Showing posts with label Hillary Clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hillary Clinton. Show all posts

Friday, July 30, 2021

NEW BOOK: "Barack Obama and the American Dream"

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"Barack Obama and the American Dream" on the election of the first African American President of the United States of America is the first book by a non American citizen on the historic presidential campaign, nomination and election of Senator Barack Obama on November 4, 2008 as the 44th President of the United States.

The book will be released soon after over 10 years homework on the selections of the thousands of comments and replies to news reports, debates and arguments on the Huffington Post, my blog on the Des Moines Register of Iowa and other news media during the presidential horse race between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

It is a very important book on the  contemporary political history of democracy in America in the 21st century.

Author:

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi


PS: 

Thanks to Almighty God for the abundance of His Grace. And two thumbs up to my editor, 

Pamela Guerrieri

Senior Editor/Projects Coordinator

Proofed to Perfection

Phone: #919-732-8565

Fax: #919-732-5204

pamg@proofedtoperfection.com

www.ProofedToPerfection.com

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Clinton warns of civil war as Libya is suspended from the UN Human Rights Council

Clinton warns of Libya civil war



U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is warning that Libya could descend into civil war if Muammar Gaddafi refuses to quit. Jon Decker reports.

© 2011 Reuters


3 Mar 2011 13:15 Africa/Lagos

Libya suspended from the UN Human Rights Council

OSLO, March 3, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The UN General Assembly has suspended Libya from the UN Human Rights Council in response to the Libyan authorities' gross and systematic human rights violations against the country's own population.

This is the first time a member of the Human Rights Council has been suspended since the Council was established in 2006. Suspension requires a two-thirds majority among the member countries. The decision taken in New York was unanimous.

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre commented: “This decision by the General Assembly is important most of all for the credibility of the UN. It underscores that member states were serious when in 2006 they said that members of the Human Rights Council would be suspended if they committed gross and systematic violations of human rights.”




Norway co-sponsored the resolution, which was put forward by the Arab countries Lebanon, Jordan and Qatar together with the African countries Botswana, Gabon and Nigeria. The fact that the resolution was supported by the two regional groups Libya belongs to underscores the broad consensus on the suspension of Libya.

In the course of five days, the UN has unanimously condemned the situation in Libya in clear terms by means of separate decisions by the Human Rights Council (on Friday), by the Security Council (on Saturday) and by the General Assembly (on Tuesday). These decisions have also imposed measures that put further pressure on the Libyan authorities and serve to hold them accountable.

“This latest decision demonstrates once again that the UN member countries stand united in their condemnation of the regime in Tripoli. The Libyan authorities have a responsibility to protect the country's own population. The abuses must come to an end immediately, and those responsible be held accountable,” said Foreign Minister Støre.

Source: Norway - Ministry of Foreign Affairs




































Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
3 Mar 2011
15:54 Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: General Motors, Ford, Chesapeake, EnCana and Domino's Pizza
15:00 China Precision Steel to Present at the Rodman & Renshaw Annual China Investment Conference
14:01 MarketReportsOnline- Global Oil and Gas Capital Spending in 2011- Insights and Trends
13:15 Libya suspended from the UN Human Rights Council
12:53 Cooperation / Training for young Nigerians
2 Mar 2011
05:46 Experts to review report on diversity management in the Context of the APRM



Saturday, June 19, 2010

Hillary Clinton Speaks on World Refugee Day



"The plight of the world's refugees is an issue that transcends not just geography and ethnicity, but politics and partisanship as well." --Secretary Clinton.




Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Ben Franklin Room

Washington, DC

June 18, 2010

Good morning, and welcome to the Benjamin Franklin Room here on the eighth floor of the State Department. And we’re delighted to be joined via video link from Syria by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutierrez. Welcome, Antonio. And we’re delighted that either by video or audio link, we’ll have a chance to hear from UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie, who is at a refugee camp in Ecuador. And we’ll hear also from refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo.


I want to thank Eric for the work that he and the bureau are doing on the issue of refugees, and especially making refugees a symbol of all of the challenges that we face. As he said at the very end, there is no humanitarian answer to a lot of the refugee problems. It’s a question of better governance, more accountable governance, of political and diplomatic efforts, of reconciliation and peace, of the growth of democracies and economies. But that doesn't in any way undermine the importance of meeting the day-to-day needs of those who have been displaced by conflict, by terrorism, by natural disaster. And Eric, as all of you know, is so committed to doing his part and representing the United States and the Obama Administration.


I’m also delighted that we are joined by George Rupp, president of the International Rescue Committee and himself a tremendous leader on behalf of those who are in need – refugees across the globe; and Scott Pelley, thank you for serving as the emcee and for shining a bright light on a lot of these situations; and my friend and former colleague, Congresswoman Diane Watson from California; and all of you who represent the leaders and partners from NGOs, Capitol Hill, the media, other countries, the diplomatic corps.


This marks the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Refugee Act, and I want to thank each and every one of you who have been instrumental over these past 30 years, because the plight of the world’s refugees is an issue that transcends not just geography and ethnicity, but politics and partisanship as well. It reminds us that we are all vulnerable, no matter how comfortable our lives may appear to be, but we, too, around the world – those of us who enjoy the benefits of the life that we have built or inherited, we, too, are vulnerable to war and conflict, droughts and floods, environmental disasters, as we’ve seen even in our own country.


Helping refugees is a transnational challenge, but I want to speak for just a minute about what this issue means for Americans and the United States. The United States is the largest single source of support for assistance to refugees and victims of conflict. It’s true financially, where we’ve provided more than $1.7 billion to refugees and conflict victims last year, including $640 million in support for UNHCR. And it’s true diplomatically. We spend a lot of time and a lot of political capital on these issues.


Now, for the United States this has been an enduring commitment, but our work on behalf of refugees is not the result of some grand strategic calculus. We don’t help because it bolsters our ability to play power politics or advance our economic interests, although in the long run I believe it does make our nation stronger and allow us to promote reconciliation and stability in areas of desperation and despair. We help because it is the right thing to do. We happen to believe it’s also the smart thing to do, but even in cases where it doesn't appear all that smart, it’s still often right. And therefore, we proceed.


It goes to the core of who we are as a people and a country, because the United States is not only a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of refugees. We know from our collective experience that most people want the same basic things in life: safe communities, food, water, lives free of political and religious and other persecution. And when these basic needs go unmet and families are forced to flee their homes in desperation, we should all be there with a helping hand.


Whenever possible, we work to return refugees to their homes in safety and dignity. In cooperation with our many partners from the NGO community, we promote the resolution of conflicts and provide assistance to communities recovering from disasters. And we’re seeing progress in places such as Liberia or South Sudan or Burundi and Nepal.


