Article: How American diplomacy can help Guinea's people
Article: Dealing with Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
MONUSCO forces on patrol in North Kivu (UN Images)
Violence in the DRC is spiraling out of control. In this article for American Diplomacy, I discuss potential solutions to the conflicts in the east, and the role of politics and the military in perpetuating insecurity.
My Senegalese Experience with Walter Mondale
In June 1980, I was completing my three-year assignment as U.S. Ambassador to Senegal. Our family effects were all packed and ready for shipment to Washington. We were about to depart after a round of farewell dinners given by fellow ambassadors and government officials. At the last minute, we received instructions from the State Department to delay. Vice President Walter Mondale had scheduled a goodwill visit to West Africa in mid-July. Senegal was his first stop, and I was to manage his visit.
Read MoreHow Climate Change, Aid & Security Can Help President Biden Re-Engage Africa
For allAfrica, I wrote this article on how the Biden administration is likely to take a new approach to Africa. It is reproduced below.
Despite dire predictions, the Trump Administration's overall policy toward Africa represented continuity. Foreign aid continued; skilled diplomats were appointed and deployed to resolve conflicts; and the signature Africa programs of past presidents remained unabated. The administration launched a trade program, and President Trump himself intervened to mediate a brewing conflict in east Africa.
Read MoreClimate Change: The Biden Administration's Opportunity in Africa
For Ambassador John Campbell’s Africa in Transition blog on the Council on Foreign Relations website, I authored this piece on how the Biden administration can take a more direct approach to addressing the causes and effects of climate change in Africa. It is reproduced below.
Climate change is both one of the greatest threats to Africa and an area in which Biden administration policy is most likely to differ from President Trump's. Through his leadership on this issue, the president-elect has a chance to make a difference for millions of Africans while setting a global example for urgent action.
Read MoreBublup Roll: Crises in the Sahel
Photo by Daniel Tiveau/CIFOR
The Sahel – a region spanning the African continent laterally, just under the Sahara Desert – is experiencing one of the world's most dire arrays of crises. Violent extremism, political instability, economic desperation, the effects of climate change, and COVID-19 are all threatening the Sahel at once. In this Roll, I grapple with some of the region's greatest challenges, and how the international community can make a difference there.
How the US can pull Sudan back from the brink
A Proposal for Peace in Cameroon
How COVID-19 Is Affecting African Economies
Lagos at night. By Chukwuka Tolulope Obu from Wikimedia Commons.
So far, there have been fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths in Africa than expected. But the pandemic has resulted in major resource problems.
African communities and governments mobilized quickly to fight COVID-19. Many countries have successfully imposed lockdowns and quarantines in order to limit community transmission. Nevertheless, cases and deaths continue to increase across the continent.
In addition to the disease itself, the coronavirus has brought deep economic hardship to Africa in three key ways.
Prices for African commodity exports have decreased dramatically because of reduced economic activity in industrialized nations. This has reduced government revenue available for public health and pandemic management.
Africans living in the industrialized world in diaspora communities normally send remittances to their families in Africa. Because so many workers have lost their jobs in the United States and Europe, these remittances have been greatly reduced. This has made it increasingly difficult for African families to purchase food and other necessities, which are especially important in the pandemic. Most African workers can't afford to miss a single day of work – stockpiling food and everyday essentials is typically not an option in the best of times.
The uncertainties of COVID-19 have resulted in capital flight from Africa, further reducing the resources available to manage the pandemic, alleviate suffering, and control the economic fallout.
The complex impact of COVID-19 on Africa requires a multifaceted response. One of the most important contributions that the U.S. government can make is to supply surplus food under the P.L. 480 program, which allows African nations to purchase U.S. food exports in their own local currency. Use of P.L. 480 as part of a broader food aid program would go a long way towards ameliorating the widespread hunger which Africa is facing as a consequence of the pandemic.
Pulling Troops Out of Africa Could Mean Another Endless War
Response to Economist article
Below is my response to The Economist’s February 20 article, “How America deals with Africa, despite Donald Trump.”
Your report on the Trump Administration's policy toward Africa (February 20) missed the main point. Trump came into office determined to reverse everything that Obama had done. But, he has left intact, and has fully funded, Obama's two very creative projects in Africa: "Power Africa" and "Feed the Future". The former has already increased power generation in Africa by 30 thousand megawatts, and the latter has increased food crops considerably in Nigeria. In addition, Trump sent Nikki Haley, his first Ambassador to the UN, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2018 to persuade former President Kabila to stop delaying the election, and to promise not to run himself. This has opened the door in the DRC to democracy for the first time in its history. Also, of course, the Bush (43) program to control and reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and the Clinton AGOA program, to encourage African exports to the U.S. also have Trump's continuing support. Trump's own new project to encourage U.S. private investment, "Prosper Africa", has been slow to get started. But Secretary of State Pompeo brought two major U.S. corporations to Senegal recently where they signed two investment memoranda of understanding. Finally, Trump's offer to mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia over the latter's construction of a major dam that threatens to reduce the volume of Blue Nile water going to Egypt, and its one hundred million people, is an important effort to avoid a shooting war between these two major African powers. Despite Trump's initial nasty depiction of African countries two years ago, his actual policy is really quite constructive.
Book Launch at DACOR Bacon House
Thank you to the DACOR Bacon House for hosting the official launch of my new book. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all who were able to attend. Your presence and support is an honor.
Book Talk at the Department of State
Thank you to the Ralph J. Bunche Library of the U.S. Department of State for hosting a discussion of my new book. It was an honor to be in the place that taught me how to be a diplomat to share my thoughts on the last 80 years of US-Africa relations.
Amb. John Campbell Reviews "US Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik"
Thanks to Ambassador John Campbell of the Council on Foreign Relations for praising my new book covering eight decades of US-Africa policy in this review.
Now Available: US Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik
My new book, US Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik, is now available. I draw on both the documentary record and my personal experiences as a diplomat to analyze how US-Africa policy has evolved through fourteen US administrations.
Lessons From the Past on Cameroon’s Crisis
For John Campbell’s “Africa in Transition” blog on the Council on Foreign Relations website, I authored a piece on how lessons from the Eritrean War of Independence offer clues to a potential endgame to Cameroon’s conflict. It is reproduced below.
The violent conflict in Cameroon, still rarely discussed in Washington, is becoming increasingly dire. Both President Paul Biya’s Francophone regime in Yaounde and the Anglophone separatists in the southwest region are accused of brutal human rights abuses, including the burning of villages, attacks on schools, and the killing of men, women, and children. Despite mediation attempts by the Swiss government and sanctions by the Trump administration, there are no signs of any progress towards a negotiated settlement.
In 1991, I mediated an end to a different African conflict with some striking similarities: the Eritrean war of independence, which raged for nearly three decades. Lessons from that precedent offer clues to a potential endgame in Cameroon.
Read MoreAfrica's Momentous 2019
2019 was one of the most important years for sub-Saharan Africa in modern history. This Bublup roll recounts the key events and discusses what they could mean for Africa's future.
A Conversation with the Foreign Service Journal
Statement on Cameroon
In recent days, press coverage misstating my position, and rumors, have circulated indicating I will be representing the Cameroonian separatists identifying themselves as an interim government of “Ambazonia” in their upcoming talks with Paul Biya’s government.
This is untrue. I do not represent Ambazonia in any way, and I will not be participating in the talks.
I do hope that the dialogue between the Biya administration and the Anglophone separatists leads to peace. The Swiss government’s mechanism for mediation is an excellent option, which I hope both sides will assent to.