing friendships. No matter what. seeking short memoirs from those Kay Polansky who seived overseas in the Foreign JS Spouse of retired FSO Service during World War II for a Bethesda, Md. ■ special issue on the 50th anniversary of the ending of World War II. CORRECTION Due to incorrect information saiBss Memoirs can include reminiscences of officers and families traveling reported in The Washington Post, a Executive Housing though war zones, post experiences “Clippings” citing (April Journal) Consultants, Inc. and glimpses of the human condition repeated inaccurate details about die 7315 Wisconsin Avenue Feb. 7 arrest of the alleged master¬ during the war, internments or other Suite 603 East mind of the 1993 World Trade hardships, etc. Limit: 1,000 words. Bethesda, Maryland 20814 Center Bombing. In fact, only the Old photos of FSOs of the peri¬ 301/951-4111 State Department regional security od are also welcome and will be officer in Islamabad knew the loca¬ returned. Please send typed manu¬ tion of the alleged suspect and “We care for your home scripts and photos to Karen reported his presence to Pakistani Krebsbach, Editor, Foreign Service officials, according to Janet Shafer, a as if it Were our oWn. ” Journal, 2101 E St. NW, desk officer in Diplomatic Security Washington, D.C. 20037. at the State Department.
JUNE 1 995/FO RE IGN SERVICE JOURNAL 13 CLIPPINGS
FEDERAL WORKERS & minorities are taking and passing the Foreign Sendee entrance exam, once in ULTIMATE SACRIFICES the Sendee minorities see little chance In the wake of the Oklahoma City for advancement, he said. “Numerous bombing, federal workers paid the ulti¬ internal studies suggest that promotion mate sacrifice in service to their coun¬ boards do not yet think that diversity is try, opines a Washington Post editorial a valid departmental or foreign policy on April 22. objective,” he said. He concluded that “Far away from the national spot¬ if present trends continue, the face of light, in places as remote as Khartoum those who conduct international affairs “If the and Karachi, federal workers on the in America’s third century promises to front lines have paid the ultimate sacri¬ look less, not more, like the nation as a backdoor fice in sendee of their country,” accord¬ whole. ing to the editorial. “Women and men isolationists on the federal payroll in those locations bear the title of Foreign Service officer, No SAVINGS SEEN have their or AID worker or U.S. embassy staff. But they pursue the same basic mission IN CONSOLIDATION way; much of [as] federal employees [in Oklahoma Republicans acknowledged there City]: They are trying to make their would be no cost savings in a foreign what we have government work. And most work long affairs consolidation after a and hard to make that happen.” Republican-ordered General worked for Accounting Office study showed no real cost benefits, reported Al Kamen over two ARE FS MINORITIES in the April 21 Washington Post. A House International Relations generations UNDERREPRESENTED? Committee member said, “We never Minorities are underrepresented at assumed major savings out of the con¬ could be the professional level in every agency of solidation. The key factor is that there the U.S. government, according to are going to be major program cuts. undone." Allan Goodman, dean of graduate stud¬ Consolidation gives the secretary ies at Georgetown University’s School greater control” over handling massive of Foreign Service, in an April 19 budget reductions in the overall foreign — TO\Y LAKE, ASSIS¬ speech in New York. At present rates of affairs budget. increase — the highest in history — it TANT TO Tin: PRESI¬ would take more than a half century for DENT FOR NATIONAL people of color to achieve levels of rep¬ FOREIGN AID BATTLE resentation in international affairs com¬ SECl RJTY AFFAIRS parable to their 1990 level in the civil¬ To REQUIRE MORE PR NATIONAL PRESS ian work force, he noted. By the year At a time when the public seems to 2000 people of color will constitute favor less foreign aid, Anthony Lake, CLCR , APRIL 27 more than 40 percent of the U.S. labor President Clinton’s national security force, according to Goodman. adviser, believes the battle over foreign Though increasing numbers of spending can be won with an aggressive
14 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 CLIPPINGS
campaign of public education. An consult to compensate for our igno¬ interagency task force, including offi¬ rance about Southeast Asia. The irony cials from the State Department and of this gap was that it existed largely AID, has been assembled to orches¬ because the top East Asian and China trate the lobbying campaign, John experts in the State Department — Harris reported in the April 28 John Paton Davis Jr., John Stewart Washington Post. Lake had decided Service and John Carter Vincent — had that it was important for a senior White been purged during the McCarthy hys¬ YEARS AGO House official to speak out against for¬ teria of the 1950s. eign aid cuts, to counter impressions “Without men like these to provide that State’s opposition was simply sophisticated, nuanced insights, we — Behind the inaugura¬ defense of turf. certainly I — badly misread China’s tion of the United Nations objectives and mistook its bellicose Conference rhetoric to imply a drive for regional on International LOBBYING HEATS UP hegemony. We also totally underesti¬ Organization lav weeks of mated the nationalist aspect of Ho Chi hard labor by the State AGAINST BUDGET CUTS Minhs movement. ... Such ill-founded Department. The lead Diplomatic Security agents are judgments were accepted without article in the June 1945 warning that further budget cuts will debate by the Kennedy administration. Journal detailed “one of erode their ability to protect Americans We failed to analyze our assumptions States most difficult at U.S. embassies and combat terror¬ critically, then or later. The foundations undertakings.” To estab¬ ism, writes James Morrison in The of our decision-making were gravely lish the setting for an Washington Times of April 20. The flawed.” assembly of several hun¬ Bureau of Diplomatic Security' is brac¬ dred representatives of 46 ing for cuts of up to 20 percent in countries to the United staffing over the next two years, which REALITY REALLY BITES Nations in San Francisco, would “inevitably erode” the Service, a city 3,000 miles from according to the Diplomatic Security FOR ENVOY TO SPAIN Washington, heroic efforts Special Agents Association. Budget woes are making the were required to obtain DS agents have already absorbed Foreign Service rank-and-file discon¬ adequate office space, 12 and 13 percent staffing cuts in tented these days, Al Karnen reported hotel accommodations 1993. Morrison also reveals that for¬ in the April 17 Washington Post. Why? and local transportation. mer U.N. ambassador Jeane He gives examples of cuts in hardship The commodious Opera Kirkpatrick and former national secu¬ allowances and slashed travel budgets. House was the main audi¬ rity adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski have With this background, career employ¬ torium, with the historic- joined efforts to save USIA from pro¬ ees in Madrid resent the expensive plenary session opening posed legislation that would bring weekend visits to Seville by on April 25. When the international broadcasting services Ambassador Richard Gardner. State Department’s spe¬ under the State Department. Gardner and his wife travel down on cial train, the PRE-CON. the two-hour bullet train, sending the rolled into town, it seemed maid, cook and another helper in the as if half the diplomatic MCNAMARA: IN 70S armored limousine for the five-hour establishment had moved trip, reported Kamen. Gardner uses to the West Coast. The FSOs WERE NEEDED the old consulate building, which no Foreign Service played a Robert McNamara, former secretary longer houses a full-time consulate notable role, supplying of Defense, in excerpts from his new staff, for his weekend jaunts. The build¬ conference protocol offi¬ book, In Retrospect, recalls that the ing is rented from the Seville municipal cers and many special government lacked Foreign Service government for virtually nothing, but assistants, as well as serv¬ experts on Vietnam. He writes, “Our maintenance costs of $20,000 last year, ing on the U.S. government lacked experts for us to plus the costs of round-the-clock secu- delegation. ■
JUNE 199 5/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 15 CLIPPINGS
rity make keeping the building open an doubling sales each year and eventual¬ Real men do expensive proposition. Gardner replied ly could give the fund a big profit on its to staff criticisms that “the notion that $188,000 investment. politics and anyone is suffering today because of my Three-year-old SEAF is a curious decision [to use the Seville building] is new hybrid in international aid, a non¬ rubbish.” profit group funded by governments arms control, and charities, reported Milbank. There riot the are only hall a dozen such funds and POLISH CHICKEN COOPS SEAF, the largest, has only $30 million environment or of committed capital. Milbank wrote EARNING BIG PROFITS that the funds will become more wide¬ human rights." The Polish town of Ilawa is a recipi¬ spread as Senate Foreign Relations ent of foreign aid that isn’t likely to Committee Chair Jesse Helms (R- — UNDER SECRETARY cost U.S. taxpayers a penny, Dana N.C.) tries to let private organizations Milbank reported in the April 19 Wall dispense assistance instead of AID. OF STA TE Street Journal. The aid money was However, many charity groups TIMOTHY WIRTII, invested in a local chicken-coop maker acknowledge that private funds cannot by the Small Enterprise Assistance entirely replace grassroots assistance TIIE WASHINGTON Funds (SEAF), a venture-capital fund since profit-driven aid may overlook POST, A CHIT 20 established by CARE using AID those projects and people who need it money. The chicken-coop maker is most. ■
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16 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 SPEAKING OUT Let’s Rescue Public Diplomacy
BY HANS N. TUCH
TSIA was specifically [mandat- culture, as well as national goals and Vy ed] to counter a massive Soviet Public diplomacy current foreign policies. Public diplo¬ propaganda campaign worldwide.” macy has become an indispensable ele¬ Thus, former national security adviser has become an ment of die U.S. foreign policy process. Gen. Brent Scowcroft in recent con¬ In this interdependent world, it is gressional testimony defined the man¬ indispensable necessary for die United States to com¬ date of the U.S. government agency municate direcdy and effectively widi that conducts the nations public diplo¬ elemen t of the U.S. foreign publics — not only widi foreign macy. It is a wrong definition, but it Is governments — and diat has been not unique. So much misinfonnation foreign policy USIAs mandate since 1953, when and ignorance about the U.S. President Eisenhower created the Information Agency and public diplo¬ process. agency. USIAs public diplomacy has macy have been bandied about in tire always had a global purpose —- includ¬ current discussion about consolidation ing U.S. efforts to bring democracy to of U.S. government foreign affairs Germany and Japan in the late 1940s agencies — discussions that have and early 1950s, similar to current pro¬ degenerated into controversies among public affairs aspects of which take grams in the former communist world. legislators, foreign affairs experts and place... in USIA.” It included U.S. Cold War' objectives even Foreign Service professionals. I was dien convinced diat the pub¬ but extended way beyond tiiem. Therefore, in my view, it is necessary to lic affairs objectives and operations of To state, as Scowcroft does, diat clarify once again some of the issues U.S. foreign affairs would be served USIA was specifically created to basic to efforts to make the execution of advantageously if USIAs functions counter massive Soviet propaganda U.S. foreign policy more cost-effective. were to be re-merged into the and that the Voice of Americas (VOA) In 19761 wrote a then-controversial Department of State. sole purpose was to counter the pro¬ article in the September Foreign Subsequendy, while serving abroad paganda machine, is a misreading of Service Journal advocating the reinte¬ and in Washington, I changed my both liistory and the policies of the gration of USIA into the Department mind for what I consider a very impor¬ U.S. government. One need only con¬ of State. I wrote, “At this particular tant reason: I don’t believe die State sider VOA’s World War II mission, or time, I cannot accept the duplication in Departments “culture” is prepared to its impact in Cliina over many years, or policy formulation, application and exe¬ recognize public diplomacy as a vital its importance as a communication cution that exists as a result of a USIA element of the foreign policy process, medium in other parts of the world. separate from the Department of State. equal in importance to political and Or look at the long-term potential of I cannot accept the inefficiency inher¬ economic matters. The department the U.S. Congress-German Bundestag ent in the separation of foreign policy therefore could not administer and youth exchange program and the formulation, which takes place in State, promote public diplomacy widi the Freedom Support Act that brings from tlie foreign policy execution, the conviction and attention it requires. thousands of teenagers from die for¬ Many legislators and others still do mer Soviet Union to die United States Hans N. Tuch, a retired FSO, served not understand diat pubic diplomacy for year-long stays — all public diplo¬ in USIA in Frankfurt, Munich, represents U.S. efforts to bring about macy programs run by USIA. Moscow, Sofia, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, understanding among foreign publics Just as it took the State Department Brasilia and Bonn, of U.S. ideals and ideas, institutions and a long time to accept economics and
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 17 MARTENS VOLVO S P E A KIN G O V 7 Dedicated to Diplomacy Worldwide Delivery to Diplomats trade as important in the U.S. foreign and Members of International Organizations policy process, I don’t believe that the department is prepared yet to recog¬ nize public diplomacy is an equal part¬ ner in this process. It has been my experience, as just one example, that many policy-makers — including sec¬ retaries of state and NSC advisers — have been unable or unwilling to understand that an independent, objective and comprehensive VOA news operation, as prescribed by law, is necessary to create a communication medium that has worldwide credibility; such as the BBC, probably Britain’s Contact: Dana Martens, Diplomatic Sales Director most effective public diplomacy medi¬ um since World War II. vowo MARTENS 202-537-3000 It takes a strong USIA director — CARS OF WASHINGTON, INC. Fax 202-537-1826 4800 WISCONSIN AVE. WASH., DC 20016 Ed Murrow seems to have been the U.S.A.’s Largest Diplomatic Dealer m(xlel for many of us — to make sure that U.S. public diplomacy instruments, whether they axe press, radio, television or educational and cultural exchange programs, are used effectively to serve f. U.S. public diplomacy objectives, and How to Buy Auto Insurance Overseas that foreign public opinion is recognized There’s really only one way. Select the agent who offers broad experience as important in forming U.S. foreign and a high level of repeat business. Experience that helps you avoid the policy. There have been aberrations and pitfalls of a highly complex business. Repeat business that results from pro¬ peculiarities among some former USIA viding what’s best for the customer - not the agent. appointees, but I believe that USIA's For 34 years Harry M. Jannette, Jr. & Company has provided dependable public diplomacy professionals — both coverage with U.S. carriers to thousands of Foreign Service personnel world¬ FSOs raid civil servants — usually have wide. Thus, you gain the broadest U.S. terms and conditions and flexible been successful in carrying out tire value limits often not available from other insurance carriers. agency’s mandate. This is not an appeal for perpetuat¬ • WORLDWIDE COVERAGE Fire, theft, comprehensive and collision protec¬ ing a bureaucracy; but one to support tion are available at foreign posts. the effectiveness and strengthening of • U.S. AUTO LIABILITY Available for short term on home leave, change of tire role of public diplomacy irr the for¬ assignment, and new auto purchase prior to foreign departure. eign policy process when it is more • FOREIGN LIABILITY We suggest contacting your post on arrival. Local important for foreign peoples to under¬ laws require specific limits and coverage. Pricing is normally best on site. stand America. And I don’t believe tire State Department is able to do that job. • CONTACT US TODAY Let us send you “the Embassy Plan” brochure. It The U.S. national interest would contains all the answers about dependable coverage and low cost premi¬ ums. be served, therefore, if USIA were to remain independent, closely con¬ Harry M. Jannette, Jr. & Company nected in policy matters at State, and 3530 FOREST LANE #305 • DALLAS, TEXAS 75234-7955, that it would have the necessary per¬ TELEPHONE: 214-350-5141 • FAX: 214-352-7022 sonnel and material resources pro¬ Or Call 1-800-256-5141 vided by an understanding and sup¬ a portive Congress. H
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FROM MONTICELLO TO MILLWOOD TO DODONA MANOR,
ENVOYS’ COLLECTIONS PREENED FOR TOURIST SEASON
BY FRAN CINE MODDERNO
o doubt about it: Most diplo¬ begin a fascinating collection that, following her N mats love to collect. And the deadi in 1973, has become her chief claim to fame. Washington area is fortunate Wliile in Russia, like many odier Foreign Service to play host to several muse¬ spouses, Post explored die local shopping haunts. ums that house some very She discovered Russia’s second-hand commission famous and lovely collections shops, where pre-Revolutionary tut and anydiing — all rich in history — of for¬ else diat would fetch hard currency was sold by the mer U.S. envoys. Monticello, tire home of Thomas Bolsheviks in power at the time. To stock the shops, Jefferson, the first U.S. secretary of State and the the Bolsheviks tapped their storerooms of loot taken American envoy to France, is one of the most well from the former aristocracy and die palaces of for¬ known and often frequented, but others are rarely mer rulers. To Post’s eternal amazement, the visited. This summer, several new or refurbished Bolsheviks seemed to have no appreciation of the exhibits of former diplomats will be open to viewing. value of die objects tmd sold everydiing by weight. Reopening dris summer is die “Dacha” outbuild¬ She walked off with items such as two imperial ing of the Hillwood Museum, home of Marjorie Easter eggs that belonged to Russia’s imperial fami¬ Merriweather Post, former wife of America’s first ly, a china service used by Catherine the Great, and ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joseph E. Davies. a white imperial porcelain Bariatinsky vase, among Hillwood is a lovely 25-acre oasis in the midst of other major finds. Among die important objects in Washington, D.C., overlooking Rock Creek Park. her collection are rare eggs and small items made by Although Post, who kept her maiden name, bought master craftsman and jeweler Karl Faberge. She Hillwood in 1955 after her divorce from Davies, the later told friends in Washington that she had a field house is the repository for die largest and finest col¬ day in Faberges St. Petersburg shop, “crawling on lection of Russian imperial art outside Russia. hands and knees through die dust)', poorly lit store¬ Better known as the beautiful and wealthy Post rooms to examine [his] work at close range.” One of Toasties heiress and mother of movie star Dina the Faberge items she found was a snuff box of Merrill, Post, in 1936, was horrified when her polit¬ amediyst quartz that belonged to Prince Feliks ically appointed husband was assigned to the capital Yusupov, the murderer of Rasputin. of die Soviet empire. At the time, The New Yorker Hillwood is almost as imperial as die gorgeous described die post as “die bleakest and dullest one objects it houses. It is a formal mini-palace of cultivat¬ diat rates an ambassadorship.” Post had hoped for ed gardens ;ind dazzling internal beauty. The house something more glamorous. However, in die end, contains not only a number of Russian items — most she did not regret die posting. The year and a half collected outside Russia — but also a large array of she spent in Russia from 1936-38 allowed her to French 18th-centuiy antiques diat Post had pur-
20 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 chased before the Moscow posting, as well as a col¬ Army. The Marshalls took up permanent residence lection of elaborate lace she obtained while her hus¬ at Dodona Manor after the general retired; he lived band was ambassador to Belgium briefly in 1938. On there until his death from a stroke in 1959, at the age tables throughout the house are photos of historic fig¬ of 79. His widow remained in the house until she ures, including U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy, moved to a nursing home; her daughter Molly occu¬ Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower, pied the house up until the last few years. and members of the Russian imperial family. The main part of die house, sitting on land owned Millwoods “Dacha” houses the more modest col¬ as far back as the 1780s by George Washington Ball, lection of Post’s friend, Madame Frances Rosso, a great nephew of George who was the American wife of the Italian ambas¬ Washington, was built around sador to the USSR when the Davies were there. This 1820. A small mansion, enlarged Monticello, the homo collection of small objects, such as china, is more by additions, it sits on almost four of Thomas Jefferson, typical of the items acquired by the average diplo¬ overgrown acres, among tall old mat abroad. trees that hide it from passersby. is one of the most Millwood Museum staffers were nervous when Marshalls love of gardening is Russian President Boris Yeltsins wife, Naina Girina, evidenced by the large flower gar¬ well known and most visited recently, because they feared she would be dens around the house, and the angered by the many Russian treasures being remnants of a huge vegetable gar¬ often frequented of housed in the United States. However, at the end of den in back. The gardens include a the tour, Mrs. Yeltsin smiled and said, “You take such bed of flower bulbs planted by the Washington area good care of our things here.” Those items might not wife of the former Chinese now exist had die “ambassadress,” as Post preferred Nationalist leader, Madame diplomatic museums. to be called, not purchased them. Chiang Kai-Shek, a close friend of House and garden tours are given Tuesday-Saturday, tiie Marshalls. five times a day. Reservations can be nmde by contacting Inside, the house is blighted with rot, although it HillwoodMuseum, 4155Linnean Ave., N.W., Washington, still emanates the lives of its former occupants. On D.C. 20008, Tel: (202) 686-5807. the second floor is a large and inviting bedroom with Another interesting museum is the former a fireplace and a bay window that the Marshalls Leesburg, Va., home of Gen. George C. reserved for their guests. They themselves slept in Marshall, President Trumans secretary of State and more modest bedrooms at the rear of the house, special envoy to China from 1945-1947, a 1953 because “Gen. Marshall was used to the military Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and the father of the lifestyle,” explains the guide. European Community and the Marshall Plan. Items collected by the Marshalls while overseas Refurbishments to Dodona Manor have begun, and are as modest as die house and its owners, and the house is expected to be open to visitors this sum¬ include Chinese rugs brought back by die Marshalls mer. from their 1946 tour in China. Among the items to Located on a quiet residential street at the east¬ be refurbished are blue silk curtains that still hang in ern edge of Leesburg’s historic district, Dodona die living room, a gift from Madame Chiang Kai- Manor, like its former owner, is relatively modest. shek, who also sent them a Chinese nursemaid, or The house was the Marshalls’ “country home,” amah. Other important treasures, such as Marshall’s where the general and his second wife, Katherine, favorite books and a painting of Marrakesh by Sir lived when not at their military residence at Ft. Winston Churchill, are being held elsewhere until Myer, in a house provided by the federal govern¬ die house is ready to be opened to die public tins ment for the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. smnmer. Most of the furnishings are representative of mid- Francine Moddemo, a former Foreign Service 20th-century Americana, including Marshall’s favorite spouse, is a freelance writer in Northern Virginia. chain, which, like all the other decaying furniture,
