American Foreign Policy Toward Africa


For many of us, the American lack of attention toward Africa is short-sighted and frustrating. It is to the great credit of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy that it has devoted the entire November-December issue of its journal, American Foreign Policy Interests, to “Africa’s Conflicting Challenges: Security vs. Modernization.” The guest editor of this special issue is Herman J. Cohen, a former assistant secretary of state for Africa.
The lead articles are by Macky Sall, who was elected president of Senegal in 2012 in free and fair elections and born after the colonial era was over, and Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for Africa throughout President Obama’s first term. President Sall argues for a new U.S.-Africa partnership based on trade and investment, while Ambassador Carson details the successes (often quiet and not dramatic) of the Obama administration’s Africa policy.
In contributions by other authors, Sudan and South Sudan receive detailed attention. Ambassador Princeton Lyman, ret., analyzes South Sudan’s unresolved issues, especially timely given the current fighting there. Ambassador Dane Smith, ret., looks at the governance challenges and their contexts in Khartoum. Col. Laura Varhola and Col. Thomas Shepherd look at the U.S. and Africa from a military perspective, while I question whether Washington’s approach is becoming too influenced by military considerations related to terrorism. Ray Leonard, a president and CEO with extensive experience in the hydrocarbon industry, looks at the future of African oil production. The issue concludes with Ambassador Cohen’s review of Richard Dowden’s important book, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles.
Ambassador Cohen’s introduction lays the table for the intellectual feast. His concluding “For the Record” gives high marks to the Obama administration’s Africa policy, with one glaring exception: it has been too silent on Rwandan and Ugandan intervention in the eastern Congo.
Too often an assessment of an administration’s Africa policy is based on a numbers game, how many visits an American president and a secretary of state have made to the continent, how many African heads of state have visited the White House. This volume is an important corrective to the view that somehow the Obama administration has “ignored” Africa.

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let me comment before reading the post. .

did he promise to help us at inception. .?

Make una free am make him organise kenya and his Mitchell babe first.

Good!
Tomorrow you won't shout 'fascism or imperialism'!
Africa! Go and help yourself!

Is Obama the President of any African country?

African leaders can help themselves by stopping the massive looting. All will be well - Nigeria comes to mind.

For many of us, the American lack of attention toward Africa is short-sighted and frustrating.

Forget about America. Why look for "attention" from America?. Fight corruption first and see how you can help your own country to grow.

The writer is probably afraid America is loossing her grip on Africa to China!

Hahahaha,When you dumb africans when supporting obama for racist reasons('cos he's black),you thought he'll offer you free visa?up to the extent ndi-okereke(former director of the NSE) even organised a fund-raiser on his behalf.....hahahaha,dumb black africans!!

That is why I was laughing at the fools who were celeberating Obama's election as US president.
I wonder what they were thinking.
Obama is the president of USA not the president of any African country,

...why r African countries subjectin her selves to d mercy of America
stand on ur ground, n stop seeking for help n self-pity

Is Obama the president of Africa? smh


USA will only partner with you if you accept gay marriage.


Let's leave outsiders and develop the continent by ourselves.

The free lunch mentality of we Africans is our greatest problems, most of these countries that give us aids have no natural resources like us. We need to start thinking of how to harness our own resources to the benefit of our people.

Mbeki: The writer is probably afraid America is loossing her grip on Africa to China!

probably true... I hope we are not trading one master for another

Did they vote obama in to take care of Africa?

Thanks God! We dont want to be part of the US Pyramid "Ponzi" Schemes. We Must Emancipate Ourselves from the Shackles of Uncle Sam

The "Benin Massacre"

Blacks History And Africa Education.

In November Phillips made a formal request to his superiors in England for permission to invade Benin City, and, in late December 1896, without waiting for a reply or approval from London, Phillips embarked on a military expedition with two Niger Coast Protectorate Force officers, a medical officer, two trading agents, 250 African soldiers masquerading in part as porters, and in part as a drum and pipe band.
To disguise their true intent, the force's weapons were hidden in the baggage carried by the 'porters'. His request to London was to depose the king of Benin City, replace him with a Native Council and pay for the invasion with the 'ivory' he hoped to find in the Benin king's palace. In the meantime he sent a message forward to the Oba, Benin's king, that his present mission was to discuss trade and peace and demanding admission to the territory in defiance of Benin law explicitly forbidding his entry. Unfortunately for Phillips, some Itsekiri trading chiefs sent a message to the Benin king that 'the white man is bringing war'.
On receiving the news the Benin king quickly summoned the city's high-ranking nobles for an emergency meeting, and during the discussions the Iyase, the commander in chief of the Benin Army argued that the British were on planning a surprise attack and must be defeated. The Benin king however argued that the British should be allowed to enter the city so that it can be ascertained whether or not the visit was a friendly one. The Iyase ignored the king's views, and ordered the formation of a strike force that was commanded by the Ologbose, a senior army commander, which was sent to Gwato to destroy the invaders.
On 4 January 1897, the Benin strike force composed mainly of border guards and servants of some chiefs caught Phillips' column totally unprepared at Ugbine village near Gwato. Since Phillips was not expecting any opposition and was unaware that his operation was being perceived with alarm in Benin, the contingent's only weapons, consisting of the officers' pistols, were locked up in the head packs of the African porters. Only two British officers survived the annihilation of Phillips' expedition, which became known as the
'The Benin Massacre' .

WHEN WILL AFRICA AND AFRICANS CONTROL WHAT BELONGS TO THEM?