But when returning home is not an option, we are committed to helping resettle refugees who face the most difficult circumstances. Americans have done that time and time again, welcoming more than 2.5 million refugees into our communities since the Refugee Act became law. And two of the families that have come to the United States are here with us today. The Aradoms from Eritrea face severe persecution as a result of their religious beliefs. Some of their family members are still in prison and they came to the United States after spending years living as refugees in Ethiopia and Egypt. The Gautam family is from Bhutan. Raj spent 17 years living in refugee camps before coming to the United States in 2008. Now, along with his son and daughter, he’s been joined by six of his brothers.


These are just two of what could be countless examples, and the contributions that these refugees have made to our own country are really remarkable. I was very proud that in representing New York I saw the results of the resettlement of refugees throughout New York State and the quick adaptation that refugees from Bosnia or Kosovo or Burma or other places made. So our country has opened its arms to refugees. In fact, two of my predecessors, Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger, came to the United States as refugees. And a few steps from the front door of this building, there is a very large statue of another refugee, Albert Einstein.


Now, some of you may remember I wasn’t here last year at the event at National Geographic because I had broken my elbow, and I certainly don’t want any of us dislocating our shoulders from patting ourselves on the back about what we’ve done, but helping vulnerable people is a key element of our foreign policy and Americans should be proud of our country’s work on this issue. But we can’t rest on our laurels. We have to continue working as hard as we know to work to get results, not just to provide quick fixes or maintain an unacceptable status quo.


Last year, I visited a refugee camp in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and I met and talked with the women and men who had been forced to flee their homes in the face of marauders, rebels, uncontrolled army soldiers – a mix, a witches’ brew of barbarism and horror. And like tens of thousands of people elsewhere, these men and women had lived through a nightmare, particularly the women. And the United States pledged $17 million to help combat sexual violence in Eastern DRC, and I appreciate greatly those working with UNHCR along with many other NGOs and international organizations who are doing extraordinary work at great personal risk. So long as the women of the DRC are threatened by just the most terrible kinds of violations, as long as the men of the DRC cannot raise their families and their crops in peace, then we cannot rest.


Today, I am pleased to announce the United States will be providing $60 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. This contribution will provide critical services such as healthcare and improve life for 4.7 million Palestinians. But again, that is not an answer either. We have to continue working for peace, security, and reconciliation in the Middle East.


So let me thank all of you – the NGOs, the journalists, the development workers, the diplomats and activists – who are working to help the world’s refugees. I hope we can use this day to honor the courage and resilience of the millions of refugees around the world who push forward each and every day with the hope that tomorrow might bring a return home or the hope of a better life. I certainly intend to remain committed to making that hope a reality and I look forward to working with Eric and all of you in doing so.


Thank you very much. (Applause.)


# # #


PRN: 2010/819

Monday, March 22, 2010

Can America Save Nigeria Before It is Too Late?

Perennial massacres of Christians by Hausa Fulani Muslims in Nigeria have been going on for decades and was responsible for the Nigerian civil war from 1967-1970.

Can America Save Nigeria Before It is Too Late?

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima



The U.S. State Department recently denied a Nigerian newspaper report that President Barack Obama is preparing American troops for a “special intervention” in Nigeria to save Christians after the gruesome massacre of over 500 Christians by Hausa Fulani Muslims in Plateau state. See the gory pictures here.

President Barack Obama of the United States of America.

The Nigerian Compass newspaper is owned by a south-western state government under the control of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It reported that its story was deduced from statements made by the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) chief, General William Ward; that the U.S. would intervene before sectarian violence precipitates Nigeria into chaos. The horrifying pictures of how hundreds of defenceless Christians were attacked and slaughtered at midnight and their homes razed provoked worldwide condemnation with the premonition of genocide reminiscent of Rwanda looming large among millions of native Christians in the middle belt and northern states of Nigeria.

Am outraged President Barack Obama ordered for a thorough investigation of the massacre and that the perpetrators must be found and punished. This was enough to make Nigerians conclude that the U.S. would intervene to stop the incessant attacks and killings of innocent Christians by Hausa Fulani Muslims.

“In a word, flabbergasted. This story is a complete fabrication. There are no U.S. troops being prepared to intervene in Nigeria. We have checked with AFRICOM and General Ward has made no such statement,” said Russell Brooks, press officer for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs.
“Yes, the U.S. does have legitimate concerns about the political situation there. And we have expressed those on the record. And we are doing what we can to encourage Nigeria to remain on a democratic path, to retain its constitutional values. And we have done nothing to suggest that our concerns are only based on our desire to retain it as a source of dependable oil production or that we are only concerned about the potential for terrorism coming from Nigeria,” he explained.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton provoked the Nigerian government after her last visit in 2009 when she accused government law enforcement agencies of being ruthlessly corrupt and guilty of violations of human rights. The situation worsened when the Nigerian Al Qaeda terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was caught aboard the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day and subsequently Nigeria was put on the terror watch list. Then the State Department told American citizens to leave the northern region of the country where Islamists have been attacking and murdering thousands of Christians and razing many churches. The directive alarmed the Nigerian government and fueled rumours of plans of United States military action against terrorists in northern Nigeria. Unclassified information circulated that hundreds of C.I.A. agents have been sent to investigate links to the Al Qaeda in northern Nigeria. An American who arrived Lagos, Nigeria on the first week of 2010 told this reporter that indeed hundreds of C.I.A. agents were combing Nigeria for suspects.

The Voice of America (VOA) reported Russell saying the United States knew that the creation of AFRICOM could be misinterpreted as an attempt to “bring the war on terrorism to the African continent, so the U.S. could more easily intervene into conflicts.”

He said that the mission of AFRICOM is to “increase the capacity of African militaries to conduct legitimate external and internal defense, for instance, to combat terrorism, to protect…borders, to respond in a case of humanitarian disasters.”

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan

The U.S. has pledged to support Acting President Goodluck Jonathan since the incapacitated President Umaru Yar’Adua can no longer continue to serve as the commander-in-chief of Nigeria. Former President George W. Bush was recently in Nigeria. And his visit reinforced the fears of Nigerians that the U.S. President that commanded the invasion and occupation of Iraq in the war on terror was a warning that America is going to target terrorists in the country.

President Umaru Yar’Adua is no longer fit to rule.

It is on record that the U.S. did not invite President Umaru Yar’Adua to the inauguration of President Barack Obama and instead invited the leader of the main opposition party, the ex-military head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(Rtd), who is also Hausa Fulani Muslim from the same Katsina state of the incapacitated President, but he is feared in Nigeria for his uncompromising stance against corruption.

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(Rtd)

The party of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(Rtd) lost the last presidential election to the ruling party, but the U.S. government and majority of the local and international monitors rejected the result of the massively rigged election. Majority of people said Buhari would have won if the election was free and fair. He took his case to the Election Tribunal, but suspended his petitions when he lost confidence in the tribunal and chose to contest in the next presidential election in 2011 and from popular opinion polls he is favoured to be the next President of Nigeria since the northern region is still expected to produce a replacement to complete the two terms given to President Umaru Yar’Adua. But would another Muslim head state support the political interests of the U.S. in Nigeria?


