Africa Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Making a Statement in Durban

by Salih Booker | Aug 1, 2001

Some 200 nations are gathered in Durban, South Africa from August 31 to September 7 for the UN World Conference Against Racism (WCAR). Unfortunately, America’s official conduct leading up to the conference has not been its finest hour. Rather than deal with its own sorry legacy of slavery, discrimination, and racism, the Bush administration has chosen at the highest level to deny that historical matters and redress have any place on the agenda. It has withheld support and threatened to stay home.

Palestine in Durban: Sideshow or Main Event?

by Kim Fellner | Aug 1, 2001

The black and white-checked scarves, known as kafeeyyehs, symbolizing the Palestinian resistance, were everywhere among the 6,000 delegates to the UN Non-Governmental Forum that preceded the governmental portion of the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR). Soon they were joined by white t-shirts exhorting participants to “fight racism, not Jews.” As predicted, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has loomed over both the NGO Forum and now the main event, given mega-prominence by the refusal of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to attend while statements equating Zionism with racism are anywhere on the table.

HIV/AIDS Global Trust Fund: Need for an Equitable and Efficient Governance Structure

by Chinua Akukwe, Melvin Foote | Jun 1, 2001

The international community appears poised to intervene to end the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, especially in Africa where, according to the United Nations Agency for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), more than 25 million Africans live with the virus or are dying of AIDS. Few infected Africans have access to life saving anti-HIV/AIDS medicines that have transformed the disease from a feared to a manageable chronic infection in the West. Through a combination of street protests, sophisticated policy reviews, media exposes, and powerful commentaries in the print and electronic media, AIDS activists have forced the issue of access to HIV/AIDS care in developing nations.

UN Betrayal of Western Sahara Appears Imminent

by Stephen Zunes | Jun 1, 2001

When a country violates fundamental principles of international law and when the UN Security Council demands that it cease its illegal behavior, one might expect that the world body would impose sanctions or other measures to foster compliance. This has been the case with Iraq, Libya, and other international outlaws in recent years.

End U.S. Support for Egyptian Repression

by Stephen Zunes | May 1, 2001

The quick conviction on Monday in a political court of Dr. Saad El-Din Ibrahim and 27 associates is a serious blow against Egypt’s burgeoning pro-democracy movement. It also raises serious questions about continued U.S. military and economic aid to the increasingly authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak.

Walter Kansteiner: Assistant Secretary of State for Africa

by Ann-Louise Colgan | Apr 1, 2001

Walter Kansteiner, Bush’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, was chosen for the post over well-respected foreign service professional Johnny Carson, who currently serves as U.S. ambassador to Kenya. Initial reports on Kansteiner have noted his background as a commodities trader and as an African affairs expert at the State Department and National Security Council during the first Bush administration. In 1991 Kansteiner received the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award for work promoting privatization. During the Clinton years, he worked for the Scowcroft Group, a consulting firm headed by Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser and Kansteiner’s former boss in the Bush administration. Kansteiner has written occasional articles on Africa for The Forum for International Policy (http://www.ffip.org/), a center-right Washington think tank where Scowcroft is a resident trustee.

The Death of Laurent Kabila

by Thomas Turner | Mar 1, 2001

Recent events in the Democratic Republic of Congo could come from pulp fiction. There are murders, conspiracies, betrayals, red herrings, and high stakes–including diamonds, gold, cobalt, and petroleum. Unfortunately, this is no thriller, but a tragic reality. A country has been torn apart by its neighbors. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of its citizens have died, in addition to the refugees killed on Congolese soil.

Ethiopia-Eritrea Disengagement Proceeds Slowly, Civilians Watch & Wait

by Dan Connell | Feb 1, 2001

Two months after Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a pact to end their two-year border war, an agreement to move ahead with its implementation has finally been ironed out. Ethiopian forces occupying positions inside Eritrea began to pull back last week, and the 4,200 UN troops brought here to monitor the truce are now deploying to the contested frontier. A spokesperson for the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea today said that the withdrawals are taking place on schedule and are expected to be complete by February 24. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of war-displaced civilians remain in camps behind the lines, waiting to see if the truce will hold.

Lockerbie Verdict Unlikely to Bring Change

by Stephen Zunes | Feb 1, 2001

The guilty verdict against Libyan intelligence operative Abdel Baset Ali Mohamed Al-Megrahi may have finally established guilt in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988, yet it will not usher in a new era for U.S.-Libyan relations. Perhaps, however, it will lead the new Bush administration to re-evaluate the failed anti-terrorism policies of recent administrations.

Africa: Off the Agenda?

by Salih Booker | Jan 1, 2001

Will Africa be “off the agenda” of a Bush administration? In the first week of Bush’s term, we can answer that question with a resounding no! It’s far worse than that. After four days, Bush in effect declared war on Africa and Africans.