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ERA ALERT
A news alert from
Executive Research Associates (Pty) Ltd
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| U.S. Presidential Candidates Vague on Africa Positions |
As the selection process begins for the next President of the United States, questions arise for the candidates for this office concerning their positions on Africa-related issues. What little has been revealed has largely been vague or generic, and in some cases, candidates with little Africa experience have tried to avoid answering Africa questions entirely. Vehicles such as a special Vanity Fair issue headlining Africa and occasional questions on the campaign trail have sought responses from the candidates generally on Africa over the past several months. However, one survey has addressed specific Africa issues, and that questionnaire has been answered in some detail by four candidates.
Africa was traditionally left to the colonial powers until the wave of independence in the 1960s. However, it took the United States until the 1990s to genuinely deal with African nations as if there was any centrality to American interests. African countries contain significant percentages of the world’s deposits of valuable natural resources, such as petroleum, gold, diamonds, cobalt and the newly-important coltan (crucial for the increasingly important computers, PDAs, etc.). With Middle Eastern and other supplies of these natural resources in uncertain hands, it has become clear that the United States must pay more attention to the fate of African countries. Moreover, diseases such as HIV-AIDS and West Nile Fever now plague the developed world as well as Africa, and the control of potential epidemics in Africa has moved to the front of the policy concerns in Washington and other developed world capitals.
Under President Bill Clinton, Africa received significant attention in speeches, Presidential and Cabinet visits and in programs such as the African Regional Electoral Assistance Fund, which provided capacity building assistance to support the many elections that took place in the past decade. The record of President George W. Bush has surpassed that of his predecessor. A study by the Center for Global Development revealed that President Bush has increased the amount of money spent on assistance to Africa by more than fourfold, and his annual bilateral aid to Africa is more than twice the level of any previous Administration. The Bush Administration created major new aid programs that benefited African countries, such as the Millennium Challenge Account, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the President’s Malaria Initiative.
In addition to aid programs, the current Administration has created new partnerships with Africans, such as the Trans-Sahel Counterterrorism Initiative to fight the common threat of terrorism. For the first time in U.S. history, the United States has appointed an ambassador to the African Union. And also for the first time, all Africa military operations are being consolidated in one command so that African issues can be a focus and not an afterthought when the U.S. military must become involved on the continent of Africa, and diplomatic, humanitarian and emergency programs can all be coordinated.
Nevertheless, most U.S. Presidential candidates have failed to learn from the record of the last two American Presidents. A 10-question survey was developed this past summer by a coalition of 15 American non-governmental organizations led by the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation. Partners included the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa, Amnesty International, the Constituency for Africa and the Save Darfur Coalition. Question topics ranged from genocide to debt relief to the environment to transparency in governance. By the end of 2007, only four Democrat Presidential candidates had completed and returned the questionnaire: Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden, former Senator John Edwards and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Senator Hillary Clinton, despite her many travels to Africa and her connection to the Administration of her husband Bill, failed to follow through on promises to complete and return the questionnaire. Still, Senator Clinton proposed the Education for All Act of 2007 that would promote education in developing countries such as those in Africa
No Republicans complied with the request on the questionnaire, although former Senator Fred Thompson’s late-starting campaign did promise to try. His record on Africa issues is sparse, and his statements have been somewhat vague. The campaigns of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giulliani declined to answer the Africa questionnaire, although they reportedly have completed questionnaires on other topics. Romney has mentioned boosting the standing of moderate Muslims in Africa and elsewhere as his only concrete position on what he would do as President. Giulliani has made trade his main theme in Africa policy. Senator John McCain, despite his experience on Africa issues in the Senate, had a major campaign shake-up, which prevented his response, despite his active engagement on issues such as Darfur and transparency. Campaign problems also prevented Senator Sam Brownback, one of the Senate’s most active members on Africa issues, from responding to the questionnaire before he dropped out of the race.
Lesser-known candidates at mid-year found themselves too busy moving from debate to debate and had little experience on Africa to bring to any questionnaire. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has avoided answering specific questions on Africa, turning the answers to questions on aid back to the need for domestic aid. Representative Tom Tancredo, who has played a key role in the U.S. House of Representatives on Darfur, was focused almost exclusively on the issue of illegal immigration into the United States prior to dropping out of the race. Senator Chris Dodd has limited his Africa pronouncements on the campaign trail to support for the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals to promote African development. True to his leftist leanings, Representative Dennis Kucinich has criticized U.S. policy toward Africa for allowing corporations to “exploit the people.” Representative Ron Paul criticizes U.S. policy from the libertarian angle, stating that “a federal government with nearly $8 trillion in debt has no business giving money to anybody.” Representative Duncan Hunter has said little about Africa, except for a 2006 letter to President Bush urging improvement of the Abeche airfield in Chad near the Sudan border, which he called a “critical lifeline” for humanitarian activities.
The responses that have been received and the difficulty that many candidates had in responding to the Africa questionnaire likely reflected the quality of their advice from their foreign policy advisers. Senator Obama, who was the first to respond and provided the most detailed answers, has former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice and National Security Council Senior Director for Africa Gayle Smith among his advisers. Senator Clinton, on the other hand, has high-level foreign policy advisers generally, but on Africa, she relies on former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and public relations specialist Mark Penn. While both men have some Africa experience, neither is well-known for their policy positions on African issues. Governor Richardson’s team includes Ambassador Leslie Alexander, America’s former representative to Mauritius and Comoros, but he has direct activity on issues such as Darfur that he can cite. Senators Biden and Dodd also rely on their experience in the Senate on Africa issues, while former Senator Edwards’ positions are influenced by non-governmental organizations and unions.
Former Mayor Giulliani has well-known Republican Africa specialists Dr. J. Peter Pham of George Mason University and Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation, but his campaign likely never circulated the questionnaire to either man. Senator John McCain has a British adviser on Africa, Niall Fergusson who grew up in Kenya, but he also could count on background from the staff of the Africa division of the International Republican Institute, which he heads.
The other candidates have negligible advice on Africa within their campaigns.
Leon H. Sullivan Foundation
Presidential Questionnaire Answers
1. Despite international efforts to resolve the Darfur conflict peacefully, the killings and rape continue in western Sudan, and the conflict is described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. Similar mass atrocities have been visited on the people of northern Uganda and eastern Congo. If elected President of the United States, what specific actions would you take to end the genocide in Darfur, as well as the mass killings in Uganda and Congo? What preventive measures would you recommend to keep similar tragedies from becoming full-blown genocide in the future?