Thursday, March 11, 2010

Avon Foundation for Women Grants $500,000 to the U.S. To End Violence Against Women


Andrea Jung, Avon Chairman & CEO, and Avon's Global Ambassador Reese Witherspoon announce donation to U.S. State Department's Secretary's Fund for Global Women's Leadership at Women of Courage Awards in the presence of the First Lady Michelle Obama and the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. (PRNewsFoto/Avon Foundation for Women) WASHINGTON, DC UNITED STATES

11 Mar 2010 08:17 Africa/Lagos


Avon Foundation for Women Grants $500,000 to the U.S. Department of State Secretary's Fund for Global Women's Leadership

Donation to Fund International Programs to End Violence Against Women

WASHINGTON, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Avon Foundation for Women (www.avonfoundation.org) presented a $500,000 grant to the U.S. Department of State Secretary's Fund for Global Women's Leadership to accelerate the global movement to end violence against women. Andrea Jung, Avon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Reese Witherspoon, Avon Global Ambassador and Honorary Chairperson of the Avon Foundation, made the announcement at the International Women of Courage Awards, hosted by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, at the U.S. Department of State.


To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/avon/37730/


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100311/MM68434 )


Violence against women is a global epidemic yet efforts to prevent it are underfunded. Nearly one billion women worldwide -- that is one in three women -- will experience violence in their lifetime. Yet around the world, services for victims are often limited or unavailable, and in many countries, laws to protect women do not exist or are not enforced. Women who are abused cannot reach their social or economic potential, which hurts families, communities and entire countries -- and can be especially detrimental to developing countries where involvement of women is essential to growth.


The U.S. Department of State will use the grant to fund innovative and breakthrough programs developed by international non-government organizations for the purpose of ending violence against women.


"We are tremendously privileged to partner with the U.S. Department of State, and share in their resolve to end violence against women. As the company for women, we are equally committed to providing women with an economic opportunity as we are serving as a change agent for critical issues that face women worldwide," said Jung. "We believe the answer to this complex problem lies in forging strong partnerships between the public and private sectors. If we fuse our strengths -- the vast resources and commitment from the private sector, combined with the public sector's regional expertise and grassroots networks -- then our collective efforts can chart a course for a life free of violence against women everywhere."


These new efforts underscore Avon's ongoing commitment to ending violence against women, which includes the Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program launched by Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women in 2004. These efforts have expanded to 45 countries including award-winning programs in Mexico and the Czech Republic. Behind the success of these initiatives is much-needed grassroots mobilization and fundraising driven by the company's network of 6 million Avon Sales Representatives worldwide. To date, Avon global philanthropy has committed more than $16 million to end violence against women, including $8 million coming from the global sales of Avon Empowerment Products developed in partnership with Witherspoon.


"I am proud to serve as Avon Global Ambassador and represent a company with a conscience and the courage to take on hard issues. Although we face many challenges around the world, nothing is more important than ensuring the safety of women and girls everywhere," says Witherspoon. "Investments like the one announced today by the Avon Foundation and the U.S. Department of State are essential to the development and implementation of programs to end this global crisis."


The Avon Foundation for Women, along with Vital Voices, is also collaborating with the U.S. Department of State to host a three-day conference, The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Women in Washington, D.C., from March 9-11. This innovative public-private partnership, which is founded on the premise that local experts are best suited to know what solutions will work in their own communities, will foster the creation of cross-sector collaborations with the goal of reducing violence against women.


To facilitate the Global Partnership, Avon and the Avon Foundation for Women donated $1.2 million to Vital Voices to bring together 15 country delegations consisting of leaders from diverse sectors -- business, government, law enforcement, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) community, academia and others -- in a global forum to share insights, forge collaborations, and seek ways to overcome challenging cultural realities that have been barriers to progress. The Global Partnership will support regional events in India and Argentina in the fall of 2010. Additionally, the Global Partnership will create a violence against women campaign Toolkit that will provide information and strategies to develop effective advocacy, awareness and education campaigns and programs that NGOs can use to reduce violence against women in any country.


Avon Products, Inc.


Avon, the company for women, is a leading global beauty company, with over $10 billion in annual revenue. As the world's largest direct seller, Avon markets to women in more than 100 countries through approximately 6 million independent Avon Sales Representatives. Avon's product line includes beauty products, as well as fashion and home products, and features such well-recognized brand names as Avon Color, Anew, Skin-So-Soft, Advance Techniques, Avon Naturals, and Mark. Learn more about Avon and its products at www.avoncompany.com.


Avon Foundation for Women


The Avon Foundation for Women (www.avonfoundation.org) is the world's largest corporate-affiliated philanthropy focused on women's issues. Since it was founded in 1955, the Avon Foundation has been committed to the mission to improve the lives of women and their families. Now past the half century milestone, the Avon Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity that today brings this mission to life through two key areas of focus: breast cancer and domestic violence. Through 2009, Avon global philanthropy has donated more than $725 million in over 50 countries for causes most important to women.


Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100311/MM68434
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Video: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/avon/37730
Source: Avon Foundation for Women

CONTACT: Debbie Coffey, +1-917-754-2932


Web Site: http://www.avoncompany.com/
http://www.avonfoundation.org/


Saturday, February 6, 2010

Africa / Keynote Address at the 58th National Prayer Breakfast

5 Feb 2010 12:26 Africa/Lagos

Africa / Keynote Address at the 58th National Prayer Breakfast

WASHINGTON, February 5, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Hillary Rodham Clinton

Secretary of State


SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you very much. I have to begin by saying I'm not Bono. (Laughter.) Those of you who were here when he was, I apologize beforehand. (Laughter.) But it is a great pleasure to be with you and to be here with President and Mrs. Obama, to be with Vice President Biden, with Chairman Mullen, with certainly our host today, my former colleagues and friends, Senators Isakson and Amy Klobuchar. And to be with so many distinguished guests and visitors who have come from all over our country and indeed from all over the world.

I have attended this prayer breakfast every year since 1993, and I have always found it to be a gathering that inspires and motivates me. Now today, our minds are still filled with the images of the tragedy of Haiti, where faith is being tested daily in food lines and makeshift hospitals, in tent cities where there are not only so many suffering people, but so many vanished dreams.

When I think about the horrible catastrophe that has struck Haiti, I am both saddened but also spurred. This is a moment that has already been embraced by people of faith from everywhere. I thank Prime Minister Zapatero for his country's response and commitment. Because in the days since the earthquake, we have seen the world and the world's faithful spring into action on behalf of those suffering. President Obama has put our country on the leading edge of making sure that we do all we can to help alleviate not only the immediate suffering, but to assist in the rebuilding and recovery. So many countries have answered the call, and so many churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples have brought their own people together. And even modern technology through Facebook and telethons and text messages and Twitter, there's been an overwhelming global response. But of course, there's so much more to be done.

