Carnet Diplomatique - U.S. Foreign Policy Seeks Stability

The United States foreign policy on Africa is aimed at ensuring the stability of the continent through the promotion of democracy, economic growth, free independent media, fighting terrorism and mitigating conflicts.

Speaking last Wednesday May 23 in Yaounde at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, IRIC in a lecture on his country's policy on Africa, Jackson noted that though democracy is good and exists in various forms, it is not enough to guarantee stability. The real challenge of democracy, he said, is in governing wisely.

The envoy revealed that since the passage of the American Growth and Opportunities Act, AGOA in 2000, non-oil exports from Africa to the US have quadrupled. He added that his country's aid to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2011 stood at 9.1 billion dollars (about FCFA 4,750 billion) targeting among others, priority areas such as food security, health, climate change and strengthening civil society.

Terrorism, he pointed out, affects people indiscriminately; be it the act of an individual or group. While noting that it is a problem that the whole society needs to address urgently as the roots are often in poverty, he explained that terrorism is not a Christian, Moslem or animist problem. He recalled that the origin of suicide bomb attacks was in Sri Lanka among Christian Tamil rebels.

Jackson announced that his government will soon begin a school feeding programme in the Far North Region to encourage children to remain in school. America, he noted, is the largest investor in Cameroon in terms of volume, including Exxon-Mobil's Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project. As the largest contributor to both the World Bank and the African Development Bank, the US is indirectly providing support to Cameroon's major infrastructure projects, the US envoy said.