Briefing on Recent Africa Trip
Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
February 22, 2008
(3:35 p.m. EST)
SECRETARY RICE: Good afternoon. I thought I would stop off in Washington on my way from Africa to Asia and pick up those of you who will be going on with me to Asia. Let me just make a few opening remarks and then I’m happy to take your questions.
We have just concluded an extraordinary trip to Africa. It really was an extraordinary trip. It was wonderful to see how the people of the five countries that we visited are really responding to not just the generosity of America, but to the challenge to use these innovative programs, whether it is the Millennium Challenge or the President’s Malaria Initiative or, of course, PEPFAR, to better their lives. It was really quite good to be with good leaders who are trying to better the lives of their people. We were able to talk about the value of partnership. It has been very much this President’s view that Africans, given an opportunity and given some assistance, can indeed solve their own problems and that we ought to do this in partnership.
We, of course, visited two countries that are recently out of very bad periods of conflict: Rwanda, where I think we were all very moved by the genocide museum there, and it’s quite remarkable how far that country has come from the extraordinarily dark days of 1994 and before; and of course, Liberia, where the intervention of the United States in helping the Liberians to first rid themselves of Charles Taylor, then to get control of the security situation , and it was really very moving to be in Liberia, a country with which, of course, we share a particular history. And I’m looking at Helene when I say that. Helene, your book was–everybody was reading it. It was quite a remarkable story. But it is quite something to go to Liberia and to see the two flags side by side: one, of course, very much like the other because of long history of Liberia having been founded by freed American slaves. I particularly was glad to go to the University of Liberia where my aunt, my father’s sister, taught as a professor of literature on an exchange program from Southern University, a historically black college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1961. And it just shows the long history of engagement and tradition between, particularly, African American populations and Liberia.
We were able to talk also with the leaders in those countries, particularly President Kikwete in Tanzania, who is now the head of the AU, about the remaining conflict situations in Africa, particularly about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the United States has been very involved in helping to resolve that conflict, but of course, there are still problems in Eastern Congo. We talked about Sudan, how to reinforce the CPA, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South which ended decades of civil war that really had caused literally millions of lives, and how to strengthen that portion while addressing the challenges of Darfur in a more urgent manner. And I think you probably heard the President on that.
We also–of course, we’re concerned about Kenya. I made the side trip to Kenya. And I might just note that I talked this morning with Kofi Annan. We had all hoped that there would be a resolution of this crisis today. I think that the–as I said when I was in the region, there is nothing that is unbridgeable between these two sides. Everybody, I believe, thinks that there is a solution if there is enough political will to take it. But it’s going to require real power sharing, not pretend power sharing. It’s going to require consensus–I’m sorry, compromise on both sides. And I am continuing to stay close to those discussions. I said to Kofi if there’s anything more that we need to do, but he’s going to–I’m happy to do it — but he’s going to reconvene the parties, and hopefully they will come to a conclusion because the people of Kenya expect it. There is very strong pressure, properly, from Kenyan civil society, business community, from the Kenyan press, that this get resolved. I would just note that, for instance, the occupancy rates in Kenyan hotels are very far down, which says something about the real obligation of the political forces here to resolve their differences.
We were also treated to not only the opportunity to see the programs at work and plenty of kids whose lives have been saved and who are therefore enjoying a future, thanks to American generosity; but I just want to report that the President did a fair amount of dancing when he was in Africa and demonstrated that he can stay on the beat. We are going on now to Asia –
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QUESTION: It’s been nearly two years since you restored full diplomatic ties with Libya and yet, you have not been to Libya yourself. You still can’t get the ambassador through Congress and the Lautenberg Amendment seems to be straining relations between yourself and Tripoli. The Foreign Minster has sent you a letter recently asking you to intervene to what they say is correct the – that legislation. What is the state of relations at the moment with Libya? When are you going? Do you think it’s in trouble?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, Sue, if you look back not at the last two years, but at the 20-plus before that, you have to say that we are on a completely different footing with Libya. And we want to press relations forward and to move them forward. Libya made an important strategic choice to give up its weapons of mass destruction. We believe that it’s made an important choice to get out of the terrorism business. But we do still have differences. We are concerned about the families of terrorism victims and we have tried to encourage that there be solutions and resolution to some of those problems.
But I still expect that I will go to Libya. I expect that we’ll continue to have to talk about difficult things: human rights, terrorism. We’re looking at the Lautenberg Amendment and its effect and what can be done, but obviously, when you have a major strategic shift of the kind that Libya has made, you want there to be some affirmation of the importance of having done that. I would say that the very fact that you have American companies and other European companies and diplomats going in to Libya, engaging the Libyans in ways that was unimaginable just a few years ago, already shows some of the benefit of Libya having made these decisions. But I think we want to try and press this forward, and I’m certainly personally preparing to do so.
Maybe one more question. Yes.
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Thank you very much. See you tomorrow.
2008/134
Released on February 22, 2008