When I think about being here with all of you today, there are so many subjects to talk about. You've already heard, both in prayer and in scripture reading and in Prime Minister Zapatero's remarks, a number of messages. But let me be both personal and speak from my unique perspective now as Secretary of State. I've been here as a First Lady. I've been here as a senator, and now I am here as a Secretary of State. I have heard heartfelt descriptions of personal faith journeys. I've heard impassioned pleas for feeding the hungry and helping the poor, caring for the sick. I've heard speeches about promoting understanding among people of different faiths. I've met hundreds of visitors from countries across the globe. I've seen the leaders of my own country come here amidst the crises of the time and, for at least a morning, put away political and ideological differences. And I've watched and I've listened to three presidents, each a man of faith, speak from their hearts, both sharing their own feelings about being in a position that has almost intolerably impossible burdens to bear, and appealing often, either explicitly or implicitly, for an end to the increasing smallness, irrelevancy, even meanness, of our own political culture. My own heart has been touched and occasionally pierced by the words I've heard, and often my spirit has been lifted by the musicians and the singers who have shared their gifts in praising the Lord with us. And during difficult and painful times, my faith has been strengthened by the personal connections that I have experienced with people who, by the calculus of politics, were on the opposite side of me on the basis of issues or partisanship.

After my very first prayer breakfast, a bipartisan group of women asked me to join them for lunch and told me that they were forming a prayer group. And these prayer partners prayed for me. They prayed for me during some very challenging times. They came to see me in the White House. They kept in touch with me and some still do today. And they gave me a handmade book with messages, quotes, and scripture, to sustain me. And of all the thousands of gifts that I received in the White House, I have a special affection for this one. Because in addition to the tangible gift of the book, it contained 12 intangible gifts, 12 gifts of discernment, peace, compassion, faith, fellowship, vision, forgiveness, grace, wisdom, love, joy, and courage. And I have had many occasions to pull out that book and to look at it and to try, Chairman Mullen, to figure out how to close the gap of what I am feeling and doing with what I know I should be feeling and doing. As a person of faith, it is a constant struggle, particularly in the political arena, to close that gap that each of us faces.

In February of 1994, the speaker here was Mother Teresa. She gave, as everyone who remembers that occasion will certainly recall, a strong address against abortion. And then she asked to see me. And I thought, “Oh, dear.” (Laughter.) And after the breakfast, we went behind that curtain and we sat on folding chairs, and I remember being struck by how small she was and how powerful her hands were, despite her size, and that she was wearing sandals in February in Washington. (Laughter.)

We began to talk, and she told me that she knew that we had a shared conviction about adoption being vastly better as a choice for unplanned or unwanted babies. And she asked me – or more properly, she directed me – to work with her to create a home for such babies here in Washington. I know that we often picture, as we're growing up, God as a man with a white beard. But that day, I felt like I had been ordered, and that the message was coming not just through this diminutive woman but from someplace far beyond.

So I started to work. And it took a while because we had to cut through all the red tape. We had to get all the approvals. I thought it would be easier than it turned out to be. She proved herself to be the most relentless lobbyist I've ever encountered. (Laughter.) She could not get a job in your White House, Mr. President. (Laughter.) She never let up. She called me from India, she called me from Vietnam, she wrote me letters, and it was always: “When's the house gonna open? How much more can be done quickly?”

Finally, the moment came: June, 1995, and the Mother Teresa Home for Infant Children opened. She flew in from Kolkata to attend the opening, and like a happy child, she gripped my arm and led me around, looking at the bassinets and the pretty painted colors on the wall, and just beaming about what this meant for children and their futures.

A few years later, I attended her funeral in Kolkata, where I saw presidents and prime ministers, royalty and street beggars, pay her homage. And after the service, her successor, Sister Nirmala, the leader of the Missionaries of Charity, invited me to come to the Mother House. I was deeply touched. When I arrived, I realized I was one of only a very few outsiders. And I was directed into a whitewashed room where the casket had already arrived. And we stood around with the nuns, with the candles on the walls flickering, and prayed for this extraordinary woman. And then Sister Nirmala asked me to offer a prayer. I felt both inadequate and deeply honored, just as I do today. And in the tradition of prayer breakfast speakers, let me share a few matters that reflect how I came on my own faith journey, and how I think about the responsibilities that President Obama and his Administration and our government face today.

As Amy said, I grew up in the Methodist Church. On both sides of my father's family, the Rodhams and the Joneses, they came from mining towns. And they claimed, going back many years, to have actually been converted by John and Charles Wesley. And, of course, Methodists were methodical. It was a particularly good religion for me. (Laughter.) And part of it is a commitment to living out your faith. We believe that faith without works may not be dead, but it's hard to discern from time to time.

And of course, John Wesley had this simple rule which I carry around with me as I travel: Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can in all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. That's a tall order. And of course, one of the interpretive problems with it is, who defines good? What are we actually called to do, and how do we stay humble enough, obedient enough, to ask ourselves, am I really doing what I'm called to do?

It was a good rule to be raised by and it was certainly a good rule for my mother and father to discipline us by. And I think it's a good rule to live by, with the appropriate dose of humility. Our world is an imperfect one filled with imperfect people, so we constantly struggle to meet our own spiritual goals. But John Wesley's teachings, and the teachings of my church, particularly during my childhood and teenage years, gave me the impetus to believe that I did have a responsibility. It meant not sitting on the sidelines, but being in the arena. And it meant constantly working to try to fulfill the lessons that I absorbed as a child. It's not easy. We're here today because we're all seekers, and we can all look around our own lives and the lives of those whom we know and see everyone falling so short.

And then of course, as we look around the world, there are so many problems and challenges that people of faith are attempting to address or should be. We can recite those places where human beings are mired in the past – their hatreds, their differences – where governments refuse to speak to other governments, where the progress of entire nations is undermined because isolation and insularity seem less risky than cooperation and collaboration, where all too often it is religion that is the force that drives and sustains division rather than being the healing balm. These patterns persist despite the overwhelming evidence that more good will come from suspending old animosities and preconceptions from engaging others in dialogue, from remembering the cardinal rules found in all of the world's major religions.

Last October, I visited Belfast once again, 11 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, a place where being a Protestant or a Catholic determined where you lived, often where you worked, whether you were a friend or an enemy, a threat or a target. Yet over time, as the body count grew, the bonds of common humanity became more powerful than the differences fueled by ancient wrongs. So bullets have been traded for ballots.

As we meet this morning, both communities are attempting to hammer out a final agreement on the yet unresolved issues between them. And they are discovering anew what the Scripture urges us: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up.” Even in places where God's presence and promise seems fleeting and unfulfilled or completely absent, the power of one person's faith and the determination to act can help lead a nation out of darkness.

