Africa Up Close

Looking Back as Our Anniversary Approaches

Africa UP Close came online in September 2012.  As I stated then, it was an attempt to not just follow news and analysis of events and trends in Africa, but to do so through an Africa “voice.” It called heavily on the Wilson Center’s Southern Voices Network, other friends and contacts from around the continent, and expatriates working on the ground in key sectors in Africa.  I wrote in my first posting back then that “This blog hopes to capture the innovation, creativity, problem solving, and experience that is inherent in the people of Africa. Whether it is thoughtful analysis of policy issues, on-the-spot reporting of current developments, sharing of fact-based, empirical research and findings on global problems, field experience and lessons learned in conflict and post-conflict settings, or just ‘slice of life’ reflections of Africa, we will try to cover it all.”

My Experience as a Foreign Service Officer in South Africa during the Apartheid Era

I knew Nelson Mandela long before I met him – not an uncommon feeling amongst those who had lived and worked in South Africa.  I arrived as a young political Foreign Service officer at the American Embassy in Pretoria in 1976.  I was assigned to cover “black political affairs,” which meant getting to know and interacting with the majority population and its leaders during the height of the racist Apartheid government’s rule.

I came to know dozens of important and influential African leaders at this time, such as Steve Biko, Mamphela Ramphele, Cyril Ramaphosa, Smangaliso Mkatchwa, Barney Pityana, Nthatho Motlana, Winnie Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Frank Chikane, Murphy Morobe, and a myriad of township and student leaders.  I visited many individuals in prison, like Percy Qoboza or Enoch Duma, or in internal exile like Ramphele, Biko, or Winnie Mandela.

As the President and First Family wing their way home today from their last stop in Africa, I have to start any post-mortem analysis with a confession.   Like many observers on the continent and here in Washington, I was a bit cynical about the Obama tour d’Afrique. I thought this trip was scheduled too late in his presidency, was structured in such a way as to avoid addressing the difficult issues facing the continent or between U.S.-Africa relations, and lacked a focus on the Africa Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) which a stop in Addis Ababa would have rectified.  I also knew there were groups in Africa who disagreed greatly with U.S. policy on Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and a number of other issues, and would make their concerns known.  And, as we all watched in sadness the physical deterioration of Africa’s greatest son and a world icon of leadership and reconciliation, I recommended caution and sensitivity on how the Obamas would handle that situation, which so easily could distract from the primary purposes of the trip.

After all the clamoring for U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Africa and South Africa especially, he has finally embarked on what is much more than the token stop he made in Ghana a few years back. This visit could not come soon enough as patience for Obama and what is seen as his sidestepping of Africa has grown paper thin. On top of that, the piled up controversies animating America’s relations with the rest of the world have begun thickening the residue of anti-American feeling lurking beneath the black South African political surface. This sentiment has begun to emerge in a few cases as unwelcoming hostility as Obama embarks on his first real safari to the continent since becoming America’s first black president and, to boot, one with African origins that most African-Americans cannot speak of.

May has been a busy month for us at the Wilson Center, with a trip to Kenya that served to convene new and original members of our Southern Voices Network, as well as hosting a number of local events. One major conference held here in DC on May 1 was on the subject of technology and innovation as tools to elicit social change amongst women and youth populations in Africa. A report of the whole conference can be found on the Wilson Center website, as well as some related interviews of conference.

This month’s blog posts reflect this theme through the eyes of a practitioner, African scholar, and mentor.   First, you will find a piece from one of our partners in the Southern Voices Network, “Paying It Forward: How to Sustain New Generations of Female and Youth Leaders in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in Africa,” by Edith Kirumba of the African Technology Policy Studies Network.  Along with Edith’s piece include a submission by Liz Ngonzi, titled “Mentorship, Coaching, Board Service, Sponsorship…How Will You Pay it Forward TODAY?” and “Transformative Effects of Women, Youth and Technological Innovation” by Gregor Young of Management Systems International.   Our monthly “Lessons from the Field” column was provided by Vivian Lowery Derryck titled, “Mali Matters.”

However, the big news this month, of course, is the President and First Lady’s trip to Africa in June, including a trip by Secretary of State John Kerry.  In a short, precise statement issued last week, the White House announced that he and the First Lady would visit Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 – July 3.  The stated purpose of the trip was to “reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders.”  It further stated the President would meet leaders from  “government, business, and civil society, including youth, to discuss our strategic partnerships on bilateral and global issues.”   There were no further specifics, just a confirmation of the United States’ desire to cooperate in advancing “regional and global peace and prosperity.”

 April’s Last Word

“Looking Back at AGOA’s History to Inform its Future”

by Steve McDonald, Director, Africa Program and the Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity

Recently, I gave a presentation on Capitol Hill on the development and hopefully continued support for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA (Title I, Trade and Development Act of 2000; P.L. 106–200). AGOA was approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000 and then signed into law by President Clinton with the purpose to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the United States and the region.   The original language of the bill touted trade and investment as not only promoting economic development, but for encouraging broad participation in a political process in “which freedom can flourish.”  It stated:

“Increased trade and investment flows have the greatest impact in an economic environment in which trading partners eliminate barriers to trade and capital flows and encourage the development of a vibrant private sector that offers individual African citizens the freedom to expand their economic opportunities and provide for their families.”

By Steve McDonald
Director, the Africa Program and the Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity 

This month has seen some remarkable events on the continent, all with wide ranging implications.  They include the death of the “novelist laureate” of Africa, Chinua Achebe, the seizure of Bangui by rebels and flight of the president in the Central African Republic (CAR), the arrest of former Zambian President Rubiah Banda, the constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe, and the first round of the Kenyan elections.

By Steve McDonald
Director, Africa Program and Leadership Project, The Wilson Center

I want to remark this month on the directions of U.S. policy on Africa under the new Administration team in Washington, but I would like to begin by a little self- examination of our blog and an appeal to readers.   A review of the outreach that Africa UP Close has made is revealing.  Since January, we have had a total of 2,025 visits, with 264 new visitors.  That almost doubles our total of 1,081 total visits in the last three months of 2012.  Quantitative measure is an important gauge, so we are very pleased that so many readers are clicking on us.  Just this month, we will undergo another major design and format change, which should make this site an even more useable and useful product.  And you can now follow us on Twitter where we will engage our followers in online discussion and debates.

By Steve McDonald

There has been palpable excitement in Washington, DC since the November election that reached a crescendo as we approached the second inauguration of President Obama, which took place just yesterday, as I write this.  Of course, the question on the minds of all Africans and Africa watchers is, “What does this mean for our continent?” Well, President Obama’s eloquent inauguration address didn’t give any hints.  He dwelled on domestic issues, constitutional construction, and policy deadlock, as he urged all Americans to come together in expanding the economic recovery, putting in place national health care policies, and addressing gun violence.   His only real reference to foreign affairs was to say that a “decade of war” was coming to an end.  Africa did not cross his lips.

Is this good news or bad?  What does it augur for the coming four years?

By Steve McDonald

When I wrote my first “Last Word” column, I promised that Africa Up Close would not become “a personal outlet for my perceived insights on Africa,” nor, I think I said, would it become a platform for pundits from the U.S. and other Western viewpoints to pontificate on all things African.  I said this because it reflects my deep belief that the African “voice” has been left out of most policy debates that occur around the capital cities of Washington, DC, London, Paris and elsewhere.   Our effort to form the Southern Voices Network – further information can be found in this blog or at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/project-leadership-and-building-state-capacity – was in recognition of this fact.