Race through Africa

While I do appreciate the Obama Administration's commitment to put Africa at the top of their priority list, I find it disconcerting that they lump AFRICA into a quick trip. Secretary Clinton is visiting 7 African nations in 12 days... what can she really learn about the intricacies of history and culture in these lands if she spends little more than a few hours to a day there...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/03/clinton.africa.trip/index.html

She starts her trip in Nairobi, Kenya... a fine place to start... a good diplomatic choice, won't ruffle too many feathers and shows concern for a nation that suffered from a violent aftermath of recent elections...

Now, I realize that in the past there has been mistakes made in regard to Africa... militarily... underestimating the violence of starving and impassioned people... Many people have seen the movie Black Hawk Down... those who study Africa know that Somalia is a "failed state" - it has no sustainable governing forces and limited protection can be offered to anyone visiting... but there is a President, whether his power is powerful remains to be seen, but Sec. Clinton will meet with the Somali President while she's in Kenya...
- I'm not asking her to jump in front of a grenade... but do we still fear treading on the ground of Somalia? Okay, okay, for arguements sake, I myself would not volunteer for a mission to enter Somalia to chat with the president, so maybe it makes sense that the meeting required the president to leave his unstable country and travel to kenya so that Sec Clinton was safe... But I need to know that this is more than just a publicity stunt, something to say "we still think about somalia and hope it's getting better, but we're not willing to really commit to anything more than a photo op at the present time"

Then our fearless diplomatic leader jumps onto a 4.5 hour plane ride to South Africa... (I may have started here but that's just a preference...) -- I'm impressed that they will discuss Zimbabwe... for it feels as if we sit idly by while a craze dictator oppresses and starves and demolishes his own citizenry for the purpose of lining his pockets with any money he can get his hands on... A "fair and democratic election" was held and the results were less than surprising... although Mugabe has recently agreed to power sharing with the challenger, Tsvingairi....Crazy Mugabe (as I not so affectionately call him) has been allowed to do the most insane things and the reality of hyperinflation has sucked dry any sense of economic stabilization...

"Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe has persisted since the early 2000s, shortly after that country's confiscation of white-owned farmland and its repudiation of debts to the International Monetary Fund. Figures from November 2008 estimated Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate at 89.7 sextillion (10^21) percent.[1] In April 2009, Zimbabwe abandoned printing of the Zimbabwean dollar, and the South African rand and US dollar became the standard currencies for exchange. The government does not intend to reintroduce the currency until 2010" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_Zimbabwe

- Next stop: Angola.... we rarely hear much in the news about Angola... as far as the news article reports, it looks like we desire to see how their petroleum industry can be beneficial to global oil needs... but I could just be reading into that...

- Here's where I applaud Sec Clinton (I know, seriously, me?! right) she's going to DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO!!!!!!!!!! (play triumphant music)

"For more than 15 years, (well, can we be honest and say violence has been rampant since 1960, time of 'independence') eastern Congo was torn by civil strife and massive use of rape. Clinton will meet with some of the victims of that violence to underscore the United States' commitment ending gender-based violence." This is a victory in the "war" against "rape as a weapon of war" in the DRC... this better be more than a photo op, Ms. Clinton... :)

I look forward to hearing more about her time in the DRC...

Then she will travel to Nigeria, which I disagree with the State Dept's characterization that it is the most important African nation... Africa is a massive continent, and while Nigeria is a great example of economic development and stabilization, it's climate, history and culture is vastly different from the countries to it's North and North East... i.e. Cote d'ivoire, eritrea, somilia... but let's not take anything away from Nigeria, because if it is the most important country to Africa's economic development, by all means, let's support them in their quest...

The obligatory Liberia jaunt (i know this sounds sarcastic, but I am deeply impressed with President Siraf and Sec Clinton's working relationship... thus I am not surprised by her travels to Liberia... although she seems to be doing zig zags up and down Africa... maybe they didn't look at the map before setting the itinerary??)

And finally, to Cape Verde... I know very little about this island nation -- i'm ashamed of that fact, but that could also be a good thing since I studied CONFLICT in grad school :) According to the State Department, this is a great example of stable and well managed nation.

To address Amnesty International's concerns I only offer this, if she neglects to mention human rights abuses while in DRC, she will be unable to speak, for everywhere you turn there is another story of abuse. And ignoring the nation which borders DRC to the north would be a gross misuse of her many photo-ops... Darfur has not become peaceful and loving simply because we stopped hearing about it... slavery still exists even if we don't as Americans participate in it... child soldiers are involved in almost all of Africa's conflicts... DRC, Sudan, Uganda, Chad, Eritrea and Ethiopia... these realities cannot be ignored when you come face to face with the land of Africa... your heart is compelled to tell the stories of those you meet... and if she does not schedule in some time to visit a village, an orphanage, or an AIDs focused hospital, she is wasting taxpayer money on a fancy safari trip to afrika...

I sincerely hope that she comes back a changed woman, with a spirit of hope renewed for a land oft pushed aside...