Senator Barack Obama
There is a real mismatch between the urgency of the genocide in Darfur, where innocent civilians are dying every day, and an international response that won’t be providing any additional protection until many months down the road.
The United States needs to lead the world in ending this genocide, including by imposing much tougher sanctions that target Sudan’s oil revenue, implementing and helping to enforce a no-fly zone, and engaging in more intense, effective diplomacy to get a political roadmap to peace. Rather than pressure the perpetrators of genocide to stop the killing, for four years we have been negotiating compromise after feckless compromise with the Khartoum regime, while it continues its campaign of atrocities.
To stop the genocide, the international community needs to deploy a large, capable force with a robust enforcement mandate to protect civilians. This force should be commanded, funded, mandated and staffed by the UN. This force is needed now, not at some point next year, and it needs to be free from restrictions and obstacles thrown up by the Government of Sudan. I await concrete evidence that the Sudanese government is finally prepared to halt atrocities, re-engage in a peace process, and allow an unfettered peacekeeping mission to do its work.
Although the Sudanese government recently accepted a UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping force, the government typically fails to fulfill its commitments. True to form, since accepting the hybrid force, Khartoum has continued to bombard civilian targets, obstruct non-African participants in the hybrid force and expel foreign diplomats. The U.S. needs urgently to change the calculus in Khartoum and stop the genocide. Therefore, the Administration should immediately implement the oil sanctions it threatened last year and still failed to impose last May. I worked with Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) on the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, a version of which was signed into law, to impose targeted sanctions on the leading perpetrators of the genocide.
With our allies and our partners in Africa, we need to take immediate steps – economic and military – to let Khartoum know we will not tolerate continued genocide. These steps should include more effective sanctions by the U.S., the EU and the UNSC. We also need to establish a no-fly zone to protect civilians and increase pressure on Khartoum to halt the killing and consent to the robust international force.
In addition to taking immediate steps to protect civilians and end the genocide, the U.S. should step up its diplomatic efforts to negotiate a lasting peace among the Darfur rebel groups and the Sudanese Government.
The situation in Congo is very different. A newly elected democratic government has just come to power. That government faces major challenges, including consolidating control over parts of Eastern Congo and responding to a continuing humanitarian emergency there. I was the principal author of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act that passed Congress last year. The legislation revamped U.S. policy in the Congo to include a commitment to help rebuild the country, develop lasting political structures, hold accountable destabilizing foreign governments, crack down on corrupt politicians, and professionalize the military. The bill also authorizes $52 million in U.S. assistance for the Congo, calls for a Special U.S. Envoy to resolve ongoing violence, and urges the administration to strengthen the U.N. peacekeeping force.
A lasting peace appears potentially within the grasp of the people of northern Uganda. The United States should continue to use its diplomatic muscle to keep peace talks on track and work with Ugandan civil society, the Ugandan government, and the rest of the international community to address the vast development needs of the north, which has been neglected for far too long.
In the future, the U.S. needs to exercise far greater foresight, maintaining energized, high level diplomatic efforts to prevent conflict and crisis rather than merely reacting to it, often inadequately, after catastrophe has struck. As the alarming situation in Somalia today makes plain, standing by while order deteriorates and desperation takes hold is never a viable policy, even when engagement is tremendously difficult. Working to combat pervasive corruption, government-sponsored repression, and utter decay in state institutions before conflicts emerge and spiral out of control won’t be easy, but it will save lives. Poverty and declining GDP per capita also substantially increase the risk of civil conflict. In Africa, as elsewhere, we must confront the economic as well as political drivers of conflict. Promoting good governance and poverty reduction are security imperatives, which deserve far greater U.S. attention and investment.
Governor Bill Richardson
As President I will push for enough U.N. peacekeepers to make a difference and for tough sanctions against Sudan. I’ve met with the Sudanese leaders and I know that they will respond to sanctions with teeth. China has the Olympics coming up is 2008, which gives us leverage over them as well – and they, in turn, have leverage over Sudan. I was the first candidate to call for boycotting those Olympics if China doesn’t start using its influence over Khartoum to stop the violence. Some disagree with that decision, but I believe that genocide is more important than sports.
I do not believe we should intervene militarily in Darfur; we don’t need another military involvement right now. But there’s a lot more we can do to support the international humanitarian commitment to this crisis, including providing diplomatic and logistics support to the hybrid AU-UN force that is currently being put together.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Darfur and Sudan, and I know the region will. In 1996 I negotiated the release of a New Mexican Red Cross worker and two of his colleagues. Last fall I negotiated the release of three other hostages. In January I went to Darfur with the Save Darfur Coalition and worked to secure a fragile cease-fire. The cease-fire was intended to provide a setting for dialogue so all sides could negotiate a political solution-there is no military solution.
I said at the time that while we had agreement on a cease-fire, it would be up to the UN and African Union to continue the process and keep the pressure on all sides to actually lay down their weapons. I spoke directly with the UN Envoy to Sudan and to the African Union, but unfortunately the cease-fire we negotiate did not hold. Leadership from the White House could have helped make that happen.
However, our delegation’s efforts did result in improved conditions for humanitarian workers in Darfur, and a streamlined process to get them into and out of the country. Although improving humanitarian relief-access will not address the root causes, it will improve the responses and alleviate some of the suffering.
In Uganda, I would encourage momentum on the current dynamic, as it seems that the Juba talks are moving in the right direction. I believe that at this stage, the best thing that we can do is continue to provide diplomatic support to that effort. While serious humanitarian concerns remain, I believe that the best long-term solution is the peace process, and so as long as that process continues, the humanitarian issues will improve. Beyond a certain point in the process, we should begin to examine the possibility of American development aid.
In Congo, we should make vigorous diplomatic efforts to insist on non-interference from Congo’s neighbors, especially Rwanda, into internal Congolese matters. We must also coordinate with the UN and other key partners in Kinshasa to work toward a political solution for the east, not a military one, and the international community must be extremely careful in the planned drawdown of MONUC in 2008. We should not be overly hasty in withdrawing troops if it seems as though the operation is working and is vital to the health of the Congolese people.
The most effective tool we have for combating corruption in other nations is to tie our aid money to good governance. President Bush was on the right track back in 2002 when he proposed the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) as a new means of working with aid-recipient countries that had good track records in a democracy, human-rights promotion, and market reforms. Unfortunately, the administration has under-funded and under-staffed the MCC from the beginning, and there are signs now that the agency is being politicized and is being pressured by the White House to choose nations for candidate-status that are not even democracies.
Additionally, there are transparency mechanisms that we should pursue for extractive industries. The Kimberely Process is a good example of government, NGOs, and the private sector working together to try to eliminate conflict diamonds. As President, I will encourage and converse similar organizations for other industries.
