The African Agenda 

Washington Post, Thursday, December 5, 2002; Page A34

IT MIGHT BE expected that President Bush's meeting today with Presidents Daniel arap Moi of Kenya and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia would be dominated by the war on terrorism. East Africa has been a center of activity for al Qaeda for some time; yesterday Mr. Bush directly blamed the group for last week's bombing in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. The United States badly needs the cooperation of the Kenyan and Ethiopian governments to uproot terrorist networks in their own countries and help prevent neighboring, lawless Somalia from becoming an al Qaeda base. Still, war can't be the only item on the White House agenda: Mr. Moi and Mr. Zenawi also need to be given a push toward accepting political and economic reforms.

Terrorist groups have taken root in the region in part because of the misrule inflicted on nearly 100 million people by these two presidents. Ethiopia's slow recovery from civil war and famine was wrecked by its senseless border war with neighboring Eritrea at the end of the 1990s; now it is facing another potential famine that Mr. Zenawi says could affect 15 million people in the coming months. The Ethiopian leader blames bad weather for the incipient crisis, but another important cause is his own failure to push through economic reforms, such as the privatization of land ownership. The United States and other Western donors should step in to prevent another catastrophic wave of starvation in Ethiopia; but they must also press Mr. Zenawi to implement the economic and political liberalization he has long promised.

Kenya may stand at an even more important juncture. Later this month, Mr. Moi, who has ruled the country with a mixture of autocratic brutality and malfeasance since 1978, is due to oversee presidential elections in which he is not a candidate. A free and fair election and the retirement of the 77-year-old "Big Man" could be a turning point in the postcolonial history of Kenya, where development has been all but strangled by corruption and mismanagement. An opposition coalition has managed to unite behind a consensus presidential candidate who promises reform; but Mr. Moi is trying to install a puppet successor, the 41-year-old son of the man he replaced two decades ago. There's no need for the United States to take sides -- but Mr. Bush does need to insist that Mr. Moi not try to steal the election or prolong his own tenure in power in the event his own candidate does not win. Though getting his compliance may seem less important than tracking down the terrorists who organized last week's bombing, it would do more to determine whether Kenya becomes, over time, an ally the United States can genuinely depend on.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company

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