The US yesterday called on Africans to take the lead in stamping out corruption and crime, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning that bad governance was holding the continent back.
Clinton launched a wide-ranging Africa tour with a keynote speech in Kenya, whose favorite son — US President Barack Obama — underscored the message in a surprise video.
“Only Africans can unlock Africa’s potential,” Obama said, returning to a theme of good governance he made on his first presidential visit to the continent last month in Ghana.
PHOTO: AFP
“To all Africans who are pursuing a future of hope and opportunity, know this: You have a partner and a friend in the United States,” said Obama, whose father was born in Kenya.
Clinton, addressing a forum of some 40 nations that enjoy preferential access to the US market, said the US sought to be a “partner, not patron” of the continent.
Clinton said that the US was committed to supporting Africa, including by boosting investment and stepping up aid to agriculture to fight hunger.
But she warned that “leaders have to lead.”
“True economic progress in Africa will depend on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law and deliver results for their people,” Clinton said.
“This is not just about good governance — it’s also about good business,” said Clinton, who arrived in the region on Tuesday.
The 11-day trip, which comes just three weeks after Obama visited the continent, is Clinton’s longest since she became the top US diplomat six months ago and her first to sub-Saharan Africa.
Clinton, accompanied by Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said she sought not to lecture but to share with Africa the “benefits of the mistakes” from the US.
“Creating a favorable investment climate also requires countries to translate politics into governing,” she told the forum, which was attended by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Her remark was a thinly veiled reference to Kenya, a top Washington ally on the continent but the target of criticism over its failure to implement a power-sharing deal that ended a cycle of deadly electoral violence last year.
After her speech, Clinton was to head into a rare joint meeting with the two leaders. An aide said she would press them to fully implement the deal, which includes the creation of a special tribunal.
Kibaki and Odinga, in separate speeches to the gathering, acknowledged the problems in African economies but appealed to the US to step up investment.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including