Senator Joseph Biden
Hundreds of thousands of people have died in Darfur because once again the world’s pledge of “never again” has proved an empty promise. For years, I have pushed for stronger action in Darfur, from tougher sanctions on Khartoum to increased support for the African Union to stepped up humanitarian aid. In the Senate, I have led efforts to name a special envoy and to press China and others to exercise their influence to end the genocide in Darfur. Finally, I have long called for the imposition of a No Fly Zone and the targeted use of U.S. or NATO forces to strengthen the African Union on the ground.
Today, we may at last be close to a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission and to the start of peace talks. The United States must vigorously support both efforts -- peacekeeping is urgent; but peace building is essential for a durable settlement -- and hold all the parties to the conflict accountable for ensuring the safety of humanitarian workers and civilians alike. And, we must be prepared to act if, once again, Khartoum backs away from its promised cooperation.
Darfur is sadly not an isolated tragedy. The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has witnessed terrible suffering in recent years, again threatens to slip into chaos and destruction. The United States must offer stronger support for the development of the rule of law and the establishment of government in the DRC and the region. We must also work with the African Union to help it build the capacity to detect and rapidly respond to rising tension before it escalates into such horrific violence.
John Edwards
I believe we should work with NATO, one of the world's most effective security organizations, to make sure the U.N. process will be as rapid, tough, and effective as possible. We saw the success of NATO in the Kosovo operation under President Clinton. Its member countries have some of the most accomplished militaries in the world. I have called for a combination of U.S. and NATO actions to accelerate the peacekeeping process, deploy the 26,000 troops the U.N. Security Council has just authorized, and end the genocide. I would deploy American airlift capabilities, logistical support and intelligence operations to assist U.N. and A.U. peacekeeping efforts, encourage NATO countries to support the deployment of U.N. troops, and push for a NATO-sanctioned no-fly zone over the region as well as new multilateral sanctions on the Sudanese government and all individuals complicit in the genocide.
I traveled to Uganda and met with President Museveni and I saw firsthand that the situations in Uganda and Congo are no better. Attention must be brought to the crises in these countries. As president, I will make a clear, unambiguous public statement of support for the Juba Peace Talks and for Special Envoy Chisano’s efforts. I will also dispatch a high-level presidential envoy to work with the leadership of Special Envoy Chisano and commit sufficient funds to support the U.N. Juba Initiative Fund.
As president, I will take a tough stance on situations that could result in genocide. I will direct the economic and diplomatic resources of the United States to prevent political conflicts like those that generated the situation in Darfur from resulting in genocides.
2. Africa is blessed with abundant natural resources, especially petroleum, diamonds and other valuable products. Unfortunately, much of this natural wealth is not brought to bear for the benefit of African citizens. As President, how would you work with resource-rich but economically poor countries in Africa to ensure that their incoming revenues from oil, gas and mining, as well as from other resources, are used to promote poverty alleviation and development rather than simply to fill the coffers of corrupt officials? How would you act to effectively seek the recovery of stolen bilateral aid money?
Senator Barack Obama
It is a cruel paradox that natural resource wealth has so far harmed more than benefited many developing countries. Natural resource wealth in many places has exacerbated corruption, stifled healthy entrepreneurship and diversification, and encouraged political centralization, autocracy, and dangerous economic volatility.
The United States should encourage resource-rich countries to adopt legal structures that provide full transparency of the natural resource industry and reserve a percentage of natural resource income for social programs. Some countries, like Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, and Angola, have begun taking steps to expose their management of oil, gas or mineral revenues to external audit and review by civil society through the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative or IMF programs. Several diamond-producing African states have worked hard to implement the Kimberley Process and establish greater transparency in the diamond industry. But more remains to be done. The Bush administration has done little either to acknowledge the progress that has been made or to invest in improving the capacity of these nations to manage their resource revenues. My administration will raise anti-corruption and transparency to the top of our agenda in Africa. I will make improved governance a priority for foreign assistance, and will work to ensure that the information gleaned from transparency initiatives is actually available to African publics, empowering citizens to drive demand for better governance. I will also direct my Administration to work with African officials to help track down stolen public funds.
Governor Bill Richardson
Both through our bilateral aid and our influence in multinational institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program, the U.S. must energetically emphasize the importance of sustainable practices. The day is long gone when we can undertake large development projects without careful regard for their environmental impact sustainability.
Senator Joseph Biden
In too many countries in Africa and elsewhere, oil and other resource wealth has benefited only a few, and too often profits are not accompanied by either economic development or democracy. But the so-called resource curse is not inevitable: we need to help both governments and civil societies develop the capacity and the tools to invest resource profits in their people, to create and abide by standards of transparency, and to promote environmental and labor protections. We should hold these governments accountable for their actions and do more to ensure that we pursue environmentally sustainable policies ourselves here at home and abroad.
John Edwards
I will invest in programs that allow the workers in these nations to pull themselves up from poverty, while at the same time furthering the economic development of their nations at the local level.
I will support groups providing micro-loans averaging less than $200, as these loans encourage entrepreneurship and draw a 98 percent repayment rate. The additional business this creates will stimulate the economies of the region on a local scale, allowing many to rely on themselves and their ingenuity rather than big business. I will increase resources fivefold for non-profits running these microfinance programs. I will also encourage nations to give their citizens the right to invest in property, and promote property law reform in the Millennium Challenge Account.
It is essential that taxpayer money not be wasted. Resource revenues should not go toward funding the extravagant lives of corrupt officials. I will work with African countries to help them create accountability measures to ensure that poverty alleviation and development remain at the forefront of their economic policies.
3. Africa is facing several environmental challenges, including climate change that threatens traditional African livelihoods, dwindling water resources that deprive more than 300 million people access to safe water and may lead to conflict, diminishing agricultural capacity that has lead to food dependency and disappearing plant and animal species that threaten Africa’s great biodiversity. Given the importance of African ecosystems to the continent and the world as a whole, what policies would you pursue as President to help African nations face these challenges such that the solutions are linked to sustainable development practices?
Senator Barack Obama
Africa is filled with environmental riches. The Central African tropical forest, for example, is second only to the Amazon among the most important such forests in the world. As president, I will work to promote sustainable development, preserve biodiversity, and critically, combat and help African nations adapt to global warming.
