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US-African Summit for Security: What is in it for Somalia?

By Faisal A. Roble

We are open for Business” – Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, Bloomberg News  

“No investment will come to Somalia any time soon because of absence of stability” – Somalia’s Foreign Minister Dr. Baile 

“None of the pledged $3 billion for Somali will go to the hands of Somalia because of corruption” – Omar Gelle, President of Djibouti 

Africa Comes to Dinner with Suspicion 

The US-Africa summit in Washington DC (August 4-6), attended by nearly fifty heads of state, is a  historic gathering for Africa’s leaders. For sure, it may not be as important as Sydney Poitier’s Oscar wining  “guess who is coming to dinner?,” but it is timely since the summit came at a rare moment when the son of a Kenyan- born Harvard educated sits at the White House.  .

US Africa Summit WashAt no time in recent history did such a large cohort of African leaders met together to discuss stability, security, and system of governance with the lone world super power. The summit has both fluffy social events and serious diplomatic caucusing.

The fluff of the summit was marked by the highly orchestrated dinner reception, an African cousin, prepared with spices familiar to the guests, such as cumin, pepper, and cinnamon. But the high light of the social event at the White House was claimed by the daughter of Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, who towered above her father and Michelle Obama. That scene, where a gorgeous African Tutsi queen stood on the red carpet in front of the White House lawn, fed the insatiable American taste for the outer beauty – a picturesque moment for Washington’s tabloid.

Laced with lofty language and promises, the diplomatic aspect of the summit was represented by a declaration that insures “business investment” in the continent, bilateral “partnership in security sector” with participating countries, as well as insuring “freedom of the press.”

WardheerNews, one of handful African media with credentials at the summit, editorialized the idealism of the summit as declared by Obama in the following: “For those without the infrastructure, willingness or vision to come along with this great hope, those who want to oppress and violate their citizens and continue the same old story of hopelessness, this summit will not change much. All in all everyone is optimistic, but judging from the two thousand or so Ethiopian protests who were shouting “don’t do business with African tyrants” it seems Africa cannot out run its negative narrative.”

Only time will tell how much of the contents of Obama’s lofty declaration (to give Africans a better future by infusing both private capital and bilateral aid to investment-challenged continent and expansion of personal freedom to the continent’s suffocated people) would be realized.

If recent history of US-Africa relations is a lesson, the immediate impact of the summer summit is basically a good will and a feel-good phenomenon; much of it would soon be forgotten beyond the bandits in the beltway. As the US Congress is in recess, much of what has been discussed would only be as good a lame duck president could promise. To have any tangible impact on Africa, the US-Africa summit hosted by Obama must top or at least equal to that legacy of Bush on fighting AIDS in Africa, or Nixon’s opening of China to the West.   

Beyond Lame Duck Legacy: America’s Search for New Territories

Beyond the three big ideas expressed in the US-Africa summit in Washington DC, there is a paradigm shift in American’s power in three interrelated areas.  The search for secure Africa, the appetite for new sources for raw materials, particularly oil, aka black Gold and new markets for its export could be argued to have heightened Washington’s interest in inviting fifty African leaders.

The fact that most of the invited African leaders are tyrants, autocrats, dictators, or those who lack legitimacy like Somalia’s Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud and South Sudan’s Silva Kiir.  Incidentally both presidents will face huge demonstrations by their respective communities in Minnesota where large numbers of refugees, most of the victims of human rights violations, settled in the last ten years.

Africa seems to fit the bill and it is the last frontier for all.  The continent, especially Somalia with its al-shabab and Nigeria because of Boko Haram, is experiencing growing trend in terrorism and piracy. Both areas are concerns for US policy makers.

Whereas Africa represents new frontier for Pax-Americana, terrorism and piracy seem to hamper its global ambitions. The combined impacts of seeking new frontiers while losing old clients like the Middle East and its limitations to deal with terrorism and piracy represents serious challenges to America’s overreaching hand.

As Paul Kennedy explains in his authoritative book, “The Rise and Fall of Great Powers,” as the great American power stretches its military might, its ability to control vast territories diminishes, so dictates the unity of contradictions. Despite such a contradiction in what American can do and what it wants, Africa’s resources are what America eyes so as to maintain its coveted status as the lone supper power.

Associated with a possible diminishing ability of a declining great power is the search for new raw materials and new markets.  Whether the US-Africa summit is an early sign of the demise of the US power or a renewed and honest engagement with Africa remains to be seen.

Read More:US African Summit- What Is in it for Somalia

Faisal A. Roble
Email:[email protected]


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