[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 41 (Thursday, April 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3170-S3172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PRESIDENT CLINTON AND THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to commend the 
historic visit that is just ending today.
  I speak of the visit of President Clinton to Africa which began on 
March 22. As the Ranking Member of the Africa Subcommittee of the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I know Africa's vital importance to 
the United States, and I applaud the President's effort to highlight 
Africa with this timely trip.
  President Clinton is the first sitting U.S. president since President 
Jimmy Carter to take such an extensive voyage in Africa, and he will 
the be the first sitting U.S. president ever to visit each of the 
individual countries on his itinerary.
  We can not underestimate the significance of this.
  Mr. President, millions of Americans trace their roots to Africa. 
Thousands of Americans have served in Africa in non-governmental 
organizations, church groups, or the Peace Corps, including many 
graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our African heritage 
is prominent and pervasive in the art, music, and literature of 
American culture. More and more American tourists are journeying to see 
the natural wonders of the Serengeti, the Ghanaian Cape Coast or 
Victoria Falls.
  Although these ties bind every American to Africa, many of them in a 
very passionate and personal way, I am concerned that there is so 
little knowledge about Africa in this country, and so little interest. 
That is why the President's trip is so important.
  Many of the 48 distinct nations of Africa are now experiencing what 
some have called an ``African Renaissance.'' By whatever name, there 
can be no doubt that Africa is a continent much changed since the years 
immediately following the independence period.
  In some nations on that great continent, we see conflicts, coups and 
corruption. In others, we see the triumph of democracy and of the 
creative human spirit. In the past few years, too many of Africa's 
peoples have faced atrocities that rank among the worst of this 
century. At the same time, healthy changes have swept across much of 
the continent, and there is more reason for optimism about Africa's 
future than at any time in recent memory.
  First, there has been substantial political progress. In 1989, only 
five African nations could be described as ``democratic.'' Today, there 
are at least twenty. Where there used to be one-party states or 
military regimes, we now have governments that have developed new 
constitutions, held multiparty elections, and taken great strides 
toward reforming key institutions. Parliaments in countries like Ghana 
and Namibia are beginning to exercise a meaningful check on executive 
power. Local and national elections are being conducted freely and 
fairly in many countries. Journalists are more boldly exercising new 
press freedoms.
  The institutions that nourish true democracy are beginning to take 
root in the African soil.
  Second, many of the long-standing, violent conflicts that have 
ravaged the land and the peoples of Africa are coming to a close. 
Uganda, which suffered terribly throughout the 1980s, is now one of the 
most stable countries on the continent. The protracted war in the Horn 
of Africa ended with the peaceful secession of Eritrea, an important 
new actor on the African stage. The seeds of lasting peace have been 
planted in Liberia and Angola. And the promise of peace dangles before 
the peoples of Northern Mali and the Western Sahara.

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  Third, many African nations have surged forward in human and social 
development. The scourge of AIDS continues to take its toll, but infant 
mortality rates have dropped significantly. Population growth has 
slowed to a more manageable rate. The drag of illiteracy still slows 
economic development, but more African children go to school now than 
at any other time since independence.
  African women, too, are playing a more active role in the future of 
their continent. In Botswana, an organization called ``Stand Up Women'' 
is working to expand the influence of women on national laws and 
policy. In South Africa, Ghana and elsewhere, female entrepreneurs are 
starting and managing their own businesses. Throughout Africa, more and 
more women are becoming involved in political life. Many have been 
elected to fledgling parliaments.
  Finally, Africa's economies are growing at impressive rates, with an 
estimated 4.5 percent GDP increase in 1997, according to the World 
Bank. In Senegal and Uganda, growth has topped 5 percent.
  Hope abides in Africa. And hope abides among those of us who see that 
a thriving Africa is good for America.
  Still, many African nations are plagued by authoritarian regimes that 
deny their citizens basic human rights. The economic and political 
potential of some nations are being squandered by ruling military 
juntas. In these few hold-out regimes, corruption, economic 
mismanagement and violent suppression of dissent are the norm. This is 
certainly true in Nigeria, a nation of great natural and human 
potential, which cannot be realized under the current regime.
  In Sudan, a decades-old war has killed hundreds of thousands of 
innocent civilians. Sudanese children are often forced into 
conscription, and many of them know the barrel of a gun better than the 
inside of a classroom.
