52. Editorial Note
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker addressed the African-American Institute Conference in Wichita, Kansas, on June 20, 1981. After highlighting the conference’s importance, Crocker then outlined the U.S. objectives regarding its African policy:
“—We seek to promote peace and regional security and deny opportunities to those who seek contrary objectives.
“—We will support proven friends and be known as a reliable partner, in Africa as elsewhere.
“—We want to maintain open market opportunities, access to key resources, and contribute to expanding African and American economies.
“—We support negotiated solutions to the problems of southern Africa.
“—We seek to expand that group of nations whose development policies produce economic progress and which have flourishing democratic institutions.
“—We shall do our part in meeting Africa’s humanitarian needs and in fostering basic human liberties in keeping with both our principles and our interests.
[Page 178]“Meeting these objectives is, of course, no easy task. But we begin with several advantages. First, we have laid out objectives which we can all understand. Second, these objectives are in keeping with basic American values. The policies we implement will not conceal them. To do so would indicate our own lack of confidence in those values and principles for which we as Americans have long been admired. They are an integral part of the comparative advantage we as Americans and the Western world in general have in Africa.
“Africa and Africans are already largely oriented toward the West. Yet that orientation, that advantage, cannot be taken for granted. Events of the last decade have proven only too clearly that the objectives we seek in Africa are increasingly threatened by political instability, external intervention, and declining economic performance. Soviet-Cuban and Eastern bloc intervention in African affairs, the presence of thousands of Cuban troops in Angola and Ethiopia, the presence of Libyan troops in Chad, and the massive transfers of arms by Eastern bloc nations all serve to undermine U.S. and Western interests in Africa and to thwart our and Africa’s objectives. The globe’s leading sources of destabilization are active in Africa. This Administration has no hesitation in stating that frankly, categorically, and for the record.
“Nor do we hesitate in our belief that economic development, a central imperative for a continent which contains two-thirds of the world’s poorest nations, cannot take place in an environment of instability or insecurity. In this respect, African nations are no different from other developing nations. Roads cannot be built, railroads cannot transport goods, wells cannot be dug, nor crops harvested when a nation is at war with itself or its neighbors. We will do our part in addressing Africa’s security needs. We have already proposed to the Congress increased levels of security assistance to certain key African nations in support of our objectives in Africa and in the Persian Gulf. By defining carefully our interests and commitments and by backing them up in credible ways, we believe the United States, in concert with our major allies, can play a significant role in addressing Africa’s security problems. We will stand together with our proven friends in Africa, offering them assistance and counsel rather than turning our backs on them in their time of need. To do otherwise would do injustice to our own values as a people, and it would prevent us from achieving our goals of peace, regional security, economic progress, and the expansion of human liberties.
“But let me make it quite clear that we do not choose nor have we any mandate to be the policeman of Africa. No nation has such a mandate. Our preferred choice is to foster and help implement, where we can, diplomatic solutions to Africa’s conflicts. In southern Africa as in the Horn of Africa, we seek a reduction of regional tensions. Those who [Page 179] characterize this Administration’s goals differently are, simply put, wrong. We are committed to playing our proper role in creating a context for successful negotiations leading to internationally recognized independence for Namibia. We believe it is the task of the Western world to encourage purposeful, evolutionary change in South Africa toward a nonracial society. And we believe that all those who share our opposition to foreign intervention on African soil will acknowledge the need to find means to remove any pretexts for the presence of foreign troops in Angola.”
In concluding his remarks, Crocker stated, “We believe that Africans, if given the choice, will seek strengthened relations with us and with you. We have shared goals. We have the wherewithal to produce results. The values and institutions upon which the greatness of this country was built offer a solid basis for the continued strengthening of African-American relations.” (Department of State Bulletin, August 1981, pages 57–58, 59)