It is unfortunate that the people of Africa bear little historical responsibility for the carbon emissions that are driving global warming, but they will be among the most severely impacted by it. For years to come, they will have to contend with climate change-induced droughts, floods, famines, and disease outbreaks. Ultimately, all of the high-profile efforts by the United States and other wealthy countries to fight poverty and disease around the world -- and to help to create the socio-economic conditions in which effective and responsible governments can thrive -- are being undermined by the Bush administration’s failure to make similar efforts to combat climate change. If we continue to ignore the threat, African countries will increasingly be compelled to devote their resources to combating famines, providing care for displaced populations, and other climate change-driven crises, rather than to the education or long-term health programs that are critical to development and prosperity.
Some of the countries that will be most adversely affected, moreover, are precisely those that are already fragile, and thus have the least capacity to adapt or respond. The threat that climate change will contribute to state failure presents a national security challenge, as well as a moral challenge, to the United States.
President Bush had eight years to begin to transition to a low carbon economy and to lead the world toward a sustainable energy future. He began by denying the problem, and then as the scientific evidence became irrefutable and overwhelming he proceeded to ignore its implications. The world has lost precious time in its attempts to avert destabilizing climate change, and we must take immediate steps to ensure that we do not cause yet more severe, even catastrophic, climatic changes. That is why I support legislation to reduce America’s carbon emissions and would help to put our country on a path to a low carbon future. And that is why as president, I will push for a market-based cap-and-trade strategy that will enable the United States to gradually cut emissions in the most economic and efficient manner possible. Putting our own house in order is the vital first step to building an international effort needed to stop climate change. Under my leadership, the United States will once again demonstrate its ability to take strong stands on issues of global concern and lead the way forward.
Senator Joseph Biden
Climate change is already affecting Africa and will hit even harder in the years to come. Indeed, in Darfur, climate change exacerbated tensions over land control and use and served as a catalyst for conflict. We help Africa first by addressing our energy use here at home. I have a detailed plan and legislation that promotes energy security. And with Senator Richard Lugar, I have introduced and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution calling on the United States to resume a leadership role in international climate change negotiations. But no matter what we do, these climatic changes are underway. Environmental sustainability should be a core principle underlying and guiding our broader development assistance. Increasing water shortages are already helping to drive conflict – we need to do more to strengthen regional responses to these emerging challenges and to protect both biodiversity and livelihoods. With Senator Lugar, I wrote the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, a "debt-for-nature" mechanism that rewards countries that preserve tropical forests with additional debt relief.
John Edwards
The state of ecosystems in Africa is deteriorating every day. I have created an energy plan that calls for the capping of US carbon emissions to reduce greenhouse gas production by 20 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050. My plan also calls for the investment in and implementation of clean energy technologies. These technologies will require a significant sum of money for both research and implementation. I believe developing countries must be included in any climate change treaty. I will share America's clean energy technology in exchange for binding greenhouse reduction commitments.
The World Health Organization has found that every $1 invested in clean water yields an economic return of $8. Combating climate change through reduced carbon emissions will help protect the ecosystems of Africa, but it will not be sufficient to provide safe water for the millions of people who do not currently have access to it. I will double the U.S. investment in clean water. I will also convene an international summit of governments, businesses, and non-profits to agree on necessary investments to make water safe worldwide by 2015.
4. Two years ago, the G8 discussed 100% debt relief for the poorest countries, a large increase in development aid and changes to world trade rules that to make it easier for African economies to grow. However, these ideas have yet to be fulfilled through the policies of donor nations. The United Kingdom took the lead on these issues, but the United States and other G8 nations have been reluctant to follow through. As President, how would you deal with the issue of African debt so that poor nations are not crushed under this growing financial burden while ensuring that monies that formerly went to debt service were now able to be devoted to the social and economic needs of these nations?
Senator Barack Obama
Alleviating Africa’s external debt is central to sustained economic growth, increased foreign investment and the continent’s full integration into the global economy. I am encouraged by the progress that has been made in canceling significant portions of the debt that African nations have owed multilateral and bilateral creditors. Over the last two years, eighteen African countries have benefited from what is known as the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and another 15 African countries are eligible to receive similar debt cancellation once they meet the required benchmarks. In two years, this initiative has eliminated $38.9 billion in current and future debt service for 24 countries in Africa and elsewhere. Nevertheless, the G8 in 2005 committed to 100 percent cancellation of heavily indebted poor countries’ (HIPC) debt obligations to the World Bank, the IMF and the African Development Bank. We need to make sure this commitment is fulfilled as soon as possible.
In addition to working to eliminate Africa’s debt burden, as president, I will double our annual investments in foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012 and ensure that those new resources are directed towards strategic goals. As part of my commitment, I propose to establish a two billion dollar Global Education Fund that calls on the world to join together in eliminating the global education deficit, similar to what the 9/11 commission proposed. For the last twenty years, U.S. foreign aid funding has done little more than keep pace with inflation. Doubling our foreign assistance spending by 2012 will help meet our commitment at the 2005 G-8 conference at Gleneagles and push the rest of the developed world to invest in security and opportunity. We need to manage and spend these new resources wisely. As we’ve seen from the failure of the Bush Administration’s reconstruction efforts in Iraq, economic assistance is not just money to be thrown at a problem – it is a tool we must use to invest in a more secure and prosperous future. The crisis in Iraq makes all too clear the need to complement our military power with capable diplomatic and economic tools, and we need new capabilities to manage new challenges – weak and failing states, post-crisis reconstruction, transnational threats ranging from climate change to avian flu, and democracies that deliver.
Governor Bill Richardson
As President, I will strongly champion debt-forgiveness for less developed nations that meet reasonable standards of transparency to ensure that the impact of debt relief is felt by the people in these countries, not just the politicians. We must champion international negotiations with all donor nations, and we must set an impeccable example through our own implementation of debt relief.
Senator Joseph Biden
I have long fought for debt relief to free countries from burdens often acquired by corrupt dictators who have come and gone. These burdens must not imprison future generations. In the late 1990s, I authored debt relief legislation that helped make the Jubilee debt relief happen. The result was more than $63 billion in forgiveness for eligible countries -- money they will not have to send back to the World Bank, the IMF or wealthy industrial countries. But African nations have also fallen short on their own promises and the Abuja declaration to invest in health and education efforts at home. Relief from debt must be directed toward improvements in people’s lives.
John Edwards
Debt owed to Western lenders prevents many poor countries from making the kinds of investments in health and education that can help prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases. I will take the next step on debt relief by eliminating bilateral debt owed to the United States by the world’s poorest countries, freeing up resources for these countries to invest in health and education. I will also call on other lender nations and agencies to follow our lead.
As president, I will create a new Cabinet-level position within the White House to coordinate global development policies across the federal government. This adviser will have the authority to coordinate budgets among the relevant programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. Trade Representative, and other relevant agencies. During Cabinet meetings in the Edwards administration, this official will be a voice for the fight against global poverty.
