Economic agenda. For too long, U.S. economic policy toward sub-Saharan Africa has consisted solely of transfers of ineffectual aid. However, more is now at stake. Trade with the region is valued at nearly $24 billion per annum. Another $10 billion is directly invested by U.S. firms. The beneficial trade provisions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and strengthened by the AGOA Acceleration Act signed by President Bush last week, ought to be expanded, increasing American access to the Africa's vast oil and other natural resources. The U.S. could also assist the comparative advantage of the continent's low-cost agricultural sector by championing at the WTO and other international negotiations the elimination of subsidies and other barriers to trade.

Political agenda. By itself, economic progress will go a long way toward relieving Africa's perennial political instability. However, the U.S. should also direct efforts towards strengthening the continent's capacity in conjunction with its allies and other outside stakeholders. A coordinated diplomatic and political strategy needs to involve both the continents regional powers (e.g., Nigeria, South Africa) as well as its few relative success stories (e.g., Botswana, Senegal).

Military agenda. Few will be the occasions when core national interests will demand direct U.S. military intervention in sub-Saharan Africa. However, this does not mean that America should not engage the region militarily, providing military assistance to regional allies, enhancing region capacities to self-police and encouraging local partners in the fight against global terrorism. All of this, of course, requires not only reinvigorating current U.S. diplomatic efforts, but also revisiting the American military organizational structure as it impacts - or, rather, fails to impact - Africa.

The realities on the ground in Africa demand from the U.S. a comprehensive policy package. While this is perhaps more than can be expected during an election campaign, whoever wins the November election will nonetheless need to actively engage the unique challenges posed by Africa…in the name of America's national interests as well as her principles.

 

Dr. J. Peter Pham, who served as an international diplomat in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, is the author, most recently, of Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State (Reed Press). He has just completed a book on the global implications of the Sierra Leonean civil conflict.