African studies scholar Edmond J. Keller spoke on U.S.-Africa relations in light of globalization and human security challenges yesterday in the Alumnae Lounge.
Keller is a professor of political science at the University of California at Los Angeles. Tufts political science professor Pearl Robinson, head of the Africa and the New World minor, introduced Keller as an expert in African regional security.
Keller has taught at many universities including ones in Kenya and South Africa and is the author and editor of five books on Africa.
"Globalization occurred simultaneously with the end of the Cold War," Keller said. "African nations have had trouble finding a way to make globalization work for the betterment of their own people's lives and not so they are the victims of it."
Keller said that Africa has never been at the center of U.S. foreign policy. "During the Cold War years, the relationship was that of selective engagement," he said. "Under George H.W. Bush there was more concern for humanitarian issues - he committed U.S. troops to Somalia."
After the death of 18 U.S. servicemen in Oct. 1993, however, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton promised the American people that he would take forces out of Somalia, Keller said.
The Rwandan genocide in April 1994 was a turning point. "Clinton spent the next years of his two terms apologizing for not paying enough attention and elevated Africa to a more important position," Keller said.
Among other bodies, Clinton established the African Crisis Response Initiative after the Hutu-Tutsi conflict in Rwanda. Such responses paved way for what Keller called "a new partnership with Africa."
"The partnership called for an acceleration of Africa's integration into the global economic community and an attempt to address security threats emanating from Africa," Keller said. "Clinton kept pushing for African issues throughout his two terms."
Keller said that George W. Bush's U.S.-Africa rhetoric is not that different from Clinton's considering the Millennium Challenge Account for Africa, and the $15 million package for HIV/AIDS in Africa. The current president's ideas, however, are more infused with "non-altruistic concerns ... realist principles are paramount for W."
In Keller's opinion, there are five primary challenges that face the African continent today: the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the debt crisis and trade issues, human security and development concerns, domestic and regional conflicts, and human rights and democracy issues. "Poverty and education affect all these policy areas," he said.
According to Keller's numbers, 28.5 million Sub-Saharan Africans were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2001. "Figures in Africa range from 39 percent in Botswana to 0.1 percent in Mauritius," he said. "AIDS is an issue of social and humanitarian security."
As far as debt crisis, Keller says the results are far-reaching. "African nations spend such a large percentage of their GDPs paying debt that they can't spend money on communicable disease [prevention] and other such issues - they can't free up resources," he said.
Keller said that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, under Clinton and continued by the current administration has helped alleviate some of the problems regarding both the debt crisis and African trade issues.
Regional and domestic conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan have also hampered Africa's development, Keller said. He called the recent peace deal in Sudan an "uneasy truce."
As for democracy in Africa, Keller said, "Dictators have fallen and multi-party democracies have risen but over the past five years we've realized these changes may not be permanent."
Before opening up to questions, Keller closed his talk with a recommendation for U.S.-African relations. "Enlightened African leadership and flexible U.S.-Africa policy that is sensitive to both U.S. national interests and Africa's human security needs are necessary."
One student asked how it would be possible to reconcile the two.
"Bush has to relax his neo-realist interests and take more interest in human security needs," Keller said. "The next generation of African leaders is going to have to figure out a way to get help from the stronger partner [nations] without getting taken advantage of."
Keller's talk was sponsored by the University's Program for Africa and the New World Lecture Series.
