New Security Arrangements May Be the Quiet Legacy of Obama Administration in Africa

During this week’s Africa Leaders Summit in Washington the major emphasis was placed on foreign investment with thirty three billion in promises for electrical infrastructure, seven billion of which is meant to come directly from the US government.

The White House rightly wants to portray US-African relations as one of potential investment partners. We do not want our relationship to be defined in the future as one of a donor and recipient nor one of crisis driven security assistance. The incredible recent economic growth in Africa indeed warrants such a theme.

The international press coverage had it’s own theme. Most articles and news segments framed the event as President Obama’s disappointing afterthought with underwhelming comparisons to Clinton’s favorable tax program for African imports and Bush’s successful AIDS program and the Millennium Challenge Account. The billions promised for electrical infrastructure in Africa seemed to most an uncreative attempt to catch up with China, Europe, and the BRICS nations in terms of influence. Many continue to question if it is enough to become competitive.

Largely absent from the discussion was the issue of security. AQIM, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, the Bashir regime in Sudan, and Hezbollah make up a short list of bad actors who are long established in Africa, and have established profitable revenue streams through illicit trade, smuggling, kidnapping, human trafficking, and piracy. In some cases these actors work with international crime syndicates or with the support of rogue states.

In his closing speech, however, the President did quietly mentioned in passing what he called the Security Governance Initiative (SGI).

The strategy seems to echo George Bush’s Millennium Challenge Corporation, which took a revolutionary approach. The MCC ties financial assistance to measurable achievements in good governance before financial and assistance transactions. The SGI will build upon already established relationships in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

“…participating African countries will work to improve security sector institution capacity to protect civilians and confront challenges and threats, with integrity and accountability. To support a longer term focus, SGI will involve multi-year funding commitments of increased U.S. support and will require sustained, high-level leadership and commitment by partner countries to pursue policies in support of the agreed upon goals.” – White House press release

It is far too early to predict the effectiveness of this new proposal but the administration is late to the game in being a productive force for peace in Africa. The ad hoc US approach to conflict outbreaks in Africa so far has either been unhelpful or made matters worse in places like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Obama’s current legacy in Africa is one of disappointment from the across the spectrum of Africa watchers. In 2009, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) saw $1 Billion dollars in cuts to the Bush administration’s outgoing budget request under the Democrat controlled House and Senate despite the uncontroversial and lauded success of the new approach. The Obama administration publicly supported the MCC prior to taking office. Said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in response to a question on the MCC from then Senator John Kerry:

“President Elect Obama supports the MCC, and the principle of greater accountability in our foreign assistance programs. It represents a worthy new approach to poverty reduction and combating corruption…The Obama Administration looks forward to working to build on the promise of the MCC as we move forward with modernizing U.S. foreign assistance programs.”

The contrast between the administration’s statements and its budget priorities was a harbinger of policy inaction. A reliance on the old way of thinking at the State Department coupled with nuanced descriptions of complicated issues resulted in inaction and a lack of results. See for example, the resistance to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist group for then Secretary Clinton’s entire tenure and the moral equivalence that led to inaction when war broke out between Sudan and South Sudan despite campaign promises to protect marginalized groups from genocide.

The investment initiative is better late than never. The security initiative is the first sign of forward and strategic thinking. It looks like something that future presidents could build on. With new security threats emerging on the African matrix, they will need to.

by Nicholas Hanlon