Presented below, in full, is a speech delivered by Gregory L. Garland, Public Affairs Chief,
Bureau of African Affairs in the State Department and delivered to the Tallahassee Kiwanis Club (and no, I was not present; I had no idea it was being given and I'm not sure I was in town) on March 18th:
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Good afternoon. It is an honor to be here today in
Tallahassee.
I am especially please to follow a speaker from the Florida League of Cities.
You are music to my ears. Cities, countries, and states all play a role in
international affairs. I worked at one point with one of your member cities,
Jacksonville, where I handled international affairs. I have served in six
countries overseas and have witnessed the other side. I know what community
involvement can mean. Multiply that by hundred and thousands across the country,
and you have a dynamic message of positive citizen-to-citizen foreign policy. My
hat is off to the Florida League of Cities, and I want you to know that you have
a friend in the U.S. Department of State.
In fact, I came to Tallahassee principally to help celebrate the
establishment of a new Sister City relationship with Assanti District North,
Ghana. I spoke yesterday at the Tallahassee Sister Cities Committee Africa
Awareness Month Conference at Florida A&M. The audience was very different,
of course, and mostly young. I addressed Florida-Africa relations, looking at
our state's 440 year history of links between our state and Africa. I won't
burden you with that today, but I do want to leave with the fact that there were
Africans in Florida at least as early as 1565. They were very much a part of the
oldest city, St. Augustine, and the oldest continuous European settlement in the
United States, Northeast Florida.
U.S.-AFRICA POLICY IN CONTEXT
Last month, President Bush traveled to Africa for second time. In 2004, he
visited Nigeria and South Africa. This time, he went to five countries not often
in the news back here: Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. In fact,
that was the point. Much of the continent is doing well, economically, socially,
and politically. Yet to read the papers and watch CNN, you would think that
Darfur was all of Africa.
There is a quiet revolution going on in Africa. It is one of democratic rule
of law, growing economic, a rising middle class, and end of conflict. The
president chose to take the opportunity to show the quiet and prosperous side of
Africa.
He took along with him, as is always the case, the White House press corps.
Now, this is a cynical bunch who have witnessed a lot. Coverage before the trip
was oriented more toward the question of why the President would not travel to
any country in a crisis, notably Kenya or Sudan. Let me tell you, ladies and
gentlemen, that these reporters had seen little of Africa, and their
preconceptions were rooted pretty much in what they read in their own papers. By
the time the trip got to Tanzania, attitudes started to change. This Africa was
an interesting place, even when there was a war going on. They witnessed the
extraordinary welcome all these countries laid out for the President, one
greater than he would receive back in the U.S. They witnessed an Africa that is
a wonderful host, human, tolerant, and alive with life in all its permutations.
Finally, the coverage started to reflect that maybe the President was on to
something.
For the United States, Africa for too long was on the margins of U.S. foreign
policy interests. In World War II, Africa was a strategic stepping stone to the
places that mattered in Europe. In the Cold War, Africa was a sideshow to the
struggle that mattered -- in Europe and East Asia. Even as we Americans set in
place well-intentioned economic development policies, it was too often with the
idea of doing good for Africa, rather than with Africa.
All that has changed. In 2001, the U.S. changed its foreign policy strategy,
a move long overdue with the close of the Cold War. We decided not to rank U.S.
interests according to the traditional hierarchy of regions. In that ranking,
Europe was considered a vital national security interest, Asia and the Middle
East important, and Latin America and Africa mainly of humanitarian interest. We
no longer operate according to this hierarchy.
Instead, the U.S. has implemented a strategy to operate more effectively in a
world where non-state actors, and illegal trans-border activity, can pose
essential threats to even the most powerful of countries.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has applied this vision to her strategy
of transformational diplomacy. The goal is to develop a network of well-governed
states capable through responsible sovereignty of protecting themselves and
contributing to regional security. By so doing, they also protect the
international system.
She has described her approach as "doing things with people, not for them."
Note the key prepositions: with, not for. In a word, this means partnership.
This vision supports African leadership as strategic partners and seeks to build
up Africa's institutional capacity. In other words, doing things with Africans,
not for them.
ECONOMIC SUCCESS
Contrary to impressions that many have, let me say that Africa is doing well
now by traditional economic criteria. In 2006, the economy of all sub-Saharan
Africa grew by 5.5 percent -- the same rate the world economy grew. Put
differently, twenty-three African nations grew at a rate faster than 5 percent.
Only one – Zimbabwe – failed to grow at all.
U.S. policy seeks to support and sustain that growth over the long term. It
has become a truism that trade is the best aid. Creating the basis for a
healthy, open trading relationship with Africa is a key objective.