Some of you may have seen the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell. It is the story of a Liberian woman who was tired of the conflict and the killing and the fear that had gripped her country for years. So she went to her church and she prayed for an end to the civil war. And she organized other women at her church, and then at other churches, then at the mosques. Soon thousands of women became a mass movement, rising up and praying for a peace, and working to bring it about that finally, finally ended the conflict.

And yet the devil must have left Liberia and taken up residence in Congo. When I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo this summer, the contrasts were so overwhelmingly tragic – a country the size of Western Europe, rich in minerals and natural resources, where 5.4 million people have been killed in the most deadly conflict since World War II, where 1,100 women and girls are raped every month, where the life expectancy is 46 and dropping, where poverty, starvation, and all of the ills that stalk the human race are in abundance.

When I traveled to Goma, I saw in a single day the best and the worst of humanity. I met with women who had been savaged and brutalized physically and emotionally, victims of gender and sexual-based violence in a place where law, custom, and even faith did little to protect them. But I also saw courageous women who, by faith, went back into the bush to find those who, like them, had been violently attacked. I saw the doctors and the nurses who were helping to heal the wounds, and I saw so many who were there because their faith led them to it.

As we look at the world today and we reflect on the overwhelming response of outpouring of generosity to what happened in Haiti, I'm reminded of the story of Elijah. After he goes to Mount Horeb, we read that he faced “a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence – a still small voice.” It was then that Elijah heard the voice of the Lord. It is often when we are only quiet enough to listen that we do as well. It's something we can do at any time, without a disaster or a catastrophe provoking it. It shouldn't take that.

But the teachings of every religion call us to care for the poor, tell us to visit the orphans and widows, to be generous and charitable, to alleviate suffering. All religions have their version of the Golden Rule and direct us to love our neighbor and welcome the stranger and visit the prisoner. But how often in the midst of our own lives do we respond to that? All of these holy texts, all of this religious wisdom from these very different faiths call on us to act out of love.

In politics, we sometimes talk about message discipline – making sure everyone uses the same set of talking points. Well, whoever was in charge of message discipline on these issues for every religion certainly knew what they were doing. Regardless of our differences, we all got the same talking points and the same marching orders. So the charge is a personal one. Yet across the world, we see organized religion standing in the way of faith, perverting love, undermining that message.

Sometimes it's easier to see that far away than here at home. But religion, cloaked in naked power lust, is used to justify horrific violence, attacks on homes, markets, schools, volleyball games, churches, mosques, synagogues, temples. From Iraq to Pakistan and Afghanistan to Nigeria and the Middle East, religion is used a club to deny the human rights of girls and women, from the Gulf to Africa to Asia, and to discriminate, even advocating the execution of gays and lesbians. Religion is used to enshrine in law intolerance of free expression and peaceful protest. Iran is now detaining and executing people under a new crime – waging war against God. It seems to be a rather dramatic identity crisis.

So in the Obama Administration, we are working to bridge religious divides. We're taking on violations of human rights perpetrated in the name of religion. And we invite members of Congress and clergy and active citizens like all of you here to join us. Of course we're supporting the peace processes from Northern Ireland to the Middle East, and of course we are following up on the President's historic speech at Cairo with outreach efforts to Muslims and promoting interfaith dialogue, and of course we're condemning the repression in Iran.

But we are also standing up for girls and women, who too often in the name of religion, are denied their basic human rights. And we are standing up for gays and lesbians who deserve to be treated as full human beings. (Applause.) And we are also making it clear to countries and leaders that these are priorities of the United States. Every time I travel, I raise the plight of girls and women, and make it clear that we expect to see changes. And I recently called President Museveni, whom I have known through the prayer breakfast, and expressed the strongest concerns about a law being considered in the parliament of Uganda.

We are committed, not only to reaching out and speaking up about the perversion of religion, and in particularly the use of it to promote and justify terrorism, but also seeking to find common ground. We are working with Muslim nations to come up with an appropriate way of demonstrating criticism of religious intolerance without stepping over into the area of freedom of religion or non-religion and expression. So there is much to be done, and there is a lot of challenging opportunities for each of us as we leave this prayer breakfast, this 58th prayer breakfast.

In 1975, my husband and I, who had gotten married in October, and we were both teaching at the University of Arkansas Law School in beautiful Fayetteville, Arkansas – we got married on a Saturday and we went back to work on a Monday. So around Christmastime, we decided that we should go somewhere and celebrate, take a honeymoon. And my late father said, “Well, that's a great idea. We'll come, too.” (Laughter.)

And indeed, Bill and I and my entire family – (laughter) – went to Acapulco. We had a great time, but it wasn't exactly a honeymoon. So when we got back, Bill was talking to one of his friends who was then working in Haiti, and his friend said, “Well, why don't you come see me? This is the most interesting country. Come and take some time.” So indeed, we did. So we were there over the New Year's holidays. And I remember visiting the Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, in the midst, at that time, so much fear from the regime of the Duvaliers, and so much poverty, there was this cathedral that had stood there and served as a beacon of hope and faith.

After the earthquake, I was looking at some of our pictures from the disaster, and I saw the total destruction of the cathedral. It was just a heart-rending moment. And yet I also saw men and women helping one another, digging through the rubble, dancing and singing in the makeshift communities that they were building up. And I thought again that as the scripture reminds us, “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed.”

As the memory of this crisis fades, as the news cameras move on to the next very dramatic incident, let us pray that we can sustain the force and the feeling that we find in our hearts and in our faith in the aftermath of such tragedies. Let us pray that we will all continue to be our brothers' and sisters' keepers. Let us pray that amid our differences, we can continue to see the power of faith not only to make us whole as individuals, to provide personal salvation, but to make us a greater whole and a greater force for good on behalf of all creation.

So let us do all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, to all the people we can, as long as ever we can.

God bless you. (Applause.)



Source: US Department of State


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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Clinton: Nigeria faces threat from Radicalization


Hillary Clinton

United States Department of State (Washington, DC)

Nigeria: Excerpt of Secretary Clinton's Remarks at Town Hall Meeting
Hillary Clinton
27 January 2010


The following remarks on Nigeria were made by the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, at a town hall meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC to mark the first anniversary of her appointment to the post:

QUESTION: Good morning, Madame Secretary. My name is Todd Woodard and I’m a contractor supporting the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.

Given the recent alleged attempted attack by the young Nigerian on Christmas Day and also the purported audio message from Usama bin Ladin heralding that attack and assuming responsibility for it, I’m curious to hear your thoughts regarding the connection between Islamist organizations and young Muslims in Western Africa, specifically Nigeria. I’m curious to hear what your opinion is regarding the driving factors for the youth accepting and embracing the Islamist ideology.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, it’s an excellent question, and volumes have been written to try to answer that. But let me just briefly say that there is a connection between young people and the efforts to radicalize them that are promoted, sponsored, financed by al-Qaida and other extreme organizations with a very narrow definition of Islam. And they have been quite effective on the internet, as you know. We can track connections between not just the Christmas Day bomber but the Fort Hood shooter, the shooter at the Little Rock military recruitment station, and can see that they were at least listening to and interacting with very extreme voices on the side of Islamist ideology.