  Other obstacles to development abound. Some of the poorest, most 
desolate places on earth are located in Africa. Life expectancy and 
adult literacy are the world's lowest, while population growth and the 
incidence of HIV/AIDS are the highest. Basic services that we as 
Americans take for granted--from clean drinking water and health care, 
to school books and paved roads--remain out of reach for millions of 
Africans.
  The combination of welcome progress and daunting problems in Africa 
present enormous challenges for U.S. policy. Some observers look at 
Africa and say, ``This is a basket case!,'' and see few redeeming 
features. These cynical voices--the so-called ``Afro-pessimists''--
believe America should disengage from the world and particularly from 
Africa; that the poverty and despair of others is not our problem, that 
the potential of Africa presents no opportunity.
  But as the history of this century has shown time and again, the 
problems of the world community, do, in fact, become ours.
  As the world becomes smaller and more inter-dependent, new dangers--
terrorism, international crime, narcotics, and infectious disease, all 
of which are increasingly prevalent in Africa--will not stop at the 
border. Sudanese involvement is alleged in the World Trade Center 
bombing. In Wisconsin, hundreds of my constituents have received 
fraudulent scam letters from Nigeria. For a few days in 1995, we all 
worried about the threat of the Ebola virus which had recently appeared 
in the former Zaire.
  Mr. President, we cannot ignore these threats.
  Though mindful of the grim realities of Africa, the United States 
must encourage the positive developments that are already taking place 
there. We must embrace and encourage those changes, and not just 
because we are a generous people. Africa is a growing U.S. trading 
partner. U.S. exports to Sub-Saharan Africa increased 14 percent during 
1996; that's twice as fast as the growth rate of total U.S. exports 
worldwide. Few people realize that the United States currently exports 
more to sub-Saharan Africa than to all of the former Soviet republics 
combined. More and more forward-thinking American companies have their 
eye on the vibrant potential markets in Africa.
  By going to Africa, President Clinton recognizes Africa's importance 
to the U.S. and demonstrates his steadfast commitment to America's 
crucial role in supporting Africa's burgeoning democracies, aiding 
economic growth, maintaining recent peace agreements, and preventing 
future conflicts.
  The President's trip is both symbol and substantive statement. There 
have been moving moments with genocide survivors in Rwanda and with 
South African President Nelson Mandela, with school children in Uganda 
and with Peace Corps volunteers in Ghana.
  Each of the countries on President Clinton's itinerary represents 
some facet of Africa's accomplishments. Each is an important U.S. 
partner.
  The President has also announced several new policy initiatives, 
including an important education program and a welcome push for the 
Senate to ratify the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, a 
treaty currently pending before this body. President Clinton has 
expressed his commitment to maintaining existing programs, including 
the Africa Crisis Response Initiative, a U.S.-led effort to help 
African militaries gain the capacity to participate in peacekeeping 
operations. I have supported this initiative here on the Senate floor.
  As part of his itinerary, the President scheduled three highly 
significant roundtable meetings. The first, a meeting with young South 
African leaders outside Johannesburg, served to highlight the promise 
of the new generation in Africa--young people who were born well after 
the independence period, and who are anxious to seize new 
opportunities.
  The second, a meeting with African environmentalists, helped give 
focus to some of the environmental challenges on the continent.
  The third, a meeting with human rights and democracy activists at his 
last stop in Senegal, served to highlight America's commitment to human 
rights and democracy in Africa and the need to sustain that commitment.
  Above all, this trip presented a perfect opportunity for the United 
States to make clear its stated policy of support for human rights and 
good governance in Africa. Before he departed, I wrote to the President 
and asked him to consider a few ways in which he might demonstrate his 
commitment to these principles.
  Recognizing the unique challenges posed by the recent history of the 
troubled Great Lakes region, I asked that the President make clear the 
United States' unwavering support for democracy in the region. For 
example, I urged him to articulate clear criteria for the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo to gain U.S. assistance, including lifting 
existing bans on opposition political activity and ceasing harassment 
of lawful components of civil society. I also urged extreme caution in 
any attempt by the administration to seek security assistance for the 
Rwandan military, which has been responsible for widespread killing of 
civilians. Without strong statements by the administration against 
these practices, the U.S. risks sending the wrong signal about our 
priorities and our values.
