All the right moves in Africa

BOSTON — All of Africa celebrated when Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States.

The continent swelled with pride that a son of Africa had become the most powerful leader in the world. Expectations remain high that Obama will implement policies that boost Africa’s importance on the world stage, initiate fair trade policies and result in beneficial economic development.

Although in his first days Obama has not focused on African issues, he has put in place a team with the experience and commitment to develop new strategies and approaches to the continent, particularly in problem areas such as Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Obama’s early appointments — of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Johnnie Carson as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs — put two people well known as friends of Africa in leadership positions.

Clinton has made many trips to Africa, as first lady and as a senator, and has publicly advocated that the U.S. develop more mutually beneficial relations with African countries.

And Johnnie Carson long ago rose above jokes about sharing the name of America’s longtime late night talk show host. Among Washington’s Africa hands, Carson is known as a savvy, hands-on specialist in African affairs.

Carson, an African-American, is an accomplished diplomat with a deep knowledge of Africa. As a career diplomat in the state department for 37 years, Carson served as ambassador to Kenya (1999-2003, Zimbabwe (1995-97) and Uganda (1991-94). Before he entered the foreign service, Carson was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. He is an expert who has a no-nonsense approach toward African problems.

Clinton and Carson will be challenged by the array of African problems that confront them.

Piracy vaulted Somalia to the top of foreign policy priorities. The U.S. Navy’s sharpshooters freed American captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates, but now the Obama administration must determine how to stop the piracy problem.

The fact that the U.S. military has not immediately attacked the Somali communities where the pirates live indicates that the Obama administration intends to seek a wider, more long-lasting solution to the problem. It appears that Obama believes that the answer to the piracy is not at sea, but rather can be found on shore in Somalia, where concerted diplomacy is needed to encourage a stable, sustainable government.

For nearly 20 years Somalia has been the world’s most spectacularly failed state. The chaos and violence there allowed the rise of the pirates. And the pirates have so far succeeded — in 2008 more than 40 vessels were hijacked and more than $50 million was paid in ransom. More than a dozen ships and 200 crew members are currently being held for more ransom.

The rampant piracy shows that the U.S. and the international community cannot afford to allow any country to remain a failed state. In her confirmation hearings, Secretary of State Clinton said that failed states become “breeding grounds not only for the worst abuses of human beings, from mass murders to rapes to indifference toward disease and other terrible calamities, but they are also invitations to terrorists to find refuge among the amidst the chaos.”

Sudan, with its humanitarian crisis in Darfur, is another pressing African issue facing the Obama administration. Clinton, in her confirmation hearing, did not mince words about Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s government, calling it “a corrupt and very cruel regime” and saying that “it’s important that the world know that we intend to address this in the most effective way possible.” Her announcement that she would work with the U.S. Department of Defense on the Sudan problem should have come as a warning to Bashir, who is already confronted with crimes against humanity charges pressed by International Criminal Court in The Hague.

By appointing retired Air Force General Scott Gration as special envoy to Sudan, Obama showed he is determined to find a solution to Sudan’s festering problem in Darfur. Gration is a hard-headed military man who grew up in Africa as the son of missionaries. Fluent in Swahili and well-versed in the continent’s politics, Gration has started off with a “quiet diplomacy” approach and is talking with Bashir’s government in Khartoum. Gration’s early diplomatic contact with the Bashir government should be seen as the Obama administration’s effort to make sure it tries all diplomatic options before considering more forceful measures.

Zimbabwe is another thorny issue for Obama. Both the president and Clinton have said they want to see an end to Robert Mugabe’s rule and a restoration of democracy, but it is difficult to see the best way that this can be accomplished. Zimbabwe’s new power-sharing government in which Mugabe remains president while former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is prime minister presents a quandary. Should the U.S. give assistance to the new government, even though Mugabe remains largely in control? So far the answer has been no. Humanitarian assistance is given, but no direct assistance that could help Mugabe stay in power.

There are other questions, like how to encourage South Africa’s president-elect Jacob Zuma to strengthen the country’s democracy and economy and how to help African economies to weather the world recession.

A tour by Obama to Africa is on the cards, according to State Department insiders, who say it would include a visit to his father’s Kenyan birthplace and a stop in South Africa to see the elderly and fragile Nelson Mandela. But most likely, that would only come once some of the continent’s more pressing matters are resolved.