As summit opens, Biden says Africa wastes its women

Vice President Joe Biden gestures as he speaks in Washington, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, during the Civil Society Forum of the US Africa Summit.  President Barack Obama is gathering nearly 50 African heads of state in Washington for an unprecedented summit aimed in part at building his legacy on a continent where his commitment has been questioned. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Vice President Joe Biden gestures as he speaks in Washington, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, during the Civil Society Forum of the US Africa Summit. President Barack Obama is gathering nearly 50 African heads of state in Washington for an unprecedented summit aimed in part at building his legacy on a continent where his commitment has been questioned. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration pressed African leaders to tackle corruption and to give greater recognition to the rights of women as the first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit opened Monday in Washington.

"No democracy can survive without the active, intense participation of its people," Vice President Joe Biden said in remarks to the summit's civil society forum.

"This is more easily said than done," Biden said, underscoring that in many Africa countries there is "still an effort to monopolize power" and muzzle civil society with "harassment, intimidation, arrest, even violence."

While "America doesn't have all the answers," Biden said, African governments must allow "transparent institutions" if they want to deepen partnerships with the U.S.

Biden spoke a day before he and President Barack Obama are to meet with African heads of state as Obama seeks to build a legacy in Africa by shifting the U.S. approach to helping the continent toward investment over aid.

The vice president touched on topics the administration is pushing for across the African continent.

He called on governments to "draw on the talents of all of your people including women and girls" because marginalizing them is "a waste." Corruption, he said, stifles economic growth and prevents democracy from taking root. "It's a cancer in Africa, as well as around the world."

Over time, Biden said, "I'm confident you will be successful."

Obama, the first black president and the son of a Kenyan, is playing host this week to the first U.S.-Africa Leadership Summit. His administration says it expects more than $900 million in deals to be signed, with an emphasis on development driven by private business.

"The importance of this for America needs to be understood," Obama said at a Friday news conference. "Africa is growing, and you've got thriving markets and you've got entrepreneurs and extraordinary talent among the people there."

Trade and business, he said, is "the kind of relationship Africa is looking for."

In welcoming 50 delegations to Washington for three days of meetings beginning Monday, Obama is working to overcome perceptions that sub-Saharan Africa has been a low priority in his administration. For the past five years, Obama's foreign policy has focused on expanding ties to Asia, the crises in North Africa and the Middle East, winding down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, more recently, confronting a more assertive Russia.

By contrast, former President George W. Bush won praise for his initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa, including from Obama. The biggest part of that was a $15 billion commitment to prevent and treat HIV infections, known as Pepfar, and a $1.2 billion program to fight malaria.

Bush has remained involved with Africa. The Bush Institute at Bush's presidential library is co-hosting a forum for the spouses of African leaders. Former first lady Laura Bush is scheduled to take part in the program with first lady Michelle Obama.

Uganda's ambassador to the United States, Oliver Wonekha, and Ambassador Steve Matenje of Malawi, both Obama fans, said in interviews last week that Africans expect more from Obama, even as they appreciate the African initiatives he's announced to date and understand that U.S. fiscal challenges and international crises have consumed his attention.

"This is a big thing for Africa," Wonekha said of the summit. "We want investment. There isn't enough investment coming from the United States."

While calling Obama "an inspiration to many Africans," Matenje said, "Maybe he needs to do more to help African countries."

The summit "gives him an opportunity to show the continent that at the end of his term we will see a clearly defined legacy," Matenje said. "That's what we expect -- that this will be a turning point."

Obama remains more popular in Africa than he is at home, though that has waned since he took office, according to a Pew Research Center poll released last month.

Africans across seven nations said they have confidence in Obama, ranging from a low of 53 percent in Nigeria to a high of 78 percent in Kenya, according to the global poll that surveyed 48,643 people in 44 countries from March 17 to June 5. That's down from 2010 findings of 95 percent confidence among Kenyans and 84 percent among Nigerians. His U.S. approval rating in a July Pew poll was 44 percent.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the State Department on Monday, the start of a summit meeting here of more than 40 African heads of state, to denounce some of the leaders as "torturers" and "killers."

The protesters, who were mostly from Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said they were angry that the White House was looking to enhance economic ties with repressive governments. "Stop financing dictators," the crowd chanted. "President Obama, shame on you."

Information for this article was contributed by Jonathan Allen and Angela Greiling Keane of Bloomberg News and by Andrew Siddons of The New York Times.

A Section on 08/05/2014

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