In Nigeria, which is, as you know, evenly divided between Muslims and Christians, about 75 million of each – Christians predominantly in the south, Muslims predominantly in the north – there has been an accommodation that has enabled Nigeria to survive politically. But the failure of the Nigerian leadership over many years to respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have a government that promoted a meritocracy, that really understood that democracy can’t just be given lip service, it has to be delivering services to the people, has meant there is a lot of alienation in that country and others.

Young people in the world today, they see other options. They’re all interconnected through the internet. And the information we have on the Christmas Day bomber so far seems to suggest that he was disturbed by his father’s wealth and the kind of living conditions that he viewed as being not Islamic enough and just the kinds of attitudes young people often portray toward their families as they go through their maturing. But in this case, and in so many others, such young people are targets for recruiters to extremism.

So I do think that Nigeria faces a threat from increasing radicalization that needs to be addressed, and not just by military means. There has to be a recognition that in the last 10 years, a lot of the indicators about quality of life in Nigeria have gone the wrong direction. The rate of illiteracy is growing, not falling, in a country that used to have a very high rate of literacy in Africa. The health statistics are going the wrong direction. The corruption is unbelievable. And when I did a town hall in Abuja, people were just literally standing and shouting about what it was like to live in a country where the elite was so dominant, where corruption was so rampant, where criminality was so pervasive.


And that is an opening for extremism that offers an alternative world view. You want to live in peace and safety and feel good about yourself and be part of a community that you can be proud of, then turn away from your society and your family and come with us. And that can be a powerful message, whether it’s a gang in America or an extremist organization in Nigeria. And part of what I’ve been trying to tell leaders in all of my travels is that we’re not just lecturing about human rights or good governance or anticorruption measures because they’re our values; we think they are absolutely essential to the long-term survival of a lot of these governments and the societies and the political systems.

So this is – there are individual reasons why people get recruited and radicalized, but your question about Nigeria really raises all of the elements that make the circumstances ripe for people being targeted as they are, and they have to be addressed.


Friday, January 8, 2010

Hillary Clinton Swears in New USAID Administrator. Calls Raj Shah

Clinton swears in new USAID Administrator. Calls Raj Shah a “transformation leader” who will rebuild the premier development agency in the world.





Thursday, December 3, 2009

Clinton Tells House Committee the Call for Additional Troops in Afghanistan is Necessary




3 Dec 2009 01:05 Africa/Lagos

Secretary of State Clinton Tells House Committee the Call for Additional Troops in Afghanistan is Necessary and Will Also Result in an Increase in Civilian Forces in the Region

DATELINE CITY: 02 December, 2009 / Washington, D.C.

FORMAT: Soundbites


STORY SUMMARY: Remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on "U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan."


RESOURCES: Video, hard copy requests, contact information and more available at http://thedigitalcenter.com/projects/1281-secretary-of-state-clinton-tells-hou se-committee-the-call-for-additional-troops-in-afghanistan-is-necessary-and-wi ll-also-result-in-an-increase-in-civilian-forces-in-the-region


www.State.gov
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/index.htm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5380.htm
http://www.state.gov/p/sca/ci/af/index.htm

SOUNDBITES / VIDEO:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Soundbite (1)

Summary: Secretary Clinton said President Obama's call for additional troops is a difficult but necessary decision.


IN: "Simply put, among a range of difficult choices, we believe this is the best way to protect our nation now and in the future. The extremists we are fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan have attacked us and our allies before. If we allow them access to the very same safe havens they used before 2001, they will have a greater capacity to regroup and attack again. They could drag an entire region into chaos. Our civilian and military leaders in Afghanistan have reported that the situation is serious and worsening, and we agree." OUT (:37)


Soundbite (2)


Summary: Secretary Clinton says US is committed to work with Afghanistan and Pakistan to stabilize the region.


IN: "We will work with the Afghan and Pakistani governments to eliminate safe havens for those plotting attacks against us, our allies, and our interests. We will help to stabilize a region that is fundamental to our national security. And we will develop long-term, sustainable relationships with both Afghanistan and Pakistan, so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. The duration of our military presence may be limited, but our civilian commitment must continue even as our troops will begin to come home. Now, accomplishing this mission and ensuring the safety of the American people will not be easy. It will mean sending more civilians, more troops, and more assistance to Afghanistan, and significantly expanding our civilian efforts in Pakistan." OUT (:49)


Soundbite (3)


Summary: Secretary Clinton remarks that civilian commitment will increase to support and work with additional troops and continue after the troops have gone.


IN: "A timeframe for transition will provide a sense of urgency in working with the Afghan Government, but it should be clear to everyone that the United States, our allies, and our partners will have an enduring commitment, a civilian commitment to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our resolve in this fight is reflected in the substantial new increase in troops, but also in the significant civilian surge that will also accompany it.


The civilian effort is bearing fruit. Civilian experts and advisors are helping to craft policy inside government ministries, providing development assistance in the field, and when our marines went into Nawa province this last July, we had civilians on the ground with them to coordinate assistance the very next day. As our operations progress, our civ-mil coordination will grow even stronger. We are on track to triple the number of civilian positions to 974 by early in January. On average, each of these civilians leverages 10 partners ranging from locally employed staff to experts with U.S.-funded NGOs." OUT (01:08)


Soundbite (4)


Summary: Secretary Clinton says the U.S. will work to develop long-term relationships with both Afghanistan and Pakistan.


IN: "We will be delivering high-impact economic assistance and bolstering the agricultural sector. We will be helping to support an Afghan-led effort to open the door to those Taliban who renounce al-Qaida, abandon violence, and want to reintegrate into society." OUT (:16)


TRT: 3:56

VIDEO PROVIDED BY: U.S. Department of State


FOR TECHNICAL INFORMATION OR HARD COPY, PLEASE E-MAIL: digitalcenter@multivu.com


CONTACT: Ken Richards, +1-202-647-6251, richardskn@state.gov


/PRNewswire -- Dec. 2/


Video: http://thedigitalcenter.com/projects/1281-secretary-of-state-clinton-tells-house-committee-the-call-for-additional-troops-in-afghanistan-is-necessary-and-will-also-result-in-an-increase-in-civilian-forces-in-the-region
Source: U.S. Department of State

Web Site: http://www.state.gov/


Sunday, October 4, 2009

Secretary of State Clinton Remarks at the Corporate Council on Africa's Seventh Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit



2 Oct 2009 18:41 Africa/Lagos

Secretary of State Clinton Remarks at the Corporate Council on Africa's Seventh Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit


WASHINGTON, October 2, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Hillary Rodham Clinton


Secretary of State


Washington Convention Center





Thank you. Well, thank you very much, Stephen, and it is a real pleasure for me to join you today and be part of what has already been a very substantive program. I thank you and the Corporate Council on Africa for your tireless efforts to develop stronger business and trade ties between the United States and the countries of Africa. And I want to also recognize my colleague in the cabinet, the U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk, who is a great advocate of increasing economic and trade opportunities as well. (Applause.)





