As your plane touches down in Dakar, Senegal, we welcome the opportunity of your visit to examine the US Africa relationship and to establish ties that are based on honesty, respect and a clear commitment to removing the structural obstacles that impede Africa's development. We would like to raise the following issues for your consideration. They are not new ones, but there is an opportunity, with your visit, to act decisively and change the image and relationship of your Administration with Africa.

The proposed visit to five African countries has been scheduled to clash with the Second Heads of Summit meeting in Maputo, Mozambique. It is unclear how the Administration could be so out of step with African continental institutions by not seeking to attend this important meeting. As arranged, the trip will rather serve as a distraction to the African Union meeting.  

We notice that your planning team has omitted those countries like Tanzania and Kenya that have directly suffered from terrorist attacks against US interests and citizens. This is odd given the tremendous cost that these countries have borne and continue to bear as a result of their relationship with the US. Furthermore, the highly selective programme excludes civil society and the business communities who could have offered constructive and prepositional conversation around US foreign policy, aid and trade. As constructed, the agenda appears to offer little else than a series of photo opportunities starting with Goree Island and ending in a Ugandan AIDS clinic with shots of our Presidents in between.  

This trip may boost the Republican campaign image among the African-American community before elections. However, it does very little to boost confidence on the continent that this is a working visit that will afford time and space for Africans to share their aspirations and engage the Administration on the need for the US to change its policies and practices toward Africa. There is still time though should you choose to act on the substantive issues we raise below.

 Delivery not spin on HIV/AIDS is needed:

Two thirds of the 25 million people who have died are Africans. In Zimbabwe alone, more than 3000 people are dying each week from the disease. There is no doubt this is one of the gravest issues confronting the continent, yet the Global Health Fund is short on resources. While welcoming the public pledge of US$15 billion to a unilateral US Global AIDS programmes, we note your Administration's request for 2004 is a miserly $450 million. Mr. Bush, where is the $15 Billion that you have promised to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean? Show us the money!  

The quality of US health programmes have suffered from the reliance on patented drugs and the restriction of health programmes that promote abstinence from sex rather than safe sex. We call on you to heed the demand of African leaders and women's organisations for a change in these policies and those promoting health cut backs. The demand for the right to import and manufacture generic drugs is a moral imperative. This trip would be an opportunity to express your support for Africans to access cheap generic drugs and to promote women's rights to control their own fertility.

Decrease uni-lateral militarisation, facilitate regional peace-keeping:

Several African conflicts are leading to the deaths, displacement and impoverishment of millions of African women, men and children. African leaders have tried individually and collectively to respond to these conflicts despite the debilitating effects of structural adjustment policies (which the US supports) and debt servicing.  

The US needs to provide adequate logistical and financial support for peacekeeping, peacemaking and peace-building in Sudan, Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi. It can do this through cooperation and collaboration with existing efforts such as the ECOWAS-sponsored peace conference in Liberia, the South African-led peace efforts in Burundi and the United Nations and French-led operations in the DRC.

At the same time, civil society organizations in Africa would like to register their unequivocal opposition to the further militarisation of the continent by the proposed setting up of new military bases in Africa as well as the expansion of others, i.e. Djibouti. We are not unmindful of the past US military role in Africa. In fact a number of Africa's civil wars are products of US military support, including Liberia, the DRC, and the recently ended Angolan war. The move to militarize the continent cannot be justified by US economic interests in our oil or in protecting Africa from terrorism.  

We call on the US to roll back the current plans to create “forward operating bases” on African soil and desist from promoting bi-lateral agreements that exempt both US and African citizens from prosecution under the International Criminal Court. With great power comes responsibility for one's actions. This should also apply to the US.

 Why is Iraq's debt different from Africa's?:

It has long been established that Africa's debt burden is a major obstacle to Africa's development objectives. The servicing of Africa's debt has made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the continent to invest in the productive sector, health and education.  

Mr. Bush, will you announce US support for the unconditional cancellation of Africa's debt while in Africa? If Iraqi's debt can be cancelled, then surely there is nothing to stop you from doing the same for Africa.

Dumping is not Fair Trade:

In your pre-visit media briefings, you made reference to free trade and AGOA as a panacea for Africa's economic woes, yet your Administration practices protectionist policies, offers tremendous subsidies and is aggressively promoting patents on all living and non-living resources. Agriculture is Africa's competitive advantage and the only form of livelihood for 70% of its population. Africa's poverty is the direct consequence of the inability to export agricultural commodities at fair prices and to access US technologies.

We call on you to announce a moratorium on subsidies to US farmers, desist from championing risky GM products and to take measures that will enhance market access for Africa's agricultural products.  

Democracy is a principle, not a matter of expediency:

African people across the continent are establishing and holding accountable democratic governments. In these cases, US support like elsewhere in the world is welcome. The practice of externally induced “regime change” as we have seen in the recent past is not welcome. Africans reserve the right to elect and/or recall their leaders through democratic processes. We view with deep concern, the pressure that is placed on African Governments to adopt laws that contravene national constitutions and to act in a manner that strips their citizens or residents of their fundamental freedoms and access to the rule of law such as the recent case of four Moslems in Malawi suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda. This divides Africa along racial and religious lines.

