confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
America's new African insiders
Blue Lines
The appointment of regional security specialist Peter Pham as the United States' Assistant Secretary
of State for African Affairs has been welcomed by African diplomats in
Washington. 'We have an appointee with knowledge and a certain affinity
with Africa,' said one insider. Pham has been a director of the
Atlantic Council and at his confirmation hearings he may face
questioning about its strong support for Morocco's position on the Western
Sahara. Former US Air Force officer Rudolph
Atallah, appointed last month as Africa advisor on the US
National Security Council, was also a fellow at the Council.
The two appointments fit with the administration's emphasis on
counter-terrorism and security. But Pham is also a doughty defender of
the soft power exercised by the US Agency for International
Development, which is under threat in the administration's budget
plans. The recent decision by Congress to maintain support for
assistance programmes was an important pushback against the more
swingeing cuts being planned.
Pham also believes it's in his country's own commercial interests to
step up US diplomacy and assistance in Africa, given the continent's
over US$2 trillion market. Africa lobbyists in DC have also been urging
White House officials to look at how Germany
and Japan have been stepping
up their Africa programmes. They argue it would be counter-productive
for the US to withdraw from Africa or rely purely on a security-led
strategy.
