51 African Heads invited to US-Africa Leadership summit

By Edmund Smith-Asante, ACCRA

FIFTY one African heads of state have been invited to the first ever US-Africa Leaders’ summit called at the instance of United States President Barack Obama, to broaden the partnership with countries across the continent.

This includes Ghana’s President, Mr John Dramani Mahama and the AU Commission Chairman, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

The list however excludes three African heads – Sudan, Eritrea and Zimbabwe for varied reasons. Madagascar, which was initially not included, has now been invited after its readmission to the AU.

“Right now, we have 51 invitees to the summit.  That includes all African countries, both in Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa, except those countries that have been expended – suspended from the AU or countries that are not in good standing with the United States Government for various reasons.

“Right now, the countries not on the list are Sudan, Eritrea, and Zimbabwe,” the United States Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Mrs Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated in an interview telecast live from the US State Department on Wednesday July 9, 2014.

Summit details

She said the conference would take place over three days from August 4 through 6, with the first day dedicated to a series referred to as signature events.  The events, she indicated, would focus on areas where the US has partnered with Africa in the past. 

“We will be looking at the issues related to health.  We will be looking at issues related to wildlife.  We will be looking at power and how we have improved and worked on these issues across the continent.”

On the first day there would also be a series of small dinners with heads of state hosted by Bloomberg philanthropy with the Department of Commerce, with each of the small dinners hosted by individual members of Cabinet.  

According to Mrs Thomas-Greenfield, on the second day, there would be a CEO leaders forum, which would bring together about 200 companies from across Africa and the United States which were interested in investing in Africa, while President Obama would host a state dinner for the African leaders and their spouses in the evening. 

The third day would be the actual day of the Summit on the theme; “Investing in the Next Generation”.  The day would comprise three thematic events that would be attended by President Obama. 

“The first will be ‘Investing in the Next Generation, Investing in the Future’.  The second theme will focus on peace and security, and then the third theme will focus on democracy and governance, looking at how we invest in the future in Africa,” the Assistant Secretary said. 

According to Mrs Thomas-Greenfield, it had been decided that there would be no one-on-one bilateral talks between President Obama and the heads of state since time would not allow that.  

She however indicated that there would be lots of time for the African leaders to engage with the US president in the course of the three-day summit.

Africa needs strong institutions, not men

Answering a question on the US government’s position regarding the DRC and Burkina Faso’s president’s apparent plan to revise the constitution to stay in power, stated; “We have made very clear what our policy is on this issue.  As the President said in his speech in Ghana when he first visited, that Africa needs strong institutions.  They don’t need strong men.” 

“Strong institutions are institutions like your constitution.  If constitutions do not allow for – if constitutions call for term limits, then those term limits need to be honoured.  And we have been very clear in discouraging African leaders from making changes in their constitution that will benefit one person, one party; to allow that person to stay in power longer than the constitution intended for them to stay in power.”

Writer’s email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh