The Foreign Service Journal, December 2019

32 DECEMBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL enlightened leadership. Unfortunately, in the biggest African countries—Congo, Nigeria and Sudan—corruption continues to prevail. This is a prelude to real trouble in those countries. FSJ: For 25 years, you have led Cohen and Woods Interna- tional, an international consulting firm that advises and assists U.S. companies doing business in Africa. What can you tell us about that work? HJC: We advise American compa- nies that want to do business in Africa. A good example is the ContourGlobal company of New York, which invests in power generation. The investment is totally private. The host government signs a contract to purchase power for 20 years. The host government invests nothing. It is a great way to overcome Africa’s power deficit. I have negotiated six such investments for ContourGlobal: three in Nigeria, one in Rwanda, one in Togo and one in Senegal. We are also working with a U.S. company, GFS Solutions, to do affordable housing. They produce houses that sell for $40,000 to civil servants and Army officers, who take out mortgages. We help with government negotiations and the search for finance. When a friendly African government asks us to lobby for them in Washington, we usually accept. Our emphasis is not so much on defending their interests with the U.S. govern- ment, but on advising them on what the policy challenges are and how to define their own approach. FSJ: You say on your blog that when you have found “that clients who I hoped would follow my guidance did not move in that direction, I ended my relationships with them.” Is that what happened with Robert Mugabe? HJC: Yes, I advised Robert Mugabe to accept an Interna- tional Monetary Fund stabilization program. Instead he started to seize white-owned farms, resulting in a total decline of the economy within a few years. With that action, I decided there was no reason for me to continue trying to help him. FSJ: Many believed the situation in Zimbabwe would improve with Robert Mugabe out of office, but that does not seem to have happened. What can the United States do, if anything, to help in that crisis? HJC: The Zimbabwean army took control of the main sources of state revenue about 10 years ago. Mugabe’s over- throw in a coup was engineered by the minister of defense who is backed by the army. Post-Mugabe has really been the same as Mugabe, with the army monopolizing state revenue. FSJ: I understand you have a new book coming out shortly. Can you tell us about it? What is the central theme of the book? HJC: The book is titled U.S. Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik . In it I describe U.S. policy toward Africa beginning in 1942 and going all the way to Trump. I reached several conclusions as a result of the research: (1) The Cold War never had any influence on U.S. policy toward Africa. Economic development was consistently our priority in Africa in every administration. (2) With respect to economic development, we were constantly experimenting because most of the programs were not working. Growth has been very slow. (3) The key reform that the Africans need to adopt is to create an enabling environment for private investment. After all these years, the rule of law and other requirements for investments continue to be absent in most of the countries. [Members of the Foreign Service] need to continue speaking the truth to power, and make sure that policy- makers understand the negative foreign policy consequences of politicizing professional diplomacy. Ambassador Hank Cohen at Washington, D.C.’s World Affairs Council in 2015. COURTESYOFHERMANJ.COHEN