On Vacation

Back in mid-September. See you then.

Ward: Challenging The Misinformation About AFRICOM

General William Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, spoke on the command's mission, programs, structure, and public perception during an interview with Reed Kramer, the CEO of All Africa Global Media, on July 13, 2009. The transcript has just been released. It's available on AFRICOM's own website but here is an excerpt that I found particularly noteworthy.

Having reported pre-AFRICOM how African leaders had complained theirs was the only continent that did not have a dedicated Pentagon military command, I found it amusing once AFRICOM was unveiled how there was a sudden groundswell of criticism and how this groundswell found a ready audience in many news outlets.

So, back to the interview. The questioner refers to the "rocky" start of AFRICOM and the command's difficulties battling negative perceptions. General Ward adroitly responds, noting the perceptions are changing because people aren't seeing what the critics had led them to believe they would see:

MR. KRAMER: I wonder what your readout of the perception is. By all accounts, the start -- AFRICOM start was a bit rocky. And, as you know, there were a lot of even governments and institutions that spoke up in opposition and criticism of AFRICOM. Is that changing? Is the perception of AFRICOM changing as you get up and running?

GEN. WARD: The perception is changing, and it's changing not because of anything in particular. It's changing because of what people are not seeing. All the things that were talked about that led to that criticism, none of that is the case.

And what they are seeing is an enhanced, more dedicated approach to our working with them as true partners, listening to them and doing things with them that clearly are in our interests, because having a stable continent of Africa is in our national security interest. But also, having Africans be responsible for that likewise is in our security interest, not doing for them; helping them do for themselves.

And over the past year, year-and-a-half now, what the Africans are seeing is not something that they were at least led to believe by some that might be the case. What they are seeing is what we have been saying from the beginning, what we have been consistently saying since my time as the commander of the command, now approaching two years, and the type of actions and activities that we are conducting, all reflective of those sorts of things that we have been saying.

And so I think it's a combination of that that has caused a change in the perception, clearly an increasingly level of acceptance of who we are and what we are. And, again, as is mostly reflected in all the things that were said that we would be doing, that's not the case, namely coming to the continent with huge numbers of forces, establishing bases, and all those sorts of things that just were never the case and now folks say, well, gee, that's not happening.

And so, the welcoming of our work with them to assist them in creating additional security capacity to care for their own problems, as that complements other things that need to be happening in these societies, from the developmental side, from the area of -- you know, the governance side, things that the president talked about as well.

Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant: Clinton, Africa and Corruption

An excerpt from the speech this week by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the 8th Forum of the African Growth and Opportunity Act in Nairobi, Kenya:

True economic progress – (applause) – depends not only on the hard work of millions of people who get up every day and do the best they can, often under overwhelming circumstances; it also depends on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law, and deliver results for their people. This is not just about good governance; this is about good business. Investors will be attracted to states that do this, and they will not be attracted to states with failed or weak leadership, or crime and civil unrest or corruption that taints every transaction and decision.

The private sector and civil society are playing an increasingly important role across Africa in holding governments accountable and demanding fairer, more open, more just economies and societies. Leaders have to lead. They have to demonstrate to their people that democracy does deliver. Sustainable progress is not possible in countries that fail to be good stewards of their natural resources, where the profits from oil and minerals line the pockets of oligarchs who are corporations a world away, but do little to promote long-term growth and prosperity.

The solution starts with transparency. A famous judge in my country once said that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and there’s a lot of sunlight in Africa. African countries are starting to embrace this view through participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Creating a favorable investment climate requires countries to translate politics into governing. A famous American politician, Mario Cuomo, once said you campaign in politics, in poetry, but you have to govern in prose – the hard work of explaining what you’re doing and getting the results that you promise.

It is important that we recognize that progress has been made when elections are held. And many people believe that democracy is alive and well because an election has taken place. But as important as elections are, democracy is not just about the ballot box. Citizens and governments need to work together to build and sustain strong democratic institutions. From an independent and confident judiciary, to a professional and dedicated civil service, to a free press and vibrant civil society, we’ve learned this in my own country. We are still working to improve our democracy after 230 years, and we want to give you some of the benefit of the mistakes that we’ve made and the lessons we’ve learned along the way. And we stand ready to serve as partners to citizens and leaders looking to improve governance and transparency.