An African Program for the Africans:

...Thus the indirect channeling of aid through an all-African agency is much more suitable to our purposes than unilateral assistance, though the latter must be retained at least on an interim basis...

...The allocations to individual countries would be based on long-term national development programs related to overall continental and regional plans and prepared on the basis of standard terms of reference...

...These pressures will undoubtedly find their outlets in some of the same manifestations which have proven so troublesome in Nkrumah's regime...

...Finally, in their determination to direct their own affairs and to redress what they regard as wrongs perpetrated against them by colonial powers, the Africans are bound to make certain moves which will be offensive to the West...

...Western policy should seek to isolate the African continent from further cold war conflict...

...True, Castro's role in stirring up anti-Americanism in Latin America stands as an ominous warning of what could happen in Africa, where leadership can change overnight...

...has no choice but to seek to perpetuate Ghanaian neutrality, unpalatable as we may find it...

...The U.S...

...No amount of outside help will bring about an immediate transformation of the emerging African states into a prosperous and stable community living in harmony with the rest of the world...

...We should demonstrate a willingness to help them help themselves...

...last year toured West Africa to gather material for a comparative study of the climate for private investment in Liberia, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which «ill be completed in June...

...Nigeria is beset by many serious internal tensions, and throughout Africa there are many of the same pressures that have developed in Ghana...

...In addition to forcing the hand of the Communists, there are a number of other important advantages to placing the major responsibility for development of African economies in an African agency...

...For the most part, however, the industrialized urban areas will be small islands on a vast sea of primitive African tribalism...

...The first is to write off Africa as a risk which does not warrant the engaging of any American interests or resources...

...Although they profess a preference for multilateral aid, African governments might actually prefer to receive aid on a bilateral basis, thereby perpetuating their bargaining power...

...The only likely replacements for Nkrumah on the Ghanaian political scene would carry the country straight into the Soviet camp...

...More likely, however, would be a negative reaction against the sacrificing by Ghana of that most highly prized treasure of African politics—independence...

...Since their domestic economies remain highly dependent on their overseas territories, both of these powers hesitate to loosen the vertical bonds between Europe and Africa to permit a wider exchange between the African economies...

...None of these objections, however, carries the same weight as the basic political fact that Western long-range interests are best served by charging the Africans with maximum responsibility for dealing with their own problems, and by limiting as much as possible the EastWest confrontation in the African continent...

...In 1956-60 Kloman was the assistant to the Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in problems of African economic and political development...

...And the more that certain African countries play East against West with apparent success, the harder it is for others to resist the temptation to do the same...

...As the European Recovery Program helped to establish an atmosphere favorable to the European unity movement, so the proposed African economic development program would foster unity in Africa...

...He would not gain stature in their eyes by selling out to the Communists...

...There may be times when the United States and the Western nations must take direct action to defend fundamental interests, but we should not be distracted by the temptation to counter or match the Soviets at every point...

...Experience has already established that economic assistance, although it may serve vital economic and political ends, does not necessarily win friends...

...unevenly distributed, difficult to reach and often unknown natural resources...

...The United States, along with the ex-colonial powers, will inevitably be charged with a large share of the responsibility for Africa's failure to realize its ambitions...

...Other international agencies qualifying for such status might include the Commission for Technical Cooperation in Africa South of the Sahara, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the European Economic Community and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development...

...Unlike the European members of the former OEEC, the Africans are ill-prepared to plan economic development, to allocate funds or to supervise their expenditure effectively...

...Should the Communists decide to take part in the program, they would undoubtedly try to subvert it to their own ends, but experience in other international programs has demonstrated that there are means of minimizing such dangers...

...Yet it is impossible to state with certainty whether Nkrumah has committed himself to play the Soviet game or whether he still hopes to maintain a position of positive neutrality...

...We should impress upon the Africans our deep interest in their welfare...

...But the United States is the principal source of aid funds for many other underdeveloped areas, and now that its own economy is under severe strain it is more apparent than ever that it cannot begin to meet all the demands from Latin America, Asia and Africa...

...It is in the interest of both the free world and Africa, therefore, to find rational ways to allocate the limited resources which the United States and other industrialized nations can make available for assisting African development...

...Allocation of aid should be determined in accordance with a schedule of priorities in which African continental and regional needs and potential take precedence over African national needs and potential...

...But none of the new African countries can become instruments of Western power in Africa...

...In practice, however, its recommendations were nearly always acceptable, since American advisors worked closely and in a spirit of mutual cooperation with the European members of OEEC...

...Let us look briefly at three of the major alternatives...

...Essentially, this is a logical extension of the general policy of indirect rule which has governed British colonial administration in Africa...

...Congress, for instance, has shown a consistent reluctance to allocate funds which it cannot control...

...It is already apparent that the new Administration will place a high priority on Africa during the next four years...

