ON Sept. 2, Ambassador Susan E. Rice delivered a eulogy for a man she
called “a true friend to me.” Before thousands of mourners and more
than 20 African heads of state in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ms. Rice, the
United States’ representative to the United Nations, lauded the
country’s late prime minister, Meles Zenawi. She called him
“brilliant” — “a son of Ethiopia and a father to its rebirth.”
Few eulogies give a nuanced account of the decedent’s life, but the
speech was part of a disturbing pattern for an official who could
become President Obama’s next secretary of state. During her career,
she has shown a surprising and unsettling sympathy for Africa’s
despots.
This record dates from Ms. Rice’s service as assistant secretary of
state for African affairs under President Bill Clinton, who in 1998
celebrated a “new generation” of African leaders, many of whom were
ex-rebel commanders; among these leaders were Mr. Meles, Isaias
Afewerki of Eritrea, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Jerry J. Rawlings of
Ghana, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Yoweri K. Museveni of Uganda.
“One hundred years from now your grandchildren and mine will look back
and say this was the beginning of an African renaissance,” Mr. Clinton
said in Accra, Ghana, in March 1998.
In remarks to a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations that year, Ms. Rice was equally breathless about the
continent’s future. “There is a new interest in individual freedom and
a movement away from repressive, one-party systems,” she said. “It is
with this new generation of Africans that we seek a dynamic, long-term
partnership for the 21st century.”
Her optimism was misplaced. In the 14 years since, many of these
leaders have tried on the strongman’s cloak and found that it fit
nicely. Mr. Meles dismantled the rule of law, silenced political
opponents and forged a single-party state. Mr. Isaias, Mr. Kagame and
Mr. Museveni cling to their autocratic power. Only Mr. Rawlings and
Mr. Mbeki left office willingly.
Ms. Rice’s enthusiasm for these leaders might have blinded her to some
of their more questionable activities. Critics, including Howard W.
French, a former correspondent for The New York Times, say that in the
late 1990s, Ms. Rice tacitly approved of an invasion of the Democratic
Republic of Congo that was orchestrated by Mr. Kagame of Rwanda and
supported by Mr. Museveni of Uganda. In The New York Review of Books
in 2009, Mr. French reported that witnesses had heard Ms. Rice
describe the two men as the best insurance against genocide in the
region. “They know how to deal with that,” he reported her as having
said. “The only thing we have to do is look the other way.” Ms. Rice
has denied supporting the invasion.
More recently, according to Jason K. Stearns, a scholar of the region,
Ms. Rice temporarily blocked a United Nations report documenting
Rwanda’s support for the M23 rebel group now operating in eastern
Congo, and later moved to delete language critical of Rwanda and
Uganda from a Security Council resolution. “According to former
colleagues, she feels that more can be achieved by constructive
engagement, not public censure,” Mr. Stearns wrote recently on Foreign
Policy’s Web site.
Ms. Rice’s relationship with Mr. Meles — which dates from 1998, when
she was a mediator in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to prevent war
between Eritrea and Ethiopia — also calls her judgment into question.
In fairness, in her eulogy, Ms. Rice said she differed with Mr. Meles
on questions like democracy and human rights. But if so, the message
did not get through; under Mr. Meles during the past 15 years,
democracy and the rule of law in Ethiopia steadily deteriorated.
Ethiopia imprisoned dissidents and journalists, used food aid as a
political tool, appropriated vast sections of land from its citizens
and prevented the United Nations from demarcating its border with
Eritrea.
Meanwhile, across multiple administrations, the United States has
favored Ethiopia as an ally and a perceived bulwark against extremism
in the region. In 2012 the nation received $580 million in American
foreign aid.
Eritrea is no innocent. It has closed itself off, stifled dissent and
forced its young people to choose between endless military service at
home and seeking asylum abroad. But I believe that the Security
Council, with Ms. Rice’s support, went too far in imposing sanctions
on Eritrea in 2009 for supporting extremists.
President Obama has visited sub-Saharan Africa just once in his first
term — a brief stop in Ghana. One signal that he plans to focus more
on Africa — and on human rights and democracy, not only economic
development and geopolitics — in his next term would be to nominate
someone other than Susan Rice as America’s top diplomat.
Salem Solomon is an Eritrean-American journalist who runs Africa
Talks, a news and opinion Web site covering Africa and the global
African diaspora.
Received on Mon Dec 10 2012 - 12:25:46 EST
