(03/30/98) -- This month, President Clinton will make the longest and most extensive trip to Africa by any U.S. president in history. It should be an exciting trip, and a rare chance to tell the American public about what is happening in different parts of Africa - some very positive trends, and some very serious crises.
Clinton Africa trip, March 1998
This month, President Clinton will make the longest and most extensive trip to Africa by any U.S. president in history. It should be an exciting trip, and a rare chance to tell the American public about what is happening in different parts of Africa - some very positive trends, and some very serious crises.
We at Human Rights Watch have compiled a briefing packet to help prepare you for the trip. It's organized chronologically, with thumbnail sketches of the countries he'll visit, and some questions you might raise with the president and his hosts at various stops along the way. We've also included some material about places that aren't on the schedule, since, for obvious reasons, Clinton won't be visiting the African countries where human rights abuses are most egregious.
In brief, our position is this: The Clinton White House deserves a lot of credit for developing a fresh approach toward Africa, and giving the continent some high-level attention. Trade and investment are at the core of Clinton's new policy, and the House of Representatives has already passed an Africa Growth and Opportunity Act that would reward African governments for embracing market forces.
But economic development can't be sustained in the face of repression and humanitarian disaster. Despite their commitment to open commerce, the continent's "new leaders" will soon look a lot like the old leaders if they continue brutalizing civilians and monopolizing political power. Stable societies everywhere rest on the same foundation: democracy and human rights. Africa is no exception to that rule.
U.S. influence in Africa goes well beyond the small amount of aid it provides. Washington's political support remains highly valuable to virtually every country on the continent. It's precisely because that support is still so fervently sought that the U.S. should use it wisely, to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Ghana
The presidential party first touches down in Ghana, where President Jerry Rawlings is overseeing a good transition toward constitutionalism. The biggest problem in Ghana's neighborhood is Nigeria. Under Gen. Sani Abacha, the Nigerian government is supposed to be carrying out a "transition program" to democracy and holding elections in October 1998. But its repressive policies have continued unabated (Please click here to read detailed information on Nigeria, contained in a press packet for the Pope's imminent trip to Lagos). Washington failed in 1995 and 1996 to organize multilateral sanctions against the Abacha regime, and now there are signs the administration may be softening its stance on Nigeria, perhaps in the hope of better cooperation on drug enforcement and aviation safety. Strong pressure from America oil companies active in Nigeria has also helped paralyze U.S. policy.
Question: The Clinton administration has been engaged in a long review of its policy toward Nigeria. What are the results of this review? What is U.S. policy toward Nigeria?
Question: Does the U.S., and does Ghana, view the Nigerian role in regional peacekeeping as a positive or a negative development? Why have they not criticized the human rights abuses committed by Nigerian peacekeepers in Liberia and Sierra Leone?
Rwanda
In its new $25 million "justice initiative" for Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern Congo, the U.S. hopes to train judicial and police officials. What's more, the Clinton administration has donated about $30 million and provided strong political support for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which has been conducting trials for the genocide since 1996. Hillary Clinton visited this war crimes tribunal in Arusha last year, and has also publicly praised its work.
Question: If Clinton thinks war crimes tribunals are so beneficial, then why is the U.S. trying to dilute the powers of a permanent International Criminal Court now under negotiation? At a U.N. conference right now, the American delegation is trying to emasculate the prosecutor and give a veto over the court's docket to various national governments. These provisions would have made the work of the Rwandan tribunal much, much harder, if not impossible.
Kampala Summit
In addition to Clinton and Museveni, several regional heads of state (Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania) will gather for a one-day mini-summit in Kampala. Several of these men are so-called "new leaders" whom the U.S. is actively embracing for strategic reasons, despite their disregard for human rights.
****Congo has a new president, former rebel commander Laurent Kabila, who last year toppled the country's long-standing dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. Unfortunately, Kabila has proved to be no democrat himself. He promised to formulate a "transitional agenda" leading to legislative and presidential elections in two years, but his constitutional drafting commission includes only members of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL), the rebel force he led to power. Kabila has banned all non-ADFL political activities, and security forces have attacked the offices of rival political groups, violently dispersed their peaceful marches, and arrested and tortured their members. In February, the authorities detained opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and sent him into internal exile. Independent journalists have been attacked; in November, ten of them were taken to a military compound, undressed, and given twenty to forty lashes each -- for attending the press conference of an opposition leader.
The U.S. has refrained from criticizing Kabila publicly for these abuses.
Question: Is Clinton at least warning Kabila privately? Does the U.S. have benchmarks that the Congolese government must meet in order to receive U.S. aid?
Question: Is the U.S. proposing security assistance for the Congolese military, and if so, what kind?
Question: Is Clinton urging Kabila to change his position and allow U.N. investigators full access to regions of the country where his troops allegedly committed massacres against unarmed civilians in the months before he came to power?
*****Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, and quickly became a close ally of the United States. Prospects for democracy there remain dim, however, as the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice has imposed a tight monopoly over public life, including opposition parties, non-governmental organizations, and private media.
*****Ethiopia is governed by a coalition, most of whose leaders helped fight and win the ten-year civil war. Known as EPRDF (the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front), the coalition maintains a near-monopoly on power through allied political parties. Major opposition groups charged that elections in 1992 and 1995 were not fair. Non-governmental organizations are watched closely and cannot operate outside the capital, Addis Ababa, while labor leaders and human rights advocates have been arrested and one was even killed. Various donors, including states and international financial institutions, together grant Ethiopia about $800 million a year in aid and loans, and its economy has performed well in the years since the civil war ended.