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 21 squeaky floors, rusty bathrooms and the society and international organiza¬ who have helped fund a $20,(XX) recent¬ 1940s appliances, is being totally refur¬ tions. The Andersons loved to entertain, ly launched feasibility study. ADSTs bished to reflect the man’s life and times. and designed their house for that pur¬ Diplomatic Histoiy Research Center Dodona Manor is available for private pose, with large reception areas, a huge holds tiie libraries of several oral history group showings. Contact the George C. musicians’ gallery, an enormous dining projects on American diplomats aid Marshall Home Preservation Fund, Inc., area furnished with a table that seats 28, diplomatic spouses, as well as a library of 20 South King Street, P.O. Box 489, and a two-story great hall for after-din¬ biographies of American diplomats aid Leesburg, Va. 22075, or at (703) 777-1880. ner dancing. Many state dinners and books on U.S. diplomacy. Its artifacts Another Washington mansion of a receptions have been held there, include the 1850 exequatur issued to wealthy former American envoy including one for the king and queen of U.S. Consul Edwin De Leon in the undergoing refurbishment is the Siam in 1931. Anderson wrote of sever¬ nane of the Ottomai Porte; the diplo¬ Anderson House museum, now used al dinners they gave for the French, matic uniform worn by the second sec¬ as the headquarters for the Society of Japanese, Italian and Belgian ambas¬ retary of tiie embassy to the court of die Cincinnati, the country’s oldest sador's: “Our' dinners proved successful. Tsar Nicolas; and Currier aid Ives por¬ patriotic order. The house, located The house was full of flowers—azaleas, traits of seven presidents who were also near Dupont Circle, was built for orchids, lilies, and tulips. We remained, secretaries of state. Ambassador Larz Anderson and his I believe, tire only house in Washington, One of Low’s first efforts to preserve heiress wife Isabel, who lived diere except tire embassies, which turned out diplomatic memorabilia was to arrange from 1905 until their sudden acciden¬ tire servants in full-dress livery, shorts tiie move of die Benjanin Fraiklin tal death in a 1937 train wreck. and stockings, buckled shoes, and statue, which had been hiding in bush¬ Anderson was appointed by President braided coats. These dinners were swan es by tiie main State Department Taft as minister to Belgium in 1911 songs to tire old order.” entrance, to tiie quadrangle in front of and ambassador to Japan in 1912. Anderson House is open Tuesday- NFATC. State didn’t have a place to Upstairs, the house is reserved for Saturday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Library hours put die statute, he says, aid few people Anderson memorabilia, and has been are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m, even noticed it, much less appreciated kept relatively unchanged from the Contact Anderson House, 2118 it. The statue, a 1919 copy of one at the Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, days when die family lived diere. The U.S. Embassy in Paris created by D C. 20008, Tel: (202) 785-2040. dramatic collection includes a mixture American sculptor Paul Wayland of Asian and European art and arti¬ A photo essay of U.S. diplomatic Biurett, was presented to die depart¬ facts gathered by the couple while history, now on display at ment in 1982 to commemorate the diey were at overseas posts, or during Arlington Hall at the National Foreign 200th anniversary of the establishment the international “touring” they so Affairs Training Center (NFATC), was of die State Department. Now, enjoyed. The objects include rare organized by the non-profit America’s first ambassador is finally Japanese and Chinese carvings and Association for Diplomatic Studies receiving the recognition due him. He lacquered furniture, and French and and Training (ADST). has become a favorite of tiie student English antiques and tapestries. Steve Low, president of ADST and body at NFATC, where tiie nation’s When the Andersons built their a retired Foreign Service officer who diplomats honor their silent mentor by mansion, they intended to bequeath headed the Foreign Service Institute including him in various celebrations: it to the Society of the Cincinnati for five years, is tiring to launch a Ben Franklin has been dressed in mor¬ after their deaths. The society is an National Museum of Foreign Affairs. tarboards, Santa Claus hats and St. organization for first-son descen¬ “The federal government administers Patrick’s Day attire. dants of Americans and their French 212 military museums and other spe¬ The photo display of U.S. diplomatic comrades who fought in the cialized museums, such as the National history at the National Foreign Affairs American Revolution. George Railroad and Maritime museums,” he Training Center is open to those with Washington and Pierre 1’Enfant says, “Why not a museum devoted to State Department identification or guest passes. The exhibit is in the main corridor were founding members. American foreign affairs?” between the classroom building and the Altiiough the Andersons’ furnishings Low’s call for such a museum is sup¬ cafeteria. Membership in ADST is $50; remain downstairs, those rooms are pri¬ ported by former senators Connie $1,000 for patrons. Contact the marily devoted to the display of Mack, Charles Mathias and Charles Association for Diplomatic Studies and Revolutionary War objects and a library, Percy, former congressman Dante Training, 4000 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, as well as rooms for private functions of Fascell, aid several private benefactors, Va. 22204, Tel: (703) 302-6990. ■
22 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC MUSEUMS
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (Cedar (804) 984-9828. The home of Thomas Jefferson, this major Hill), 1411 W St., S.E., Washington, D.C.; (202) 426-5960. work of American architecture and extensive gardens con¬ Home of black abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who served tains more than 800 objects collected by the former presi¬ as the U.S. minister to Haiti during the mid-1880s. dent when he was American envoy to France. Decatur House, 748 Jackson Place, N.W., Washington, Montpelier, P.O. Box 67, Montpelier Station, VA D.C. 20006; (202) 842-0920. On Lafayette Square, across 22957; (703) 672-2728. The home of James and Dolley from the White House, this building was the home of sec¬ Madison, fourth president of the United States and retaries of State Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren and Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of State. Edward Livingston. National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Diplomatic Reception Rooms, Department of State, Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20560; (202) 357-4600, 23rd & C Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20520; (202) Dial-a-Museum information: (202) 357-2020. This 647-3241. Among this collection are portraits of Benjamin Smithsonian museum was started in 1964 by former FSO Franklin painted in London and Paris while he was die Warren Robbins, and once was housed at Cedar Hill, home American envoy in those capitals, and die desk on which of tire black abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a former U.S. the Treaty of Paris was signed. minister to Haiti. Dumbarton Oaks, 1703 22nd St., N.W., Washington, Naumkeag. P.O. Box 792, Stockbridge, Mass. 01262- D.C.; (202) 338-8278. This house, dating from federalist 0792; (413) 298-3239. Situated in a beautiful small town, times and host to President Taft and Alexander Graham Naumkeag was the country and retirement home of Joseph Bell, was purchased by career diplomat Robert Woods Bliss Hodges Choate, President McKinleys ambassador to the in 1920. Given by Bliss to Harvard University in 1940, it Court of St. James. The house, which hosted President now is a research center and houses Bliss's Byzantine art McKinley, contains objects collected in England during collection. The mansions collection of pre-Colombian art Choates assignment, as well as objects from China collect¬ also was started by Bliss in Paris. The music room hosted ed by his daughter. the 1944 diplomatic meetings tiiat led to the creation of the Old Executive Office Building, Pennsylvania Ave. & United Nations. 17th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20503; (202) 395-5895. Library of Congress, 10 First Street, S.E., This building, now used exclusively for White House Washington, D.C. 20540; (202) 287-5000. After the British offices, once housed the State Department. The south burned the Library of Congress in 1814, Thomas Jefferson wing’s four-story White House library and research center offered to sell his own library of 6,487 books to the govern¬ originally was the State Department's library; State’s seal is ment to restock the national depository. Many of his books visible in railings surrounding the balconies. were purchased in Paris when he was the U.S. envoy there. Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, P.O. Box 419, James Monroe Museum, 908 Charles Street, Forest, Va. 24551-0419; (804) 525-1806. Southwest of Fredericksburg, Va. 22401; (703) 899-4559. Home of our Lynchburg, Va., on Route 661, this house was designed by fifth president, father of the Monroe Doctrine, who also Jefferson as his personal retreat. It became a national his¬ served as secretary of State and American minister to toric landmark in 1984 and was opened to the public only a France, England and Spain. It contains costumes worn by few years ago. The extraordinary octagonal house, tire con¬ the Monroes at the court of Napoleon, and Louis XVI fur¬ struction of which was overseen personally by the president niture the couple collected in France, which they used in while he was in office, is considered to be his finest archi¬ the White House. tectural design. Meridian International Center, 1624 and 1630 Virginia House, 4301 Sulgrave Rd., Richmond, Va. Crescent Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009; (202) 667- 23226; (804) 353-4251. This is the fascinating home of 6800. The center, now used for activities for foreign diplo¬ career diplomat Alexander Weddell and his heiress wife mats and students, is comprised of two houses built for U.S. Virginia. Weddell served in Zanzibar, Greece, Burma, diplomats Henry White and Irwin Boyle Laughlin. Syria; as U.S. consul to India and Mexico; and as U.S. Monticello, c/o Thomas Jefferson Memorial ambassador to Argentina and Spain, just before the out¬ Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 217, Charlottesville, Va. 22902; break of World War II. ■
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 23 Focus
WHY AFRICA IS IMPORTANT
e live in a time of mount¬ Clinton administration cut m id ran from Somalia and dien ing Afro-pessimism. Its glossed over genocide in Rwanda. Meanwhile, Sen. Mitch W companion — official McConnell, die new Republican chairman of die Senate Western disengagement Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, from Africa — increas¬ reveals that he has a “hard time justifying expenditures in ingly is in evidence. most of the African continent ... a hard time finding a These trends are hardly national interest.” U.S. assistance efforts in die region are surprising: Africa is the region bad news comes from. A \iewed in significant Republican circles as die foreign-poli¬ one-dimensional picture of “die situation in Africa” flows cy equivalent of Aid to Families widi Dependent Children. naturally from the combination of facts and images avail¬ It would be coldly convenient simply to accept die able in die West. While some editors and writers make Afro-pessimist case. But we cannot. It is not a fair or com¬ efforts to convey Africa’s variety, nuance and historical plete portrait, and die policy implications that appear to context, most manage to paint a flow from it are foolish. It would be regional portrait of failure, destitu¬ reckless to base our conduct toward tion, brutality and hopelessness. an entire continent on selective snap¬ Author Christopher Hitchens shots. And it would be counter to recendy summed up die African every humanitarian impulse to write landscape in a searing article in off Africa, encouraging doomsdays Vanity Fair by referring to die “abat¬ that do not need to happen. toir conditions in Somalia, Rwanda, The administrations assessment Liberia, Angola, Burundi and else¬ of a region three times die size of the where.” The implication that these United States, comprising some 53 places represent die new African distinct political entities and one- norm — and diat there are lots more eighdi of the human race, cannot be like diem waiting to happen — is reduced to a recitation of its well- hard to escape. known liabilities, without taking into Afro-pessimism feeds off Africa’s account its quiet successes, exciting horrors like vultures on a fresh kill. changes or die very diversify’ that is The horrors of Africa are very real. one of Africa’s most striking features. So, too, are their external political When we talk of Africa we are DESPITE COMPLEX PAST consequences: Elected leaders in talking of vast distances and scales. bodi branches of our government — AND UNCERTAIN PRESENT, The United States would fit inside and from both parties — have GREAT POTENTIAL EXISTS the Sahara Desert; Sudan is larger approved reductions in die official than Western Europe; southern U.S. presence in Africa. However BY CHESTER A. CROCKER Africa is larger than China. This sympathetic its African rhetoric, die massive continent comprises huge
24 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
The starting place in considering Africa is to recognize the opportunities squandered, the time lost, the lessons learned.
differences of climate, culture, topography, resources and European decisions to cut the costs of empire and dis¬ population density. Generalizations quickly get you into engage. And they maintained themselves in power trouble. An arid place with fragile ecosystems and poor through the cultivation and manipulation of symbiotic soils, Africa still provides 25 percent of the worlds poten¬ ties to the former colonial powers, the two superpowers tial hydropower. The raw numbers would suggest that and world financial agencies. Africa’s “non-alignment” Africa, widi a total population of around 700 million, does was more than a defensive political response to Cold not have serious demographic pressures. But much of War bipolarity or an anticolonial reflex. Nonalignment Africa is already burdened by human and animal pres¬ was part of a calculated diplomatic enterprise aimed at sures that exceed the lands carrying capacity using cur¬ raising the stakes of the African game and gamering rent levels of technology and capital. higher bids from external players. The map tells us that Africa is highly balkanized, con¬ Today, this mating game is largely over. The interna¬ sisting of many ministates (37 boast populations of 10 tional system no longer provides consistent and pre¬ million or less) and some 15 landlocked independent dictable support to the African state system or the states (40 percent of the worlds total). The continent incumbents who run it. By the same token, the legiti¬ boasts few mono-ethnic “nation states;” Swaziland, macy of the African state apparatus and even of inherit¬ Botswana, Eritrea and Somalia are exceptions. ed boundaries has been severely undercut by the loss of Ironically, that is probably a good tiling: If ethnicity were semiautomatic support from the international system. the basis of African statehood, there could be some¬ Generally speaking, states and governments which where between 800 and 2,000 political entities. became most dependent upon outsiders during the Cold War era emerged with the weakest basis of domes¬ Most African states acquired independence in tic political legitimacy. the late 1950s and 1960s, during the height of These trends were epitomized in the Horn of Africa the Cold War. This historical coincidence has in 1991-94: When the Somali state collapsed amidst bru¬ profoundly shaped their experience. It gave African tal clan-based strife, foreign governments stood by. rulers a substantial base of external support to offset Seizing their chance, the northern, formerly British their striking internal weaknesses, and a fleeting illusion region effectively seceded from the previously dominant of importance and leverage. The early African national¬ southern part — an action few noticed and even fewer ist elites acquired their position largely as a result of bothered to recognize or oppose even after the Bush administration mounted its high-profile Operation Chester A. Crocker is the Landegger Research Restore Hope to create secure conditions for distribut¬ Professor of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s ing food. Next door in Ethiopia, as the Soviets aban¬ School of Foreign Service. Afonner assistant secretary doned their brutal client Mengistu Haile Mariam, north¬ of State, he serves as chairman of the hoard of the U. S. ern ethnic rebellions cooperated to rout the regime in Institute of Peace and is a consultant on strategy and May 1991; one ethnic group seized power in the capital negotiation for American and European firms. A ver¬ and another pressed successfully for independence as sion of this article first appeared in Cosmos, A Journal the new state of Eritrea. of Emerging Issues, a publication of the Cosmos Club The international system s primary impact on these in Washington, D C. events was to soften up the Somali and Ethiopian auto-
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 25 Focus
crats and ease their departure. What replaced them — for churches, opposition politicians, professionals, mid com¬ good or ill — was primarily determined by the local munity and womens organizations. Incumbents have actors. Even the intervention of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops been placed on the defensive internally and externally. was narrowly circumscribed in time and ultimate scope: Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented flow¬ The Clinton administrations brief fling with grandiose ering of experiments in democracy. Some 27 multiparty ideas of “nation-building” quickly collapsed when it elections have been held in sub-Sahara Africa since the became clear that Somali leaders would turn this into a Berlin Wall came down. Significant and heartening polit¬ contact sport. In the end, the U.S. succeeded in saving ical change has resulted from some of these exercises. The hundreds of thousands of Somali lives and opening up a end of apartheid and the emergence of a democratically- window for political reconciliation. When Somali leaders oriented culture of reconciliation in South Africa are by no appeared to blow this opportunity, we left. means the only good political news from Africa. Having ended their global contest, the United States Democratic change in varying degrees and shapes has and Russia disengaged in the strategic sense, removing come to Cape Verde, Zambia, Malawi, the Central African quite suddenly an important element of the African status Republic, Niger, Mali, Benin, Congo, Sao Tome & quo. Cold War pawns have collapsed or been obliged to Principe, Lesotho and Madagascar. Namibia achieved its redefine their policies in response to Western conditions independence in 1990 after one of the most democratic relating to governance, structural adjustment, economic transitions in modem African history, achieved under liberalization, accountability and democratization. This U.N. supervision supported by long-standing U.S. diplo¬ process of post-Cold War disengagement comes a mere matic leadership. Senegal, Mauritius, Seychelles and 30 years after Europe’s departure from its former Botswana have operated for some years under democrat¬ colonies. ic norms, most with a clearly dominant party. Many African societies today are worse off in material Mozambique has emerged from an October 1994 U.N.- terms and under far more severe strain than they were in tire supervised democratic transition, a process that could sig¬ final colonial phase 35 to 40 years ago. This is not to say that nificantly strengthen Southern Africa’s emerging democ¬ anyone can or should turn the clock back to recolonization. ratic bloc. Potentially important constitutional and elec¬ African economies may be in de facto World Bank/IMF toral exercises have been mounted in Uganda, Eritrea and receivership and Africa’s wars and political transitions under Ethiopia, though their outcomes remain unclear. the sway of U.N. peacekeepers and international observers. On die economic side, there are signs of vitality in a But there are no credible foreign volunteers lining up to number of African economies. This point has been clear¬ police or govern Africa. Equally important, even the most ly recognized in die New York and London financial mar¬ traumatized African societies show' little sign of wishing to go kets, which have witnessed die debut of some eight back to colonial or white minority' rule. Africa-focused mutual funds in the past few years. Emerging-market volatility in the wake of the Mexican The starting place in considering Africa is to recog¬ peso crisis will hardly encourage investors to plunge into nize the opportunities squandered, the time lost, Africa’s generally littie-known, tiny and unliquid markets. the lessons learned and the new situation created But diis region has become something of a new, high- by Western diplomacy and the global political changes of potential frontier. There are now 13 stock exchanges oper¬ 1989-94. Let’s start with the positive side of the ledger. ating on die continent, with another five being estab¬ The status quo has been decisively weakened, which has lished. South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange opened up new vistas of hope for freedom and democra¬ accounts for some 93 percent of total African market cap¬ tization and new chances for the unleashing of Africa’s italization and is among the world’s top dozen bourses. potential through a shift toward market economics. Highly skilled African expatriates are starting to return Compared to previous decades, the balance of power to their home countries from the West. A growing num¬ within African societies has shifted against incumbent ber of African governments have jettisoned die once-fash- rulers and their privileged urban constituents and in favor ionable socialist nonsense diat passed for economic policy. of farmers and Africa’s embryonic civil society — media, African finance and trade ministries are increasingly in the
26 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
ENVIRONMENTAL CHAOS REIGNS BY PETER C. MAFFITT Climate is a controlling issue in Africa — NASA official, has studied satellite photos of Africa where large areas of arid, poor soils make the for more than three decades. Photos of recent years continent subject to periodic, sustained have indicated dramatic climate changes, with dust droughts. Africa also has great rain forests, which are storms 350 to 450 miles across and 40,000 feet high, rapidly being destroyed. moving up to 130 miles an hour, and some covering Michael Garstang, an African environmental scien¬ 700.000 square miles — three times tire size of Texas. tist at tire University of Virginia, believes the changes Garstang points out that Africa has many long-term stem from natural climate cycles. Africa was a dry con¬ and short-term weather cycles — several decades may tinent in die last Ice Age with die Sahara Desert extend¬ be dry, wet or wet-and-diy. While the 1990s are a wet- ing thousands of miles south to the Kalahari Desert. decade cycle, 1993 changes in die El Nino phenome¬ From the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age (10,000 BC) non brought an exception — in the fonn of failed rains until 4,000 BC, there was a prolonged wet era in Africa; and a severe drought in southern Africa, putting at least die Sahara was covered with lakes, rivers, rain forests, 100 million people at risk. Unless rains return by mid- and grasslands. Then a great drying era started — and 1995, donor nations will need to come up with 65 mil¬ the Sahara Desert is now die size of die continental lion tons of food for southern Africa. United States, about 3.5 million square miles. For Underwood, water is the key African issue. In Scientists are now realizing the close connection the last decade, satellite coverage recorded the drying between regional climate and global climate. Climate in up of the great swamp near Timbuktu, which covered African regions directly influences climate and soil condi¬ 20.000 square miles. Lake Chad, once the size of tions in die rest of the world, and vice versa. In sharp con¬ Lake Erie, virtually dried up a few years ago. Great trast, many environmental experts are convinced African African rivers — die Niger, the Senegal, die Gambia, climate changes are largely man-made, particularly exac¬ the Volta and the Congo — are increasingly drying up erbated by die population explosion. Population migra¬ during prolonged dry spells. tions, rain forest destruction and overgrazing of arable The U.S. Bureau of the Census estimates the African land are all traceable to increased population. population in 1995 at 722 million and 588 million sub- Dust storms are an age-old phenomenon in Africa, Saharan. In 1950 Africa had a population of288 million tiiough diey are much smaller today dian in eons past. and 184 million sub-Saharan. By 2050, if current trends Today, about 200 to 400 million tons of dust — miner¬ continue, Africa could have an estimated 2.4 billion als, nutrients and assorted particles — are blown annu¬ people, with mass migrations expected to continue. ally from the surface of Africa to otiier parts of Africa as The destruction of rain forests is a major ecological well as to the Atiantic, Caribbean, Amazon basin and disaster; in the last half-century, three-fourths of the elsewhere. African dust builds Latin American soil and West African forests have vanished, due to the need for nurtures die Amazon rain forest. The Oklahoma Dust cooking and heating fuel, for housing and for farmland Bowl storms of the 1930s have entered American folk¬ — driven by rising populations. Rain forests produce lore as a great climactic catastrophe, but by African stan¬ the moisture needed for cumulus clouds and eventual dards, the storms were minor. rain; fewer forests mean less atmospheric moisture and Richard W. Underwood, a retired Houston-based increased dust, with the resultant reduced rainfall — genetic pools vanish with the rain forests. At the current Peter C. Maffitt, a Houston businessman and found¬ rate of destruction, the 1.7 million square kilometer ing director of the River Blindness Foundation, is Central African rain forest and the great Madagascar from a Foreign Service family. forests could be gone in 50 years. ■
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 27 Focus
