It should abandon giving lessons and sermons ... and struggle to understand and deal with the facts

The next US administration is required to play an active role in Africa

  • The Renaissance Dam resulted in a political rift in the region that the Trump administration failed to resolve.

    Reuters

  • The Biden administration will likely behave like previous US administrations.

    A.F.B.

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The US President, Donald Trump, scorned the African people in blunt statements on one occasion, but Africa was harmed more by his policies, such as his disastrous attack on the World Health Organization and his country's exit from it, his rejection of the Paris climate agreements, and the imposition of harsh restrictions on immigration and asylum legally, Eliminate programs for gender equality.

Trump's latest behavior against Africa was his stance on the dispute over the Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile River, and his failure to solve the crisis, and now the Trump administration's failure to call for de-escalation and dialogue in the Tigray region could have disastrous consequences in fueling the conflict in the Tigray region. Ethiopia.

Nonetheless, President-elect Joe Biden should revert to the status quo that prevailed before the Trump administration.

As the American politician John Campbell, who works for the Council on Foreign Relation, explained, the Trump administration has made fewer changes than expected regarding its policy in Africa, and Campbell called for what he described as a "re-drawing of policy," and that there are fundamental questions. It should be raised about US policy in Africa.

And the records of Republican and Democratic administrations have been vague for nearly six decades, ranging from destructive interventions to neglect, and in very few cases there has been fruitful cooperation with African countries for the sake of common goals, and if Biden’s slogan, “Building back better,” is applied to Africa, we need to think about new frameworks for policy leadership rather than rewriting slogans of the past.

The next administration should abandon giving lessons and preaching to Africa. Instead, the United States should strive to understand African realities and address them in a spirit of cooperation and mutual learning. This requires rebuilding capacity for diplomacy and taking into account how many other American organizations and institutions are. Outside the foreign policy arena, it can directly affect the future of Africa.

Here are several tips that are essential to avoid repeating many of the mistakes of the past:

Stay away from catastrophic interventions

Avoidance of military interventions that have negative consequences, a point repeated by many observers for a long time, whether in Nigeria or Somalia, efforts to combat extremists, as well as government repression, have fueled extremism, not eliminated it.

The consensus of analysts is that foreign intervention to counter the rising insurgencies in Mozambique is a disaster.

Of course, there are no easy answers to such conflicts, but the priority of the United States should be to support multilateral initiatives aimed at resolving the conflict and keeping peace, in addition to humanitarian relief, and instead of assuming that Washington is the best person who knows, the next administration should take advice. From informed sources, such as the recent letter drafted by more than 80 African researchers criticizing police brutality in Nigeria.

Washington's policy towards Africa should not be subject to a new cold war with China, and for several decades the US policy was subject to the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and this led to disastrous interventions in the Congo, and the alliance with the apartheid regime in South Africa, and in fact the rivalry of the United States With China, it is economic, not military, but the narrow vision that ignores African interests represents self-defeat.

American policymakers must acknowledge that despite the great disparity in size and power, African countries such as the United States must find their way in a multipolar world, and this requires the good use of opportunities for cooperation, in addition to facing threats from a wide range. From outside powers.

Nor should ready-made formulas related to austerity and privatization be imposed on African countries.

In developed countries, as in developing countries alike, heavy reliance on the market and denial of the government's primary role in encouraging development failed.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank began to acknowledge this failure, but these old formulas are still applied to weak states that cannot determine their policies and determine their own destiny.

The United States and African countries face many similar international issues that must be addressed at multiple levels. Coordination is often complex and incomplete, but cooperation is necessary between African countries, multilateral organizations and other external actors.

The United States’s contributions may be important in three areas:

Global health

Despite the lack of resources, the performance of African countries was better than the performance of the United States and many European countries in dealing with the Corona pandemic, and although it did not live up to the success achieved by the countries of the Pacific region, Africans have benefited from the moves The early steps taken to fight the virus, and they benefited from coordination with the regional offices of the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control and Control in Africa.

The United States, which has fallen behind the whole world, should recognize the right of the international community to health care, and it must organize its home first, but it bears a responsibility to pay its fair share in order to support public health in African and other developing countries.

As the Corona pandemic was revealed, wisdom and morals compel it to do.

Climate change

Africa is the most vulnerable continent in the world to the phenomenon of climate change, although it contributes the least amount of emissions that lead to climate change, and many African countries depend on the export of fossil fuels, and many rural people depend on coal for cooking, which is what Contributes to the decline of green cover from the continent, and the return of the United States to the Paris climate agreement is only a first step on a long road.

Renewable energy is increasing rapidly in Africa, and there is great potential for additional expansion, which attracts private and public investment from countries responsible for the problem of climate change, and there is room for the United States and China, if they are prepared to work with African partners.

Tax justice

Tax evasion and illegal financial flows eroded the financial capacity of African governments, and governments, in addition to civil society, called for international action, but success depends on moving in the United States and the major financial centers in the world, where international banks and accounting firms are based, And legal firms provide assistance to businesses and people to conceal financial assets.

And the multinational giants are evading tax by transferring their assets to regions where there are no tax regulations or taxes at very low rates.

And huge companies, such as Facebook and Microsoft, practiced tax evasion to avoid taxes of about $ 2.8 billion in about 20 developing countries.

Judicial procedures in the United States are essential in order to obtain more transparency, which is required by the Corporate Accountability and Financial Transparency Coalition, but strong enforcement action can play an important role as well, and stopping the flow of illicit funds can have an impact on capacity. Financial aid to African countries, by meeting their aid and trade needs.

It is likely that the Biden administration’s Africa policy will reflect the continuity of what previous administrations have followed, but Africa and the United States share common interests that are increasingly visible, which fuels hope that through creative diplomacy, more humility, and attention to everything that causes concern to Africa, the makers can Politics moves closer to a mutually beneficial engagement .. In sum, US policy in Africa will be fruitful to the fullest extent, if US policymakers are prepared to learn and cooperate more than just preaching and dictating.

Thandika McAnawer



US policymakers should derive their information on Africa from African thinkers, such as the economist Thandika McCandawer, and economists working for the African Economic Commission, which is based in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, as they share the growing global consensus that the state’s investment in Public goods and the country's strategic leadership for strategic development is one of the basic requirements for sustainable and equitable development. This type of thinking is found in a new book entitled "African Economic Development: Evidence, Theory and Policy."

Thandika McCandawer.

Archives

• "Do not impose false instructions of austerity or privatization on African countries."

• Despite the lack of resources, the performance of African countries was better than the performance of the United States and many European countries in dealing with the Corona pandemic.

Imani Kunts - American economic researcher interested in Africa

William Minter is an American researcher interested in the health situation in Africa

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