Question: Will the U.S. require that Ethiopia improve its human rights record in order to continue receiving aid?
*****Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi is an "old leader" who has long been overtly harassing and intimidating the political opposition, the independent media, human rights organizations, and ethnic groups he thinks oppose him. The constitution gives the president nearly absolute power. During the presidential campaign in 1997, security forces shot protesters at point-blank range and even stormed the Anglican cathedral to break up a prayer meeting. International pressure helped persuade Moi to prohibit police from using force against non-violent protests. But the constitutional reforms he's promised have yet to materialize. U.S. aid to Kenya is now channeled almost entirely through non-governmental organizations. Question: Special envoy Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke out publicly about the need for political liberalization in Kenya during his February 1998 visit. What strategy can the U.S. pursue to follow up on Rev. Jackson's statements?
*****Rwanda is on Clinton's itinerary later in the trip, but the Kampala summit will offer the first opportunity to raise questions about the regime directly, to its representatives. On April 6, 1994, Hutu extremists launched a genocide against their Tutsi fellow citizens. The international community beat a hasty retreat from the killing fields, where between half a million and one million people were slaughtered by mid-July. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front fought back and took power later that year. In 1997, they sent soldiers over the border into then-Zaire to ferret out the Hutu insurgents who were using refugee camps as their power base. As the Rwandan troops (and some local allies) pursued their Hutu enemies across Zaire, they also killed thousands of civilians.
Both the Rwandan government and the Hutu rebels are still killing civilians. The Hutu insurgency has escaped international sanction because it has no political leadership. The government, however, has responded to Hutu attacks with excessive and indiscriminate use of force, killing thousands of unarmed civilians. It has brought a few officers to trial for these abuses, but generally acquitted them of any serious charges. Secretary of State Albright has strongly condemned the "resurgent genocide" of the Hutu rebels. But the U.S. has not publicly condemned the Rwandan government for its atrocities against civilians. It is even providing military training for the Rwandan government, although Assistant Secretary of Defense Vincent Kern described that training in December 1996 as the "softer, kinder, gentler" kind of training -- civil-military relations, leadership training, and so on.
Question: Is the Clinton administration going to insist on improvements in human rights if Rwanda wants to receive U.S. military aid?
Question: U.S. military training has included some "marksmanship" courses for Rwandan army officers. Is Washington sure that those officers didn't then use those skills against civilians?
*****Tanzania has a multi-party system and promises to allow political liberalization. Although the country has historically hosted many refugees, the sharp increase in that population (since the massacre of refugees last year in neighboring Congo) has strained Tanzania's welcome. What's more, various rebel groups are militarizing Tanzania's refugee camps. Since late 1996, the Tanzanian government has forced some refugees to return home against their will.
Question: The militarized refugee camps in the former Zaire eventually helped spark regional war. What is the international community doing to prevent that from happening again?
*****Sudan will not be present at the summit, but its 15-year civil war will certainly be on the agenda. The U.S. views Sudan as the region's chief trouble-maker. Its militant Islamic government has stifled civil and political rights in an attempt to make Sudan's diverse society conform to an Islamist, Arab identity, clamping down on women's rights forces, dissident lawyers protesting denials of fair trials for alleged "conspirators," and students, among others. For military reasons and in disregard of humanitarian criteria, the government denies international relief access to war-torn areas of the south and the Nuba Mountains. The Sudan government backs the Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army, and provides bases on Sudanese territory for the LRA to train abducted and grossly abused Ugandan children. However, the opposition Sudan People's Liberation Army also commits human rights abuses, among them forced conscription of underage soldiers, diversion of food from civilians, and disappearance of dissidents. Albright has met with SPLA leaders in Kampala to demonstrate U.S. support.
Question: Has the U.S. raised human rights concerns with the SPLA?
South Africa
South Africa's human rights record is not perfect, but it has acted as goad for improvement in other countries across the continent. Clinton's stop here offers an opportunity to focus on some larger regional issues. Africa is the region of the world most heavily infested with landmines. The U.S. has actually supplied many of the millions of mines still in the ground in Africa, particularly in South Africa's neighbors of Angola and Mozambique. All six of the nations Clinton is visiting have signed the Ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, as have 32 other African nations (and 124 nations globally), but the U.S. government has refused to sign.
Question: Have Clinton's interlocutors in Africa raised the issue of landmines? Question: South Africa has been one of the world's strongest supporters of an International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The U.S., meanwhile, wants to let individual governments control the court's docket, which would weaken the court significantly (see Rwanda above). Did U.S. and South African officials discuss the ICC, and if so, who persuaded whom?
Question: Given the role that the U.S. and South Africa (under the apartheid regime) played in supporting Jonas Savimbi and fomenting war in Angola, what are both countries doing now to help ensure the peace? What are both countries doing about sanctions-busters who continue to supply arms to Savimbi's UNITA?
Botswana
During 30 years of independence, Botswana has chalked up a faultless record of holding free and fair elections and shown real commitment to realizing political and civil rights. The government continues to contend with the unresolved issue of the Basarwa, a minority ethnic group that has become increasingly vocal regarding its right to equality under the constitution.
Question: How can the U.S. be sure that troops involved in human rights abuses in Casamance will not participate in the African crisis response troops?