hands of Western-trained technocrats. Many govern¬ cycles exacerbated by man and domestic animals. Massive ments have signed on to tough programs of fiscal austeri¬ dust storms, intermittent dry river basins, vanished lakes ty, deregulation, privatization and currency liberalization. and recurrent droughts are ominous warnings that major In regional security issues, some protracted and destruc¬ parts of Africa may not be able to sustain current trends. tive conflicts have been terminated — e.g., in Africa is not the only region where corruption flourishes. Mozambique, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Namibia. A ceasefire and But, too many African countries have desperately weak gov¬ political reconciliation has been signed by the parties to ernmental institutions leading to the absence of anything Angolas long-standing civil conflict, and a fresh U.N. peace resembling public accountability. In die worst cases, die sad operation is set to oversee its implementation. And there is result is gross mismanagement or outright dieft of everything inspiration and hope in the pragmatic miracle of South that is not nailed down. The tragic flight of so much of Africa’s Africa’s negotiated transition to democracy, a path-breaking financial capital is another reason why sub-Saharan Africa still transition conducted by South Africans themselves. has too litde to show for die external aid it receives — nearly 40 percent of global aid flows. One veteran observer sums up This brief summary makes clear that it is just plain the record diis way: Despite a decade of World Bank-IMF wrong to throw our hands in the air in an Afro-pes¬ sponsored structural adjustment, net aid dows of $170 bil¬ simist frenzy. But positive factors must be viewed lion, a steadily mounting share of global aid, Sub-Sahara against the backdrop of a continent still battling to break out African economic growdi remains well below die 3.2 percent of a prolonged crisis. Most African states are not collapsing annual rise in population. The World Bank estimates it could like Rwanda, Liberia or Somalia. They are in the early take 40 years before die region returns to its per-capita stages of what will likely be a prolonged and difficult transi¬ income level of die mid-1970s. Meanwhile, Africa’s share of tion away from one-party or one-man misrule. The Kenyan global trade has declined by one half to a mere 2 percent scholar Michael Chege observes, “Africa now harbors a since die mid-1960s. These chilling statistics, of course, hide large number of rudderless regimes, drifting between suc¬ as much as they reveal when used to describe die condition cess and catastrophe, with pretensions to electoral legitima¬ of 53 countries. But even die relative economic winners are cy but no real popular backing to speak of.” Of the 27 elec¬ not growing fast enough yet to turn the comer decisively, and tions mentioned, at least 10 were aborted, manipulated, there are not enough of them. distorted or sabotaged in one way or another: Wily incum¬ Another liability on Africa’s balance sheet is die belt of bents are learning how to rig elections, control campaign war-ravaged and unstable states spreading from Somalia rules and divide or co-opt opposition figures. In a few cases, and Sudan down dirough Rwanda and Burundi, parts of the military has simply thwarted electoral results. Zaire, and down into Angola. Four major African states — African societies entered the post-Cold War era facing Algeria, Nigeria, Sudan and Zaire — are wracked by severe ecological and health challenges that are among the crises of political legitimacy including low-level strife tiiat worlds most severe. Our Census Bureau estimates an could spin out of hand, affecting entire surrounding neigh¬ average life expectancy of 32 in Uganda in 2010, instead borhoods. Liberia’s four-year-long descent into butchery of 59 were there no AIDS epidemic. AIDS could reduce has infected neighboring Sierra Leone. The chances for GDP by 15 to 25 percent in East African countries during sustained economic and political progress in more hopeful the first decade of the next century. places like Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, Ivor)’ Coast, Benin, Population increases too often eat up tire bulk of GDP Niger, Mali, Senegal, Chad, Burkina Faso, Congo, Soutii growth. Even with AIDS taking its awful toll, sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi, Uganda, Africa’s population of nearly 600 million could double by Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia will depend in some mea¬ 2020. Such scenarios virtually guarantee unchecked sure on trends next door in die huge nations of Algeria, migrations to ill-prepared urban centers, burgeoning Nigeria, Angola, Sudan and Zaire. It is a delicate balance. refugee populations, accelerated destruction of African rain forests and heightened man-made climate changes. Back in June 1994, at a two-day White House con¬ Already, scientific observers are detecting the impact of ference on Africa, President Clinton and Vice dramatic climate changes flowing from natural climate President Al Gore sought to underscore die posi-
28 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
AIDS OVERWHELMS CONTINENT BY KATHLEEN HENRY Since 1983, when HIV was first documented in touched by HIV/AIDS, has provided counseling, sup¬ sub-Saharan Africa, more than 11 million portive care and AIDS prevention education to tens of African men, women and children have been thousands of people through seven TASO centers and infected with the vims that causes AIDS. Two-thirds a network of community outreach workers. of the worlds 17 million HIV infections and almost 75 Recognizing the potential of community-based percent of all reported AIDS deaths have occurred in AIDS prevention and care, many international donors sub-Saharan Africa. Africa is also the only region of the focus on strengthening the ability of grassroots organi¬ world where more women than men are HIV-positive, zations to respond to the epidemic. For example, 75 since four out of every five infections are acquired percent of the U.S. Agency for International through heterosexual transmission. Developments (AID) AIDS Control and Prevention Although Asia is expected to overtake Africa as die (AIDSCAP) support for HIV prevention in 16 African region with die most new HIV infections per year by countries goes to organizations working at the com¬ die year 2000, the worst is still ahead for Africa. In munity level. AIDs contribution — $41 million in fis¬ many sub-Saharan countries, HIV/AIDS is starting to cal year 1993 — supports HIV/AIDS prevention pro¬ reverse hard-won gains in health, education and eco¬ grams and research in 25 African countries. The nomic development. agency is also the largest contributor to the World During the next 15 years, life expectancy may drop Health Organizations Global Programme on AIDS by 24 to 33 years in the African countries most af fect¬ (GPA), which has helped more than 40 African gov¬ ed by the epidemic. In Zimbabwe, for example, AIDS ernments develop and carry out strategic plans for is projected to reduce life expectancy from 70 to 40 controlling HIV/AIDS. years by 2010. During the same period AIDS will also Despite tire daunting political, financial and man¬ shorten the lives of Africa’s most vulnerable citizens — agerial obstacles to AIDS prevention in Africa, care¬ children. Child mortality rates in Zambia and fully designed, well-managed programs have been Zimbabwe are expected to triple due to AIDS. able to influence people’s behavior. Examples include According to the World Bank, the epidemic programs in Tanzania, Nigeria and Zimbabwe that appeal's to be the main reason that per-capita income train members of the target audience to educate their growdi is slowing in 10 sub-Saharan countries. peers about AIDS and encourage them to adopt safer HIV/AIDS has a far greater economic impact on sexual practices, particularly the use of condoms. nations, businesses, communities and families than As a result of a peer education program at a mining otiier diseases because it usually affects people during company in Zimbabwe, die number of condoms distrib¬ the most productive years. uted rose 63 percent and the number of treated cases of One of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic, sexually transmitted diseases treated was halved. Uganda, is known for pioneering community-based Johnnie Carson, the new ambassador to approaches to HIV prevention and AIDS care. For Zimbabwe and the former envoy to Uganda from example, The AIDS Service Organization (TASO), 1991-94, said AIDS is the most serious problem fac¬ founded in 1987 by 16 Ugandans whose lives had been ing Africa today. “AIDS generally strikes tire most productive, well-educated part of a country’s work Kathleen Henry is senior writer/editor for the AIDS force, robbing many African countries of their best Control and Prevention Project, an international and brightest. Nothing can be done to alleviate HIV prevention program funded by AID and imple¬ poverty and promote economic development in mented by Family Health International. Africa without productive work forces.” ■
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 29 Focus
tive, deploring public ignorance and a one-sidedly negative emergencies will recur and oificial assistance will be need¬ focus on Africa’s grim realities. They called for positive ed simply to avert disasters. The CIA’s annual forecast of thinking to help spur the development of a constituency to looming humanitarian disasters predicts that die next 12- support U.S. engagement in Africa. But it will not work to 18 months will see the greatest demands ever for human¬ gild tlie African lily; we need policies based on Afro-realism. itarian aid to Africa; 30 million people — 75 percent of the Presumably, in diis age of “virtual” reality, we were sup¬ global total — are said to be at risk in 10 African nations. posed to view die White House conference as “action” on By contrast, Africa’s success would mean exports, jobs behalf of Africa. A presidential visit to Africa, rumored for and investment opportunities for Americans. It is not gen¬ 1995, would constitute more “action.” Most disappointing was erally recognized that we have been sustaining a long-term Clinton’s failure to make good on his pledge to “explain to die trade imbalance widi sub-Saharan Africa — an estimated American people of whatever race, region or background why $38 billion imbalance during die 1989-93 period, according Africa matters to all of us and to our common future.” to die Department of Commerce. (Oil accounts for some Africa’s transition from crisis to hope matters a great 70 percent of U.S. purchases.) Greater African economic deal, and for many of die same reasons as the transitions vitality will offer die chance for increased U.S. exports and under way in the former Soviet Union and Eastern jobs. Even today, U.S.-African trade is growing faster than Europe. Africa’s success will mean a more decent and sta¬ overall trade. Though Africa accounts for only 1 percent of ble world order where American values and interests can U.S. global exports, diat was 20 percent greater dian U.S. flourish. Failure in Africa is a direct direat to Western exports to die Commonwealdi of Independent States in humanitarian values as well as our national budgets: 1993; Soudi Africa was a larger market than all of Eastern Costly peacekeeping operations will drag on, famine Europe combined. U.S. direct investment in the region is a
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30 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 199.5 Focus
modest $2.2 billion; but that generated 32 percent on book policy” to places as varied as Morocco and Mozambique. value in 1992. In this time of global markets and industries, Lets not get tangled up in our own abstractions. Do we con¬ Americans cannot afford to write off markets like this. duct an “Asian policy” in the Philippines or Japan? Failure in Africa has consequences beyond tire conti¬ If we look closely, we will find that our natural partners nent. The beneficiaries are narcotics rings and other in Africa are also becoming clearer. We can help shape a mafias. Failure creates spawning grounds for state terror¬ coalition of like-minded African and non-African players ists falsely flying the flag of Islam; it threatens world healdi including our major allies in Europe and Asia and key in this age of travel and migration; it threatens world envi¬ financial bodies like the World Bank and tire IMF. Special ronmental security and biodiversity; it creates a growing attention must be devoted to bolstering subregions where pool of refugees and migrants, strengthening local strong¬ a critical mass of relatively well-managed countries may men at home while triggering social tensions in new lands exist — such as in Southern Africa and, perhaps, die Horn of settlement. These high costs cannot be swept under a of Africa/East Africa. Africans and their foreign partners rug; Africa cannot be redlined like a strategic slum. need to make common cause, building a coalition with the legitimacy — as well as the teeth and spine — to help What, then, should the United States be doing? transform Africa’s policy climate by establishing higher First, let us celebrate and contribute to the nat¬ standards for economic management. ural and growing differentiation among Africa’s Second, we need to get the sequence right. There is 53 countries. As the contrast between success stories and bas¬ much loose talk about free markets and democracy — as if ket cases gets clearer, so should the variety and range of our these wonderful items could be obtained by placing African policies. It has never made much sense to apply an “African nations on autopilot, preaching our Western sermons and
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JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 31 Focus
sending over lots of AID-funded contractors. It doesn’t and regional peacekeeping efforts as appropriate. work that way. Foreign money and technicians can help at This is not a call for American military interventionism, tlie margins, but the institutions must be African. Neither which neither Americans nor Africans want to see. Rather, economic growth nor democracy can take root until gov¬ it is an appeal for leadership in specific fields such as con¬ ernment becomes relevant to people and gains the capaci¬ flict-resolution training, military logistics and other special¬ ty to sustain the minimum f unctions of a modem state. ized support, help for demining and demobilization efforts, The logical implication is that Africa’s top priority — and determined and coherent diplomatic backstopping of and ours — is to deal with the problem of collapsing states negotiated settlements so that they get implemented. To be and civil wars so that tiiey do not infect more promising sure, there are many complex choices, and the United places. It is not good news if these post-Cold War pres¬ States cannot take the lead everywhere. But if we wait for a sures overwhelm the remnants of African authority, leav¬ domestic “constituency” to show up and cheer us on, the ing only vicious warlords and ethnic demagogues to fight price of our leadersliip failures will only go up. over what’s left. Americans have been engaged in African Tliird, our goal should be to strengthen, not further peacemaking for over two decades and have made deci¬ weaken, African governments so that diey become capa¬ sive contributions. We have no higher calling than to ble of carrying out the basic functions of government any¬ engage ourselves across the full spectrum of peacemaking where. Asia’s economic miracles did not take place amidst activities ranging from preventive diplomacy through imploding government institutions. In fact, the evidence mediation, strengdiening African security institutions like suggests an important governmental role in maintaining the Organization of African Unity and the Southern internal security, macroeconomic stability, educating and African Development Community, and supporting U.N. training people to become potentially productive citizens The Remington Fits Your Washington Schedule.
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32 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JVNE 1995 Focus
and shaping a societal consensus on economic strategy. about research and monitoring of the interplay between It is not engraved in stone tablets that Africa must fol¬ Africa’s demographic, climactic, ecological and conflict low the Asian pattern. But at a minimum, when new gov¬ trends. An Africa increasingly caught up hi waves of ernments gain power professing adherence to all the right humanitarian disaster and ecoshock could make todays tilings, we and our friends, while insisting on clean and toll of 6 million refugees and 17 million displaced persons transparent management, should channel timely financial seem mild. The United States, for its own health and well¬ assistance and political support so diey have a chance to being as well as its values and global leadership role, can¬ deliver. When corrupt autocrats stand in the way, our task not “disengage.” There’s just no place to hide. is to help identify soft landings and negotiated exits and A number of the recommendations provided above not to cut off ties and impoverish their citizens with sanc¬ will require continued U.S. foreign assistance in tions. Tilting against autocrats is easy and photogenic. But, Africa. Clearly we will be less credible, less effective ironically, it may prop them up and prolong the agony — and less able to lead if we disarm U.S. diplomacy by or even make it worse. Our parallel task is to work through taking away its tangible tools and cutting support of government and nongovernment institutions systemically effective multilateral agencies. On the other hand, to strengdien the African civil society. This means assis¬ there is every reason for a basic reassessment of current tance, training, networking, exchange programs, and gen¬ U.S. assistance. Too much of it flows to assorted U.S. eral institution-building across the spectrum of African contractors, consultants and insider constituencies. Too social settings. There is no real reason for despair: Just little of it goes directly to nurture African capabilities to look at what die Soudi Africans have managed to do. build the kinds of societies and institutions that can Fourth, die time has clearly arrived to get serious stand on their own. ■ WORLDWIDE INSURANCE FOR FOREIGN SERVICE PERSONNEL
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JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 33 Focus
US POLICY TOWARD AFRICA
jease, lets all stop generalizing countries are meeting this challenge with courage about Africa: “The continent is and determination. This group is beginning to Pbeing marginalized.” “It’s going move significantly ahead of the pack. On the other down the drain.” “The United hand, another group is mired down in failed poli¬ States has no interests in Africa, cies, unable to break away from their stagnating nor are there any significant and corrupt patronage systems. Others are either in threats there.” All of these gener¬ the midst of civil wars, or are just emerging from alizations are more or less true if one looks at Africa them. Moreover, differences between French- as a single geographic entity. However, the problem speaking and English-speaking countries are with such an approach is that there are a number of becoming more and more evident. “Africas” today which are as different from each other as the Iberian peninsula is from Scandinavia. As a continent, Africa is Sure, both are in Europe, but way behind the rest of the that’s where the similarity ends. world in economic Most observers, including growth. This is not surprising. experienced Africanists such as With a few important exceptions, myself, are in the habit of lump¬ most African countries opted for ing sub-Saharan Africa’s 44 statist command economic sys¬ countries together. The inde¬ tems when they became inde¬ pendence struggles of the 1950s pendent from European colonial¬ and 1960s, the mass African ism during the period of 1958- membership in the “Non- 1975. The experience with such Aligned Movement,” the Africa¬ systems in Africa has been analo¬ wide adoption of the one-party gous to the experiences of state between 1960 and 1970, Eastern Europe and the ex- and the unifying element of the % Soviet Union. State-owned enter- anti-apartheid struggle, all 5 prises wasted billions of dollars in served to cast Africa in the same > taxpayers’ money, becoming mold. cash cows for political patronage In reality, Africa was never in urban areas. Artificially high, CLINTON SHOULD GIVE really homogenous, and began fixed exchange rates for local to change even more significant¬ ‘PERFORMERS’ MORE AID currencies encouraged imports ly in the second half of the 1980s AND PROMOTE DEMOCRACY and discouraged production in response to the challenge of both for export and local con¬ global economic interdepen¬ sumption. BY HERMAN J. COHEN dence. About a dozen African The vast majority of Africans
34 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
Giving up on Africa is premature. U.S. policy toward
Africa needs to become more selective, pinpointing good performers with targeted aid.
who live in rural areas used to be the producers of movements were egging on Africans to nationalize most of Africa’s wealth. But the majority of govern¬ and socialize. The result was that by the time the ments killed this goose that layed the golden egg by Reagan administration came into office in 1981, taxing all incentives for farmers to continue pro¬ most African economies were either in a state of ducing. Revenue diverted from the farmers was free fall or close to it. used for infrastructure and other benefits for urban The political systems adopted by virtually every dwellers, most of whom derived their incomes from African government after independence was also government employment. Agricultural production analogous to those of Eastern Europe and the ex- declined. Government revenues declined. Gross Soviet Union. The all-embracing one party state national product declined. Going into debt to meet co-opted, and thereby destroyed, civil society. The recurring costs of government was easy in the early one-party state appeared logical in the euphoria 1970s because petrodollars had to be recycled, and felt by entire populations immediately after inde¬ the big money center banks were pushing sover¬ pendence. “Africa needs to harness all of its ener¬ eign loans. Debt burdens became unsustainable. gies for development. It cannot afford the luxury of Between 1960 and 1980, European and multiparty democracy,” was the universal slogan. American governments did not tell the Africans “The vanguard movements that led the indepen¬ they were implementing self-destructive policies. dence struggles can lead their nations to economic The competition of the Cold War was certainly an independence,” was the universal analysis. element in our reticence to criticize African eco¬ The post-independence euphoria lasted for nomic policies. But I attribute the U.S. silence about five years. It soon became clear that the one- more to a feeling of guilt over colonialism in party state could stay in power only through Europe and the civil rights struggle in the United increasing repression and corruption. Human States. We told ourselves, “Africans are finally rights abuse joined economic stagnation as the hall¬ independent after a long struggle Who are we to marks of Africa’s image between 1970 and 1985. In tell them what kind of economic and political sys¬ countries where the one-party state was unable to tems to adopt?” While western governments were resolve normal political conflict through non-vio¬ averting their eyes, western social democratic lent procedures, civil war broke out, generating millions of refugees and internally displaced per¬ Herman J. Cohen specialized in Africa issues during sons. Some of these conflicts, such as in Angola, his more than 38 years as a career FSOfrom 1955-93. Mozambique, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, were His last assignment before retiring was as assistant exacerbated by Cold War factors. Here again, as in secretary of State for African Affairs during the Bush the economic sector, the West observed Africa’s administration (1989-93). Since September 1993, he destructive political evolution in silence, concen¬ has been a senior adviser to the Global Coalition for trating instead on a higher priority target — Africa, an intergovernmental organization that pro¬ apartheid in South Africa. motes development policy consensus between African By the mid-1980s, the situation in many African governments and their donor partners. countries had become untenable. It became neces-
J UNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 35 Focus
sary for the World Bank and the International are relying increasingly on well-educated tech¬ Monetary Fund to enter the picture and prescribe nocrats under age 45 ,who are making many of key harsh medicine. “Structural adjustment” became the economic decisions. order of the day. Eliminate the distortions of incor¬ Unfortunately, some of the more potentially rect economic policies, and the economy will wealthy countries are among those suffering from improve slowly, but surely. It is in the application of internal conflict and political impasse, and are there¬ economic reform policies that African countries have fore either stagnating or moving backwards. These started to separate into different groups correspond¬ suffering giants include Nigeria, Zaire, Cameroon ing to their performance and achievements. and Kenya. Two former Portuguese colonies, The countries starting to move ahead of the pack Mozambique and Angola, are currently emerging include South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia from two decades of devastating conflict, and are and Namibia in the south; Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, sending the right signals about their willingness to Burkina Faso, Benin and Ghana in the west; Uganda, move into market economic systems. But their situa¬ Tanzania, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the east. None of tions are still fragile, and it is too early to tell if they these countries is without significant problems, but can move ahead. they are distinguished by forward-looking leadership who appear to know what they are doing and have What does all this mean for American for¬ the courage to make tough decisions. Most of them eign policy? Above all, it means that giv¬ are now led by a new generation of politicians who ing up on Africa is premature. Some
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36 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
potential economic partners in Africa represent sub¬ resources have to be utilized only where there is a stantial markets that are embryonic now, but are decent possibility of achieving positive results. likely to be big later. U.S. policy toward African However, there is another dimension of national needs to become more selective, pinpointing good security policy that needs to be considered when we performers with targeted aid linked to the potential look at that part of Africa that is stagnating, unstable for growth in U.S. exports and investments. and dangerous. For example, economic reform means privatiza¬ As the only superpower and as the world’s most tion of telecommunications, agro-industry and trans¬ vibrant democracy, the United States is condemned portation infrastructure, in all of which American to be a leader in maintaining barriers against world industry is highly competitive. It is noteworthy that disorder. The exercise of superpower leadership overall infrastructure in southern Africa works well, does not mean sending troops to restore order at the and is way ahead of what we see in the CIS countries drop of a hat, nor does it mean throwing money at and most of Eastern Europe. every problem. Nevertheless, it does mean exercis¬ What about those African countries that are suf¬ ing America’s substantial moral authority whenever fering from political blockages and cannot move possible in the resolution of conflict, and in support ahead at this time? Should the United States ignore of political liberalization. them until such time as they join the mainstream? In In Africa, the moral authority of the United States terms of development assistance and trade and has never been higher. African governments and investment promotion, the answer is yes. Scarce African populations listen to what we have to say,
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JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 37 Focus
Are there truly iw U.S. interests or threats to U.S. interests in
mb-Saharan Africa? I would not use the term ‘vital’ when dis¬
cussing U.S. interests in Africa, but there are interests.
