From owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu Mon Jul 7 07:00:44 2003
Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2003 13:34:01 -0500 (CDT)
From: Riaz Tayob
<riazt@IAFRICA.COM>
Subject: [toeslist] Bush Admin on Collision Course with Africa
Article: 160921
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick Bond
<pbond@sn.apc.org>
To: debate: SA discussion list
<debate@lists.kabissa.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 5:39 PM
Subject: [DEBATE] : (Fwd) A primer on why Africa should repell Bush
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan 202-546 7961
Media Briefing reveals Bush policies antithetical to Africa’s interests; President Bush misleading American public with empty promises to Africa
Wednesday, July 2, 2003 (Washington, DC)—Ahead of President Bush’s first official trip to Africa next week, four leading advocacy organizations held a press briefing this morning to examine the current state of U.S. Africa policy. Africa Action, TransAfrica Forum, 50 Years is Enough and Foreign Policy in Focus hosted the briefing, in which a panel of African-American and African experts offered a critical analysis of Bush Administration policies on key issues in U.S. Africa relations.
Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action said this morning,
American unilateralism is at odds with African efforts to gain
international cooperation to address the most urgent global
priorities—such as AIDS, poverty and civil conflict—which
have the most devastating consequences in Africa.
Speaking about Africa’s AIDS crisis, Booker said, The $15
billion commitment President Bush announced this year to fighting AIDS
in Africa is a cruel hoax because none of this money is being made
available now. Faced with this most deadly global threat, the Bush
Administration continues to stall and its empty promises are costing
thousands of African lives every day.
Critiquing U.S. trade relations with Africa, Bill Fletcher Jr.,
President of TransAfrica Forum, said this morning The U.S. pursues
trade policies that are at odds with Africa’s interests. The
Bush Administration is driven more by a cynical preoccupation with
securing oil reserves than with matters of promoting genuine economic
development.
Njoki Njoroge Njehu, Director of 50 Years is Enough: U.S. Network for
Global Economic Justice, said this morning, Africa’s debt
crisis is the largest obstacle to the continent’s development
and to the fight against AIDS. The U.S. has a moral responsibility to
demand that the creditors of Africa’s debts find a solution to
this crisis. But the Bush Administration is ignoring this urgent
African priority.
Emira Woods, Co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus, spoke about
U.S. military relations with Africa, declaring, The Bush
Administration’s National Security Strategy and its decision to
play
global cop
is fundamentally a doctrine of reckless
endangerment for Africa.
For a more detailed analysis of U.S. policies toward Africa and for
recommendations on U.S. policy priorities, see the Africa Action
report Africa Policy for a new Era: Ending Segregation in U.S.
Foreign Relations,
available at
http://www.africaaction.org/featdocs/afr2003.htm