  I also told the President of my hope that this trip would help 
strengthen the President's resolve with respect to our Nigeria policy, 
particularly in light of the continuing deterioration of the human 
rights situation in Nigeria. I have long been concerned about the 
perceived lack of a policy in Nigeria. That is why I urged the 
President to take the strongest position possible in support of 
democracy in that country. I told him I appreciated the remarks 
delivered recently by Assistant Secretary Susan Rice before the Senate 
Subcommittee on Africa that made clear that the United States would not 
accept the election of a military candidate in Nigeria's upcoming 
elections. This was a very important statement, and one that I had 
hoped would mark the beginning of a more coherent, resolute Nigeria 
policy for the United States.

  That hope was all but extinguished when I heard the President remark 
last Friday that Nigeria's current military ruler, General Sani Abacha, 
would be considered acceptable by the United States if he chose to run 
in the country's upcoming election as a civilian. Other administration 
officials later tried to clarify the President's remarks by noting that 
the U.S. objective is to support a viable transition to civilian rule. 
They also noted, correctly, that the so-called ``transition'' process 
currently underway in Nigeria appears

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structured expressly to keep Gen. Abacha in power. In effect, they 
acknowledged the contradiction between our Nigeria policy and the 
political realities there.
  Virtually none of the institutions that would allow for a free and 
fair election--an independent electoral commission, an open 
registration process, or open procedures for the participation of 
independent political parties, for example--have been put into place. 
Repression continues unabated: political prisoners remain in prison, 
the press remains heavily constrained, and the fruits of Nigeria's 
abundant natural resources remain in the hands of Abacha's supporters.
  Unfortunately, I fear the President's remarks may have done real 
damage already, by indicating to Gen. Abacha and his cronies that if 
Abacha were to take off his military uniform, throw on civilian 
clothes, and win an election, it would be OK with the United States. I 
fear the United States has explicitly agreed to accept a wolf in 
sheep's clothing!
  Well, lest anyone get the wrong idea, let me say that I believe, and 
I hope most of my colleagues believe, an electoral victory for Abacha 
would hardly represent a transition to democracy. It would be totally 
unacceptable. I hope that President Clinton will clarify the policy of 
the United States with respect to Nigeria soon. It is high time the 
policy review that began nearly two years ago is completed, so we do 
not have this alarming confusion.
  Nigeria must know that anything less than a transparent transition to 
civilian rule will be met with severe policy consequences.
  Finally, I emphasized to the President that the United States should 
make support for Africa's organizations of civil society a higher 
priority. These groups do courageous work to promote human rights 
standards and to monitor their governments' compliance. Accordingly, 
U.S. officials must speak out publicly when these courageous people are 
abused by their governments. I have urged the President to take the 
opportunity to highlight the vital work being performed by a broad 
range of civil society organizations, including those facing government 
repression.
  Mr. President, I was concerned last December when some news reports 
following Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's trip to Africa 
included statements by U.S. officials that it would be unfair to hold 
certain African governments to ``Western'' standards of personal and 
political freedom. Not only does this contradict stated U.S. policy, it 
is a condescending, unnecessary and dangerous concession to make to 
African governments that flout human rights.
  A clear message on democracy and human rights is especially important 
as the U.S. works with African nations to strengthen their economies. 
Economic growth is crucial to any nation's success, but the U.S. must 
ensure that as it helps to foster economic development, it also fosters 
political and personal freedoms. Not only does the U.S. have a moral 
obligation to promote human rights, Africa's post-colonial history 
shows us that African nations with long-term democratic rule are also 
the nations with the best long-term economic performances. Freedom 
fosters prosperity.
  The respect a government shows for human rights can tell us whether 
that regime will respect its neighbors, its trading partners, and the 
world community at large. A government that does not respect the rights 
of its people cannot be trusted to honor a trade agreement or a treaty, 
much less the rule of law in general. This is as true for Nigeria as it 
is for China.
  The common thread running through our Africa policy must be the U.S. 
commitment to democracy and human rights. Without this commitment, true 
peace cannot take root and economic growth will ultimately falter. Now 
more than ever we must make clear our commitment to democracy and human 
rights, both to governments working toward these goals, and, more 
importantly, to those repressive regimes that are not.
  Mr. President, I welcome the energy the Clinton administration has 
devoted to Africa and to U.S. policy there. I look forward to working 
with the President in the future to capitalize on the momentum that 
will certainly be created by this most historic trip.

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