and take our opinions seriously. It does not take still there and available in case of need. much money to exercise that moral authority. But it Within the Horn, the revolutionary Islamic does require focus, energy, and above all policy lead¬ regime in the Sudan has been identified by the State ership. It also means that we should forge a strong Department as a haven for Middle Eastern terror¬ partnership with the U.N. political and peace-mak¬ ists, and as a supporter of destabilization efforts in ing bureaucracies which are often the appropriate Egypt, Algeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda. It entities to be out in front in dealing with African would appear to be a matter of U.S. interest to con¬ instability. We need to reform and strengthen the tain that regime and to demonstrate visible support United Nations, not kill it. for its beleaguered neighbors. I also believe that NATO can play a constructive American oil company executives tell me that role in Africa, now that the Western Alliance is look¬ Africa is the last frontier for undiscovered petroleum ing for new roles out of area. I note that NATO is reserves. They are certainly showing a lot of interest already starting a political dialogue with countries on in countries like Angola, Eritrea, Congo, Gabon and the Mediterranean periphery. Below the Sahara, mil- Namibia. There is also biodiversity. A large percent¬ itary-to-military relationships between NATO coun¬ age of the world’s tropical rain forest is in Africa, tries, especially France, the U.K. and the United especially Zaire. There is also food production. States and Africa have been significant for the 30 Africa is a food deficit continent, but the amount of years. These relationships, which used to support arable land still uncultivated is high. When 1.2 bil¬ Cold War objectives and the maintenance of the lion Chinese and 900 million Indians start consum¬ political status quo in many African countries, should ing like Westerners, that land will be needed. now be recycled into support for the democratiza¬ Finally, Africa represents a potential market of 750 tion of military establishments. The transformation million consumers that we should not be neglecting. of African military into defenders of democracy is Political, trade and investment ties that we forge absolutely crucial to the political liberalization of the now will pay off later in increased export market continent. This task can be accomplished inexpen¬ share for U.S. companies. sively in the form of mobile training teams. As a junior FSO in 1961, I opted to specialize in Are there truly no U.S. interests, or threats to African affairs. I was fascinated by the growing com¬ U.S. interests in sub-Saharan Africa? Since the end petition for Africa’s soul between democracy/capital¬ of the Cold War, I have yet to see a credible defini¬ ism and authoritarianism/socialism. I wanted to get tion of U.S. national security interests beyond the into the trenches in support of democracy. I don’t Israel-Egypt-Persian Gulf nexus. I would not use the regret the choice, even though for the first 20 years term “vital” when discussing US interests in Africa, I thought our side had lost. but there are interests. Now the challenge is different. Can Africa over¬ The Horn of Africa is the back door to the Persian come its bad political and economic habits and vest¬ Gulf. We did not use our military access rights in the ed interests to compete in a global marketplace? Horn very much during operations Desert Shield Some African countries will make it and some will and Desert Storm during 1990-1991, but they are not. ■
38 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 American Foreign Service Ass FS DAY SPEAKERS FOCUS ON BUDGET CRISIS
BY RICHARD S. THOMPSON educate the Congress and the public on the criti¬ Governing Board Professional Issues Coordinator cal need for adequate funding to defend President: F.A. "Tex" Harris State Vice President:Todd Stewart American interests in an unstable and very com¬ AID Vice President: Garber Davidson Jr. s retired and active petitive world." USIA Vice President: Razvigor Bazala O Retiree Vice President: Donald R. Norland Foreign Service Deputy Secretary of State Secretary: Catherine Barry employees of the five foreign Strobe Talbott referred to the Treasurer: Gail Lecce State Representatives: Sue Saarnio, Janet affairs agencies gathered "massive assault" on the foreign Shafer, David H. Shinn, Lannon Walker, May 5 at the 30th annual affairs budget and defined the Meg Hawley Young/Andrew Young AID Representatives: Lee Ann Ross, James Foreign Service Day, the principles of reengineering R. Washington dominant theme addressed efforts at State, designed to USIA Representative: Bruce K. Byers Retired Representatives: Kathryn Clark- by nearly every speaker in underscore to Congress that Boume, Joseph M. Kemper, M. Bruce the day-long series of events the department is making the Hirshorn, Edward L. Peck FAS Representative: Weyland Beeghly was the foreign affairs bud¬ best use of every dollar. FCS Representative: Patrick Santillo get, which is being threat¬ In remarks at the luncheon, Staff Executive Director: Susan Reardon ened with severe cuts. USIA Director Joseph Duffey Business Department Christine Shurtleff, presi¬ pointed out that budget pres¬ Controller: Kara Harmon Ebert General Ledger Accountant: Sheree L Beane dent of the Association of sures can force employees to Executive Assistant: Leslie Lehman American Foreign Service be more efficient with monies. Administrative Manager: Dianna Dunbrack Administrative Assistant: Eunice Blau Women (AAFSW) in her wel¬ AID Administrator J. Brian Labor Management coming remarks noted the Atwood at an afternoon General Counsel: Sharon Papp Director: James Yorke serious effects budget cuts Diane Castiglione holds her son, Michael, before the meeting affirmed the Foreign Representative: Peter Gaaserud would have on the Foreign memorial plaque at Stale, which now indudes ihe Service's need for adequate Staff Attorney: Colleen Fallon USIA Labor Relations Specialist: Carol Lutz Service family. name of the boy's father, Barry S. Castiglione. funds and a leading role to Law Clerk: Monica Riva AFSA President F.A. "Tex' maintain American interna- Grievance Attorneys: Audrey F. Chynn, Ava-Lisa F. Macon Harris followed up with specific figures on pro¬ tional leadership. ’We remember our [three fall¬ Office Manager: Judy Shinn posed cuts. "In the last 10 years, there has been en] colleagues on this special day, but people Executive Assistant: Erin Moriarty Member Services close to a 50 percent decrease in this nation's ... would also want us to reflect on the Foreign Director: Janet Hedrick international budget," Harris said. "We need to Continued on page 2 Representative: Norajane McIntyre Retiree Liaison: Ward Thompson Professional Programs Professional Issues: Richard S. Thompson • AFSA Dateline • Director of Development: Lori Dec Congressional Affairs Director. Ken Nakamura Congressional Liaison: Rick Weiss • FAS and AFSA formally signed a col¬ this is not the time to cut our international Scholarship Administrator and Information lective bargaining agreement on April 27. account funding, which will entail the under¬ Systems Manager: Theresa Auricchio Director of Outreach: Gil Kulick AFSA and FAS management now have an cutting of our leadership in the world." Conferences: John J. Harter established framework within which to con¬ Internet Addresses: duct labor management relations. [email protected] (Association) • AFSA’s 20th conference on business [email protected] (President) and foreign affairs, "World Trade in • On April 28, AFSA sent a letter, which Services: A New Agenda to Ensure AFSA Headquarters: (202) 3384045 protested the threatened budget cuts to the Continued Expansion," was held at the FAX: (202) 3384820 150 International Affairs Account, to the Department of State on May 2. About 200 Labor Management: (202)647-8160 participants listened to keynote speaker, FAX: (202)647-0265 Senate Budget Committee. The letter asked for continued funding for the 150 Account Joan Spero, under secretary for Economic, USIA Headquarters: (202)4016405 at current levels, saying, "AFSA believes FAX: (202)4014410 Continued on page 3
AFSA NEWS -JUNE 1 995 1 FOREIGN SERVICE DAY STATE DEPARTMENT = V.P. VOICE Continued from page 1 • BY TODD STEWART •
Public Sector "Take-Backs" American labor negotiators have bying Congress to spare the " 1 50 traditionally gone to the bar¬ Account" - and, by extension, the gaining table looking for operating budgets of the foreign "more." Recently, however, it has affairs agencies - so that the need been management which has sought for painful cuts will be minimized. the concessions, asking for give- Second, we are working with the backs by unions of benefits won in department to find and refine ways previous negotiations. Management to save money that will have relative¬ typically claims that the give-backs ly little impact on employees. An are necessary for the health, or often example is AFSA's collaboration with the very existence, of the enterprise. the medical staff unit to develop a Lloyd Van Landingham, husband of slain con¬ Not surprisingly, this phenomenon means of recouping from insurance sulate employee Jacqueline Van Landingham, has now appeared in the public sec¬ carriers the cost of medical treatment holds daughters, Amber and Ashley, at the May 5 tor, where Congress, the administra¬ paid by the department abroad with¬ memorial ceremony for public employees killed tion, and agency managements are out disadvantaging employees. overseas in heroic circumstances. proposing cuts in benefits for public Third, and least successful, has employees. The ability of federal been our continuing attempt to con¬ Service as an institution. They would unions such as AFSA to oppose these vince department managers to expect us to consider its role in a world of cuts is limited by a lack of authority describe the scope of the budget new challenges. And, I am sure, they to bargain over salaries and most problem and the alternative means to would want us to answer the critics of inter¬ benefits and, of course, an inability deal with it, so that employees might national engagement who would deny to strike. Private sector give-backs voice informed choices. Managers our nation the resources it needs to pursue are thus generally "take-backs" in the have recently provided better infor¬ its vital interests." public sector. However, some influ¬ mation about the department's finan¬ At the award ceremony, former ambas¬ ence does rest with the unions, and cial picture, but they have thus far sador Jean Wilkowski received the AFSA has wrestled with the problem failed to pose alternative solutions Foreign Service Cup - presented by of when and how to use that influ¬ and to seek employee input on those Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired ence to deflect or modify proposed alternative solutions. Instead, AFSA (DACOR) - for 50 years of service to the take-backs. has been presented with a series of nation in governmental and private roles. Complicating the problem is the money-saving proposals without any The Director General's Cup was given to fact that State's operating budget is context that would allow employees former ambassador Morton I. Abramowitz heavily personnel related, so much to choose among the unpalatable for his leadership during 35 years of ser¬ so that it is hard to find areas for sig¬ alternatives. vice and his continuing contributions to the nificant reductions which will not Without such a context, AFSA has foreign policy debate and the Foreign affect AFSA members. If the budget had no choice but to resist these take- Service. is cut, the question is not whether backs, sometimes successfully, but In a solemn late afternoon ceremo¬ employees will be hurt but how: in often not, since most can be imple¬ ny, Secretary of State Warren their benefits and allowances, in their mented without union acquiescence. Christopher praised the three Foreign working and living conditions, or in However, we are conscious of the Service employees whose names were their career prospects? For example, fact that successful resistance only added to the memorial plaque: Barry S. should we finance a budget cut by increases pressure to find savings Castiglione, who died in 1992 while lowering the differentials at hardship where AFSA need not even be con¬ saving a fellow embassy officer from posts, foregoing the purchase of sulted, such as with promotion rates. drowning in El Salvador; and Gary C. modern computer equipment, or As my AFSA term draws to a Durell and Jacqueline K. Van increasing attrition by reducing pro¬ close, I am troubled by our failure to Landingham, who were killed March 8 motion rates? If the answer is "all of develop a more productive relation¬ in Karachi when terrorists sprayed the the above," what weight do we ship with the department in this area, consulate van they were riding to work assign to each method? where partnership could offer impor¬ in. Attending the ceremony was Mark So far, AFSA has developed the tant benefits for both management McCloy, who was seriously wounded in following answers: First, we are lob- and its employees. the Karachi attack.
2 AFSA NEWS “JUNE 1995 AFSA DATELINE Continued from page 1
Business and Agricultural Affairs and attended panel discussions, a luncheon V.P. VOICE and reception. • BY GARBER DAVIDSON JR. •
• AFSA/USIA hosted a general meet¬ ing on April 24 attended by more than Reengineered AID — A Reality 50 Foreign Service employees. n October 1 AID will roll out acknowledged that a consolidated Personnel Director Janice Brambilla and O the well-publicized reengineer¬ State Department should adopt AID's FS Personnel Chief Jeff Liteman ing scheme by which manage¬ financial management systems that are addressed questions about the current ment will proclaim victory over the past. state of the art. evaluation system and training and New methods of work, management, The reengineering effort is thus assignments procedures. information and operational systems will somewhat surreal in this atmosphere of replace existing systems. Already we counterrevolution. But internally, there • Updated information on AFSA issues have seen changes in the evaluation are sharp contradictions, which also and activities is available at AFSA's and assignment systems. Core values raise questions. With all the noise Internet gopher site, which can be such as "empowerment and account¬ about "empowerment" and customer accessed through the DC Easy-Link ability," "teamwork" and "customer ser¬ involvement, we see the opposite. Gopher Home Page at DCEZ.COM. vice" will become the precepts for suc¬ Assignments, for example, shall be cen¬ From most Internet terminals this can be cess in the newly engineered develop¬ tralized under Human Resources, an reached by typing: gopher dcez.com at ment organization, and we are told that office not previously noted for its effi¬ the $ or % prompt. the old hierarchical structures of "top- ciency or knowledge of developmental down" management will disappear. needs and priorities. Under current dis¬ October I promises to be a date when cussion is a reengineering Business • Retirees are invited to a June 1 2 the development officer will become the Area Analysis (BAA) proposal to lunch at the Foreign Service Club with "cultural change agent." exclude completely mission directors speaker Rep.Connie Morelia (R-Md.). While the fury of reform swirls with¬ and other managers from the final per¬ For reservations, contact Joe Kemper at in AID, another dimension is closing in sonnel selection process, reportedly (202) 338-4045. - the budget and the Congress. because the agency cannot trust its Congress' notion of reorganization managers to make appropriate person¬ • AFSA/USIA Vice President Raz does not focus on internal teamwork, nel decisions. While the Senior Bazala and USIA Director Joseph but it mandates some sort of consolida¬ Management Group gurus are busy Duffey were speakers at a May 3 town tion. It recognizes, barely, the internal "delayering" by deleting deputy mis¬ meeting sponsored by USIA's Joint reforms devised by the administrator sion directors in missions which are too Partnership Council. Bazala addressed and dismisses them as only preserving small to merit such officers, manage¬ the possibility of consolidation of the for¬ the best of the status quo. As one mem¬ ment is busy "layering" PPC with, at eign affairs agencies. Duffey empha¬ ber of Benjamin Gilman's (R-N.Y.) last count, five new deputy assistant sized that he strongly supports the con¬ staff put it to AFSA recently, people administrators, many of whom will tinued independence of USIA and who believe such reform will win "just manage five to 10 people. This reor¬ stressed that he would do everything don't get it." According to this staffer, ganization will result in the net loss of possible to avoid RIFs to downsize the internal reformers don't understand three FS positions. Proposals, also in agency. that the administrator's reforms and the the process of reorganization, are vice president's promises to "stream¬ being seriously considered to limit the line" the foreign affairs agencies simply "normal career span" of a Foreign • On April 28 several hundred informa¬ will not fly on Capitol Hill. Even friend¬ Service officer to FS-02, although that tion management career-area employees ly representatives like Lee Hamilton (D- would require a change in the Foreign attended a town hall meeting sponsored Ind.) say the administration has not Service Act. At the same time, and due by the AFSA/IM Joint Partnership done enough to satisfy the revolution¬ in part to faulty work force planning, Working Group. Questioners at the meet¬ aries on the Hill. Freshmen Republicans the agency proposes to hire mid-level ing were assured that the department will and others are looking for bold Foreign Service officers in areas of continue to need IM employees but that change and, of course, draconian cuts shortage. All of this looks strangely their functions will change, and the to the international affairs (150) bud¬ familiar. AFSA will sit down with man¬ department will assist employees in get. The administrator's reinvention and agement on the PPC proposal and acquiring new skills. The meeting was reforms do not impress these folks - continues to carefully monitor the BAA videotaped. Contact AFSA at (202) 338- even though they have put AID on the process. We need your support. If you 4045 to obtain a copy of the IM Town cutting edge of technology and com¬ are in Washington, please join the AID Meeting for your post. munications. The Gilman staffer Standing Committee.
AFSA NEWS • JUNE 1 995 3 AAFSW HONORS OVERSEAS VOLUNTEERS V.P. VOICE Oor the fifth year, the Association • BY DON NORLAND • of American Foreign Service Women (AAFSW) has honored over¬ seas volunteers for service that has AFSA Engaged on Issues made a difference in their communities. From entries submitted by overseas posts, one winner is selected from each s this is written, Price of Leadership." In A geographical area. Congress and the AFSA has sweeping terms, he told The six winners have been active in entire foreign a National Press Club expended an groups ranging from women's develop¬ affairs community are audience on April 27 ment to local schools and children's engaged in the most enormous effort to that "we are on the centers. Their volunteer activities have important foreign policy verge of throwing inform Congress, helped local children, prisoners, vil¬ debate since the end of away - or at least dam¬ lagers and the urban poor, as well as the World War. It's not colleagues and aging - many of the ... the English-speaking community at sev¬ labeled as such; rather tools America has used the public of the eral posts. The winners of the it emerges as a byprod¬ for 50 years to main¬ AAFSW/Secretary of State Award for uct of the Senate and consequences of tain our leadership in outstanding volunteerism in 1995 are: House deliberations on the world." He warned this unprecedented Bonnie Lea-Brown (Accra), Mary Jo the budget of the that "back-door isola¬ Amani (Managua), Susan Summers International Affairs assault on the tionism threatens to pro¬ (Tokyo), Elizabeth Mates (Islamabad), (150) Account with pel us in the wrong foreign affairs Lisa Matthews (Moscow) and Zohra funding for the State direction....when our Benesch (Tunis). Department, USAID, budget. engagement can still USIA, peacekeeping make a dramatic differ¬ and international finan¬ ence by securing rather cial institutions. than frittering away our victory in the EMPLOYMENT OPENINGS There's a consensus on one Cold War." OFSA seeks candidates for the point: The outcome of this debate This sentiment was echoed by following positions: will signal the direction and degree participants in an AFSA co-spon- of commitment of the United States sored Conference on May 2: • Labor Management Specialist - full¬ in the world. If the House or Senate "Trade in Services." Several promi¬ time, AFSA Labor Management office. budget committees have their way nent participants noted that growing and slash funding by as much as 30 economic globalization and liberal¬ • Administrative Assistant - full-time, percent of the international affairs ization, on which trade in services AFSA headquarters. operating accounts, they should depend, would be seriously jeopar¬ • Corporate Relations and Conference know that the U.S. leadership role dized if the proposed foreign affairs Planning Specialist - parttime contract. will be seriously compromised - budget cuts turn the U.S. inward. along with vital national interests. Many in the business community • Outreach Program Coordinator - How? By undermining the effective¬ were not yet aware of the congres¬ Speakers Bureau and Diplomats ness of the "front-line sentries of sional budget threats; once word Online - part-time contract. America's security," as Secretary got out, several participants predict¬ • Program Administrator - Minority Warren Christopher recently ed that business leaders will realize Intern and Mentoring - part-time contract. described the Foreign Service, the the stake they have in keeping the abdication of U.S. leadership, influ¬ United States in the forefront of For additional information on ence and clout in world affairs is world affairs. these positions please write or call signaled. Let the record show that AFSA Susan Reardon, Executive Director, Although these proposed cuts has expended an enormous effort AFSA, 2101 E Street, N.W. come as no surprise to readers of to inform Congress, colleagues and Washington D.C. 20037, 202-338- the Foreign Service Journal, word the public of the consequences of 4045, internet, [email protected] that congressional leadership will fix this unprecedented assault on the budget ceilings by mid-May has the foreign affairs budget. With edito¬ effect (like the executioner's noose) rials, coalition building, mailings, CORRECTION of concentrating minds - even at the speeches, telephone banks we've highest levels. The most inspired mobilized our constituency. In so To speak to an AFSA staffer about reaction came from NSC Advisor doing we've learned how much retirement issues, call 1-800-704- Tony Lake in a speech entitled "The remains to be done. 2374.
4 AFSA NEWS • JUNE 1995 —S =U S I A ExecuStay, Inc. V.P. VOICE •RAZ B A z A L A • 1-800-735-7829 301-212-9660 Fax: 301-212-9665 AFSA is Key Player in USIA Member of the In these troubled times, it is worth process from recruitment to tenure, Washington considering the enormous potential an issue over which AFSA has no of partnership to steer USIA right to bargain. But we can talk. Reservation Centre between the Scylla of budget cuts Partnership has generated an envi¬ offering over 1,000 fully and the Charybdis of consolidation. ronment for open discussion and furnished locations throughout In less than 1 8 months, partnership serious consideration of ways to the Washington Metropolitan area has changed the very culture of our address issues of concern to all of for 30 days or longer. agency. Some may say, "So what? It us. failed to fend off the threat of RIFs, Partnership may help us avoid and the creation of the I Bureau is crashing in the aftermath of massive insignificant." budget cuts. If this leads to consoli¬ In essence, the Partnership dation - which I think appears Executive Order was intended to increasingly likely - the agency's break down the barriers set up by partnership model may help us pre¬ rigid adherence to traditional prerog¬ serve the functions and structures of r=i atives of both management and labor. public diplomacy in a new environ¬ It was designed to facilitate imple¬ ment. We can make the case that The Experts In Furnished menting new ideas. Thus, partnership change through partnership should Short & Long-Term Housing was really aimed at altering process be adapted by any institution we and not shaping specific outcomes. become part of. ■ Fully furnished apartments To implement change rapidly, part¬ I am convinced that the opportu¬ and private homes. nership proposed moving away from nity for union members to participate ■ Customized to meet your time-consuming negotiations based on substantively in partnership is one of lifestyle. hard and fast positions on both sides the main reasons why AFSA has ■ Quality housewares including toward labor-management consensus grown so significantly at USIA. We linens, fully outfitted kitchens and interest-based bargaining. had 1 80 members in January 1 993, and decorative accessories. Instead of accomplishment being when we won the right to represent ■ All expenses including phone measured by what one side denied the Foreign Service. Today, that service, utilities and cable the other, labor and management number stands at 520, close to half television on one bill. were encouraged to think in terms of of all agency Foreign Service ■ Maid service upon request. win-win outcomes. At USIA partner¬ employees. This represents an enor¬ ■ Pets accepted at many ship has changed the labor-manage¬ mous vote of confidence in AFSA's locations. ment environment significantly. Gone capacity to lead and to address ■ Washers and dryers. are the days of management-appoint¬ effectively issues important to our ■ Close to shopping and ed task forces being turned loose constituents. My term as AFSA vice entertainment. behind closed doors to recommend president ends in mid-July, but I will ■ Many locations on public changes that management then hand¬ continue to participate on the AFSA transportation routes. ed down to unsuspecting employees. steering committee with my prime ■ Major credit cards accepted. Partnership has really taken hold to objective bridging the gulf between an extent far beyond that in the vast the Foreign Service and Civil Service Most Importantly... majority of federal workplaces. USIA cultures at USIA. has a documented record of success Looking to the future ... The Joint ■ You make the decisions, we that other agencies envy. Partnership Council must engage in provide the service. Openness and transparency in thinking about the unthinkable - the ■ We meet your budget. relations between labor and man¬ consequences of consolidation. The agement at USIA has reached threat of all of us hanging separately 7595 Rickenbacker Drive unprecedented levels. In fact, man¬ may compel all employees to hang Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879 agement has actually invited AFSA together as we consider contingen¬ to participate in a review of the JOT cies for consolidation.
