http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/12/31/obama-surrenders-africa-to-china/
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Obama Surrenders Africa to China
Michael Rubin | _at_mrubin197112.31.2014 - 7:00 AM
For decades, American presidents traveled to Africa, proposed new
partnerships with the continent and its peoples, and then promptly
forgot about the partnership once they returned to Washington. On
October 20, 1999, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declared, “I
believe that our administration has spent more time, attention, and
money on Africa than any other administration.” Years ago, I visited
Mali and Burkina Faso on vacation, and found the progress announced
after Albright and her predecessor Warren Christopher’s visit to that
country fleeting. While 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Global War on
Terrorism overshadowed George W. Bush’s legacy, perhaps no president
had as lasting an impact on Africa as did he. The commitment was not
only diplomatic but military as well. The Pentagon stood up Africom,
its sixth geographic combatant command, and promising even greater
commitment to African security.
At first, after President Obama’s inauguration, Africans’ hope that
American attention might be sustained was realized. Hillary Clinton
cannot point to many accomplishments as secretary of state, but she
did pay disproportionate attention toAfrica even as the rest of the
world started to burn. While perhaps not directly related to her own
influence, it was during Clinton’s tenure that Obama deployed U.S.
forces to seek to capture Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s
Resistance Army, a nominally Christian insurgent group (sponsored by
Islamist Sudan) that has sought to destabilize first Uganda and now
Southern Sudan with terrorism and atrocity.
Alas, with Clinton gone, and American power in retreat, Obama appears
to have once again turned his back on Africa. Sure, he deployed some
forces to help contain Ebola but that was reactive rather than
proactive. When it comes to building a real partnership with Africa,
it seems that China is years ahead of the United States. This is
tragic, because there is no area showing such promise of sustained
growth than Africa.
According to the World Bank:
The world attained the first Millennium Development Goal target—to cut
the 1990 poverty rate in half by 2015—five years ahead of schedule, in
2010. Despite this progress, the number of people living in extreme
poverty remains unacceptably high.
According to the most recent estimates, in 2011, 17 percent of people
in the developing world lived at or below $1.25 a day. That’s down
from 43 percent in 1990 and 52 percent in 1981.
This means that, in 2011, just over one billion people lived on less
than $1.25 a day, compared with 1.91 billion in 1990, and 1.93 billion
in 1981.
Africa accounts for much of the decline in poverty; the fact that this
occurred against the backdrop of African countries eschewing socialism
and embracing the free market principles is no coincidence. Piracy has
declined precipitously off the Horn of Africa (albeit while picking up
in the Gulf of Guinea) and countries once mired in civil war have now
put that era behind them. True, there are states like South Sudan and
the Central African Republic teetering on the verge of failure, if not
already over the precipice, but these are now more the exception than
the rule. And states that are perennially basket cases like Zimbabwe
and Eritrea are likewise increasingly in a club of their own.
In short, relationships with Africa are less those of donor to
recipient, and more true partnerships. And it is to these that the
United States is turning its back. China is sending hundreds of
peacekeepers to southern Sudan, reopening its embassy in Somalia, and
building a railroad in Nigeria. Chinese are flooding into the
continent, drawn by economic opportunity.
Speaking to 50 African heads of state at the first U.S.-Africa Summit
this past summer, Obama took a subtle shot at China’s motivations,
declaring, “We don’t look to Africa simply for its natural resources;
we recognize Africa for its greatest resource, which is its people and
its talents and their potential.” Still, money is money, and business
is business. U.S.-Africa trade has dwindled under Obama. Trade has
always formed the backbone of relations, and countries seeking to get
rich aren’t going to turn their back on a formula that worked the
world over, however exploitative China might be.
There is a new Great Game brewing, but alas, Obama is forfeiting. Some
American analysts argue that America is already too far behind, but
defeat is only certain if the United States refuses to fight for its
interests and continues to take allies for granted.
Received on Fri Jan 02 2015 - 14:26:33 EST