(Kristin Groener/Streetattack.com)

For Which It Stands: Africa

Opportunities abound for Obama, in the continent where America has many admirers

By Tristan McConnell - GlobalPost
Published: January 9, 2009 08:36 ET
Updated: January 12, 2009 12:30 ET

LONDON, ACCRA, NAIROBI — Crowds line a busy street in Ghana waving the Stars and Stripes as President George W. Bush pays a state visit.
 
Up the West African coast in Liberia, awe-struck hawkers cheer a convoy of camouflaged U.S. Humvees delivering medical supplies as part of a "soft power" operation.
 
Kenya's government declares a national holiday after the U.S. elects its new, black, president.
 
Everywhere across Africa young men listen to 50 Cent and dream of winning the green card lottery.
 
Americans seeking a warm welcome should head to sub-Saharan Africa. A worldwide public opinion survey published in December 2008 showed the U.S. to be popular in Africa, but nowhere else.
 
Click here to go to the For Which It Stands Complete Guide
 
"Only in sub-Saharan Africa does America score uniformly favorable marks," stated the survey by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project.
 
Only six countries in the world thought that the spread of American ideas and customs was a good thing – four were in Africa. The top 10 list of where America has a positive image is dominated by African nations.
 
America's popularity abroad has plummeted, of course, amid wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as a world recession that many blame on the U.S.
 
"A lot of the downturn in America's image is tied to opposition to its foreign policy," said Richard Wike, associate director of the Pew Global Attitudes Project. "In Africa those policies aren't as salient, there are a lot of other priorities that people are focusing on."
 
Those other priorities — alleviating poverty, stopping corruption, fighting disease and ending war — were addressed by Bush. With a half-African president, America's image will improve further. "Without even doing anything Obama's election has advanced the image of the U.S. immeasurably," said Francis Kornegay, senior researcher at Johannesburg's Centre for Policy Studies.
 
Whether Africans remain pro-U.S. depends on the record that Barack Obama builds.
 
The last Democrat administration in the U.S. is remembered for running away from Somalia, turning its back on the Rwandan genocide and bombing a pill factory outside Khartoum in a misplaced strike against al-Qaida.
 
Bush, meanwhile, is the leader who poured billions of dollars into programs to fight disease and met more African heads of states than any other U.S. president.
 
"The level and depth of the engagement pursued by the Bush Administration was unprecedented," said Tom Cargill, assistant head of the Africa program at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief gives anti-retrovirals to millions, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act gives access to American markets, the Millennium Challenge Account rewards good governance with investment.
 
But in Africa, Bush is also held responsible for the failure to halt the ongoing rape and slaughter in Darfur and for a creeping post-9/11 militarization of foreign policy. The U.S. Africa Command, or Africom — which was launched last year — has been received with suspicion and hostility by most African governments.
 
There is no doubting Obama's personal popularity in Africa: On election night jubilant celebrations erupted across the continent. "Obama is of African descent and that is hugely empowering for Africa's self-image and hugely inspiring," said Josephine Osikena,
program director for democracy and development at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
 
Once the euphoria of a black man becoming the world's most powerful leader subsides the reality is that little is expected to change in America's relations with Africa. "Very quickly African people will realize that he's the US president and will serve the interests of the U.S.," Osikena points out.
 
In late September one of Obama's key Africa advisors, Witney Schneidman, said the new president's policy on Africa would be to accelerate the continent's integration into the global economy, enhance peace and security and promote democracy and accountability. None of this marks a departure from previous U.S. policy. Kornegay called the policy "basically boilerplate."
 
Security will still dominate, seen through the dual prism of fighting Islamic terrorism and protecting oil supplies, more than a fifth of which now come from Africa.
 
Obama has spoken of increasing aid — although the world recession may well hinder such plans. He also has an eyes-wide-open view of climate change, which is hitting arid parts of Africa hardest and exacerbating tensions between communities struggling to survive. There is also mounting pressure for action, not just words, on Darfur.
 
"If the expectations for the Obama presidency are high in general, they are even more so within African countries," Cargill said.
 
In Nairobi in 2006 Obama concluded a rousing speech to Kenyan students with a pledge: "I want you to know that as your ally, your friend, and your brother, I will be there to help in any way I can."
 
Africans across the continent are waiting to see if President Obama delivers what Senator Obama promised.
 
 

Comments:

No Comments.

Login or Register to post comments

Recent on Kenya:

Kenya battles recurring drought

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - November 7, 2009 10:51 ET

Countries of East Africa and Horn of Africa plagued by successive years of low rainfall.

Obama extends sanctions against Sudan

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - October 29, 2009 06:03 ET

New policy encourages dialogue but presses for change.

Annan presses Kenya to arrest instigators of violence

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - October 16, 2009 14:23 ET

Government urged to take action against those who organized post-election ethnic killings.

Drought hits Kenya's wildlife

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - October 16, 2009 05:52 ET

Millions in East Africa are on food aid, but the animals are still dying.

Migingo Island at center of border dispute

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - October 2, 2009 06:10 ET

Kenya and Uganda vie over a tiny fishing center in Lake Victoria.

TV puppet satire skewers Kenya's leaders

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - September 23, 2009 07:35 ET

Popular show raises controversial issues and provokes debate.

'Black Hawks' return to Somalia

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - September 15, 2009 12:03 ET

Helicopter attack shows dramatic shift in US policy and comes with some peril.

Turning flip-flops into art

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - September 10, 2009 13:25 ET

Kenyans recycle beach debris into colorful toys and wearable jewelry.

Kenya reaps the wind

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - August 27, 2009 11:43 ET

Much needed energy to be generated by first wind farm to open atop the Ngong Hills.

Kenya's 'Wabenzi' tribe threatened

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - August 22, 2009 16:25 ET

Opinion: Austerity measures to curb Benz-driving government officials

Fleeing Somalia

Finbarr O'Reilly - Africa - August 9, 2009 13:12 ET

Multimedia: A Somali musician's story in song and photos.

Who owns the Nile?

Theodore May - Egypt - August 8, 2009 11:36 ET

On a river that flows upward, Egypt lives downstream ... but that doesn't mean it goes thirsty.

Kenya's Mau forest under threat

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - July 30, 2009 15:15 ET

Historic forest is economic lifeline to country but is being rapidly eroded.

Interview: Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga

Mark Scheffler - Kenya - July 23, 2009 21:30 ET

Despite contrary evidence, Odinga claims Kenya's relations with the White House are cordial.

Africa's moment?

Mort Rosenblum - Worldview - July 7, 2009 07:25 ET

Opinion: Hints of light in a not-so-dark continent

Many African diamonds still bloody

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - June 25, 2009 16:33 ET

Kimberley Process can identify where diamonds originate but it is largely ignored.

Interview with Kenya's prime minister

Mark Scheffler - Kenya - June 5, 2009 10:01 ET

Newsmaker Interview: Raila Odinga

Mark Scheffler - Kenya - June 4, 2009 20:59 ET

Fighting rages in Mogadishu

Tristan McConnell - Kenya - May 20, 2009 17:14 ET

Islamic rebels challenge Somali government's control of capital city.