AFSA NEWS • JUNE 1 995 5 wm
AFSA/AASFW MERIT SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS ANNOUNCED AWARD WINNERS Oeven Merit Scholarship Award win¬ (AFSA) and the Association of American MERIT AWARDS: HONORABLE ners, who represent the 20 Merit Foreign Service Women (AAFSW), the WINNERS MENTIONS Award winners worldwide, received certifi¬ competitive Merit Award Program was cates at the Department of State on May 5. begun in 1976. James Ahn Jr. Roger Bock Kathryn Clark-Bourne bestowed the awards Merit Awards of $ 1,000 each are Sarah Blackwill Lauren Butcher as a representative of all AFSA Scholarship being given this year in honor of support¬ Claire Bloom Diana Der programs contributors to representative ers of the AFSA Scholarship Program. Shimae Cross Koorkanian award winner Shimae Cross at Foreign Volunteer panelists from AID, AAFSW, Kathryn Emily Farbman Service Day ceremonies. Co- sponsored by State, USIA, and retirees participated in Hamilton Sarah Harrick the American Foreign Service Association the selection process. Alexandra Margaret Jones Huddleston Emily Leonard Samuel Jacobs Ann Mason Geoffrey Kish Michelle Parker Jeannette Louh Megan Scanlin Jennifer Mandel Jeannette Silver Nicole Martin Megumi Zorn Patricia Meeks Nicholas Penfold BEST ESSAY: Catherine Christina Svendsen Quinones Ulla Rickert Aaron Roth HONORABLE Erin Rupprecht MENTIONS Christina Erin Rupprecht Svendsen James Ahn Jr. Cathleen Tefft From left to right, Back Row: Kathryn Hamilton, Erin Ruppecht and Nicole Martin; Front Row: Claire Bloom, Nathan White Catherine Quinones, Shimae Cross and Samuel Jacobs.
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8 AFSA NEWS • JUNE 1995 YOU’RE GOING A LONG WAY BUT TOUR FREE GOVERNMENT COVERAGE WON’T
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AMERICAN BLACKS AND AFRICA
ub-Saharan Africa is the only area in line item for DFA, almost certainly reducing aid to sub- the world where quality of life indexes Saharan Africa. are lower today than they were several decades ago. However, at the end of T ust how 35 million black Americans, and specifical¬ the Cold War, hopes were high for a ly the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), should new partnership between Africans and or will respond to Africa today is worthy of analysis. black Americans. Widi the expected J%/FiFirst, we have to recognize that black Americans, like new stability, the time was ripe to promote democracy, white Americans, are just as concerned, if not more so, peace and prosperity. The all-important Development about domestic cutbacks in medical benefits, school Fund for Africa (DFA) had increased from $500 million lunches, aid to dependent children and crime preven¬ to $800 million. Democracy was coming to South tion. Our community is no better informed of the fact Africa, Ethiopia, Zambia and a host of other nations. that foreign aid makes up only 1 percent of the U.S. There was a high level of excitement when the char¬ budget, or that the United States devotes a much small¬ tered jumbo jet carrying 330 black er portion of its budget to Africa American delegates touched down than do most other Western donors. in Abidjan for tire first African- Consequently, there will be an American/African Summit in April expectation that foreign aid must be 1991. Organized by the Rev. Leon cut. H. Sullivan, cheers of “Africa! American blacks’ view of Africa is Africa!” resounded when he said, one of pluralism. Most have lived “Let us build a bridge together that here as long as whites, but unlike will help Africa move forward as it the Irish, Germans, Swedes and has never moved before. From this Italians, most blacks cannot relate to day neither Africans nor African- a specific country of ethnic origin. Americans will be the same.” Rather, their view is pan-African, Then came the continuous z This dilutes the galvanization of fighting in Angola, Liberia and 2 public opinion, since more than 50 Sudan, die repression in Zaire, the ■S countries and 800 million people rejection of democracy in Nigeria, on the African continent have to be Africa’s largest and most wealthy taken into consideration. There THE CBC STRIVES country. Add to tiiis the loss of have been exceptions to this American lives in Somalia. Then To REMAIN PLAYER premise when the issue was coun¬ there was the Rwandan genocide. IN GLOBAL GAME try-specific. As the Joint Center for A new wave of African pessimism Political and Economic Studies noted in the 1991 book, Africa in set in, followed by die McConnell BY DONALD M. PAYNE bill, which aimed to eliminate the the Minds and Deeds of Black
40 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
With the Congressional Black Caucus, blacks are considered a player in foreign affairs and an important political constituen¬ cy that may help brake America’s drift toward isolationism and remind us all that most of the world is non -white.
American Leaders, “When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, the CBC is now ‘up to the plate’ and being considered die war became a main topic of conversations wherever a player. This means that an important political con¬ blacks gathered. A championship boxing match took on stituency, the African-American community, may help mythic proportions as Joe Louis’s fists became die brake America’s drift toward isolationism and reminds instruments of race’s vindication as he delivered a beat¬ us all that most of the world is non-white.” It may also ing to die Italian, Primo Camera. In northern cities suggest that the choice is not strictly between domes¬ where black neighborhoods abutted Italian-American tic and foreign obligations, but ratiier of how to neighborhoods, un-refereed fist fights broke out. Black arrange the chemistry to meet both. Americans united in the face of threats to die sover¬ eignty of an African nation.” To assist in this task, a new organization has been At that time Haile Selassie became a symbol of black launched, called the Constituency for Africa pride when he stood up to the well-armed Italians. (CFA), whose mandate is to increase communi¬ More recently, we have the example of mobilizing sup¬ cation between the various sectors of African interest. port for Soutii Africa and Haiti because of die added Recendy, CFA sponsored a Foreign Aid Summit on factor of racial discrimination and again it was country- Capitol Hill with a standing-room only crowd. Speakers specific. Mobilizing for aid to Africa when not country- included former ambassador Andrew Young, the Rev. specific will be more difficult. Jesse Jackson, Administrator Brian Atwood of the U.S. In both South Africa and Haiti, the CBC played a Agency for International Development (AID), the crucial role. In 1976, the CBC sponsored an African- World Bank’s Vice President for Africa Edward Jaycox, American National Leadership Conference on Africa and myself. In addition to die danger of losing die DFA to mobilize the black community in support of Africa. earmark, I pointed out to the group diat approximately It was at this meeting that Trans Africa was born. 45 percent of International Development Association Through almost single concentration, both (IDA) lending is targeted to sub-Saharan Africa. The TransAfrica and the CBC made a substantial contri¬ administration has requested an appropriation to IDA bution to ending apartheid, to reducing discrimina¬ of $1.25 billion. Since $617 million of last year’s account tion in U.S. immigration policies for Haitian refugees has not yet been spent, and if one adds the possibility of and to restoring Haiti’s democratic elected govern¬ recision legislation, we are talking about the vulnerabil¬ ment. This foreign policy role of the CBC is not ity of losing $1.87 billion, of which almost half would unique; I dare say, there is not a ward leader in such have gone to Africa. Since IDA funds are matched 4-1 ethnically-based cities as New York or Miami who by other nations, potential cuts could encourage these does not have a position on Northern Ireland, Cuba nations to cut back, causing billions of dollars to be lost or the Middle East. Columnist Richard Cohen, in The for Africa. Washington Post, quoted me as saying, “This means I also urged the group not to make aid to Africa a partisan issue, reminding them diat in the last term, Donald M. Payne, a Democratic congressman from with Democrats in control, we had a difficult time sav¬ New Jersey, is chairman of the Congressional Black ing the Subcommittee on Africa. Republican leaders Caucus and a member of the House International like House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Benjamin Gilman Relations Committee. (R-N.Y.) and Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), although faced with
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 41 Focus
a mandate to reduce more subcommittees, were sympa¬ dered if the public outcry would have been so loud had a thetic to the CBC s request to save the subcommittee this dead black soldier instead of a white one been pulled term. through the streets of Mogadishu by Aideeds forces. Likewise, on the Senate side we have Republican sup¬ The Somalia problem carried over into slowing the port like Rep. Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, who chairs U.S. response to the genocide in Rwanda. House the Africa Affairs Committee; Oregon’s Mark Hatfield, Resolution No. 7, which concerned the command and who chairs the Appropriations Committee; and both control sections of U.N. peacekeeping, had to be rede¬ James Jeffords (R-Vt.) and Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.). In bated. It is not that we did not try. Three letters were sent another area of cooperation we have always considered by the CBC to urge President Clinton to involve positive the Jewish community allies in fighting lor social justice U.S. leadership at the Security Council level, and not to on the local level. Why can not this cooperation be stall. Oxfam/UK and Human Rights Watch made similar expanded to the international level? Such discussions are statements. now under consideration. In final desperation to urge the administration The CBC has not done so well in the case of Somalia toward action, our letter of June 16 to President and Rwanda. While we supported the expanded mission Clinton said that invited members of the CBC had in Somalia, the United Nations was made the scapegoat declined participation in the White House Conference in tire loss of 18 American Rangers. We were not able to on Africa so that the administration could better influence public opinion that the United Nations was not expend its energies saving the people of Rwanda. responsible for the unilateral action taken by our Central Unfortunately, the press played up the section that Command in Miami. M any CBC members secretly won¬ mentioned that the CBC was not properly consulted on
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A LESOTHO PEACE CORPS MEMOIR BY PAUL A. BURNS Chilly dawns exploding in red; small boys herd¬ never waned. So when I was assigned to teach English ing placidly frightened cattle to the kraal in and biology in Lesotho, a country in the center of the the evening and the ever-present lumela, the last vestige of colonialism in Africa, I saw it not only as greeting for “Good morning.” These are only a few of an opportunity to assist others but also an incredible the unforgettable memories I could recount as a opportunity for my own growth and development. Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho when I was 28. However, die decision to sign up with the Peace Lesotho, an island surrounded by its dominant and Corps was fraught with internal struggle. “Why don’t powerful neighbor, South Africa, is a study in con¬ you get a real job?” was the response from my mother, trasts. Landlocked by rugged mountains, Lesotho’s when she heard of my decision. My modier grew up in peaceful and proud people have managed to avoid the South Louisiana on a plantation, one of two siblings political turmoil of many of their neighbors. Because who, at age 16, began raising the first of her eight chil¬ they lacked many of the material and natural resources dren. She worked as a domestic, struggling to proride that made die British and the Af rikaners scramble for for us. Her hopes and dreams were supposed to be our hegemony in Soudi Africa, the Basotho were spared realities. She equated happiness widi having material some of the more insidious effects of apartheid. resources diat would allow us to support ourselves, have As a black American, my reception by Africans was families and live comfortably. So when I told her diat I for die most part, open and welcoming. In fact, I would be living in Africa as a volunteer on a $200-a- experienced a level of acceptance diat my wliite coun¬ mondi stipend in a one-room hut widiout running water terparts could never achieve. However, I too, like my and indoor plumbing — conditions not much different wliite counterparts, stand outside the door of African from die life she had escaped — she felt she had some¬ society simply because of who I am. I dressed how failed to provide me widi a vision for survival. Western and spoke differently. To the average In fact, the reality I found at Mavuka Secondary African, it is culture that defines identity. Therefore, I School was overcrowded classrooms widi 60 to 70 stu¬ was viewed and often classified as lokhoa, or wliite dents each, few books, a simple blackboard and chalk person, although witii my Native American and and no insulation or heating during the winter Creole ancestry, I would have been classified as months. But die students — and I — learned a great Colored had I been bom in Lesotho. Although social¬ deal. ly and culturally limited, ironically, I could still more The time away from die United States provided easily maneuver in a Soudi African apartheid context me the perspective to clarify and de-mystify die issues than I could in an American one. For example, while of race, ethnicity and class, which underpin die shopping in Johannesburg or Capetown, never once American experience. It was during my experience in was I monitored by shopkeepers as a potential Lesotho that I, for the first time in my fife, was viewed shoplifter — I could never boast of diis during shop¬ first as an American and then as a man of color. ping in the United States. Africans made me feel welcomed and valued. Ever since my undergraduate days at Tulane Now that I have returned to the United States, I University, my commitment to die eradication of continue to build upon the success of my experi¬ injustice and inhumanity both here and abroad has ence and work to fulfill anodier Peace Corps goal of promoting better understanding of other peoples. Paul A. Bums served as a Peace Corps volunteer in My overseas service has helped to strengthen my Lesotho from 1990-92. He now works in the organiza¬ capacity to serve communities of color here at tion’s Washington, D.C., office. home. ■
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 43
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UNFURNISHED YEARLY LEASES AVAILABLE world for47ofthe50-yearU.N.history.One Presently, theCBCForeignAffairsTaskForceretains pioneers, andamainplayerinthishistory,wasblack pled withthepassageofH.R.7.TheU.N.’sBlue and Haitistayontrack. stories likeSouthAfrica,Ghana,Mozambique,Botswana CBC smainstrategyistopushpositiveaspectsin American namedRalphBunche.Bundlereceivedthe U.S. businessowners.Also,wearemakingsuresuccess Israeli conflictthepreviousyear.Laterhenegotiated Nobel Prizein1950forhisroleendingtheArab- Helmets haveservedwithdistinctioninallpartsofthe Unfortunately, U.N.peacekeepinghasbeencrip¬ AVALON PROPERTIES —ACOMPANYTHATCARESABOUTOUR RESIDENTS CONVENIENCE ♦ Phone ♦ CableTV ♦ FullyFurnishedEff.,1,2and3 ♦ AerobicClasses ♦ Workoutfacility ♦ 2LightedTennisCourts ♦ 2SwimmingPools ♦ Washer/DiyerineachApartment ♦ GarageParking ♦ ValetDryCleaning economies throughgreaterparticipationofblack Africa, suchaspromotingfree-market Bedroom Apartments Ifyou arelookingforcomfortandconvenience,thechoice iseasy.TheChaseatBethesdaoffers Affordable HotelLivingwiththeAdvantages ofaHome 7500 WOODMONTAVE.•BETHESDA, MD.20814•(301)654-0694FAX(301)654-0697 two twintowersintheheartofBethesdaandonly25steps totheMetro. Daily rentsstartingfrom$61.63Minimum 50-dayoccupancy THE CHASEATBETHESDA Focus the returnofGazatoPalestine,andalongwith rather thenunarmedobservers. — asYugoslavia,SomaliaandRwandaaretoday. This civilwarinvolvementwasacontroversialstruggle his mostdifficultassignmentwastheon-the-ground two decadesofhislifetoU.N.peacekeeping.Probably U.N. EmergencyForce,madeupofarmedtroops Secretary GeneralDagHammarskjold,createdthe CBC hastobetruetheearlyworkofsuchpioneers to servewithsuccessinplaceslikeCambodia.The management oftheCongoCrisisinearly1960’s. Before hisdeathin1971,Bunchedevotedmorethan Bunche whodecideditcouldflyonlytheU.N.flag. which maybebeyondtheresourcesofthiscountry.■ as Bunche,whofosteredinternationalcooperation.We Llowever, U.N.peacekeepingsurvivedandcontinued erative arrangement,otherwise,theUnitedStateswill must continuethefighttopreservethiskindofacoop¬ unilaterally becalledupontosolvefutureproblems In definingthelegalstatusofforce,itwasRalph LOCATION OTHER ITEMS ♦ JustMinutestoNIH,Navy ♦ 25StepstoMetro ♦ Housekeeping ♦ Crib,DeskandChair ♦ StepsAwayto2GroceryStores, ♦ VacuumCleaner ♦ Roll-a-waybed and Shopping. over 135Restaurants,Banks Bank amiEmbassyRow. Flospital, Pentagon,World Destination Washington, D.C.? Let Long & Foster, the Area’s Largest Real Estate Company, Lead the Way Long & Foster, the leading real estate firm in the nation’s capital, is noted for customer satisfaction and has been helping people buy and sell homes for over 26 years. If you are being assigned to the Washington, D.C. area, put Long & Foster’s expertise, experience and market knowledge to work for you.
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A SUCCESS STORY: THE HORN OF AFRICA
Ted Morse, director of the Greater Horn of Africa causes for this, and therefore the whole approach of, “Can Initiative at the U.S. Agency for International you prevent some of this?’ has to be on the basis of man¬ Development (AID), was recently interviewed for the made conflict as well as, if you will, natural causes. Journal The Horn of Africa includes Somalia, Ethiopia, The other impetus is that it’s a region of some chaos Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, and continuing prolonged emergencies. We have spent Burundi and Tanzania. $6 billion in this region in the last 10 years, $4 billion of which is for emergency aid for prolonged emergencies, QCOULD YOU DESCRIBE BRIEFLY WHAT THE GREATER and somehow we have to find ways to work out of that, HORN OF AFRICA INITIATIVE IS AND WHAT IT IS go through tlie continuum — the transitions out of relief EXPECTED TO ACCOMPLISH? through recovery — to get back to long-term develop¬ ment, get at the root causes instead of just putting bil¬ A President Clinton was concerned that in 1994 it lions of dollars of Band-aids on. looked like another major There’s room for hope now, for a famine was going to occur, and dis¬ couple of reasons. In die Greater patched AID Administrator Brian Horn of Africa, one neighbor or Atwood to see if we couldn’t get other has been in an overt war pos¬ ahead of that drought. With a lot of ture with its neighbors for practical¬ good work to preposition food, ly the last 25 to 30 years, both inter¬ accelerate deliveries, get other state and intrastate. And for the donors involved, and, with the moment, there is no cross-border grace of God, with some small rains war between any of the neighbors, that came, the 1994 drought didn’t and diat lull in regional fighting gives turn into a famine. some opportunities to step back and But at the same time then, the take a look at relationships. Quite president’s comment was, “Why are frankly, we’re blessed by some new we always reacting to these things? quality of leadership in die region. Can’t we prevent them?’ So he asked You take people like President Isaias that there be a U.S. government- [Afwerld] of Eritrea, President wide interagency approach to look¬ [Zenawi] Meles of Ediiopia, even ing at [prevention]. In the analysis, it President [Yoweri] Museveni of AID PROGRAM FOCUSES showed that the food insecurity up in Uganda, they’re a lot different than that region is no longer driven just by ON AVOIDING CONFLICT, Idi Amin [of Uganda], Mengistu natural causes, but by twice as many PUSHING DEVELOPMENT Haile Mariam [of Ediiopia] or even manmade causes. Civil wars, racial Haile Selassie [of Ethiopia], There is and ethnic and tribal violence are some new diinldng about how they BY GILBERT D. KULICK now twice as prevalent as natural should conduct relationships with
46 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
their neighbors and their responsibility for good gover¬ But there is another part of diat poll diat gets at your nance to their own people, and their people’s food securi¬ question, and diat is that, when asked, 60 and 70 percent ty and their peace. We think that that's a foundation to at of Americans still favor humanitarian assistance. They are least start, which you didn’t have even three years ago in not isolationist, do not want to wididraw from die world at there. So I think that’s very positive. all. I think that one of the problems that this initiative QWHY WOULD THIS INITIATIVE PROVIDE REASONS TO gets at is the problems that we, as a nation and as a BELIEVE THAT NOW, AFTER 35 YEARS, AID’S GOING world, face, and that is to prevent these crises before TO BE ABLE TO HELP FIND ANSWERS TO THE PROBLEM? they get to the point of requiring billions of dollars and military troops and intervention in a failed state situa¬ Ain addition to changing conditions in the region, tion. Quite frankly, one of the problems we have within there's a phenomenon thats grown up in the interna¬ the U.S. government is that we are not organized at a tional community as a whole, not just within the U.S. gov¬ low enough direshold to prevent these tilings. ernment, where there’s almost a getting bogged down in tlie relief phase. Structurally, the international organiza¬ ^^HOW MUCH MONEY WILL THIS COST? tions, and even die U.S. government, are not well posi¬ tioned to come out of relief. If you look at how bifurcated [the U.S. government is] between die relief operations of A I hope zero. This is not about more money. If you can State Department’s refugee program, AID’S Food for put $6 billion in 10 years into a region and still have it Peace, and its geographic bureaus, and we’ve got to break in die kind of chaos that we discussed earlier, and no more down those barriers ... and begin to move through tiiat progress, more money isn’t going to solve that. What we continuum. That’s going to take some structural changes, need is integrating political solutions with economic solu¬ and diat’s part of what die initiative is about. tions; integrating relief activities to get a higher develop¬ mental impact; integrating parts of our bureaucracy with QSPECIFIC PLANS CONGRESS IS PUTTING FORWARD otiier parts of it so that you get dirough those transitions; WILL, FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES, ELIMINATE integrating our efforts with otiier donors. Not with addi¬ DEVELOPMENT AID TO AFRICA AS A U.S. PRIORITY. HOW tional money but to do things differentiy, where you have CAN THIS INITIATIVE PROCEED IN THAT CLIMATE? true strategic coordination, not just exchanging informa¬ tion after the fact, where you have a common objective of Alt’s an important context that is complicating the food security and you sit down, eyeball to eyeball, with the initiative at the moment. Obviously, if diere is a con¬ host country, the private sector, and the public sector gressional mandate to withdraw, then we’re not going to donors, and trade off different strategies of where we may be as much of a player. I diink, though, diat, quite be hurting somebody, somebody may be working at cross frankly, die Hill will begin to realize that we have long¬ purposes. term interests diere in terms of the access to the oil and This is not about new money; it’s about new ways of die oil routes, and the stability for diat. In terms of long¬ doing business. That doesn’t take new money. term development, of having markets that will come 50 years from now and in the short term of the need to not QTHREE CORE PRIORITIES IN ADDRESSING THE FOOD spend billions of dollars on relief. SUPPLY PROBLEM SEEM TO BE, IN ORDER OF IMPOR¬ Unfortunately, diere’s a misperception that as much as TANCE: INCREASING AGRICULTURAL YIELDS, DECREASING 20 percent of die budget deficit and the national debt are POPULATION GROWTH AND PROMOTING STABLE DEMOCRA¬ due to foreign aid, which, of course, is a gross mispercep¬ TIC INSTITUTIONS. IT SEEMS TO ME THE THIRD ONE IS KEY. tion when we’re not even 1 percent of the national budget. A First let me agree wfth your prioritization, that good Gilbert D. Kulick is the director of outreach pro¬ .ZjLgovemance, responsible to its own people for their grams at AFSA. welfare and progress, is absolutely the key factor. ...
