Former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, has spoken of her frustration with Washington for “undermining” itself by tying its economic policy in Africa to unrelated considerations.
Ms Frazer, who served under President George W. Bush, said the US decision to suspend Uganda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was over anti-gay legislation and other human rights issues rather than trade.
“We have increasingly used [AGOA] as a stick,” she said. “And so we’re kicking countries out about issues that have nothing to do with trade and development, which is what that is about.”
Ms Frazer was speaking to The African Report in an interview in which the publication interviewed four former assistant secretaries of state of the US-Africa relations in the midst of Chinese ever growing influence on the continent.
The alarm comes barely a month after the US announced sanctions on five senior Ugandan officials over accusations of involvement in corruption and human rights abuses.
Speaker Anita Among was one of four officials the US State Department said faces travel bans because of “significant corruption.”
The sanctions on the senior officials followed a similar action issued by Britain in May.
Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu, previously ministers responsible for Uganda’s impoverished region of Karamoja and former state minister for finance Amos Lugolobi were also named in the same action.
However, the Speaker has always insisted that the sanctions are politically motivated for her stance against gay rights issues in Uganda, citing the enacting of the Anti-Homosexuality Act under her watch in May 2023.
The anti-gay law stipulates the death penalty for certain actions of gay people such as aggravated rape.
When Parliament passed the law, the West went into a frenzy, with donor support to several programmes, including to malaria and HIV/Aids in the health sector, were significantly cut.
The decisions that the diplomats find strange are not known to be carried out by China, who do not tie rainbow laces to their support to African countries like Uganda.
On June 27, 2024, four ex-assistant secretaries of state for African Affairs whose combined service spanned seven decades and 12 presidents gathered for the first-ever Carnegie African Forum in Washington DC.
During a discussion moderated by the Africa Report, Frazer denounced a “lack of seriousness” when dealing with Africa in particular.
“We don’t treat Saudi Arabia this way,” she said. “So somehow our interests and values can be managed in countries where we see strategic importance, but when we go to Africa, we’re wagging our fingers. I think it’s a problem for developing serious bilateral relationships.”
The US diplomats said China was bridging gaps in Africa while Washington tended to focus on acting bullish.
Ms Frazer was particularly critical of members of Congress who wanted to rewrite US trade policy to force Africans to choose between China and the US, according to The African Report.
“Even more ridiculous is the new approach that can’t be considered serious, where Congress is saying if you deal with China, and you trade with China and have a relationship with China, we’re going to kick you out of AGOA,” she said.
“How does that make sense, with the story that was just told about how far China is ahead of us in terms of … economic relations, its development with Africa? And then the one major initiative that we have in this area … we’re saying to them, we’re going to kick you out, but we do more trade with China than any of them do. It makes no sense.”
The retired diplomats acknowledged that America must rethink its approach to compete with China on the economic front.
“We absolutely do not have the right tools,” said Tibor Nagy, who served under President Donald Trump.
“I’ll never forget visiting Kampala and high-ranking Uganda ministers saying: ‘Mr Assistant Secretary, we have the perfect arrangement – the Chinese take care of our infrastructure, and you Americans take care of our health sector.’”
Herman Cohen, who served under President George HW Bush, expressed admiration for the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative that US officials often denounce – largely inaccurately – as a “debt trap”.
“What the Chinese are doing on their Belt and Road Initiative is very good,” he said. “They’re doing all sorts of great things – roads, dams.”
Johnnie Carson, who served under President Barack Obama and briefly returned from retirement to implement the promises from President Joe Biden’s US-Africa Leaders Summit, said the US must “work harder” to make itself the partner of choice on the continent.
With China taking deep roots on the continent, the US has recently been sent into near-panic with Russia showing deliberate intentions to walk into the African party.
In May, Russia deployed troops to an airbase in Niger where American soldiers are located.
It has also forged stronger ties with Uganda, with the Chief of Defence Forces General Muhoozi Kainerugaba in particular known for openly praising President Vladimir Putin and his nation for their policies.