Well, as Stephen said, I had an extraordinary trip in August and was able to visit some places that I had not yet had a chance to travel to, and to go back and see some places that were very familiar. But the point of the trip was to underscore the importance of Africa to the Obama Administration. It is obviously a cause that I personally am committed to, but it is truly a high-level commitment from the entire Administration, because we start from a premise that the future of Africa matters to our own progress and prosperity.





And the Obama Administration has strategies to help spur economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa and create conditions that will improve the lives of the African people, which to us is how you really measure success. We are eager to move beyond stereotypes that paint Africa as a land of poverty, disease, conflict, and not much else. And we will continue to lay a strong foundation for a new kind of engagement with Africa, one that is built on shared responsibility and shared opportunity, and on partnerships that produce measurable, lasting results.


From our perspective, for too long, Africa has been viewed as a charity case instead of a dynamic continent capable of becoming a global economic engine of the 21st century. So it is time to change the narrative. It is time to understand that strengthened trade policies will enable African businesses to tap more effectively into existing markets and create new ones. It is time to recognize that with technology and innovation, African nations can leapfrog dirty stages of development and become more quickly integrated into the global marketplace. It is time to recognize too that the reform of the agricultural sector is essential to Africa's future growth and prosperity, and that investing in people, especially women, will enable Africa to move much more quickly toward the kind of sustainable future that we all are hoping for.


Now, we have a big agenda and we have a very positive vision. But we have to acknowledge that none of this can happen without responsible African leadership, without good government and transparency and accountability, without acceptable of the rule of law, without environmental stewardship and the effective management of resources, without respect for human rights, without an end to corruption as a cancer that eats away at the entrepreneurial spirits and hopes of millions of people. (Applause.)


Now, we know that there are a lot of obstacles to overcome, but we are determined to work with you to achieve the goals that we have set forth. I was delighted that President Kagame was here, because even with the global recession, Rwanda's health indicators are improving, its economy continues to expand, and that is directly traceable to the sound policies that the government has implemented. In – yes, you should give that a round of applause. (Applause.)


In each of the seven countries I visited, I saw examples of activities and investments that are already paying dividends. I saw researchers in Kenya who are modernizing agriculture by creating tools that will enable us to provide new kinds of seeds, fertilizers and equipment to transform rural farming. Young entrepreneurs in South Africa are starting businesses and building open markets that are competitive with counterparts anywhere in the world.


Public and private partners working together in Angola on new models of development assistance; health professionals in the Democratic Republic of Congo risking their own lives to give life back to those dehumanized by violent conflict; members of civil society in Nigeria pressing for electoral reforms and an end to corruption; civil servants in Liberia working to build democratic institutions as the country pieces itself together after years of civil war; and leaders in Cape Verde whose emphasis on good governance and transparency and strengthening democratic institutions has elevated that small nation economically in only a decade.


So across Africa, we know there are opportunities to be seized and we know that there are people who will do the hard work. But what we have to do is to help create the right conditions, and we are focusing on five key areas; first, trade. We are Africa's largest trading partner, and at the AGOA conference in Nairobi, I said the United States would work to maximize the opportunities created by trade preference programs like AGOA. We want to work to build greater trade capacity in Africa, provide assistance to new industries, and we look forward to more bilateral investment treaties like the one we signed with Mauritius during my trip.


But we have to convince African countries to do more trading among themselves, and to break down the barriers at their own borders. (Applause.) It is absolutely clear that if African countries began to trade with one another, they would quickly have more increase in GDP than they could ever imagine by just bilateral agreements with Europe and the United States. So part of our goal must be to persuade our friends – open up your own markets to each other. (Applause.)


Second, development – we're not going to forget the needs that exist, and the Obama Administration has pledged to double foreign assistance by 2014, because we believe development is still a linchpin of global economic progress. But we will pursue a different approach. We are looking to generate concrete and lasting solutions, not long-term dependency that saps the dynamism of a country instead of adding to the potential. (Applause.)





We will focus on country-led plans and market-based investments in areas like food security, infrastructure, and women. We will focus on metrics and accountability, on nations eager to attack corruption and promote good governance. And we will do a better job at integrating development with diplomacy so that we can address the interconnected problems we face.





Now, last week in New York at the United Nations and at the Clinton Global Initiative, I outlined our new initiative to address global hunger and agricultural reform. Food security may seem far removed from the work that some of you do and the investments that you make, but it is so important to Africa. The continent's economy depends on agriculture, and 70 percent of the farmers in Africa are women, who are marginalized, who are ignored, who are not given the help they need to improve agricultural productivity for themselves and have a little left over to take to market to trade and sell.





Revitalizing and modernizing the agricultural sector in Africa is a smart investment for all of us to make, and I invite those of you who have any involvement in agriculture to work with us, to work with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program that provides such a good model. All of the member nations have pledged to devote 10 percent of their national budgets to agricultural development.





Once again, Rwanda is a model. It became the first country to complete its agricultural development plan and it's already showing results. In three years, Rwanda's investment in agriculture has increased fivefold and doubled agricultural GDP.


So food security is not just a question of getting food to hungry people. It is not simply a moral imperative. It represents the convergence of complex issues that have a direct bearing on economic growth. That's why the G8 in Italy pledged $20 billion toward food security. We pledged $3.5 billion for our own initiative over the next three years.


Now, in thinking about food security and agricultural productivity, the lens immediately widens. Because in order to be successful in that sector, we have to modernize and build infrastructure. Not long ago I asked an expert on Africa what the continent needed most. His answer was: “Three things: Roads, roads, and roads.” So we are pursuing strategies to improve infrastructure and provide better access to information, capital, and training.


We also have to emphasize aviation. One speaker at AGOA made the point that it is easier to fly from Nairobi to London or New Delhi to Kinshasa or Abuja than to fly between those African cities. And until we provide more support for safe and functional airports, like we are now doing with the government of Liberia, Angola, and Kenya, we will not maximize economic development.


We are also pursuing Millennium Challenge Corporation compacts with countries in Africa. And just two weeks ago, we signed an agreement with Senegal to provide $540 million to help that country rebuild its transportation and irrigation infrastructure.


The third pillar of our strategy is energy security. Africa is key to the United States and to global energy security, and the number of energy producers is growing. I had very productive meetings in Angola that will result in the creation of bilateral working groups on renewable energy, security issues, agriculture, and food, and we established a Memorandum of Understanding as to how we will pursue those objectives.