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 47 Focus
But we think that there’s a new realization in the world Coptic Christians are a minority. So you need that politi¬ as a whole, and even in this region, that the kind of single- cal leadership to take the steps to go ahead and do some partv autocratic authoritarianism isn’t going to accommo¬ family planning programs that will balance the human date the racial/ethnic/political/religious/cultural diversity resources and the natural resources. that exists within the countries and within the regions. And they’re beginning to see this. QHAVE OTHER INTERNATIONAL GROUPS JOINED IN THIS But there’s some other concepts, too, that we think that INITIATIVE? they’re beginning to learn from other Africans. ... New concepts of power-sharing, new concepts ot pluralism, A We have consulted with ... over 800 individuals in tire new concepts of tolerance of diversity have to come in Horn of Africa from government to private to odier terms of this governance.... donors. Everybody that we’ve consulted says die analysis of the In terms of things like population growth, quite problems are die same: When we aui see African leadership, frankly, without good governance and political leader¬ we’re all prepared to do diings differently. And 1 think you're ship, you have situations like Ethiopia today where only 5 going to see that die world, the international community, and percent of the women in the child-bearing age are [using die private sector are ready to follow dieir lead on diis. contraception]. That’s lower than they had 30 years ago This is a long-term process in the Horn of Africa. The when I was the family planning officer in that country. countries in the Horn are probably further behind in the They haven’t had the political leadership to expand fami¬ development process, meaning everything from political ly planning in the face of what they thought was Coptic development to economic, to social, to racial develop¬ Christian Church resistance in a country where the ment, than almost any other part of the w'orld.... What has
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48 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
to be done from our, and most other peoples, objective, is ment that has a mandate for the people to meet die people’s to put in place a new process to constandy do joint prob¬ needs, hopefully they will have die political mandate to move lem identification and joint problem solving. That means more aggressively on that tinoughout die region. looking at political influences, economic resources, popu¬
lation. It’s not a plan; it’s a process to constandy integrate WHAT EFFECT MILL AID’S CURRENT PLANS TO CLOSE these activities. That’s what we hope to achieve. Q 22 FIELD MISSIONS HAVE ON THIS REGION? Do YOU SEE THE POTENTIAL FOR THAT IN MOST OF A The ability to cany out the strategic coordination THE COUNTRIES OF THE REGION? requires an in-country, on-the-ground presence. Q Right now we only have full AID missions in four of the 10 A I diink we’re finding diat the family planning and popu¬ countries of the Greater Horn of Africa. So we’ll have to lation programs drat have been stagnated are beginning carry diat out on a regional basis. The closing of die mis¬ to take off again, but those are programs drat won’t have an sions in Africa don’t include any in the Horn of Africa.... impact for 20 years, and diats why you have to have a long¬ The Food for Peace comes from die Department of term perspective. Ethiopia had a huge and a very high popu¬ Agriculture; the political insights from the State lation rate. It’s beginning to come down now. It’s been coming Department; the conflict early warning from the intelli¬ down for die last two and diree years. It has to continue in diat gence community; the on-die-ground insights come from bend. Ediiopia has finally passed a population policy. When the private and voluntary and missionary and academic die elections are held in May of next year in Ethiopia and you organizations. It is die total presence, not just an AID have an elected government rather than a transition govern¬ presence that makes the difference. ■
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JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 49 Focus
A SUCCESS STORY: SOUTH AFRICA
URBAN — For much of die African society. They are largely directed toward world, the image of South Africa addressing basic needs, particularly those that have been D in 1995 is embodied in the smil¬ left unmet by die skewed, apartheid policies of the past. ing, avuncular face of President By far the most numerous applications are for schools, Nelson Mandela surrounded by classroom additions and teachers’ salaries; these days, victory cheers and a colorful new requests come in faster dian one can say “underfunded.” flag. But in my mind is the image In KwaZulu-Natal — and in much of die rest of of a woman walking along a black South Africa — the government had had a policy dusty road, carrying a 25-liter jug of water on her head. of requiring parents and communities to raise funds While on a two-year tour in South Africa, I am work¬ themselves for building schools before the government ing at the U.S. Consulate General in Durban, adminis¬ would commit resources. This often was quite a barri¬ tering KwaZulu-Natal provinces portion of the U.S. er in communities where 60 to 80 percent of residents ambassadors self-help grants portfolio. These are small were unemployed and where those who did work grants given to help community-based groups working earned an average of $2 a day. Miraculously enough, to help themselves. some community groups managed to raise funds any¬ In a land widi cellular phones, well-stocked super¬ way. However, schools in townships and rural sections markets, and a thriving swimming pool servicing indus¬ are few, far-flung and overcrowded. It is not uncommon try, it is easy to forget that for rural students to walk basic living standards for the two hours each way to bulk of the population are school daily. much, much lower. South Africans enter the workforce ne of my favorite facing a 42 percent unem¬ grantees is a group ployment rate. A rural child O called Educate and in South Africa can expect to Develop, which is trying to share a teacher with 70 or establish schools in the rural, more classmates. The amaz¬ far northeastern reaches of ing thing, though, is that in KwaZulu-Natal. After we the middle of all these disad¬ arrived at a section of road vantages are groups of South where other cars are not a Africans who manage to consideration but cows and make significant contribu¬ goats are, my guide and I tions to their communities turned into the bush. We beyond their own personal To HELP THEMSELVES drove on sand tracks, crash¬ needs. ing around lala palm trees Grant applications pretty for four hours to reach four BY DEBORAH DERRICK accurately reflect South communities. During this
50 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
In the middle of all such disadvantages there are groups of South Africans who manage to make significant contribu¬ tions to their communities beyond their own needs.
time I saw only people, plants and huts — no cars, no had developed weekly work plans organizing members’ stores, no roads. The water supplies are unprotected; tasks. The club was asking for funds to expand their wonns were seen wriggling around in the holes from operation. Again, the U.S. government agreed to supply which the water comes. a grant, diis one for $7,500. Residents had a small, one-room school for 200 pri¬ Finally, there are always a large number of grant mary and preschool-aged children. Under the guidance applications for water projects. Like education, former of an inspired community worker, they managed to governmental policies in South Africa have prompted obtain teacher training and had organized themselves to great disparities in the availability of water. In rural build four more school rooms. They were asking the areas the vast majority do not have water widiin 200 U.S. government for building materials, for which they meters of their homes. Typically, a family’s women and received a $13,700 grant. children make two or three trips daily to fetch water, The second largest category of grant applications is for walking from one to three kilometers each time; hence, self-employment and income-generating projects. my image of a woman carrying a water jug on her head. Throughout South Africa women and men gather together in informal groups to sew, grow vegetables, raise One grant applicant came from Bhekumthetho, poultry and make cement/sand-brick blocks for building a rural community in the north and central houses. Though many of these groups will never be part of KwaZulu-Natal, which had been work¬ viable businesses on their own, they provide a communal ing for three years to install a water distribution system means of lowering living costs and, occasionally, they drat would serve 50,000 people. Each household had blossom into full-fledged operations that employ people. contributed $20 and the community put together a In its grant application, the Ekuvukeni Savings Club maintenance fee collection schedule. After having wrote that it had started a garden, sewing and poultry¬ drilled for water and put a tank on top of the borehole, raising project because members were “unemployed local funds had been spent. Furthermore, several mem¬ housewives who wanted to develop themselves... Having bers of the community had been stricken widi cholera. discussed the matter together we managed to a certain The community was asking for funds to install a pump extent to educate our children and grandchildren. We and a basic water reticulation system. These people, managed to feed our children and fight against malnutri¬ too, benefitted from a $8,900 U.S. government grant. tion. Having said that, we failed to fight against poverty Mandela’s South African government is taking steps and to fulfill the aforesaid objective because of die unem¬ to address tiiese basic needs. It is clear, though, diat ployment, high inflation, continuous drought.” community-based organizations will continue to play a I arrived at my destination, a cluster of mud huts, to prominent role in helping to develop black Soudi Africa. find a group of women, none of whom spoke English. The government itself is having to make use of non-gov¬ They had worked for 15 years building a thriving gar¬ ernment organizations to get its reconstruction and dening and poultry business, keeping complete records development program in place quickly. Furthermore, of the cooperatives meetings and decisions, and they the amount of money needed to completely address people’s basic needs is well beyond the capacity of South Deborah Derrick is an FSO in her second year of a two- African government. I feel safe in saying that small com¬ year tour in South Africa where she administers self- munity groups will continue to play an important role in help grants for KwaZulu-Natal province. uplifting the people of South Africa. ■
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 51 Focus
A SUCCESS STORY: ERITREA
Isalas Afiverki, president of Eritrea, was interviewed .HAS YOUR COUNTRY’S COMING TO INDEPENDENCE during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., where he also Q'IN 1991, LONG AFTER THE REST OF BLACK AFRICA held meetings with President Clinton, Secretary of State HELPED YOUR ADMINISTRATION AVOID THE PROBLEMS Warren Christopher, U.S. Agency for International AND MISTAKES OF OTHER AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS? Development Administrator J. Brian Atwood and others. Ain many ways, yes. Because you can’t take away die DID ERITREA’S 30-YEAR INDEPENDENCE STRUGGLE tilings diat we’ve gone dirough. In die 1960s, die peri¬
AGAINST ETHIOPIA SHAPE A SET OF NATIONAL VALUES? od after colonization when most African nations became Q independent, there were high expectations, diat were frus¬ A Yes, the fact that we’ve fought this very long war to trated. Political directions were flawed, tiiere were a lot of guarantee our basic rights as human beings as a nation mistakes of governments and die economic policies of and die values we have developed — values that relate to many African states made diem dependent. The crises we basic human rights of minorities in any place — and the are witnessing today are die result of an accumulation of fighting we’ve done against all sorts of tyranny and oppres¬ these many mistakes. Because we had not become inde¬ sion, have developed a tradition we now see in die political pendent like so many odier African states in die ’60s, we’ve process and institutions. I tiiink tiiese traditions, besides been relieved of some of diose problems. For example, die democratic values we have Eritrea’s sound economic pol¬ developed in allowing a tradi¬ icy is not the result of some tion of participation, are very very talented individuals who important for us. Leaving out came here to formulate poli¬ a section of the population — cy. It’s the outcome of a veiy marginalizing groups in die long experience in the region. community — becomes a lia¬ bility for any nation. LYOUR ADMINISTRATION Participation in our politics has Q'"APPEARS TO HAVE been very dynamic. Our BYPASSED THE CORRUPTION national identity developed AND NEPOTISM OF MANY OF widiout a sense of allegiance YOUR NEIGHBORS’ GOVERN¬ to one language, or a kind of MENTS. HOW WAS THIS DONE? homogeneity. In our case, we TINY NATION’S VALUES have nine language groups, we A We did get around cor¬ have different edinic groups, INSPIRED BY 30-YEAR ruption and nepotism we have two religions. We say INDEPENDENCE FIGHT by developing a mechanism it’s veiy unique because it has of accountability. You have brought unity out of this kind to gain the trust of the pop¬ BY KAREN KREBSBACH of composition. ulation. To be trusted by the
52 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 Focus
population, you need to be trustworthy, in tenns of your after independence, we didn’t rush for unilateral declara¬ attitudes and your actions. You will not be corrupt, you tion of independence, we wanted a process where we will not be tempted by anything of material value. Once legally proved to die international community that it was you introduce corrupt practices, you have to disassoci¬ a wish of our people — and 99.9 percent participated in ate yourself from the people, because the gap widens that referendum. Now we have this traditional process and widens and then you become a liability. where we are drafting a Constitution to allow democratic institutions in society, to allow for freedom of press, to ^~^DID NELSON MANDELA INFLUENCE YOU? allow for freedom of political association; it’s a very dynamic process. It was a long process where at the end of the day, the EPLF became a dominant political party A I can talk about one impact of this man: how he per¬ because of its values, because of its traditions. severed in prison, with all die psychological pressure. Who could have done diat, to stay in prison for more than QlN THE COMING YEARS, HOW WILL ERITREA MAIN¬ 25 years under diose circumstances? I think it is inspiring TAIN THE MOMENTUM OF SINGULAR PURPOSE
for many. Mandela’s example in Africa has been unique AMONG ERITREANS THAT THE REVOLUTION PROVIDED? because he really faced all those challenges and finally has achieved something tiiat is now shining in Africa. A We are trying to preserve values that are important to us, such as working together toward a common QTHE REVOLUTION FORGED AN EGALITARIAN MOVE¬ goal. Unless we develop and cultivate participation, it’s MENT, WITH MEN AND WOMEN FIGHTING ALONGSIDE not going to be easy to maintain stability. It’s difficult and ONE ANOTHER, AND WOMEN POSTPONING MARRIAGE AND complex, but we have in the last three years had difficul¬ CHILDBEARING. HAVE WOMEN RETAINED THIS ROLE? ties, and many people are saying that, well, “This is the honeymoon and it will end. You will adjust to reality. Alt will continue because, one good filing about our What you had during die struggle’s years will not be there experience is that, normally, in traditional (African) in the future.” But to die surprise of many, we’ve still societies, you look down upon women. In our history, maintained that mood, and I don’t see a dramatic change. women have proved to men that they are equal; they have lived with men, they have fought, they have led battles, QHOW IMPORTANT WILL THE SKILLS AND EDUCATION they’ve commanded units, they have done everything that OF RETURNING REFUGEES BE IN REBUILDING men have done. It’s not like any womans movement in ERITREA? HOW WILL YOU DRAW THEM BACK? any oilier society; it came as a development in our saga, where people realize that women are individuals and are A There are two types of refugees. The majority of equal and contribute to society. If women can be equal in (the first type) are in the Sudan, with no education, times of war, why can’t they be equal in times of peace? no health services, who have been living under veiy oppressed circumstances. They don’t have skills. The QWILL THE EPLF (THE ERITREA PEOPLE’S other group includes highly educated, highly skilled LIBERATION FRONT) CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN A Eritreans whom we need to help rebuild Eritrea. We MONOPOLY ON POLITICAL POWER? have to benefit from die resources and skills of our edu¬ cated Eritreans in Europe and America, and we have to A Before independence in 1987, during our second create a climate conducive to accommodating refugees Congress, without anyone telling us, without anyone of both kinds. We are introducing programs for educa¬ even expecting us to do so, we decided that a pluralistic tion, for health services, that would enable our system is the only healthy political system. Immediately returnees to be more productive and change their style of fife. But we need the resources of our skilled people Karen Krebsbach is the editor of the Foreign Service to change the realities of those who have not been Journal. exposed to that kind of reality. ■
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 53 THE ART OF NEGOTIATION
How THE US RECOUPED $16 MILLION FROM FAILED VO A PROJECT — A DECADE EATER
BY MORTON S. SMITH
ncle Sam’s willingness to give a continued flow of Jewish emigrants to Israel. Uforeign governments substan¬ However, die United States offered, along with obvious tial sums of money to realize goodwill, substantia] financial and business benefits for U.S. policy goals is a well-estab¬ Israeli linns. President Reagan even wrote a warm but lished, if mundane, fact. It is a firm letter to dien-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, urg¬ rare day, however, when other ing cooperation. Peres responded a few weeks later, governments give money back. explaining die plight of Soviet Jews and odier concerns, A $2 billion modernization program for U.S. but he would reluctandy begin negotiations. international broadcasting was launched in 1983, Talks finally stalled in Jerusalem in the spring of with the aim of greatly expanding and improving 1984. Negotiating teams met often over three years. facilities and the programming of VOA and Radio Israeli requirements, in addition to diose emanating Free Europe and Radio Liberty' (RFE/RL). The from military and environmental worries, centered linchpin of this ambitious plan would be a shortwave about die need for the United States to assume finan¬ relay station in the Middle East. A $300 million bud¬ cial responsibility for all costs before, during and after get would buy powerful transmitters to reach into the construction, as well as for all operating costs — heart of die Soviet Union from die south, providing including salaries and benefits for more than 100 strong signals to die non-Russian republics and into Israelis — and the assumption of all liability for any Russia itself. This project would impose an unbear¬ damage resulting from the station. able burden on die Soviet jamming system, which Negotiating sessions, tempered by humor, were was successful in varying degrees in scrambling marked by wide swings of emotion and constantly American broadcasts from Western Europe. changing technical requirements. After one tense Efforts were made to find a site for the station in meeting, die two sides adjourned. The American one of the Arab states, as well as Israel, but all declined. team took a long walk and stopped at a stand selling Finally, Uncle Sam reopened discussions with Israel. t-shirts, buying one they diought would be appropri¬ The Israelis saw die project as being in direct conflict ate for the afternoon session: The shirt was stenciled with dieir need to minimize Soviet hostility and ensure with large letters, saying, “Relax.” Eventually, all obstacles were overcome and an Morton S. Smith, a retired USIA career minister, agreement was signed at the White House in June directed the VOA Modernization Plan and was co¬ 1987, with President Reagan looking on. The actual chief negotiator with the Israelis from 1983-88. agreement included 23 articles and seven annexes. He returned in 1994 to lead the U. S. team in nego¬ One of die annexes dealt widi the location and tiating the termination agreement. boundaries of the planned site. Finding 1,500 acres
54 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 of unused land in Israel finally led to die Arava, a quickly identified for Israel: how to secure no Israeli rock)' desert soudi of the Dead Sea. It was a sparsely government responsibility for die project and how to populated region, except for a few cooperative fann¬ ensure diat Israeli companies would not be financially ing setdements, snakes and odier small wildlife. damaged by die cancellation. For die United States it The Americans had done perhaps too good a sell¬ was how to avoid new responsibilities and how to ing job of the relay station. Contemplating a $300 retrieve as much of die invested $16 million as possible. million facility with an operating annual budget of Preliminary talks began in May 1994, and negoti¬ $10 million, friends of Israel began seeing the project ations were held the following June and July. As in all as akin to an aid project for Israel. This view was negotiations, the details, such as shared by Congress: Instead of the $28 million finding words diat meant die same sought as a first-year startup budget, the VOA project to both parties, were the chal¬ was given $35 million. lenge. By developing a formula It look more than that included die reiteration of the So why was this project, well-endowed with polit¬ original responsibility of die U.S. three years to negoti¬ ical and financial resources, not built? Blame it government for all phases of the on the birds and their self-appointed protectors. project, including its termination, ate the original Bird lovers feared that the twice-annual flight of mil¬ the responsibility issue was settled. lions of birds over die Jordan Rift Valley would be The final issue was die $16 mil¬ agreement. How long seriously disrupted by die 400-foot-high curtain lion. The American side had great the termination antennas and the radio waves. In spite of many stud¬ doubt anything would be returned; ies showing no adverse effects from similar radio sta¬ diere had been no language in die accord would require tions, the environmentalists were nothing if not original agreement dealing with die tenacious. Said one, “I don’t care what tiiis or tiiat disposition of die funds should die was anyone’s guess. study shows. We will always demand another one.” project be canceled. In response to The environmentalist tinned out to be a prophet. a U.S. request for an accounting of In 1991 the Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunc¬ the funds, the Israelis provided only tion against further work until another study was a rough idea of how much had been spent, widiout completed. At diat point, however, a seven-mile sec¬ making any odier commitments. The final account tion of a highway had been relocated, dash flood showed $12.3 million remaining, including accrued earthenworks had been built, work in bringing elec¬ interest, which diey were prepared to return to Uncle trical power to the site had begun and die major con¬ Sam. The American team left the negotiating session struction contract had been awarded. But die injunc¬ euphoric, skeptical over die amount of interest, but tion proved to be die final blow, and in 1993 die U.S. satisfied at the willingness of die Israelis to reach a fast, government decided to halt die project. The Israeli positive settlement. government, now committed to the station, reluc- A few weeks later die Israelis phoned to ask for tandy acceded to die American view. some changes in the final settlement. Fearing disas¬ But much had happened since die original accord ter, die U.S team cursed its premature celebration. was signed, including $16 million given by die U.S. to But much to die team’s delight, die Israelis said that, the Israelis for a number of short- and long-term pur¬ instead of die $12.3 million, they were prepared to poses, such as rental of the land and security during return $16.29 million. The team’s questioning of the construction. Just how much had been spent from interest figures had paid off. diis fund was unclear. On Nov. 3, diplomatic notes were exchanged in Now, in accordance widi die original agreement, a Israel incorporating the terms of the final agree¬ termination agreement would have to be negotiated. It ment and closing the project. The handling of this took more than three years to negotiate the original project was a rare example of the trust, goodwill agreement. How long die termination accord would and common sense that can prevail in internation¬ require was anyone’s guess. The bottom lines were al relations. ■
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 55 Where in the world will your paycheck be on payday? Managing your family’s finances, at home or while living abroad, depends on getting your paycheck into the right accounts quickly and efficiently. Arrange to have your entire paycheck, or a portion, deposited to your State Department Federal Credit Union checking account or other account automatically. Either way, you’ll have the security of knowing your paycheck is deposited to your account the morning of payday—every pay¬ day—like clockwork. Sign up for direct deposit by visiting your payroll office today. Contact us for your free “Overseas Service Guide” or “Member Service Guide” today. If you’re calling from overseas, please let our staff know and you’ll receive priority service. If you’re an embassy or consulate employee, cable the credit union or see your SDFCU liaison. Our financial services will make a world of difference to you and your family.