...The annual allocation of these aid funds was made by the European membership of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), in which the United States and Canada were represented as associate members...

...They are not only unwilling to remain in the lowest position of human society, they are determined to leap across centuries into the most advanced order of civilization...

...Finally, such a program would enable Great Britain and France to reconcile their conflicting economic interests in Africa...

...Of course, if this country's youth decides to help underdeveloped peoples by working in the President's Peace Corps or similar programs, the mutual benefits would be substantial...

...to base its African policy on a strong anti-Communist stand and cites the danger represented by the Leftist leanings of Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah...

...Within the foreseeable future, many of Africa's most serious problems will remain insoluble...

...Also, it will undoubtedly be difficult to win support for a multilateral African aid program in the legislative bodies of the Western governments...

...The foregoing proposal admittedly presents a number of difficulties...

...In the minds of many Americans this compelling humanitarian call alone justifies the commitment to emerging Africa of a considerable portion of our physical and human resources...

...Any implication that the United States is taking up the white man's burden for the second time is harmful to our interests...

...But if Africa falls into the Soviet orbit other parts of the world will be adversely affected...

...African trade is of great economic importance to Europe, and Africa's physical resources are important to the West...

...Even Liberia, once regarded as America's outpost in Africa and still avowedly pro-Western, has recognized the advantages of doing some business on both sides of the political street...

...Of course, neither the European countries nor the U.S...

...The basic relationship between donor and recipient nations would parallel that established by the Marshall Plan, the most successful of American aid programs...

...Nkrumah is intensely disliked by the present leaders of most other African countries...

...This could best be achieved, I think, through the formation of an organization of African states for the coordination of economic development...

...But all stress their determination to pursue a neutralist course which they insist will not entail any limitation upon their sovereignty...

...Others who are accepting aid from both sides include not only such Leftist-oriented nations as Guinea, Ghana and Mali, but also Ethiopia, the Sudan, Tunisia and Morocco...

...The U.S...

...Without dampening the ardor of those seeking to bring about a better way of life in Africa, it should be possible to present a realistic view of what is feasible...

...Implicit in America's position is the unenviable onus of choosing between conflicting claims for support...

...But the United States cannot neglect other key areas...

...In like manner, the Communist nations should be invited to channel their aid funds to Africa through the proposed organization...

...Many signs point toward a deeper and deeper involvement with the Soviets and a corresponding estrangement from the West...

...Similarly, France favors the build-up of the French African countries which have benefited from their traditional economic association with France and the Common Market...

...The process of working together in their own program also would stimulate among the Africans a greater awareness of the interrelatedness of the economic interests of individual countries...

...woefully inadequate food, housing and education...

...And in a continent dedicated to anticolonialism in all forms, no nation will accept Western aid which entails political commitments...

...As to strategic interests, another school sees the argument for helping Africa essentially in terms of the EastWest power struggle...

...The United States, since it cannot materially alter the basic conditions which are at the root of Africa's troubles, has little choice but to learn to live with them...

...The African nations also regard neutralism as the best policy for getting maximum support from the two worlds to finance the heavy costs of their development...

...How can the Africans gain a sense of responsibility for ordering their own economic affairs...

...In the "time of troubles" which lies ahead, Africa's leaders are likely to be drawn from the ranks of those nationalists who are committed to rapid economic and social progress...

...If the Soviets remain outside of the program, they would impair their psychological position vis-a-vis the Africans...

...Viewed in the context of the current East-West struggle, the prospects for resolving these problems seem remote indeed...

...In these circumstances, the United States would be ill-advised to commit its resources unilaterally and directly to dealing with the vast complex of African problems...

...The Western nations, by their participation, would escape the otherwise inevitable charge of scapegoat for all of Africa's ills...

...The second major alternative, or the opposite extreme, is to commit ourselves unreservedly to finding solutions for Africa's internal and external problems...

...In 1950-53 he was assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs...

...We do not downgrade the importance of Africa by acknowledging that its problems must be considered within a global context...

...With the help of Western technology the Africans can make notable progress in modernizing urban areas and in building certain elements of the infrastructure on which economic development is based...

...Given the justifiable doubts concerning Nkrumah's desire or ability to avoid increasing entanglement with the Soviet bloc and the somewhat more hopeful prospects for Nigeria, we may naturally favor Nigeria as a locus of American and British support...

...The forces working for demagoguery and authoritarianism will continue to grow and will not readily accept blame for their failings or weaknesses...

...Existing aid programs would be consolidated to the maximum extent possible to assure coordination and to magnify the impact of the multilateral effort...

...Should Ghana go as far to the Left as Guinea, moreover, the impact of this defection on the rest of Africa need not be a mortal blow to Western interests...

...These would be represented by Africans, not Europeans...

...And the United States, by defining the limitations of its aid, may disabuse the Africans of expectations that cannot be fulfilled...