5. When the African Growth and Opportunity Act was first introduced in Congress in the mid-1990s, its mantra was “trade not aid.” However, at least 80% of AGOA trade involved oil and natural gas. What strategies would you propose as President to ensure that African small and medium enterprises outside the extractive industries more broadly realized the benefits of AGOA, which offer more than 6,500 items that Africans can export to America quota-free and duty-free? What would your guiding principles be as regards American trade and investment in Africa?
Senator Barack Obama
To achieve sustainable growth, Africa needs to participate fully in the global economy. Eliminating barriers to trade, enhancing regional integration and promoting American investment are essential to achieving high growth rates and broad scale development. To ensure that these goals are achieved, my Administration will seek to expand the African Growth and Opportunity Act, press for the successful conclusion of regional free trade agreements, and work to ensure that Africa’s key exports, such as agricultural products, gain greater access to the American market.
AGOA has demonstrated that trade and increased exports can be a vital stimulus to investment – and thus to new jobs and the reduction of poverty. But U.S. imports from Africa outside the energy sector remain modest ($3 billion in 2006) and have fluctuated (2006 imports were 7 percent higher than in 2005, but 10 percent lower than 2004). The U.S. must work to expand the benefits of AGOA outside the energy sector by encouraging more investment in Africa. Greater U.S. investment will increase the capacity of African industry and better allow it take advantage of AGOA opportunities. This is especially true in areas such as textiles, where currently African countries lack fabric capacity and are forced to rely on third-country fabric. Increased trade and investment flows between the United States and our African partners will be to our mutual economic and security benefit.
Therefore, we need to be more creative in ensuring AGOA’s ongoing relevance while enhancing American investment in Africa. For example, I would ensure that OPIC deals with individual investments on a case by case basis, measuring the likely impact on the U.S. economy of any particular investment. This approach would enable OPIC to attract and enhance American investment into some of Africa’s most promising sectors.
Governor Bill Richardson
American trade and investment is Africa is most effective when it benefits both Americans and Africans. My, guiding principles regarding American trade and investment in Africa are in line with my principles regarding trade throughout the world. We need to move beyond simplistic notions of free trade versus protectionism, and instead devise a global trade society for the 21st century that acknowledges the complex interdependencies of the global society. For trade agreements to be fair, environmentally-beneficial, and politically-sustainable today, they need to take account of the huge gaps in levels of development around the world, including Africa. Trade accords must have enforceable mechanisms to insure respect for core International Labor Organizations standard, including work conditions, minimum wages, occupational safety, child labor, the right to collective bargaining, and the prohibition of compulsory and slave labor.
John Edwards
While in the Senate, I voted to ensure that manufacturers benefiting from the African Growth and Opportunity Act respect the rights of their employees, their local environments, and American workers. I believe that workers’ rights and environmental protections in these nations are necessary to foster stable, healthy economies and societies. While fostering good work environments and promoting environmental protection standards in Africa, I will also work to ensure that American workers are protected in our trade relations.
Senator Joseph Biden
The African Growth and Opportunity Act has created some new winners in the economic marketplace, but we need to do more. Our trade and development policies need to be interlinked, and one goal must be to foster micro, small and medium business development. Many African countries possess rich resources in oil, minerals, timber, and other commodities, but Africa’s economic future rests on its ability to improve its educational base and address its health challenges.
6. China has become a major international player in Africa through its increasing level of investments in Africa, especially in the extractive industries, as well as numerous infrastructure projects. The Chinese also have promised African leaders that they will double aid and scholarships for African students. However, the G8 nations have warned China that its promise of $5 billion in cheap loans and credit without conditions could worsen Africa’s debt crisis and cause a repayment problem. Moreover, Western nations are concerned that China will be an impediment to the promotion of transparency and good governance in Africa if China is not supportive of international efforts in this regard. What steps would you take as President to address the issue of China’s role in Africa? Do you see the Chinese role as harmful or helpful overall to African nations?
Senator Barack Obama
The emergence of China’s influence in Africa is among the most significant developments on the continent since the end of the Cold War. China has become a significant player in Africa, competing for contracts, access to resources, and political influence. China’s growing presence in Africa challenges us to improve our own policies and programs and to find the common ground on which both the U.S. and China can better contribute to Africa’s development. Moreover, it would be to Africa’s benefit, as well as our own, if we can develop strategies for cooperating with China in critical areas such as poverty alleviation, healthcare and protection of the environment.
China’s increased engagement in Africa should provide a wake-up call to the Bush Administration. My administration will make high-level engagement in Africa a significant priority.
China’s willingness to sweep important governance and human rights issues aside in making deals in Africa is of grave concern. The U.S. must work to convince China that support for a genocidal government in Sudan, or for the repressive regime in Zimbabwe, runs counter to its own long term strategic interests, as well as ours and Africa’s. Even in Sudan where our preoccupation with Darfur’s genocide is in sharp contrast to China’s close relations with President Bashir’s government, China has begun moderating its approach. International pressure and efforts by activists to target the upcoming Beijing Olympics may have helped persuade China not to stand in the way of world opinion.
I have had extensive conversations with the Chinese Ambassador on the issue of Darfur and traveled to the United Nations to meet personally with the Chinese Permanent Representative to discuss the issue of Darfur. We need to continue this dialogue, and to use all the tools available to us to convince the Chinese to use their leverage with the Sudanese leadership to end the killings in Darfur. We also need to forge programs of cooperation with Chinese in numerous areas in order to benefit Africa’s benefit.
Governor Bill Richardson
The Chinese are our strategic competitors, and while their role in Africa should be monitored, it is not necessarily harmful, and, if handled correctly, could even be beneficial for Africans, Americans, and Chinese alike. A short-sighted “contest for Africa,” however, between China and the U.S. will advance neither our interests nor those of Africans.
We should focus, rather, on collaboration with similar-minded partners and on crafting effective development programs that promote good governance and economic growth. If the results of our programs are better, African countries will continue to turn to us.
Additionally, we must not be afraid to call China to task for supporting regimes that are serial human-rights violators. China has extraordinary leverage with the government in Khartoum, among others, and as I stated above, I believe that we must apply pressure to China so that China will apply pressure to Sudan. Calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, which I have done, is an important first step.
