THE government should use the visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss serious issues of economic trade and conflict resolution in Africa rather than be lectured by her on matters of good governance, says Prof Shadrack Gutto of the Centre for African Renaissance in Pretoria.
Clinton’s seven-nation African safari will reach South African shores tonight with discussions on the strengthening of diplomatic ties between the newly elected administrations in both countries, scheduled to resume tomorrow .
Gutto said SA should also put on the table issues to which it wishes the US to respond positively. These include the Darfur conflict and taking seriously the Durban review conference in Geneva, Switzerland, which evaluated progress towards the goals set by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban in 2001.
On Zimbabwe, President Barack Obama’s ambassadorial nominee to SA, Donald Gips, has already urged the US to work with SA , saying the global political agreement (GPA) that established a unity government heralded “guarded optimism that better times may be ahead for Zimbabwe”. But Clinton is expected to push SA to do more.
Under the Bush administration, SA was at pains to convince the US to give former president ’s mediation process a chance.
Analyst Dirk Kotzé said Clinton was expected to encourage SA to use its leadership role in the Southern African Development Community and as a guarantor of the GPA “to address the outstanding issues that threaten to derail the process (in Zimbabwe)”.
The US seemed determined, Kotzé said, to continue to respect SA’s role as the economic engine of sub- Saharan Africa and the fact that SA’s prosperity is critical to the continent’s economic and political stability.
Relations could be even better if the US were to persuade “SA to emphasise issues such as respect for human rights, the rule of law and good governance” in the region and on the continent, Kotzé said.
Clinton began her 11-day Africa tour in Kenya, the country of birth of Obama’s father, where the US has brought pressure to bear for the government’s failure to ensure justice for the victims of last year’s post-election violence. The US believes Nairobi should establish an independent tribunal to hold accountable the perpetrators if Kenya’s stability and economic development is to be ensured.
After SA, Clinton will travel to Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde. Human rights movements have asked Clinton to call on the Angolan government to end arbitrary detention and torture in Cabinda, its oil-rich northern enclave.
They also want her to push for the prosecution of all military personnel who committed acts of sexual violence in the Congo. With AFP
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