We would have liked an opportunity to express these thoughts more directly and hear your responses. However we note with concern that the space for civil society in the US to comment on and/or critique your administration policies has shrunk considerably. We are not surprised that civil society in Africa as well did not feature in your itinerary.

We deeply share the pain and suffering of Americans resulting from September 11 events and the sense of urgency to bring this insecurity to an end. However, we think that US-Africa relations cannot not be driven by the US War Against Terrorism or US interests in Africa as an emerging market or as supplier of 15% of US oil.   We make these appeals because we believe there are obligations that come with being the world's only super power. Furthermore, the people of the US and Africa have a history that is intertwined.  Crimes against African humanity were conducted during slavery and during the cold war.   In that sense the US has an ethical burden to act in ways that exude justice, human rights and a genuine respect for democracy. We ask not for charity, we seek justice. We look to your trip to to act decisively and change the image and relationship of your Administration with Africa.

Yours truly:
 Helen Wangusa Coordinator, African Women Empowerment Network (AWEPON), Uganda  
Patrick Craven, Congress of South African Trade Unions, South Africa  
Muthoni Wanyeki, Executive Director African Women Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Kenya  
Oduor Ong'wen, Director, Econews Africa, Kenya  
Ezra Mbogori, Executive Director, Mwelekeo wa NGO (MWENGO), Zimbabwe        

c.c.Hon. Colin Powell, Secretary of State, Hon. Andrew Natsios, Administrator,USAID.
  
Endorsed by:
Emira Woods, Co-Director, Foreign Policy in Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, US  
Salih Booker, Executive Director, AfricaAction, US  
Bill Fletcher, President, Transafrica, US
Leon Spencer, Executive Director, Washington Office on Africa, US  
Njoki Njoroge Njehu, Director, 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice, US  
Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General, CIVICUS Citizens World Alliance, South Africa    

* Visit to endorse the open letter or have your name added as a signatory.

THE BUSH PHOTO SHOOT IN LINKS

SENEGAL
* Bush Discusses Liberia With West African Leaders
http://allafrica.com/stories/200307080093.html
* Cooped-up locals angry about Bush http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1382948,00.html

SOUTH AFRICA
* Anti-Bush crowd braves cold
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1385104,00.html
* Bush and Mbeki have long talks on Africa

* Mbeki lied to US over Mugabe talks, says opposition http://allafrica.com/stories/200307070898.html
* 'Texas is missing an idiot'
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Bush_in_Africa/0,,2-7-1505_1385148,00.html
* Zimbabwe Hot Topic for Bush Meeting in South Africa

* Bush's Brief Visit to Lift Botswana from Obscurity

UGANDA
* Activist Dares Bush On Aids
http://allafrica.com/stories/200307080507.html
* Bush to Museveni – No third term; no DRC meddling
http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/current/Regional/Regional0707200335.html
* Officials Want Bush to Remove Subsidies
http://allafrica.com/stories/200307090097.html
* Reform Tells Bush to Press Museveni On Parties, Rights
http://allafrica.com/stories/200307080508.html

NIGERIA
* Another day, another photo opportunity
http://www.hrw.org/africa/index.php

The South African legal fraternity has welcomed the dropping of a corruption charge against a 65-year-old retired judge in Zimbabwe. "The withdrawal of all charges against Judge (Fergus) Blackie fully vindicates the stance of the South African Bar," the General Council of the Bar of SA (GCBSA) said.

For the African Union to succeed in its mission, member states must commit themselves to respect fundamental rights in their respective countries and ensure participation of citizens, the media and civil society. The construction of a long term union requires a ‘social contract’ based on justice, equality and free flow of information, opinion and ideas, says this editorial.

Journalists, editors, media academics, researchers and development workers from Africa will focus their attention on the role of the media in development, at a conference to be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from September 10 to 12, 2003. The conference, with the title "The Development Agenda and the Media: A southern Africa perspective - What role can the media play in advancing development goals in southern Africa?", will be hosted by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), a regional media freedom and freedom of expression organisation.

Thank-you for the insightful piece on the ICC and the machinations of the US to derail it (Pambazuka News 117). It therefore came as rather a surprise when I went to the link for a petition against the detention of African journalists and found it on a US site (with 'United States of America' at the top of a list of 'alphabetical' countries) replete with petitions such as the one urging us to slam Hollywood celebs who "endanger the defence of the US" by criticising Bush. There were also gleeful references to the hate mail Martin Sheen receives and how Michael Moore was booed at the Oscars. What is Pambazuka doing affiliated to such a site? I would appreciate a response.

Pambazuka News Replies: We hope you'll understand that we used the site as a vehicle for our petition and can't be held responsible for further postings made subsequent or prior to ours, nor was our selection of the site an indication of affiliation with any other petition on the site. Ideally, we would have liked to have set up our own site, but this was not possible. Quite simply, the petition site which we chose was the best free one available. Rotimi Sankore, the Coordinator of Credo, who is running the campaign with Fahamu, also points out that site managers, like most new media that depend on advertising revenue, run a policy that they will host most petitions as far as they are not defamatory etc etc, and not just those that project particular view points. We therefore have no control over what they host.