...The PEOPLES of Africa, inhabitants of the last continent still emerging from colonial rule, are increasingly impatient for visible indications of economic progress...

...would be willing to forego altogether their bilateral aid programs...

...Most of the countries of former British and French Africa have thus far given no encouragement to any Eastern overtures, but the price the exmetropoles must pay for the privilege of retaining their African associations is increasing...

...assistance can meet only a small portion of the overall requirement...

...But by channeling at least a substantial share of their development funds through an African organization, the European powers could help to replace a restrictive, artificial and vulnerable economic relationship with one more conducive to future harmony between Europe and Africa...

...It urges the U.S...

...The vast majority of politically conscious Africans fear both a new Western influence and Soviet Communist control...

...But humanitarianism and idealism do not form the best possible basis for foreign policy, however much Americans may wish for a revival of these two qualities in our society...

...It is completely consistent, too, with the principles spelled out in former President Eisenhower's October 1, 1960 proposal for a United Nations African program...

...Should Ghana go the way of Guinea, it is argued, the future of all West Africa would be in jeopardy...

...At any rate, a policy based exclusively on anti-Communism will prove sterile in a continent where Communism represents neither the most imminent nor the most dangerous threat...

...policy...

...Associate membership or observer status would be granted to dependent territories...

...Some countries, e.g., the ex-French territories and Nigeria, incline toward Western values...

...But the relationships between nations are determined primarily by strategic interests, not by moral considerations...

...Consultative status would be granted to those nonAfrican governments or international agencies which contribute above a stated minimum level to the capital of the agency...

...Africa's capital needs alone are so vast that U.S...

...Support for Nkrumah, already widespread outside Ghana among extreme nationalists, could come to the fore in a wave of violence directed against all Western influence...

...Involvement in African power politics in order to build up one set of powers as a counter to the proCommunist bloc offers very slight chance of favorable returns for the West...

...It is important to understand, however, that the path toward a prosperous and stable Africa is both long and treacherous...

...Non-African governments contributing to the capital funds of the agency would also enjoy consultative status in the proposed African development program...

...We do not stand to gain by staking our international position on the immediate and unqualified success of the African experience in independence...

...Such an agency might be set up along the following lines: • Full membership would be restricted to the independent African states contributing to the equity capital of the agency...

...was not bound to accept OEEC recommendations for allocations...

...The Africans would be largely accountable for dealing with their own problems...

...THIS BRINGS US to the third alternative, advocated by President Kennedy in his Inaugural Address, which is to help the Africans help themselves...

...a shortage of capital, skilled technicians and markets...

...For these and other valid reasons, this approach has found no support among those responsible for formulating U.S...

...personal contacts can have a more powerful impact than straight financial aid...

...others, e.g., Ghana and Guinea, consider some aspects of the Soviet experience applicable to the Dark Continent's problems...

...What approach offers the greatest opportunity for transcending the narrow nationalism of the new African states and promoting a cooperative effort to develop their economies...

...Leaders capable of firing popular emotions by their vision of a greater Africa for the Africans will attract a much larger following than the advocates of gradualism...

...Africans are right, of course, in believing that the experience gained by modern industrialized societies provides shortcuts to this goal, but they underestimate the scope and complexity of their problems: a patchwork design of national boundaries drawn by colonial powers who gave little attention to tribal or ethnic factors...

...Such a view is by no means intended to suggest that Africa should not receive the urgent attention of Americans, or that American policy should not seek to deal more effectively with the serious issues at hand in Africa...

...Should the Soviets take over the African continent, it is argued, they would become bogged down in the morass while the West would be free to build up its positions in more critical areas...

...HOW SHOULD the United States conceive its national policy with respect to Africa...

...Proponents of such a disengagement contend that Africa is less important strategically than other continents and that its problems are so complex as to defy solution...

...Those who favor such a total involvement maintain that it is a moral obligation for America to come to the assistance of impoverished and backward peoples belatedly released from the yoke of "colonial oppression...

...Before the European Recovery Program was actually set in motion, Soviet bloc nations were invited to participate in it...

...In a situation so fraught with all the elements of chaos, the sole beneficiaries of any extension of the cold war are the Communists...

...Egypt seems to have escaped harmful repercussions from Soviet aid for the High Dam at Aswan...

...Each African nation is racing to develop its economy as a means of attaining ascendancy in Africa...

...The OEEC, now reorganized as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, would be just one of the international agencies to enjoy consultative status in the proposed agency for African economic development...

...a culture that places a very high value on leisure...

...So long as there is any doubt, the U.S...

...its recent trade and aid agreements with Yugoslavia will probably be followed by similar agreements with Eastern bloc countries...

...is even less likely to win African friendship by allowing itself to remain in the middle of highly competitive bidding for its support...

...Certainly an intense rivalry can be anticipated among the African governments seeking to obtain funds through the proposed agency...