Monday, July 7, 2003; Page A16
PERHAPS WISELY, President Bush's trip to Africa this week begins in Senegal, a country that has made great political and economic progress in recent years, and includes Botswana, the fastest-growing developing country in the world, as well as South Africa and Nigeria, two regional powerhouses. By visiting African success stories -- including Uganda, another country that has made progress -- the president will force the world to focus, at least momentarily, on some of the good news coming from the continent, a laudable goal.
But the bad news will be hard to avoid. For the president will also be traveling near Sudan, Liberia and Congo, sites of horrific conflicts. In South Africa, Botswana and Uganda, he will be at the center of the AIDS crisis. Everywhere, he will encounter leaders of countries where infant mortality is high and curable diseases are still rampant.
Three sets of issues should therefore concern Mr. Bush: security, economic development and health. In all three, his administration has lately been active, but the strength and endurance of its commitment remain questionable. In recent months, it helped push a bill through Congress authorizing $15 billion to be spent on AIDS and HIV internationally over the next five years. The Millennium Challenge Fund, if it gets off the ground, may encourage some of the better-governed countries in Africa to become more so. The administration also helped negotiate behind the scenes in Congo and called for money to help African nations work jointly on peacekeeping and against terrorism.
What matters is whether these commitments will be sustained. Critics note that money for the AIDS bill has yet to be appropriated, and they fear that even if it is, the administration will lose interest. AIDS prevention and treatment programs need to be designed so that money is not wasted. Drug companies need to be involved. All of this takes political time and effort.
Those who monitor economic aid do not feel much more secure about the future, given that much of the good that is done through new initiatives such as the Millennium Challenge Accounts is effectively erased by the administration's farm subsidies. U.S. subsidies to cotton producers alone threaten the livelihoods of million of West African farmers. Indeed, it is difficult for the World Bank and others who advise African states to persuade them to open up their markets if Western countries don't.
More could be done in the realm of security, too. The United States should be speaking far more forcefully to governments in Uganda and Rwanda about their involvement in the Congolese war and more clearly about human rights violations on the continent -- in Zimbabwe, in Sudan and elsewhere -- as these are a major source of political instability.
Finally, lurking in the background of this trip is the decision that the administration needs to make about Liberia, where the United Nations and other countries have asked the United States to help lead a peacekeeping force. All indications are that the president will send some troops, but not many. The level of American political and military commitment to this mission is not only important in itself; it also sends a powerful signal about the administration's long-term commitment to peace and stability on the continent. This matters, to the United States as well as to Africa. In a world where "failed states" and regions of perpetual conflict are breeding grounds for terrorism, Africa is no longer as far away as it once seemed. Like it or not, its conflicts are now America's problem, too.
© 2003 The Washington Post