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56 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 BOOKS
A DEFINITIVE HISTORY problem of fusing bureaucracy widi Craig’s co-editor particularly disap¬ the art of politics, a crucial dimension points in his essay, “Dean Rusk and OF DIPLOMACY of diplomacy usually overlooked. die Diplomacy of Principle,” which Thoroughly researched, elegantly purports to evaluate Rusk’s perfor¬ The Diplomats: 1919-39 crafted and distinctly perceptive, The mance as secretary of State, but deals edited by Gordon Craig and Felix Diplomats, 1919-39, was such a stun¬ superficially widi only one of six roles Gilbert, Princeton University Press, ning achievement that it quickly a secretary must play: presidential 1994, softcover, 683 pages, $24.95. soared to the rank of a classic. adviser. The role of manager of die The Diplomats: 1939-79 Widi die appearance of its sequel a diplomatic establishment, which edited by Gordon Craig and Francis few months ago, this promising burst underlies all the odiers, is among L. Loewenheim, Princeton University of sun promptly paled. Apart from those ignored. As for his role as a Press, 1994, hardcover, 706 pages, $35. Craigs introduction, his brilliant first diplomat, it is not even discussed. So essay on diplomats and a concluding why is “diplomacy” in die essay’s title? BY SMITH SIMPSON afterword, wayward contributors The strategies, tactics, techniques seem to have wandered about the and personal skills of diplomacy are Like an unexpected burst of sun in pasture of foreign affairs, producing the same from region to region and a stormy sky, Gordon Craig and Felix essays on such subjects as “Ernest from age to age. What varies is the Gilbert in 1953 edited a collection of Bevin and British Foreign Policy” mix and the terrain over which essays analyzing what diplomats and (not British diplomacy), “The Foreign diplomats must deploy their ministries of foreign affairs of 13 coun¬ Policy of Charles de Gaulle,” “Japan’s resources. I would suggest blending tries did between the two world wars Return to die World,” “Cold War political scientists and practitioners to introduce a new world order. Long Strategy,” “The Search for European with historians of developed coun¬ out of print, die first volume has now Security,” “Sadat’s Presidency,” “The tries to do conceptual research on been reprinted in softcover to accom¬ Statecraft of Henry Kissinger,” and diplomacy. There are few political pany a second volume, which covers “The News Media and Diplomacy.” scientists and no practitioners in the period from 1939-79. There is also an eloquent tribute to a Diplomats I and II. In die first volume, the essayists non-diplomat, the transnational free¬ The average American never concentrated on Europe and the lancer Jean Monnet. encounters a diplomat in real life, United States, widi an additional look This is not to say the essays are not never sees one when the lights go at Japan and Turkey. By and large, the meaty, well-written and worth read¬ down at the multiplex, and, when a authors dealt not only with die policy- ing. Most of them are. Nor is it to say glimpse of one is caught on the guided approaches to foreign policy diat diplomats and diplomacy do not evening television news, there is problems but widi the strategies and sporadically crop up in many of diem. rarely mention of what he con¬ die skills employed — in other words, They do. It is a question of adhering to tributes to the world. There is some¬ the dynamics of diplomacy. The per¬ the subject the tide of the book thing terribly wrong with this and sonal factor was brought into focus, promises. Craig and Gilbert seem to these two volumes will help do something scholars have generally have scraped the bottom of the barrel something about it. shied away from, finding that aspect of historians who know and can ana¬ too difficult to document despite it lyze what diplomacy is, who diplomats Smith Simpson is a retired FSO and being a basic ingredient in diplomacy. are, how they work — and die results the author of a number of books on The audiors included die frustrating they do and don’t produce. diplomacy.
JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 57 B 0 0 K s
A FRENCH KISS “The American Challenge (Dollars and Multinationals).” At the end, FROM AMERICA before Kuisel’s thoughtful conclusions, come two insightful if cursory chapters Seducing the French: The covering the last 30 years. Both hint at Dilemma of Americanization work still to be done. Richard F. Ruisel, University of Diplomats should grapple with California Press, 1993, hardcover, 296 this book. For example, tiy his thor¬ Diplomacy pages, $30. ough treatment of the “missionaries” of Point Four and their effort to BY RICHARD T. ARNDT remake French workers and employ¬ Has Its ers by focusing a billion or so on the Under its amusing if misleading elusive concept of productivity. His Rewards. title, here is the book francophiles, cautious retelling of the moment franeophobes and anyone ever irritat¬ makes it the easier to see tilings the ed by the pesky Gauls have long planners may have missed: Kuisel’s At American Service awaited. Not the first book ever understated tale hints at smiling, Center, your Al, A2, devoted to disentangling die long energetic and well-intentioned insen¬ love-hate relationship between sitivity to French history, to the then NATO 1, NATO 2, or G4 France and the United States, it is the power of Frances intellectuals, the visa, along with a diplomatic first on our side of the Atlantic to tenacity of industrial and trade-union peer at the question through the lens structures, the immobility of legal or official passport, allow of political culture. practice, the rigidity of its social you to purchase a new Kuisel, of course, takes “culture” structure; to the articulate skepticism Mercedes-Benz at dramatic in the anthropological sense: that set and genuine bafflement that greeted of elements that makes us different a concept like productivity and to savings. Contact Erik from them, hence our polity and soci¬ Frances early gropings towards a new Granholm, our Diplomat ety different from theirs. “What sense of national identity — in short, remains after all else is forgotten,” as to French culture, ’50s style. an d Tourist Sal es Manager. former premier Edouard Herriot put The imperfect vision extended to A native of Munich, it. Wisely, he has chosen to focus American perceptions of ourselves: Germany, Erik has keen closely on selected details from the Did we really know the whole story 1950s. His choices are courageous, of American productivity and with ASC for 29 years. resisting easy research and facile gen¬ French inadequacy? Do we know, eralization: “I looked to direct, inten¬ even today, the hidden costs of the sive encounters between the two productivity we preached? Kuisel peoples, especially those of a socioe¬ sketches a tale of two enlightened conomic and political character nations trapped in a dialogue of the where the American way was best deaf. displayed. Thus I chose the Marshall Who was right? Think of France Plan, economic missions, foreign and Italy today: Italy, so quick to adopt investment and American consumer and adapt American models, yet now products.” so deeply bewildered, and France, so 585 North Glebe Road, Each of six central chapters bears a maddenly slow to “modernize,” yet so Arlington, VA 22203 revealing title: “The New American brilliantly successful — as Kuisel and 703-525-2100 Hegemony (The French and The sociologists like Henri Mendras have Cold War);” “Yankee Go Home (The shown — at retaining French identity Telefax: 703-525-1430 Left, Coca-Cola and the Cold War);” in the midst of wracking change. Was Motile: 703-795-1829 “The American Temptation (The France wrong to resist its American Coming of Consumer Society);” and tempters?
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One must take friendly issue with A Classic All-Suite Property Kuisel for the titling of this important Ideally Located in Historic Foggy Bottom. volume. First, “Americanization.” As Kuisel writes, “There is a kind of glob¬ Our 255 spacious suites offer full kitchens, mini-bars, al imperative that goes by the name and comfortable living areas. The highly acclaimed Garden Cafe Americanization... [but] it has become features contemporary American regional cuisine and increasingly disconnected from seasonal outdoor dining. America. Perhaps it would be better described as the coming of consumer Convenient to the State Department, the Kennedy Center, society.” Instead of developing tliis Georgetown, Metro, and the free MUSEUMS AND MONUMENTS. powerful truth, his title dramatizes Special AFSA rates available. “Americanization,” deflecting atten¬ tion from a useful truth: “The phe¬ nomenon to be observed in postwar France has parallels all over the world * in recent decades.” Considering Kuisels focus on cul¬ ture, it may disappoint some that he pays scant attention to the role of the 2117 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 2003 7 U.S. Information Agency (USIA). In (202)861-8200 ♦ (800)424-2859 1953, the State Department began the gradual devolution of much of its cultural program capability to the new USIA, culminating in the departure of the Bureau of We concentrate on Educational and Cultural Affairs in only ONE thing ... 1977. In its new home, the orphaned Managing your property. cultural diplomacy has been whipped into line as a tool of some¬ PROFESSIONAL thing called “public diplomacy,” PROPERTY defined as the moment dictates. MANAGEMENT Kuisel reminds us diat culture mat¬ ters, that it has always mattered. The OF NORTHERN French may have been the first, but VIRGINIA INC. they are not alone among nations in Join our growing number of seeing diplomacy as a three-legged owners from Athens to Zaire stool, with cultural and educational 7iV who trust the management of relations an equal partner to politics “ their properties to PPM. Pro¬ fessional sen/ice with a per¬ and economics. This book may help sonal touch. remind us of tire third dimension of a decent foreign policy. Perhaps it is not Discounts on appliances and more! Monthly comput- too late to rebuild it. □1 erized statements.
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JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 59 The School Search 3y Dan Kubiake Your dream overseas assignment is A sense of belonging. within reach. The only tiling holding you back is that the location does not A sense of self. have a school for your high school-aged children. Your daughters urge you to l ilt School, a coeducational junior boarding and day school (dav: grades go for the assignment; your spouse also 1-9: hoarding: grades 6-9), is commit¬ wants you to take the job, but is ner¬ ted to providing an outstanding educa¬ vous about sending your daughters to a tion in a structured environment for boarding school. Finally, you decide to students with diverse backgrounds and bid on the job and, if you get it, send abilities. Its program emphasizes val¬ your children to a school in another ues and recognizes both effort and country. achievement in all facets of campus Your situation is not unique. life. Fay School offers small classes, According to the State Departments comprehensive programs in academics, Family Liaison Office, 435 children of the arts, and athletics, and caters to Foreign Service Officers attended children of all ability levels. Its pro¬ grams are enhanced bv excellent facili¬ boarding schools in the 1991-92 acade¬ ties situated on 60 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAUJUNE 1995 SCHOOLS three directories with information about the hundreds of boarding schools in the United States and abroad. The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) Directory includes more than 275 schools in North America and Europe. Petersons Guide of Private Secondary Schools includes hundreds more world wide. The Vincent Curtis Register, which Giving New Meaning to Prime Time. also lists summer programs operated by the schools. Each of the directories More than 70 percent of American 13-year olds watch at least three hours includes contact names at the school, of television a day. Students at the Mercersburg Academy organize their evenings student body size, and a brief descrip¬ a little differently. tion of the school, including special While the networks are delivering their lineups, our boarding students programs for students. States FLO are reading, writing, conversing, making videotapes, learning new software, office also keeps a set. rehearsing, practicing, and planning for the next day. In short, they’re taking For help overseas, each CLO office full advantage of the benefits of a day-long learning environment. or administrative officer receive the Call us for a copy of our prime-time schedule. You’ll give it high ratings. TABS directory. Many USIS libraries have the Peterson s guides as well. Travelers on the information super¬ MERCERSBURG highway can access information about MERCERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17236 • CALL 800/772-2874 many private schools on the Internet World Wide Web through Netcom. The Association of Boarding Schools will send free directories to those College preparation at its best requesting them. The questions you should ask about At a safe, challenging school, students a school are similar to ones you would experience remarkable personal and intellec¬ ask about your neighborhood school: tual growth, laying the foundation for success in college. ♦ Do you want your child living in the United States or in a third coun¬ St. Stephen's Episcopal School is such a school, dedicated since 1950 to educating try that might be closer to your the whole person—mind, body, and spirit. assigned post? With a rigorous curriculum, small classes, and ♦ Do you want your child to attend excellent teachers, St. Stephen's has earned a large or small school? a national reputation. Programs in the arts, ♦ What is the academic structure of athletics, and other areas provide a well- tire school — progressive, tradition¬ rounded experience. A Church school, St. Stephen's focuses on values. With a al or a mix? boarding community of 200 teachers and ♦ Are you looking for a school with students, respect and responsibility are a particular academic program such emphasized as keys to the St. Stephen's as specialties in music or art? experience. We welcome your call. ♦ How well does die school envi¬ Upper School: Grades 9-12 ronment mesh with your family’s boarding and day students values? ♦ Which colleges do the schools Direct all inquiries to: graduates attend? If your goal is a Director of Admission Harvard-educated child, you will P.0. Box 1868 Austin, Texas 78767-1868 want to find a school diat has a high (512)327-9642 Fax (512) 327-6771 ratio of placements at Harvard. JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 61 SCHOOLS ♦ What experience does the school The Grier School have dealing with parents? ♦ IIow is the school set up to care A boarding school for girls in grades 7 - PG for the student after school hours? ♦ What type of counseling is avail¬ Our school offers: A full seven-day boarding able for students? program for 160 girls ♦ Are special weekend programs Traditional secondary school arranged for boarding students? academic program ♦ What is campus security like? Small classes (2 to 14 students in each) ♦ What are the eating and dormito¬ Very safe Central Pennsylvania ry arrangements? location After narrowing your choices to a Complete weekend activities handful of schools, the next step is to program obtain admission forms, arrange for Excellent offerings in the arts and athletics your child to take the Secondary College counseling School Admission Test (SSAT) and set Vacation travel planning up appointments to visit the schools. assistance Because getting registration material Airport transportation and arranging meetings can be difficult Foreign Service families receive an annual $1,500 reduction of tuition fees. if you are stationed overseas, FLO can make requests for you and have the Please contact: Andrew Wilson, Director of Admissions material forwarded to you. SSAT Grier School Tyrone, PA 16686 exams are held throughout the school tf: (814) 684-3000 fax: (814) 684-2177 year at more than 600 U.S. test sites and in Hong Kong and Paris. Pelham and Tyson stress that for the parents’ peace of mind and the stu¬ dents’ happiness, the most important part of tlie school selection process is the personal visit. Many families con¬ ST. MARFS ACADEMY sidering boarding schools incorporate Nauvoo, Illinois the campus visits as part of home leave. During the visit, says Pelham, par¬ Founded in 1874 bv the Benedictine Sisters ents should arrange meetings with teachers and administrators. At the same time, student can visit classrooms and living quarters and talk with stu¬ Small classes Individual attention dents already attending the school. ^ Student-teacher ratio 7:1 -*> Safe, secure environment “The visit gives the student a chance to 5-7 day boarding Structured study times picture (himself or) herself in that school,” says Tyson. 4 Grades 9-12 College preparatory Afterward, if the school does not seem right, the Peterson’s guide sug¬ gests you move on to the next school on your list. “It is important to take a fresh look at your choices as you go Helping young women achieve their highest potential along,” guide authors note. Tyson agrees: “No one school is the best. You For more information contact the Admissions Office at: have to find what is best for your child.” 1-800-742-3997 Another consideration in choosing a school is cost. The amount paid each 62 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 SCHOOLS year by the State Department is based on a formula worked out by the Office Education of Overseas Schools. In 1995, the cost covered by The State Department is Is About up to $20,757 for each student. Travel Making Choices. costs covered can be added to that sum for up to three trips a year. “The Masters School offers As an incentive to attract Foreign so many choices that at Service students, some schools offer an first it seemed a little automatic discount of up to $2,000. overwhelming. But if there's WHERE TO FIND HELP any point in my American Montessori Society life when I 1.50 Fifth Ave., Suite 203 New York, NY 10011-4384 should be (212) 924-3209 overwhelmed Association of Boarding Schools with choices, Peter Pelham, coordinator of international ser¬ vices it should be now.” 1620 L Street, NW, lltli Floor Washington, D.C. 20036 (800) 541-5908 or (202) 973-9700 The Masters School Association of Military Colleges and AT DOBBS FERR Schools of die United States a school for girls, grades 6-12 9115 McNair Drive catalog & video available Alexandria, Va. 22309 49 Clinton Avenue (703) 360-1678 Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 Black Student Fund, Inc. (914) 693-1400 3636 16th Street, NW Suite AG19 Washington, D.C. 20010 (202) 387-1414 Council for Exceptional Children Aiken Preparatory School 1920 Association Drive Reston, Va. 22091 (703) 620-3660 Boarding National Association for Gifted Children School 1155 15th Street, NW Suite 1002 For Boys Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 785-4268 Grades 4-9 National Association of Private Schools for Exceptional Children 1522 K Street, NW Suite 1032 Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 408-3338 Secondary School Admission Test Board ATradition of Excellence Since 1916 P.O. Box 6451 Princeton, N.J. 08541-6657 (609) 683-4440 • Personal attention State Department Family Liaison Office • Family environment (FLO) Tel: (803) 648-3223 • Tutorial support Sidnee Tyson, education & youth officer 23 &C Streets Fax: (803) 648-6482 • Sports & activities Washington, D.C. 20037 • Emphasis on values (202) 647-1076 On-line help Internet http: /AVWWnetmaikEtoom/ P. O. Box 317 • Aiken, South Carolina 29802 • USA CompuServe: Education Forum (GO EDFO- RUM) ■ JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 63 SCHOOLS An International Education for the 21st Century ♦ Coeducational, boarding, grades 9 -12, PC 13th grade ♦ University-preparatory studies: International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, and US High School Diploma ♦ Excellent US and International university/college placement ♦ Full US and European Accreditation ♦ Caring family atmosphere in comfortable residences ♦ Recreation, Europe-wide educational cultural excursions ♦ Summer and winter sports; "Skiing at the LAS Doorsteps!" ♦ Located in beautiful, peaceful Alpine resort, above Lake Geneva, close to metropolitan Lausanne, Geneva, and Montrei Leysin American School in Switzerland Thomas F. Rouillard, Admissions PO Box 4016, Portsmouth, NH 03802-4016 Tel: 603.431.7654 Determine Fax: 603.431.1280 Your Destination Your Foxcroft experience will take you to a variety of places-English class, the chemistry lab, the hockey field, the dance Last year we produced milk, cheese, maple studio, the stables, the art studio, cultural syrup, garden produce, & 50 graduates who events, mixers with other schools. will help change the world. Girls benefit from a rigorous curriculum, small classes, and intelligent, caring faculty. At Putney, standards are high. Foxcroft enables each student to discover Maybe it’s because we’re in Vermont, where billboards aren't even and enhance her best personal and permitted along the highways. academic strengths. By promoting self¬ Or maybe it’s because Putney students learn by doing: how to write esteem and responsibility, Foxcroft provides young women with the necessary tools to with clarity and force, to analyze an image or an argument, to question learn, to grow, and to lead. assumptions, communicate in a foreign language, and test mathematical and scientific hypotheses. A Foxcroft education Maybe it’s that in classes of six, eight, ten, twelve, students learn to speak up. They bring that lesson with them to the nation's top colleges. will prepare you for a It might be because we believe the arts are not a frill, but funda¬ world of opportunity. mental. We even sing together for an hour once a week. Or maybe working on our campus farm helps teach work that is authentic. Cows don’t accept excuses. FOXCROFT For many reasons, our students are people who develop the courage to take risks. Since 1935, Putney graduates have been ■SCHOOL- challenging the world, and changing it. The Putney School Foxcroft is a college-preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12. For more information, please contact: Co-ed • Grades 9-12 &PG • Boarding & Day Rebecca Gilmore, Director of Admission, Foxcroft School, if Elm Lea Farm • Putney, Vermont 05346 • USA P.O. Box 5555, Middleburg, VA 22117:800-858-2364 802/387-6219 • fax 802/387-5931 Foxcroft School admits qualified students regardless of race, color, religion, and national and ethnic origin. 