President Obama’s Africa Push

One major purpose of President Obama’s landmark White House summit meeting on Africa last week was to advertise this often underrated continent’s economic potential and ensure it a brighter future. But determined follow-through will be required if the aspirations of the president and more than 40 African heads of state who were his guests are to be realized and Africa is to satisfy its promise as the world’s last big economic frontier.

Despite the event’s heavy focus on trade and investment, African leaders could not completely ignore (even though some tried) the manifold challenges — conflict, corruption and disease — that still confront them. The ability to achieve real and sustained prosperity will be compromised if such problems are not addressed as robustly as efforts to land lucrative business contracts.

The summit meeting, a mix of plenary sessions and elaborate dinners that also included leaders of major American corporations, was a determined, and splashy, initiative by Mr. Obama to stake a claim for the United States against other countries doing business there, especially China, which is investing heavily in infrastructure projects and using Africa as a source of vital oil and metals. It was also an opportunity to counter critics who say he has devoted insufficient attention to the land where his Kenyan father was born. Billions of dollars in deals and projects were announced, including an expansion of Mr. Obama’s Power Africa initiative, which aims to bring electricity to 60 million houses and businesses, up from a goal of 20 million announced last year.

The idea for the event isn’t new: In 2006, the Chinese government met with leaders of 48 African nations in Beijing. But Mr. Obama argues that America’s democratic capitalistic system offers advantages China’s authoritarian system cannot: a partnership to create jobs, resolve conflicts and develop the human capital needed to build a better future. The decision to precede the event with a meeting of 500 participants in Mr. Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative was a good example of that resolve.

Africa’s positive trends are often drowned out by the struggles against war, poverty, famine and dictatorial leaders. The continent is home to six of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world, an emerging middle class and markets that are increasingly open to foreign investment. In short, there is money to be made there and investments that benefit both Americans and Africans.

In too many places, however, the threats from militants, dishonest politicians and a disregard for human rights create instability and slow progress. These are sensitive topics that many African leaders, and American business executives, clearly did not want to pursue. While the formal agenda of the summit meeting gave these subjects short-shrift, administration officials, in public remarks, did not avoid them. For instance, Mr. Obama told a news conference that “some African nations are making impressive progress. But we see troubling restrictions on universal rights.”

Africa is a complicated place, and there are always balances to strike in diplomacy. But it was uncomfortable to see Mr. Obama include some of Africa’s most unsavory leaders on the guest list. One of those was Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, who helped start the civil war in his young country that has killed 10,000 people and is threatening even more with a man-made famine. One can only hope that American officials used the opportunity to press him hard to make peace with his rival, Riek Machar.

Mr. Obama, saying “Africa’s rise means opportunity for all of us,” has promised more American-African summit meetings in the future. Clearly, African leaders and American executives found it useful to pursue business deals. The challenge will be to make sure that an increase in American investment and two-way trade doesn’t benefit the few at the expense of the many.

[Image: Obama and Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete | Getty Images ]