I was interested to read your Pambazuka editorial on the ICC (Pambazuka News 117). I agree strongly and would like to sign a petition or something, but the petition URL below the editorial is for something else. Is there a petition on ICC?

Pambazuka News Replies: For more information on the ICC, please visit the website http://www.iccnow.org. The website contains news, resources and information on how to get involved in advocating for the ICC.

Excellent as always.

An inter-ministerial commission set up in May to investigate the size of the civil service in the Central African Republic found 866 ghost workers in the government's payroll, the prime minister's office reported on Thursday. The government could save up to 265 million francs CFA (US $481,915) every month by not paying the ghost workers.

The Electoral Commission has decided to push ahead with the general registration of voters. The decision was taken despite a pending court application by the Congress of Democrats (CoD) that could affect the countrywide campaign.

Discussions are taking place in Angola over the date of the next presidential and parliamentary elections. Elections were last held in 1992, but the rebel movement UNITA rejected the results and plunged the country back into war. Following last year's peace agreement UNITA has fully committed itself to the constitutional path. A dozen years after the last elections, the focus is turning to the urgent need to hold elections to reaffirm the legitimacy of the government.

Every scientist, everywhere, needs to know how to write convincing proposals. In times of increasing competition for scarce research funding, it is vital for the staff of agricultural research organisations to design projects that can attract external project funding for specific agricultural research efforts. The skills and knowledge needed to achieve these aims are not difficult to acquire. But to date, information and exercises on what to do have not been brought together in a single publication or training module. “How to Write a Convincing Proposal: Strengthening Project Development, Donor Relations, and Resource Mobilization in Agricultural Research” aims to provide participants with a single source for acquiring these new and useful skills and knowledge.

After three years of preparation and five months of intensive negotiation, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted by consensus a resolution on the prevention of armed conflict, hailed as a landmark in efforts to move the world body from a culture of reacting to crises to one of preventing them reaching critical mass.

In principle, the World Bank says that it is keen to support science in the developing world. In practice, its efforts to do so have been more ambivalent, says this editorial on the website www.scidev.net.

African leaders are expected to give George Bush's tour a rocky start by blaming US trade practices for impoverishing millions of farmers across the continent. Many African economies, especially those of Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Benin, depend on cotton for employment, exports and wealth creation. But many producers, mostly the small and labour-intensive ones, are failing because US subsidies are helping to depress prices and squeeze rivals out of markets.

At least half a million people are killed every year by small arms. What is the link between the rapid increase in these illicit weapons and prospects of meeting development targets? Does the development community understand the complex interrelationships between armed conflict and social violence and between small arms and development?

Cheap, portable and readily available: every year more than half a million people are killed through the misuse of small arms such as handguns, assault rifles and grenades. Millions more are crippled. With poverty providing an ideal breeding ground for small arms proliferation, African countries are currently the worst hit by a global epidemic of armed violence which threatens the safety and well being of people in developed and developing countries alike. In the context of the first UN Biennial Meeting of States to discuss the UN's programme of action on small arms and light weapons taking place in New York this week, id21 explains why small arms control is such an important issue for developing countries.
Related Link:
* Ending the gun culture
http://www.id21.org/society/s10bundp1g1.html

"We stand against the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). This plan was hatched in Pretoria and imposed on the governments and people of the continent. It talks of partnership, but represents a relationship of inequality in which the weak are begging the powerful for $64 billion a year. In order to beg, it agrees with the neoliberal paradigm and commits to following the agenda of the World Bank, IMF and WTO...The African Union (AU) has been formed on the basis of Nepad as its fundamental policy. It thus compels us to stand up to the AU and demand that it jettisons Nepad before we give consideration to engaging with its structures."

This collection of papers examines the political and socio-economic factors that contributes to and constrains upon democratisation throughout South Africa and the African continent. The emphasis of the research is on the policies and impact of government, business and civil society in relation to capacity to the reduction of prevailing inequality and poverty in communities. The paper also raises issues of community empowerment as a way to promote local, national and regional sustainable development in the African continent.

The U.S. defines the most urgent international priorities as weapons of mass destruction, nuclear proliferation and terrorism and the G-7 club of wealthy countries concurs. Yet, argues Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, the rest of the world, the global majority, is concerned less with these potential threats than with the more immediate threats to human security and global stability--AIDS, poverty and civil conflicts. "The divergent priorities of the Bush administration and the people of Africa should be apparent when President Bush travels to Africa for his first official visit," says Booker. This posting also includes information from Africa Action about key issues facing Bush as he travels to Africa.

Debt is one of the reasons that hinder African countries from achieving the Millennium Development Goals. This observation came from the three-day Millennium Development Goals Forum that took place recently. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) brought more than 150 SADC ministers of finance, civil society, economists, statisticians, and UN agencies to South Africa to report on what they have done so far to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).