Why African leaders should boycott the Obama Summit
March 14, 2014 Obama has invited 47 African leaders to a summit in DC, but
no summit between the US and that many countries can come up with useful
solutions that will work for all countries. If Obama wants to meet with
African presidents, he should attend an AU meeting.
The African presidents mass meeting in DC (scheduled for the 5th and 6th of
August, 2014) is a terrible and condescending idea. Different African
countries are in different situations, and no summit between the United
States and that many countries can come up with useful solutions that will
work for all 47 countries. What wealthy South Africa has to offer is not the
same as what the poorer Tanzania or Kenya can. In fact the smaller countries
have as much to fear from a growing and hungry South African economy as from
the United States or China.
Like a father calling his children together to discuss their futures,
President Obama has summoned 47 African heads of state to Washington DC for
a mass Africa Summit. He has even decided who should join him at the dinner
table the ICC-indicted Uhuru Kenyatta has been invited, but his erring
children, Mugabe and Bashir, have been asked not to ruin the dinner and stay
home.
As a matter of principle and duty to the continent, African presidents
should boycott the summit. Instead, the African Union should extend an
invitation for him to attend its 2015 meeting where he can meet any of the
presidents on equal footing.
African leaders are not in a weak bargaining position
There are a number of reasons why the African presidents mass meeting in DC
is, to put it bluntly, a terrible and condescending idea. Different African
countries are in different situations. No summit between the United States
and that many countries can come up with useful solutions that will work for
all 47 countries. For example, what wealthy South Africa has to offer is not
the same as what the poorer Tanzania or Kenya can. In fact the smaller
countries have as much to fear from a growing and hungry South African
economy as from the United States or China. In short each African country
will have different needs.
The second consideration is that economically, the United States is balanced
on a precipice. On the one side is the choice of growing national capitalism
and revitalising manufacturing in the US for less profit, a smaller economy
and military but a fairer society. On the other is China that now owns 1.317
trillion of US national debt, leading to a mutual dependency where the US
consumer-driven economy in turn buoys the Chinese economy by buying Chinese
products. At the same time, Chinas economic influence in Africa has been
growing in leaps and bounds. In a way, China and the United States are arm
wrestling, and with the other free two hands they are scrambling for
resources in Africa. African leaders are not in a weak bargaining position.
Don't worry, Africa
The point then is not which power will be more benevolent toward African
economies, or which power will exploit African resources better. The point
is for African peoples to be in control of their natural resources and name
the price for their labor it is to be in control of their economic
destiny.
Part of being in control of economic destiny is to demand equal trade. And
one cannot demand equal trade on bended knee, beggars bowl in hand. The
United States House of Representatives just passed a $100 billion-a-year
farm subsidy bill that Obama will sign into law. But while this bill is good
for American farmers, it spells disaster for African farmers. Farm subsidies
depress the world market for goods like cotton because US farmers can
undersell their competition. Through cotton alone, Africa loses $250 million
a year as a result of US and EU farm subsidies. African leaders should ask
Obama to show good faith by addressing this issue before coming to the AU
summit.
There is an underlying assumption that they are coming to ask Obama for
help, to negotiate for more foreign and military aid. Yet, countries like
Nigeria supply oil to the United States, not to mention the precious
minerals from the Congo. And if the African continent as a whole is in need
of security from terrorism, it is precisely because the United States is
engaged in an open-ended international war on terror. The point is that the
United States needs cooperation from African governments as much as African
countries need cooperation from the United States. In other words even in
matters of economic and security solutions, individual African leaders
should meet Obama as potential equal partners as opposed to junior partners.
Ghanaians awaiting Obama's first visit as president in 2009
Ghanaians awaiting Obamas first visit as president in 2009
In politics symbolism is everything. 47 African leaders at dinner with Obama
seating at the head of the table is a good photo-op for Obama. See him
laughing, his hand placed patronisingly on Zumas back see a president in
control finally bringing the light of good governance and security to the
dark and lawless continent. And the African leaders of what symbolic value
is that photograph? Maybe later in their memoirs the handshake photo will be
useful but the meeting will not in anyway contribute to national confidence.
In 1884 world powers got together in Berlin and debated amongst themselves
how best to divide up Africa. It would be a matter of a great historical
irony if in 2014 the new scramble for Africa is engineered with the active
help of elected African leaders.
For all these reasons, African presidents should boycott the summit. If
Obama wants to meet with African presidents, then let him make the trip to
all 47 capitals, or attend an African Union meeting.
****
Author
Mukoma Wa Ngugi
Mukoma wa Ngugi is a Kenyan novelist, poet, and literary scholar. Mukoma is
the author of Black Star Nairobi and Nairobi Heat. He was shortlisted for
the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2009. In 2010, he was shortlisted for
the Penguin Prize for African Writing for his novel manuscript, The First
and Second Books of Transition. Mukoma holds a PHD in English from the
University of Wisconsin, Madison, an MA in Creative Writing from Boston
University and a BA in English and Political Science from Albright College.
He is an Assistant Professor of English at Cornell University.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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