The White House held a two-day conference this week on Africa that brought together 150 delegates from government agencies, think tanks and universities to discuss the continent's endemic problems: dictatorship, debt and tribal warfare.
A videotaped speech sent by South African President Nelson Mandela urged the United States to take a "more considerate approach" toward easing Africa's $300 billion debt, and President Clinton promised to do what he can."Africa matters to America," he said. But he should have added "not much."
National Security Adviser Anthony Lake was more honest in cautioning Africa not to expect any great infusions of U.S. cash because of "shrinking budgets" and "an American people uncertain of where and when on Earth they want their nation to get involved."
The truth is we spend less than half as much on Africa as we do on Israel and Egypt - about $2.4 billion in development assistance and humanitarian relief. Most of the 21 USAID missions closed this year are in African countries deemed to be "unwilling or unable to make the necessary adjustments in their economic and social structure" to qualify for development funds.
Lake also warned that the war in Rwanda, which has killed up to 500,000 people so far, is a "test case of what can happen if all of us do too little to stop simmering conflicts before they boil over."
Actually, there were so many test cases before that we long ago failed the test. Ethiopia, Sudan, Liberia, Angola and Mozambique were among the bloodiest conflicts where we did nothing at all. Our only instance of African intervention, in Somalia, turned out to be a disaster.
President Bush waited two years - and watched 350,000 Somalis die in a war-created famine - before sending U.S. troops. By then he was a lame duck, knowing that President Clinton would be left holding the bag. And it didn't take long for Clinton's nerve to break. He ordered the troops home by March 31. The Europeans, seeing the world's last remaining superpower cut and run, did the same.
Although a U.N. contingent of Asians and Africans remains in Somalia, clan warfare has resumed and anarchy has returned. On Monday, after four days of heavy fighting in Mogadishu, the State Department closed its liaison office and advised all Americans working for civilian contractors, U.N. agencies and private relief groups to leave the country.
As for Rwanda, it was the French who finally intervened because of what Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called "culpable inaction" by the international community.
Of all the former colonial powers, France is the most militarily active in Africa. It has defense pacts with eight countries, provides military assistance to 24 others and is often accused of being too eager to intervene. But the fact remains that France saved Chad from a Libyan invasion, it saved Cameroon from a Nigerian invasion and it has ensured a greater degree of stability in all its former colonies.
None suffers the chaos and misery seen in the former British, Italian, Portuguese and Belgian colonies. Many parts of francophone Africa are not only agreeable to continued French involvement, they want to see more of it.
By contrast, the White House conference on Africa was little more than a public relations exercise and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wasn't impressed. Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., points out that "Clinton's strong rhetoric on dealing with Africa has not been matched by action."