THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2022 29 The Reality In the 60-some years since Africa’s decolonization, the continent has always been Washington’s lowest geopolitical priority. In explaining this to my African friends, I use the example of a pick-up basketball game among Olympic athletes—even though they are all Olympians, someone must get picked last. This is reality. Anyone who disagrees needs simply to compare how State resources the Bureau of African Affairs and our embassies in Africa compared to other regions; resources, not statements, reflect priorities. For example, where else would a country of more than 100 million people (Ethiopia) merit only one diplomatic post? A few other truisms regarding America’s engagement with Africa are: • Africa has always been seen as a “problem” to be solved, rather than an opportunity to be appreciated; Africa is considered the continent of perpetual bad news. • In our African policy implementation, there has always been a tension between achieving long-range goals and responding to immediate crises; the reality is that the crises have always sucked the oxygen out of the room. • While each administration has showcased, often to great fanfare, a “new” Africa policy, they have fundamentally all been the same: to promote a stable, peaceful Africa with improved political, economic and social opportunities for its people. None have succeeded. • Africa’s colonial masters designed Africa to fail by encumbering it with national borders that made no sense historically, ethnically, commercially or politically—they only met the colonials’ interests. In addition, African states gained independence at a most awkward historical moment—during the Cold War, when they had no choice but to pick a side between the West and the Soviet Empire. • In the decolonization struggles, the United States invariably supported the losing side—namely, the colonial powers and South Africa’s apartheid regime (until Congress ended “constructive engagement”). This left a bitter taste with the winners that remains even today. Compounding the problem, in the immediate postcolonial period Washington relied on the advice from former colonial powers on how to handle the newly independent states. The colonial powers, of course, were looking after their own interests, and their actions were imbued with racism and paternalism. • Finally, along with providing generous humanitarian and development assistance, the U.S. has often conducted our engagement with Africa through a megaphone—lecturing, hectoring, advising, but rarely listening. During a visit to the Central African Republic in 2019, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy met with U.S. embassy leadership and alumni of U.S. exchange programs. From left: Deputy Chief of Mission Pamela Hack; Pascale Gabriella Serra, a Mandela Washington Fellow in the Young African Leaders Initiative; Brice Ekomo, a participant in the International Visitor Leadership Program; Euphrem Moussa, Kessy Ekomo-Soignet and Riva Felix, all Mandela Washington Fellows in the Young African Leaders Initiative; Tibor Nagy; U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic Lucy Tamlyn; and Kinanata Sali, with the Regional Leadership Center of the Young African Leaders Initiative. U.S. EMBASSY BANGUI
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