AGOA
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has brought increased trade
flows and new industry to Africa. Thanks in part to AGOA, two-way trade between
the U.S and Africa has risen from $29 billion in 2000 to over $71 billion last
year. In just one year, 2005-6, U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa rose by 17
percent (to $12 billion). Imports from Africa also rose by 17 percent (to $59.2
billion).
These figures didn't happen by chance. AGOA has helped jump-start the rise in
bilateral trade. AGOA has become the cornerstone of our trade and investment
policy in Africa. It was and is a great idea that has worked.
MCC
I said that it is crucial to support Africa's quest for building accountable
democratic institutions. To succeed in the global economy, nations need fair and
transparent legal systems; free markets that unleash the creativity of their
citizens; banking systems that serve people at all income levels; and a business
climate that welcomes foreign investment and supports local entrepreneurs.
We're doing this through a new program, the Millennium Challenge Account.
This program works in countries that have already demonstrated commitment to
fight corruption, implement democratic reforms, invest in health and education,
and promote economic freedom. African governments -- not Americans -- must come
up with ideas, a change in our way of doing development. Once again, we seek a
partnership of equals, Americans and African, where Africans take ownership and
responsibility.
INVESTING IN PEOPLE
True commitment means dealing with health: notably, the terrible killing
machines of AIDS and malaria. And the place to start is partnership with
ministries of health, working with African leaders in their effort to battle
disease.
PEPFAR
We have taken on Africa's most daunting health challenges. President Bush's
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched in 2003 as a five-year, 15
billion dollar program to combat HIV/AIDS in 15 countries, 12 of them in
sub-Saharan Africa. A few months ago, President Bush doubled this commitment to
$30 billion over ten years.
PMI -- MALARIA
For too long the West has turned a blind eye to malaria, which no longer
exists in the developed world but is the #1 killer of Africans. We have begun to
right that wrong.
The President's Malaria Initiative, a 1.5 billion dollar initiative to fight
this disease in fifteen African countries. This includes insecticide treated bed
nets, indoor spraying, and life-saving anti-malaria medications.
To take one case, Zanzibar: This year -- the second year – Malaria has nearly
been wiped out on the historical island of Zanzibar in East Africa. That show
what commitment, resources, and existing knowledge can accomplish.
THE GRASSROOTS ROLE IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Churches
I have said little about the role of churches. It was American missions who
built and operated many of the first school that educated Africans – black
Africans. Generations of African leaders got their learning in these American
schools, and some went on to study in HBCUs and other American colleges and
universities. That is a powerful and positive legacy, one that happened in spite
of official U.S. policy.
Today, that tradition continues and is growing. Churches of all denominations
have expanded their missions in Africa. I have seen Africans come to speak to
congregations that only a generation ago would have kept them out because of the
color of their skin, I have seen Americans of all backgrounds from very corner
of our society work in Africa as teachers, doctors, nurses, and ministers,
beloved by those communities they have dedicated their loves to. And I have
seen, as you have, too, Africans make this flow a two-way street, coming to
America not just to study, but to minister, teach, and serve, all under the
aegis of a church, not Uncle Sam.
Peace Corps
When the Peace Corps started up in the Kennedy Administration, few
anticipated one of its greatest impacts: The impact of a community of tens of
thousands of former volunteers in Africa. Many of these fell in love with
Africa, sometimes with Africans literally, and have dedicated their lives to the
continent.
Immigration
I see it in Immigration of Africans to America. Just as the Civil Rights
revolution opened many doors to African Americans, it made possible the
immigration reform of 1965, which ended race-based favoritism as immigration
policy and opened the doors to people of color. Today, large and growing
communities of Ethiopian-Americans, Somali-Americans, Nigerian-Americans, and
others have spread across America, following the pattern of previous immigrants.
One of those patterns is maintaining an interest in their roots, and trying to
influence foreign. Just as Cuban, Polish, and Chinese immigrants have done for
many decades, African immigrants are learning, and learning well how to press
the buttons of power in Washington. Pay attention, I say to my colleagues, this
is something new, and you'd better understand it.
And I see it in the private sector. We hear so much about oil, and that is
part of the American story in Africa, at least in Nigeria and Angola. And
there's bauxite in Guinea and Ghana, iron ore and rubber in Liberia, and so on.
Now, however, we are witnessing the broadening of that trading relationship,
fueled in many cases by AGOA, but driven by middle and small business. Just to
cite one example – shrimp from Mozambique, shipped to Miami for packaging.
(Mozambique, I can say, has the best shrimp on earth.)
Presidents come and go. Secretaries of State come and go. Congresses come and
go, all something that an elections year reminds us of.
What will not and cannot change is this fundamental shift, a societal shift,
of attention towards Africa. It is here for good, at this the grassroots level.
Thank you.
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Greg Garland, sorry I missed you.
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