Senator Joseph Biden
China is clearly a major player in international trade. It is Sudan’s biggest customer, and active throughout the African continent. In Darfur we have seen how China and its purchasing power and policy choices can fuel repressive policies, but we have also seen that Beijing can play a constructive role when it chooses to, as it has recently in helping to convince Khartoum to accept the peacekeeping mission. I write to China's President Hu, making the case that with China's growing international engagement comes a responsibility to be a good global citizen and urging him to use China's influence in Sudan to press Khartoum to end its support for the Janjaweed militia and to negotiate in good faith with the rebel groups. As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China has a particular responsibility to live up to that role. Ultimately, we most effectively respond to China’s influence in Africa by helping Africa build its own capacities for economic development and more effective governance.
John Edwards
China’s investment activity in Africa is both a blessing and a curse. The economic stimulation is much needed, but China’s reluctance to participate in international endeavors, such as their delay of the U.N.’s efforts to address the genocide in Darfur, does little for the social and humanitarian needs of the region.
We must do everything we can to ensure that China moves into the mainstream of the international economic community, particularly regarding the protections that govern their trade deals. If China participates as a mainstream player in the global economy, it will be easier for Western nations to effectively promote transparency and good governance in African nations.
7. The creation of a combined Africa Command, uniting military, diplomatic and humanitarian assistance personnel under one umbrella, has many in civil society concerned about what is perceived to be a militarization of Africa policy. The concern is that the War on Terror is at the top of all considerations for U.S. action, such as has been the case recently in Somalia. As President, what would be your overall policy thrust toward Africa? How important a role would you assign to military and intelligence considerations in devising an Africa policy? What policies would be adjusted to minimize the security dangers from insecurity due to high unemployment among young, rising numbers of orphans due to AIDS and conflicts and the large number of internally displaced persons?
Senator Barack Obama
Africa is a complex continent with many challenges. Although many advances are taking place throughout the continent, extreme poverty, the youth bulge, insufficient job opportunities, corruption, and weak governance continue to fuel feelings of hopelessness and despair. This is a complex environment in which to implement effective security programs and complicates Africa’s efforts to fulfill its enormous human and resource potential. Within this context, the continent’s security issues are linked to its significant development and governance challenges.
AFRICOM, the new unified command, should serve to coordinate and synchronize our military activities with our other strategic objectives in Africa. Working under the foreign policy leadership of the State Department, this command should help to integrate military (especially non-lethal capabilities) with all the other elements of US power and diplomacy. AFRICOM should promote a more united and coordinated engagement plan for Africa.
Security cooperation at the AU and national level is extremely important, and the US military has made great strides in this area. This effort must be matched by a similar interagency commitment to enhance and fund a more robust “stability cooperation” program. Increased security depends on better governance and plans for long-term stability that foster a believable hope among Africans that tomorrow will be better. This means cleaner water, adequate food, better schools, available and affordable healthcare, improved infrastructure and communications, more employment opportunities, human rights, and total gender equality.
There will be situations that require the United States to work with its partners in Africa to fight terrorism with lethal force. Having a unified command operating in Africa will facilitate this action. That means AFRICOM must forge genuine military partnerships that are predicated on mutual respect and responsibility. There must be joint training exercises to ensure interoperability in operations and logistics. The effort against terrorists operating in Africa will require a joint and combined effort with African countries to achieve lasting mutual progress—that is one of AFRICOM’s missions.
An Obama Administration, therefore, will pursue an Africa policy that seeks to work with its partners in Africa to realize the goals of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. These include the eradication of poverty, putting Africa on a sustainable path of growth and development and reversing the marginalization of the continent in the global economy. An Obama Administration will work to help ensure that Africa is seen as a desirable destination for American trade and investment and that the continent is a priority for the United States. It will also work to ensure that transparency, accountability, and rule of law are widely upheld. An Obama Administration will pursue effective partnerships to combat terrorism while making the continent a safer and healthier place to live.
Governor Bill Richardson
I would begin by emphasizing bilateral military training and assistance programs to those African governments that meet good-governance standards. Our military’s Task Force Horn of Africa is already doing some of this, and I would expand upon those efforts. We need to work together to develop capacity within African militaries so that they can effectively conduct their own peacekeeping operations. Especially important to this task is providing training in logistic support, personnel management, and human rights training.
I would also offer direct logistical support to African Union peacekeeping missions so that troops and material can be delivered to theater in a timely fashion, and I would offer diplomatic and economic incentives to encourage African nations to volunteer their troops to African peacekeeping operations.
Senator Joseph Biden
Africa is important to our security. Terrorism is a real threat to Americans and U.S. interests, and terrorists have struck at Americans on African soil. In particular, failed states can become incubators, havens and training grounds for extremists. So we have a strong self-interest in working to prevent state failure. In this year’s Failed State Index, 8 out of the top 10 countries most at risk of failure were in Africa, and the other two were Iraq and Afghanistan. Failure spins out of internal conflict and bad governance, and we must do more to give Africans and the African Union the tools to address both. We must also recognize that health, education, and economic opportunity are among the best tools in our arsenal to combat instability and insecurity.
We will be tragically short-sighted if, however, we allow a narrow definition of security to define our relationship with the nations of Africa. The Administration has chosen to create a unified combatant command in the form of AFRICOM. As a means to rationalize our own military command structure and allow us to better assist with peacekeeping training and the professionalization of African forces, AFRICOM could offer advantages to all involved. Unfortunately, as an undertaking, AFRICOM has not included sufficient discussion with African leaders themselves, a failure which may jeopardize its chances of success.
John Edwards
I believe that the United States needs to restore its moral leadership in the world. Africa Command would play a key role in achieving and maintaining peace and stability in the region. The grass-roots, civil actions that the Africa Command group is set up to undertake will not only provide much needed humanitarian and diplomatic aid, but will help to restore the region’s faith in American goodwill. Continued support is essential to the efforts of the Africa Command group to stabilize unstable governments through diplomatic means, combat epidemics, and help in recovery efforts after natural disasters. I will extend the efforts already in place by establishing a “Marshall Corps,” named for our greatest secretary of state, General George C. Marshall. The Marshall Corps, patterned after the military reserves, will consist of at least 10,000 civilian experts, who would be deployed abroad to serve on reconstruction, stabilization, and humanitarian missions. They will be the front line in the United States’ reengagement with the world.
Unemployment, high AIDS orphan rates and massive numbers of internally displaced persons create serious insecurity among developing nations that results in security threats for the rest of the world. In order to minimize these security threats, I will initiate comprehensive investment in the region through education and health initiatives, economic and political development.
Investment in clean water, preventative medicine, and working towards universal access to treatments for diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria will help stabilize developing nations by eliminating some of the unrest caused by a diminished working population and will restore the basic human rights of health and dignity to these people who have suffered from these maladies for far too long.
