Obama a let-down to Africa, Trump no better, says advocacy group

WASHINGTON

State Department officials and advocacy group leaders taking part in a recent Washington forum offered negative appraisals of US human rights policy in Africa.

This consensus applied not only to projections of how the Trump team would relate to Africa but also to the outcome of the Obama administration’s efforts in the last eight years.

Speakers said Obama did work promote respect for human rights and democracy in Africa. Former State Department official Karen Hanrahan said the concerns had been elevated to the point of defining the Obama presidency in regard to Africa.

“Human rights and democracy were often accorded as much importance in US dealings with Africa as were economic and security matters,” Hanrahan, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of state said.

Adotei Akwei, director of government relations for Amnesty International US chapter, added that in regard to democracy and rights advocacy in Africa “the constellation could not have been better than that presented by the Obama administration”.

APPLY PRESSURE

Panellists in the session, held as part of the African Studies Association’s annual conference, noted however that some US Government agencies had not been as focused on rights concerns in Africa as had the State Department.

“Independent activists did not apply sufficient pressure to coax Obama into matching actions with rhetoric,” Akwei said, adding that the advocates were reluctant to criticise a president they regarded like-minded.

Panellists said the US under Obama failed to facilitate progress on rights and democracy in Africa.

“Situations of particular concern to advocacy groups have not improved,” said John Prendergast, founder of an NGO focused on helping prevent atrocities in East and Central Africa.

He cited abuses in Sudan’s Darfur region and wars in eastern DR Congo and South Sudan.

“In these countries, the state apparatus has become a violent kleptocracy, with leaders using power for personal enrichment and maintenance of repressive rule,” Prendergast said.

Hanrahan’s successor, Steven Feldstein, highlighted US efforts in supporting presidential term limits in Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi and DR Congo.

TAKEN RIGHT APPROACH

“Only in the first case has there been success,” he said.

But the Amnesty official admitted that the US policy had made some achievements.

“My organisation may not think that the Obama administration has taken the right approach to Dadaab, but without it, that refugee camp would probably be closed by now,” Akwei said.

The panellists said African leaders’ misgivings about the US focus should be seen as partly justifiable.

“There is a history in Africa that you can’t ignore US interventions that haven’t borne any good fruit,” Akwei said.

The prospects for the Trump administration’s actions regarding rights and democracy in Africa are bleak.

Incoming officials, like the president-elect, will have little or no experience on Africa. Washington Post editor Mary Beth Sheridan was of the view that Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric could serve as a recruiting tool for jihadists.

She also expressed fears that Trump would do nothing in the event of a genocide in Burundi or South Sudan .

Advocacy groups will probably pay less attention to Africa because most activists would be devoting energies to preventing and opposing abuses in the US, Akwei said.