I also met with leaders in Nigeria and emphasized our commitment to partnering with Nigeria in areas such as electoral reform, anti-corruption activities, better stewardship of oil revenues, and efforts to build a more diversified economy, as well as the resolution of the conflict in the Niger Delta. I will be reaching out to the energy companies here who do business in the Niger Delta to figure out what we can do to try to resume a more productive outcome for the people of the Niger Delta in the production of energy.


There is no doubt that when one looks at Nigeria, it is such a heartbreaking scene we see. The number of people living in Nigeria is going up. The number of people facing food security and health challenges are going up. Why? Because the revenues have not been well managed. And the consequences of being a large energy producer has not been translated into positive changes for the Nigerian people.


Now, we encourage Nigeria, Angola, and other energy-producing countries to manage their resources and escape the natural resource curse that has plagued much of the continent. We have a new position in the State Department. It's the Coordinator for International Energy Affairs. I have appointed a very experienced expert, David Goldwyn, to work with our partner countries. We will help new producers devise transparent revenue management systems to help them avoid the challenges other countries have faced with large new flows of money from oil, gas, or mining.


And to that end, we are pleased to have contributed $6 million last week to the World Bank's multi-donor trust fund for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. We believe that within the right legal framework Africa can be an enormous market for investment and for economic growth, as well as a secure producer and supplier of energy.


Fourth, we need to build more public-private partnerships. In the 1960s, nearly 70 percent of all money flowing from the United States to the developing world was official development assistance; today, over 80 percent is from private sources.


We want to build on all of the generosity, the talents that are at our disposal – in the government, in the business community, in groups like the CCA, and in civil society. Under the leadership of Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, who heads our global office for public-private partnerships, we recently announced several new partnerships, including one that will bring together USAID, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Impact Investing Network, and JP Morgan Chase to support the development of social impact investing strategies. We are trying to figure out to do what we do better through government, but how we maximize and do better what we can with the private sector and the not-for-profit sector as well.


And fifth, and perhaps most important, we are stressing good governance, transparency and accountability, ending corruption, and adherence to the rule of law. I don't need to tell this group that although there are so many opportunities for investment, none will succeed unless conditions are favorable for business and investment.


Companies are not going to be attracted to states with failed or weak leadership, crime or civil unrest, or corruption that taints and distorts every transaction and decision, or to countries that violate the rights of their people and, worse, allow violence toward women and girls to be practiced with impunity.


South Africa offers a compelling example of the relationship between good governance and economic development. South Africa emerged from apartheid and engaged its citizenry in the democratic process and is now Africa's economic engine. And as Stephen said, having a South Africa-U.S. Business Council will once again demonstrate how closely we wish to work with our partners in South Africa.


Now, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is incredibly important, so we are providing technical assistance, we're promoting more effective law enforcement through professional training of officers. And I am pleased that we won passage yesterday of a UN Security Council Resolution on gender and sexual-based violence that will be backed up by action through the UN.


There is so much to be done, but I am so excited about the potential. It's a big world out there, and we could spend time worrying about everywhere, and there are lots of opportunities everywhere. But I remain convinced that no place holds the opportunities of the future like Africa does. But that doesn't mean – (applause) – that we can just expect it to happen. We have to work together.


When I was at the University of Nairobi at a town hall, a great friend of mine and extraordinary environmental and peace advocate and Nobel Peace prize winner, Wangari Maathai, was with me was sitting in the audience, and she said something that has stuck with me that I have repeated across Africa and literally across the world. She said, “Africa is a rich continent. The gods must have been on our side when they created the planet. And yet we are poor.”


It is a painful truth; through colonialism and post-colonialism, the continent's riches have too often gone to the few, not the many. But Africa itself holds an example that I would recommend to all of you – those of you in government and those of you in business – and that is the arrangement in Botswana for the mining and marketing of their diamonds with De Beers.


The Government of Botswana in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, post-independence, was so visionary. The leadership there was so devoted to building a country that would have the advantages that they wanted to see for their people after colonialism had finally ended. So they struck a hard bargain, and they created, essentially, a trust fund where a percentage of the revenues from the diamonds went into that fund, and then that fund was used to pave the roads. And if you've traveled in Botswana, you know that the roads are the best in Sub-Saharan Africa except for South Africa. And we can see the results year after year after year.


I got a letter the other day from the chairman, Mr. Oppenheimer, of De Beers saying, “Thank you for mentioning our relationship with Botswana. It has created a stable, successful environment for us to do business in.” Yes, you could have had short-term profits at the expense of long-term profitability. But instead, a different bargain was struck. I commend that example to all of you. (Applause.)


And let me just finally say that we stand ready to help. We stand ready to help our friends in Africa. We stand ready to help American businesses and corporations. We want to look back after the Obama Administration and be able to say we made a difference in Africa, and we can see the results. (Applause.) This is not only because it's the right thing to do and the smart thing to do; it's very personal to President Obama. He considers himself a son of Africa because of his father's lineage. And he and I talk about how we want to see positive changes, changes that we all know can be made given the intelligence and the work ethic and the extraordinary abilities of the people of Africa. So let's make sure that the governments of Africa are worthy of their people.


Thank you all very much. (Applause.)


Source: US Department of State


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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Bill Clinton: Promise


Mr. Bill Clinton

Thanks to you, 2009 is going to be an amazing year of progress for America. I know we will all feel a sense of pride and achievement as we watch the new Congress get sworn in and get to work with President Obama.

I'm so proud of the way Hillary, poured herself heart and soul into helping Barack Obama and so many other Democratic candidates last year.

And, like you, I'm looking forward to all the change and progress that those victories will lead to in the weeks and months ahead.

As historic as 2008 may have been, there is no time to rest. Now is the time to keep our momentum going by showing the new Congress that we're here to support them in 2009 right from the very beginning.

Contribute $5, $10, or more today to provide essential early support to translate the promise of 2008 into progress in 2009.

The reason we won so big last year is because House Democrats had the early support from people like you. That early strength we built together put our party on a trajectory for success, and we kept going!

With Barack Obama's inauguration fast approaching, we need to make the same powerful show of strength as the new Democratic Congress gets to work with the new Administration to solve the greatest challenges of our time.

Contribute $5, $10, or more today to provide essential early support to translate the promise of 2008 into progress in 2009.

All of us are anticipating what an emotionally powerful day January 20th is going to be. So many dreams will be fulfilled, so many barriers overcome, and so much history will be made. A bold new era of American leadership is about to begin. However, we shouldn't wait until Inauguration Day to get to work.

All the best,

Bill Clinton

P.S. January 20th is going to be a day like few others in the entire history of our nation. But it's going to take a strong show of early support to meet the deep and serious challenges that await in 2009. Contribute $5, $10, or more today to provide that essential early support and ensure fulfilling the promise of this moment.