64 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1 99.5 SCHOOLS RABUN GAP SALEM Here’s a place where teaching in and out of the classroom, Christian ACADEMY values, and extracurricular activities, prepare young men and women in a boarding school setting for college and for life. • Academic Challenge of college-preparatory College preparatory curriculum includes Advanced Placement, boarding and day environmental science, and computer labs. • Small Classes and seminar settings in grades school for girls 7 to 12 enhance individual attention and de¬ velopment of analytical skills. Students from 17 nations and 18 states share their cultures. • Family Atmosphere provides a framework for developing responsibility, cooperation and self-assurance in a secure setting. Christian principles instill values and mold character. • Middle School (grades 7 & 8), in its own building, offers interdisciplinary studies, cross-curricular writing, and team building. Studies are coordinated with the Upper School. • Outdoor Adventures are found in horseback riding, hiking, camping, biking and fish¬ ing in the mountains of North Georgia. Interscholastic athletics include 10 varsity sports. Call: 1-800-543-7467 • FAX: 706-746-2594 RABUN GAP-NACOOCHEE SCHOOL School Farm Road, Rt. 1 Box 1A1, Rabun Gap, Georgia 30568 Salem Academy's average SAT scores among students who graduated in spring 1994 was 1155, with 100 percent of the THE PATTERSON SCHOOL graduates attending college. Founded 1909 Twenty-one percent of the seniors were named National Merit Scholarship Finalists. Music • Theatre • Athletics • January Term • Adjacent to the Old Salem 1400 Acres of Beautiful Blue Ridge Campus historic district 30 Acres of Gracious Southern Buildings 35 Staff Members Deeply Committed to Teens Director of Admissions, 150 Students Destined for a Great Future 910/721-2643 • College Prep • Co-educational • Christian Salem Academy, • Boarding/Day Students • 7 -12th Grades Winston-Salem, NC • Work Program • Small Classes • Summer School • Post Graduate Qualified students are welcomed to P.O. Box 500, Patterson NC 28861 Salem Academy without regard to race, creed, color, national orgin or disability. Phone: (704) 758-2374 • (800) 953-9903 The Patterson School FAX: (704) 758-9179 JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 65 SCHOOLS WESTOVER PHILLIPS EXETER SCHOOL SUMMER SCHOOL ♦ July 2-August 12, 1995 Six weeks of intensive academic recreation. Learn for the fun of it! Call today for a catalog, (603) 772-4311, ext. 3488 College Preparation for the high achiever Girls boarding & day, grades 9-12 • Advanced Placement in 14 subjects • Exceptional math and science programs • Joint Math/Science program with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute • Outstanding visual and performing arts programs • Joint program with the Manhattan School of Music • Excellent college placement Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School Whittemore Road • Box 847 • Middlebury, CT 06762 20 Main Street tel: 203• 758• 2423 fax: 203»577*4588 Exeter, NH 03833-2460 Episcopal Affiliated, College Preparatory, Boarding School for Boys. Grades 8-12 Located on a 500 acre wooded campus in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. David S. Gaines ’84 Director of Admission 500 Christ School Road Arden, North Carolina 28704 704-684-6232 • Fax 704-684-2745 Qualified students are admitted to Christ School without regard to race, creed, color or national origin. 66 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 SCHOOLS ST. JOHNSBURY ACADEMY College Prep y\Wood Traddion A Bright Fulutr St. Johnsbury Academy, an independent at Its Best! day and boarding school enrolling 875 stu¬ dents in grades 9-12 and a postgraduate year, • Boys Boarding School—Grades 7-12 provides each of its students with a unique • 111 Year Tradition of Academic educational opportunity We have developed Excellence a comprehensive curriculum offering instruc¬ • We build Discipline, Manners, and tion at several levels of difficulty, including 12 Leadership A.P. courses, as well as extensive technical and pre-engineering programs. • Superb College Placement Record We provide our students with extracur¬ • Modem Computer Lab; Computer in ricular opportunities in adiletics, drama, each Cadet Room filmmaking, and fine arts. We invest heav¬ • Complete Sports and Club Program ily in faculty research and study. As teach¬ ers we are committed to student centered Including Aviation instruction, small classes, personal atten¬ • Small Class Size and Individual tion, and authentic student assessment. Instruction Most important, St. Johnsbury' Academy • Alma Mater of Distinguished States¬ provides each of its students with the oppor¬ men, Generals, Corporate Leaders tunity to live and leant in this sale, stable, and supportive environment. ST. JOHNSBURY ACADEMY St. Director of Admissions ST. JOHNSBURY, VT 05819 John’s St. John's Military Academy Tel. (802) 751-2130 Fax (802) 748-5403 Military Academy Delafield, Wisconsin 53018 Winner of the 1991 U.S. Department of Education Exemplary School Award 414-646-7115 Fax: 414-646-7128 1-800-SJ-CADET At Florida Air Academy, young men learn to display those traits which create a leader. From our classrooms to our athletic fields, discipline, respect and traditional values are the keys to success. • Fall, Mid-Term & Summer Session Enrollment Available • Outstanding Weather/Location On Florida’s Space Coast • Safe, Structured Environment • 100% College Acceptance Rate Since 1978 • Low 18:1 Student/Teacher Ratio • Air Force JROTC Honor Unit • Optional Flight Training • Full Athletic Program The Men Of • Unique Field Trips To Popular Central Florida Attractions Our six week Summer Session begins on July 1; Fall Term for 1995-1996 begins on September 8. Enrollment at other Tomorrow times contingent upon availability. Private Military School A promising future, full of opportunity, begins with self- discipline, motivation and a sense of self-worth. At Florida For Young Men (Grades 7-12) Air Academy, we help young men prepare for such a future. For more information on the educational opportunities available for your son, please contact our Admissions Office at (407) 723-3211. Or write: Florida Air Academy, Dept. MD, 1950 South Academy Drive, Melbourne, FL FLORIDA AIR 32901. FAX (407) 676-0422. ACADEMY JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 67 SCHOOLS Not Just Another Face in the Crowd Browne Academy... Where Your Child Counts WESTTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA - FOUNDED IN 1799 Give your child a world of possibilities A QUAKER BOARDING SCHOOL ai Browne Academy. We re a OFFERING: multicultural, coeducational independent school located on a beautiful, safe • Small, academically challenging, coed classes. campus just outside Old Town • A diverse community with students from 27 Alexandria. Browne Academy's states and 13 countries. outstanding program features: • 61% of faculty resident on campus, providing • Preschool through 8th grade. a warm family atmosphere. • Small classes and low • Outstanding facilities: science center, arts student/teacher ratio • Individualized curriculum center, fieldhouse 25m swimming pool. • Summer camp programs • A beautiful 600-acre campus in a safe, • Highly Academic, but not suburban community, convenient to high pressure. international airports. • Door to door transportation available. • Extended day and financial aid available • VAIS Accredited Call for Open House Information (703) 960 3000 Browne Academy... School as it Should Be! Contact Sarah J. Goebel Browne Academy • 5917 Telegraph Road • Alexandria. VA 22310 tel: 610-399-7900 fax: 610-399-7909 The Stoneleigh Winchendon Burnham School School Greenfield, MA A traditional coeducational, college preparatory Stoneleigh-Burnham is a small, friendly New England school with an emphasis on helping the college preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades nine through twelve. Our campus underachieving student through the efforts of of rolling lawns and wooded hills is nestled in the a highly supportive faculty and an individualized foothills of the Berkshires. and structured program. At Stoneleigh-Burnham School, girls have the opportunity, perhaps for the first time in their lives, to • 5:1 Student/Faculty Ratio develop their interests to the best of their ability, to explore new subjects without being afraid to take a • Modem Academic, Athletic, and Dormitory Facilities risk, to enjoy the challenges and rewards of learning, • Interscholastic and Intramural Athletics to grow self-confident and independent. • Study Skills Instruction Encouraging our students...in class, in lab, in dance • Supervised Suidy and art studios, in the dormitory, in the riding • Excellent College Counseling ring and on the athletic • Visual Arts fields...are caring adults • Summer Session who truly want to help • 18 Hole Coif Course their students succeed. • Grade 8-12 6c PC For more Information please contact: Trish Saunders, Director of Admissions Stoneleigh-Burnham School - Box FJ Norman S. Jason, Admissions Bernardston Road, Greenfield, MA 01301 The Winchendon School, Winchendon, MA 01475 413 / 774-2711 1-800-622-1119 68 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 SCHOOLS SOUTHWESTERN ^ AN ACADEMIC ACADEMY iltt 33, California and Arizona USA ALTERNATIVE High School and Lower Grades Kindergarten through 8th Grade International Boarding Aiw. Give your child the Calvert All materials are included School for Boys and Girls advantage. Calvert in your initial shipment. School offers nearly Advisory Teaching / Preparation and counseling for university 90 years of expe¬ Service optional. / Fully Accredited rience in home Our diverse stu¬ / Individualized programs instruction cur¬ dent body in¬ / Small classes - around 12 students per class riculum. Our cludes mission¬ / Two beautiful campuses in Arizona and courses are ideal ary, sailing, farm- near Los Angeles for first time or ing, traveling, performing, and / Grades 1-12 experienced home schoolers. Our home schooling fami¬ / Educational field trips flexible, step-by-step les¬ lies. We are a fully accred¬ / Warm, friendly and safe environment son manuals provide a clas¬ ited, nonprofit, equal op¬ / Art, drama and music classes sic, comprehensive pro¬ portunity institution. We / Great teachers gram that allows time for are “the school that comes to / Sports - boys & girls - basketball, baseball, specialinterests. Frenchlan- you." Discover what more cross country, soccer, volleyball, swimming guage and music enrich¬ than 350,000 others have ment courses are offered. learned. and horseback riding / Meet students from America and from all over For free information contact: the world CALVERT SCHOOL For more information call (410)243-6030 fax(410)366-0674 (818) 799-5010, Fax (818) 799-0407 or write to: Southwestern Academy Dept. F65 • 105 Tuscany Road • Baltimore, MD *21210 2800 Monterey Road - San Marino, CA 91108-1780 - U.S.A Since 1897 J BUXTON SCHOOL W1LL1AMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS— Founded in 1928 Buxton is a coeducational, college-preparatory school enrolling 85 boarding students in grades 9 through 12. Founded to provide unique opportunities for intellectual, per¬ sonal, and artistic growth, Buxton seeks to nurture creativity and independence within a small school community. Life at the school reflects the importance of being morally and active¬ ly committed to the creation and betterment of a healthy, diverse society. Courses and activities in art, music, drama, and writing are also part of the sophisticated curriculum. A devoted faculty and 5:1 student/faculty ratio guarantee per¬ sonal attention and support. Significant to the Buxton com¬ munity are Work Program and the annual week-long All- School Trip. The 150-acre campus overlooks historic Williamstown; the Clark Art Institute and Williams College are exceptional resoinces for Buxton students. Stone Hill Road, Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267 Phone (413) 458-3919 FAX (413) 458-9427 JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 69 SCHOOLS OJAI VALLEY SCHOOL CALIFORNIA L South Kent SECONDARY PREP AND UNIVERSITY PREP COED, BOARDING, AGES 8-18 AVERAGE AND ABOVE AVERAGE STUDENTS y School ACADEMIC YEAR SUMMER PROGRAMS A college-preparatory boarding school for boys, 1 SAFE AND STRUCTURED • 2-, 4-, 6- WEEK SESSIONS 1 CLASS SIZE AVERAGE - 15 • SCHOOL/CAMP COMBINATION in the beautiful hills of northwest Connecticut. '6:1 STUDENT/FACULTY • RATIO • CAMPING, HIKING, SPORTS ' ADVANCED PLACEMENT COURSES • SWIMMING, TENNIS Founded in 1923, South Kent offers: ' UNIVERSITY PLACEMENT • BEACH TRIPS ♦ the small size necessary for boys to make sense ' EVENING STUDY HALLS • COMPUTERS, STUDY SKILLS of their world ' RESIDENT FACULTY • EQUESTRIAN PROGRAM ♦ teachers trained to work with all the learning • FINE ARTS PROGRAM • ESL PROGRAM styles boys bring with them to the classroom • OUTDOOR EDUCATION PROGRAM • WAIC/ACA ACCREDITED ♦ advanced placement opportunities in every • ESL PROGRAM subject area • WASC ACCREDITED ♦ the Episcopal tradition of instilling ' FOUNDED 1911 service to others ♦ the proven advantages of an all-boys academic environment with a full range of PHONE: (805) 646-1423 coeducational opportunities on the weekends FAX: (805) 646-0362 Education on a human scale for the twenty-first century. 723 EL PASEO ROAD. OJAI, CA. 93023 South Kent School Admissions Office LOCATED NEAR SANTA BARBARA, CA. 203-927-3530 / FAX 203-927-0024 ADMIRAL FARRAGUT ACADEMY A school of her own. For the last 10 years we have placed more NROTC college Linden Hall is a school for young women preparing for scholarships than any other high school in the nation. college. With a 4:1 student/faculty ratio, our students flourish academically and gain the self-confidence to determine their 100% of our graduates are accepted to colleges and own futures. There are boarding and day options for middle and universities. upper schoolers, grades 6-12. Professional instruction is offered by the Pennsylvania Academy of Music and the Movement J/ We offer grades 5 through 12 as well as a post graduate year. Laboratory of Lancaster. Our financial aid grants are based on vL Included are sailing, SCUBA & flight programs, through a need. Call or write our Director of Admissions. pilot’s license. vL Admiral Farragut Academy is the alma mater of 2 of the 12 LINDEN men who walked on the moon. ra HALL Founded in 1746 CALL (813) 384-5500 212 East Main Street, Lititz, PA 17543 (800) 258-5778 • (717) 626-8512 • Fax (717) 627-1384 501 Park Street North, P.O. Box 43010, St. Petersburg, FL 33743 70 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 REAL ESTATE Diplomatic & International Organizations Personalized Touch in Real Estate Marghi Fauss Associate Broker • Foreign Service Career • Licensed Virginia Realtor since 1985 If you're seeking a permanent home or a get-a-way retreat within • National I listoric an easy commute of DC along spectacular tree-lined roads then consider Maryland. Trust Certification Maryland has it all, traditional residences, chic executive • Property Management townhomes, beach front homes to magnificent estates with peace and serenity located along the Chesapeake's beautiful shores. 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Linda touches turns to A professional and personal service tailored SOLD.” to meet your needs in: • Property Management Whether you or someone you know are considering • Sales and Rentals a move, be sure to call “One of the Best Real Estate • Multiple listings Agents in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia” • Real Estate Investment Counseling Our staff includes: Linda Wilson Hurley, GRI Gerry Addison Joann llowd Fran Palnieri 202-333-6100 or 202-363-9337 Steve Carey Robert Howd Sally Duerbeck Donna Courtney Donna Linton PARDOE All presently or formerly associated REAL ESTATE, INC. with the Foreign Service. 2828 PENNSYLVANIA AVE, NW 4600-D Lee Highway Arlington, Virginia 22207 WASHINGTON, DC 20007 FAX 202-626-3422 (703) 525-7010 (703) 247-3350 Serving Virginia, Maryland and D.C. 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MEMBER NASD & SIPC 6922-C Little River Turnpike Phone:(703) 354-9200 Annandale, VA 22003 Toll Free: (800) 333-3077 74 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JONE 1995 220-VOLT VOLVO EXPORT PRODUCTS Hotel Suites Free I.AudioVisual Products Catalog 420 North Van Dorn Street Factory-Set Discounts Alexandria, Virginia 22304 (703) 370-1000 (800) 368-3339 To Diplomats Posted (703) 751-1467 FAX Stateside ano Abroad U.S., U.K., European, or RENT OUR Overseas Specs Overseas and Domestic $85.95 SUITES AND Deliveries GET FREE: JERRY GRIFFIN Alamo Rental Car DIPLOMATIC SALES SPECIALIST Audio-Visual Products, Computers Bilingual keyboards,Printers,Copiers 12 YEARS EXPERIENCE Small & Major Appliances, Electronics PC Modem In All Rooms Multisystem TV/VCR,Fax, Water Distillers Transformers,UPS,Plugs,Supplies,ETC. Continental Breakfast 1231 W. Broad Street USA TODAY Newspaper Falls Church, VA 22046 EMBASSY 5810 Seminary Rd,Falls Church,Va.22041 Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Fully Equipped Kitchens 9(703) 379-0100 (703) 237-5020 (Washington D.C.Area,10 minutes from FSI) Exercise Room/Pool Fax:(703) 820-9385 Fax: (703) 237-5028 Internetrem [email protected] ■■■■CompuServe: 71023,151 Happy Hour VISIT OUR SHOWROOM OR 69 WRITECAU,FAY,OR E-MAIL YOUR ORDER ALL OF THE ABOVE FOR LESS THAN JbDon Beyer Volvo Credit-Card/Purchase Orders Welcome THE GSA LODGING PER DIEM DAILY WE PACK & FREIGHT AP0/FP0/ WORLDWIDE ALLOWANCE FOR WDC! ADVERTISING INDEX Automobiles Clements & Co./l Chase at Ballston/56 Fay School/62 American Sendee Center/58 Hirshom/39 Chase at Betliesda/44 Florida Air Academy/67 Ghrysler/OBC Jannette/18 Exclusive Interim/8 Foxcroft School/64 D.B. Volvo/75 Unirisc/33 Execustay/AFSANews/5 Grier School/62 Ford/IBC Executive IIousing/13 Leysin American School/64 Martens Volvo/18 Real Estate JUNE 1995/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 75 POSTCARD FROM ARROAD Coping with Reverse Seasons in Buenos Aires BY WESLEY ANN GODARD As the folks back in the United The reversed seasons are most States adjust to daylight sav¬ W atching CNN noticeable during special occasions. ings time, here in Buenos Holidays, when we miss home the Aires we are shaking the mothballs reports oj an Iowa most, can seem even more lonely out of onr woolens. With the days get¬ when the weather is unfamiliar. ting shorter and the temperature heat ware when Pm “Home,” as my wall plaque says, "is dropping, skiers are already booking where the State Department sends reservations for July vacations in the try ing to get my you.” At each “home” we try to meld Andes. our traditions with special decora¬ Fall in Argentina is an ambiguous furnace to work, 1 tions, food and family ceremonies. season. In March and early April For many Thanksgivings now, we when the jacaranda trees that grace acutely feel the have caited our turkey and dressing the wide boulevards blossom into to the beach. Friends saying grace purple flowers and the air is soft and distan ce from h orne. outside around a picnic table with warm, I can almost believe it is candles stuck in Coca Cola bottles spring. The temperature soars, then will surely be my children's image of makes a U-tum, and plunges to a that holiday. When we move back to chill that prompts one to want hot tions to order new winter clothes the States, we will probably continue soup by a log fire. Being from West from the February catalogs. I just to head for tlic sea on the third Texas, I grew up with temperamen¬ couldn’t get excited about turtlenecks Thursday in November. Taking a tal weather, but our plains have when the temperature hit 90 degrees swim on Christmas Day to work off nothing on Argentina. Abrupt Fahrenheit. Packing for a trip to the the extra calories feels odd, but not weather changes throughout the States last November was a night¬ unpleasant. year are punctuated by torrential mare. Padding around the house in To me, the holidays that fall in the rain, wind and lightening. sandals and shorts, I tried to remem¬ months that I think of as warm are the Years ago, before a satellite could ber where I put my lined boots. I left hardest to adjust to. On a cold drizzly beam the U.S. weather into my living Buenos Aires in shirt sleeves to travel Fourth of July in the Southern Cone, room. I found it easier to adapt to the to crisp fall in Washington, D.C., then I miss the dazzle of fireworks. In topsy-turvy seasons between the on to snowfall in the New Mexico Buenos Aires this year, the American northern and southern hemispheres. mountains, and finally to sweater community held a traditional Fourth These days, however, watching CNN weather in southern California. Two of July picnic in early March while the reports of a heat wave in Iowa when suitcases of clothes didn’t begin to weather was still warm. The Marines I’m trying to get my furnace to work, cover the eventualities. had a flag ceremony and hot dogs and I feel the distance more acutely. Nor did being home make shop¬ hamburgers sizzled on the grill. The As usual I put off my good inten- ping any easier. While everyone in sack races and tug-of-war felt a lot like Argentina was slathering on suntan home even if it wasn’t July. Wesley Arm Godard is a Foreign Service oil, I was rummaging through displays The children are grown now and spouse who has lived with her husband, of glove and muffler sets or sweaters living in the United States. Having Ronald, in Santiago, Managua, San with reindeer prancing across the spent half their childhood years in Jose, Panarm City and Istanbul. They chest, wishing I could find a new foreign posts, I wonder which seasons have lived in Bueiros Aires since 1993. swimsuit. they associate with the months? ■ 76 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/JUNE 1995 A GOOD DIPLOMAT CAN GET THROUGH SOME PRETTY TOUGH SPOTS. HMM, SOUNDS FAMILIAR. The new Ford Explorer is vehicle at a substantial discount. identification number (PIN). designed to get you through This discount is over and above When you receive it, just take almost anything. From standard any retail incentives available at your PIN acknowledgement to four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, the time of purchase or lease. any authorized Ford or Lincoln- to standard dual air bags' to To take advantage of this Mercury dealership and they will automatic Control Trac four-wheel special offer, just complete and assist you in obtaining the vehicle drive, it’s the best Explorer ever. mail or fax the registration form of your choice. To recognize your diplomatic below along with the required status, Ford Motor Company information. Upon receipt of your ® LINCOLN offers qualified personnel the documentation, your personal ability to purchase or lease the Program Headquarters administra¬ Mercury @ new 1995 Ford Explorer or any tor will validate your request and other Ford, Mercury or Lincoln issue your individualized personal ’Always wear your safety belt. Please send my Diplomat Sales Program approval (PIN). I am enclosing a copy of my Diplomatic Passport or verification of employment at an eligible international organization. You must check one of the following: U.S. Delivery U.S. Port Delivery for NAME (Please Print) and Registration Overseas Shipment ADDRESS Mail or fax this registration form and accompanying support documents to: CITY STATE DIPLOMAT SALES HEADQUARTERS Ford Business Assistance Center ZIP P.O. Box 43310 COUNTRY Detroit, MI 48243 PHONE NUMBER or call toll free at 1-800-548-3212 (U.S. only) FAX 1-313-396-2971 FAX NUMBER 1995 JEER GRAND CHEROKEE LAREDO As a member of the Diplomatic Corps, you are eligible for special privileges when you order a vehicle through Chrysler’s Diplomatic Purchase Program. They include preferred savings, fast personalized ordering assistance and uncompromising service with Chrysler’s worry-free world¬ wide warranty. Perquisites appropriate to your office. Choose from the full line of 1995 Chrysler Motors products: Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge cars and minivans, Eagle cars and Jeep and Dodge trucks. Phone for personalized service. Your Personal Advisor will order the model and color you want with the equipment you want, and quote the official Diplomatic price including all applicable rebates. Your Personal Advisor can also arrange delivery anywhere in the U.S. or to most overseas locations. In other words, we set you free of tedious details. If you’d rather, fill out and mail or telefax the card on Page 11. You’ll quickly receive a cata¬ logue for the vehicle(s) of your choice. The Diplomatic Purchase Plan. It’s the easy, money-saving way to start enjoying Chrysler’s many advantages. ^ CHRYSLER W INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC SALES IN THE U.S., PHONE YOUR PERSONAL ADVISOR AT 1-800-877-7C83 or (516) 496-1806. TELEFAX: (516) 677-3701