President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney- Their views on Africa

There are five pillars that serve as the foundation of U.S. policy toward Africa:
1) Support for democracy and the strengthening of democratic institutions on the continent, including free, fair, and transparent elections.
2) Supporting African economic growth and development.
3) Conflict prevention, mitigation, and resolution.
4) Supporting Presidential initiatives such as the Global Health Initiative, Feed the Future, and the Global Climate Change Initiative.
5) Working with African nations on transnational issues such as drug smuggling, money laundering, illicit arms, and trafficking in persons.

Examining the U.S. Policy Responses to Entrenched African Leadership

http://www.state.gov/p/af/rls/rm/2012/188338.htm

Monday, January 3, 2011

Obama to increase engagement with Africa in 2011

Associated Press

HONOLULU — President Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests.

Expectations in Africa spiked after the election of an American president with a Kenyan father. But midway through his term, Mr. Obama’s agenda for Africa has taken a back seat to other foreign-policy goals, such as winding down the Iraq war, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and resetting relations with Russia.

Obama aides believe those issues are now on more solid footing, allowing the president to expand his international agenda. He will focus in Africa on good governance and supporting nations with strong democratic institutions.

Mr. Obama delivered that message on his only trip to Africa since taking office, an overnight stop in Ghana in 2009, where he was mobbed by cheering crowds. In a blunt speech before the Ghanaian parliament, Mr. Obama said democracy is the key to Africa’s long-term development.

“That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long,” Mr. Obama said. “That is the change that can unlock Africa’s potential, and that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans.”

The White House says Ms. Obama will travel to Africa again, and the political calendar means the trip almost certainly will happen this year, before Mr. Obama has to spend more time on his re-election bid. No decision has been made on which countries Mr. Obama will visit, but Ben Rhodes, the president’s deputy national security adviser, said stops will reflect positive democratic models.

The administration is monitoring more than 30 elections expected across Africa this year, including critical contests in Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

“The U.S. is watching, and we’re weighing in,” Mr. Rhodes said.

John Campbell, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, said the different elections give the Obama administration the opportunity to establish clear policies.

The administration “should be less willing to cut slack when those elections are less than free, fair and credible,” Mr. Campbell said.

The White House can send that message right now as it deals with the disputed election in Ivory Coast and an upcoming independence referendum in Sudan, which could split Africa’s largest country in two.

Mr. Rhodes said the president has invested significant “diplomatic capital” on Sudan, mentioning the referendum in nearly all of his conversations with the presidents of Russia and China, two countries that could wield influence over Sudan’s government.

When Mr. Obama stopped in at a White House meeting last month of his national security advisers and United Nations ambassadors, the first topic he broached was Sudan, not Iran or North Korea. And as lawmakers on Capitol Hill neared the December vote on a new nuclear treaty with Russia, Mr. Obama called southern Sudan leader Salva Kiir by telephone to offer support for the referendum.

White House officials believe the postelection standoff in Ivory Coast could be the model for Mr. Obama’s stepped-up engagement in Africa.

The president tried to call incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo twice last month, from Air Force One as Mr. Obama returned from Afghanistan and then a week later. Neither call reached Mr. Gbagbo; administration officials believe the Ivorian leader sought to avoid contact. So the president wrote Mr. Gbagbo a letter, offering him an international role if he stopped clinging to power and stepped down.