Along with education, health and sanitation, I will invest in microenterprise. Successful microfinance programs making loans averaging less than $200 spark entrepreneurship while drawing a 98 percent repayment rate. In addition, microinsurance can provide an inexpensive and effective way for poor families to avoid bankruptcy from death, illness, and funeral expenses. I will increase resources for non-profits running these programs five-fold. I will also strengthen democracies by expanding support for the National Endowment for Democracy, to strengthen political parties, train candidates, educate voters, and monitor elections. In addition to these economic and political investments, I will promote labor and property rights by promoting property law reform in the Millennium Challenge Account, encouraging nations to give their citizens the right to invest in property.
8. Africa’s institutions are increasingly more active in peacekeeping and peacemaking. Most notably, the Economic Community of West African States served as the primary mediator and peacekeeping force in the sub-region during the conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea Bissau. More recently, the AU has dispatched missions to Darfur, Sudan, Burundi, and Somalia. However, Africa’s sub-regional and continental organizations suffer from severe logistical, resource and capacity constraints. How will the US Government in your Administration work to increase their effectiveness in peace activities, as well as in other governance and economic pursuits?
Senator Barack Obama
United States policy towards Africa should include as a priority initiatives to build effective peace and stability operations capacity, including within the structures of African regional organizations and the African Union. Africa, as a continent, hosts more peacekeepers than any other region. However, the African Union can not fully implement its peacekeeping efforts because of a lack of resources, personnel, equipment, training, and logistical support.
The United States should fully fund its share of GPOI, a 2004 G8 agreement to support a five year program to support training and equipment for 75,000 peacekeepers worldwide, with 40,000 in Africa. The U.S. should also assist the African Union in crystallizing their adopted mechanism by increasing the capacity of the African Stand-by Force. This will help relieve conflicts before they escalate and could reduce the need for additional resources being spent on long term engagements. In order to increase the capacity of the African Union to organize, deploy, and manage peacekeeping operations, additional technical and financial support should be provided by the United States to AU headquarters. In addition, the U.S. needs to help harmonize multiple bilateral efforts to train and equip African forces to avoid duplication and enhance coordination in all areas. A headquarters database and tracking system to handle offers of training, material, financial, and personnel support could be useful for supporting NGOs, the United Nations, and partner countries.
As for Africa’s regional organizations, they are the key to the continent’s peace, stability, and prosperity, and are ideally suited to be both the “first responders” when conflicts threaten, as well as the best instruments for longer term regional development. Given Africa’s political and geographic structure – i.e. states which often split ethnic groups and logical commercial activities – problems often spill over national boundaries, so solutions to many issues must be regional, not simply national. In addition to enhancing peace and security, issues such as transportation infrastructure and mobility, uniform duties and tariffs, standardized telecommunications, movement of labor, sharing of natural\ resources, are all best addressed at the regional level. Ironically, the very regions with the most acute problems (Central Africa, the Greater Horn) also have the weakest regional organizations.
Not only is it logical to work through Africa’s regional organizations when crises arise, but the United States should cooperate with them to avert crises before they erupt. The United States needs to be proactive in supporting each of the regional organizations to be effective in addressing the issues unique to its own area. In some cases this would involve helping to strengthen the organization’s fundamental structure and build trust among the members, while with more integrated organizations, US cooperation could extend to helping develop telecommunications or trade policies. Africa’s future success will hinge on successful regional integration, and it is clearly in our interest to be a key contributor to the process. In fact, an Obama Administration would seek to establish more formal mechanisms between the U.S. and the key regional organizations.
Governor Bill Richardson
I strongly support the ideals of NEPAD and APRM as development and accountability standards. Eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable growth, integrating Africa into the world economy, and accelerating the empowerment of women are all goals with which I agree. The African Peer Review Mechanism is likewise a concept I endorse-only when African leaders are judged by other African leaders can real change begin.
Strengthening these organizations, however, is not something that the United States can simply mandate. The best way to achieve that aim is to provide incentives, through bilateral aid and other diplomatic and economic levers, for countries to adopt standards of good and open governance. As this happens, NEPAD and APRM will develop strength organically.
Senator Joseph Biden
For years, the African Union has been the only presence on the front lines trying to stop the genocide in Darfur. That effort has saved lives, but the AU had had neither the means nor the mandate to truly protect the people of Darfur. As a Senator and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, I have championed efforts to assist the AU. I met with its commanders on the ground on the Chad-Darfur border to learn first hand their frustrations and concerns about the limitations placed on their mission. I have also led the way to ensure that the United States provides its fair share to support international peacekeeping efforts more generally. But the AU must be more than an emergency squad. As its architects intended, it can and should be the transnational body that can lead Africa through the twenty-first century, from containing violence before it spirals out of control, to cooperating on regional health and economic challenges. As President, I would provide the African Union and the sub-regional organizations with the logistical, technical, and administrative support they need to pursue that agenda.
John Edwards
Sub-regional and continental organizations are essential in the mediation and preservation of peace in Africa. Due to the lack of resources available to these organizations, they still need international help to be as effective as possible. I will support these efforts through the U.S. military, while also creating a “Marshall Corps” to aid in the efforts of humanitarian, diplomatic, and reconstructive efforts in the region. Support of the U.N. and NATO are also of the utmost importance to the regional organizations, particularly when events reach levels beyond their scope and capabilities, like the genocide in Darfur and the civil unrest in Uganda and Congo.
9. Over the last five years, African states have taken bold steps towards institutional reform through the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and its accompanying African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). These new institutions seek to increase economic development and encourage good corporate and political governance. Indeed, the 2002 G8 summit at Kananakis, Canada, adopted NEPAD as the framework by which it would approach development assistance. How will you, as President, work to reinforce NEPAD and the APRM as development and accountability standards for Africa?
Senator Barack Obama
NEPAD is an innovative and important initiative developed by some of Africa’s most respected leaders. Donors have indicated a willingness to be full partners in NEPAD’s implementation just as most African leaders have expressed a commitment to NEPAD’s peer review mechanism. Now the process needs to move further to assure NEPAD’s eventual success with African governments and civil societies taking the steps envisioned by NEPAD’s creators.
At the same time, the NEPAD mechanism is still young, and the U.S. should pay careful attention to how African governments and civil society organizations react to its ongoing development. As long as African confidence and support remain invested in NEPAD and the APRM, the U.S., too, should support these mechanisms. The most important accountability mechanisms in Africa will be those that empower African citizens to demand better governance, and the U.S. should use its voice and diplomatic muscle to strengthen those tools that serve this purpose. Countries that fare well in a credible review process that is governed by Africans and is well received by African civic leaders, not just government elites, will deserve strong support from the United States.
Governor Bill Richardson
The overall thrust of my policy toward Africa will be a focus on development, in terms of governance and the economy, as well as capacity-building. A strong, stable Africa is in the best interest of the whole planet, and it is past time that Washington started making Africa a policy.
The problem of AIDS, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and unemployment are all most effectively meet through a development-centered strategy, but there are additional steps that the U.S. can and should take. As President, I will work with drug companies to create public-private partnerships so that HIV/AIDS, and that we make condoms and clean needles available to those who otherwise might contract the disease.
I will also, as stated previously, vigorously pursue diplomatic tracks in conflict areas in order to address the root causes that have led to such large numbers of IDPs in the first place.
For unemployment, the best answer is to grow Africa’s economy, and the best method of achieving that is to foster good, open governance throughout the continent.
From a military-management point of view, I am glad to see that the Pentagon finally gave Africa its own command (AFRICOM), but I remain skeptical of some of the claims that parts of Africa are the next Afghanistan in terms of providing fertile ground for terrorist-training camps and jihadi proselytizing. Nevertheless, it is good to see our forces working and training with friendly militaries in the region, especially in North and East Africa.
Senator Joseph Biden
NEPAD and APRM are important African initiatives. Their success depends on African adherence to their standards. The United States can best support accountability for these initiatives by supporting national development plans and strengthening transparency and good government efforts. Across much of Africa, U.S. democracy programs lack the resources that they need: we will not help strengthen democracies by directing resources toward elections but under-funding the capacity building efforts that will give elections meaning. Indeed, one of the biggest lessons to learn from the failures of our foreign policy these past seven years is that democracy and elections are not synonymous. The latter is necessary but not sufficient: we must put much more sustained focus and energy on building the institutions of democracy, including governments that work and are transparent, independent media and judiciaries, civil society and a vibrant private sector.
John Edwards
Multilateral organizations are truly a driving force in the international community, and they continually accomplish great things that individual governments would otherwise be unable to achieve. For example, the United Nations has negotiated over 150 settlements, ending many regional conflicts, and the over $800 million a year that UNICEF spends on immunization, basic education, and health care directly aids 138 nations. The Africa Project Development Facility has encouraged development in the region by helping entrepreneurs in 25 countries to find financing for new enterprises. The Facility has completed over 100 projects, representing investments of $233 million and 13,000 new jobs, saving over $130 million in foreign exchange annually. We need to encourage this kind of effort, and ensure that multilateral organizations continue to encourage transparency and accountability in African governance.
10. It is estimated that women in African nations are responsible for three-quarters of all agricultural work and comprise about three-quarters of overall economic output. Nevertheless, women continue to lack full ability to exercise their political and economic rights in many nations, and girls are still too often prevented from receiving an education that will enable them to take their full place in society. As President, how would you integrate efforts to enhance the status of women and girls in Africa into overall Africa policy?
Senator Barack Obama
There is no question that the political, economic, and social empowerment of women and girls is essential to Africa’s successful development. Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai are compelling examples of what African women can contribute to their societies and the world at large.
As president, I would re-invigorate our commitment to promoting and expanding education in Africa. By targeting girls and supporting the push for universal free primary education, we would apply universally accepted best practices. Education must be central to the design and delivery of our development assistance programs. Education is the key to economic advancement, good health, and political stability. That’s why I have proposed to establish a $2 billion dollar Global Education Fund that calls on the world to join together in eliminating the global education deficit, similar to what the 9/11 commission proposed.
Finally, I will use our diplomatic power and meaningful foreign assistance resources to combat gender-based violence, which has reached horrific levels in such places such as Darfur and Eastern Congo. Redressing sexual violence will be a priority in my Administration’s post-conflict reconstruction and recovery efforts.
Governor Bill Richardson
Violence against women and girls is an especially horrific problem, and one that cannot be ignored. Most directly, we can refuse to offer bilateral aid or preferential trade agreements with government that effect state-sponsored violence against women or that actively discriminate against them.
The most effective long-term solution, of course, must come from within, and that requires education. This is important for two primary reasons. One, educating people as to women’s inherent human rights is a fundamentally important step. And two, educated women themselves are in many areas finding better jobs and becoming more empowered through their education. While this is not yet the rule throughout the continent, it is a hopeful sign.
Additionally, I would capitalize on some of the cultural tendencies within some sub-Saharan countries that emphasize the importance of women in the management of funds, business, and civil society. It is important to work together to find common cultural ground where is exists.
Senator Joseph Biden
If I could do one thing and one thing only, it would be to give women true equality. Nothing would do more for developing countries than to fully empower half their populations. The status of girls and women constrains not just their own economic and political opportunities and those of Africa itself. Gender inequities are also a direct driver of HIV/AIDS. Our HIV/AIDS policies must be designed to recognize and begin to change these fundamental inequities: abstinence-only programs, for example, will not help women and girls who lack the power to make sexual decisions. We need to use all the available weapons in the fight against AIDS and recognize that girls’ education and women’s empowerment are two of the most powerful. One of my proudest accomplishments as a legislator has been the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act here at home.
This year, I will introduce "IVAWA" -- the International Violence Against Women Act, to bring its proven benefits to other countries. I also wrote and am leading the effort to enact the Women and Children's Protection Act, which targets the special needs of women and children forced into refugee or internally displaced persons camps. As President, I would ensure that our foreign policy and foreign assistance policies recognize the centrality of women’s empowerment to international health, development, and governance
John Edwards
Education is critical to bringing countries out of poverty, but more than 100 million young children are not in school. Girls account for about 57% of all out of school children. In 2002, 24 million girls were denied access to education in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Strengthening the rights of women and increasing education will help change social roles that underlie the spread of HIV in many countries. Reducing violence against women and expanding education are both proven means of preventing HIV. I will aggressively support political and economic rights for women where they do not exist and support efforts to reduce violence against women and children. I will also lead the world toward a primary education for every child, endorsing the goal of achieving universal basic education by 2015. As part of a significant increase in overall funding for poverty-focused development assistance, I will lead a worldwide effort to raise $10 billion to fund this cause.
In addition to promoting universal education, I will rescind President Bush’s executive order barring U.S. family planning aid to foreign non-profits that provide abortions for reasons other than a threat to a woman’s life or incest, provide abortion counseling or referral, or who advocate to make abortion legal. This rule forces women to choose between the funding vital to their mission and providing essential health services. With this barrier removed, African women will be able to receive the care they so desperately need, paving the way to greatly reducing the number of unnecessary pregnancy-related deaths.
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