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American Morning
Colin Powell to Visit Africa
Aired May 22, 2001 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Colin Powell departs this evening on a six-day, four-nation trip to Africa. His focus will be AIDS and economic and political reforms.
With more on that, we go to our Washington bureau and CNN's Jeanne Meserve and David Ensor.
Hello to both of you.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Daryn.
The United States has pledged $200 million to help combat AIDS on the African continent. With some 25 million people infected, the HIV virus is the leading cause of death there. It is sure to be a major topic on the secretary's trip, which includes stops in Mali, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda.
National security correspondent David Ensor is going to be taking this trip with the secretary.
He's going to Africa before he goes to Asia, Latin America, or the Middle East. Why?
DAVID ENSOR, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: First of all, Colin Powell is someone who does feel great pride in being the first African-American secretary of state of the United States. He wants to put some attention to that continent. He feels that it is a continent of tremendous potential, and, of course, of huge problems. He doesn't think it should be ignored; he wants to focus some attention on it right early on in his incumbency.
MESERVE: Talk about the AIDS piece of this and what he hopes to accomplish.
ENSOR: He is going to go to a number of clinics and treatment centers to meet with people who are working in programs that the United States has put money into to try, to stem the tide, particularly in Mali, for example, where the infection rate of HIV- AIDS is around five percent. That's seen as kind of a turning point. If they can fight that, they can keep it from ballooning. But it could go up to 20 percent in a couple years if they don't get a good program in place. So he'll focus attention to the program that they are working on there. MESERVE: I'm sure he's also going to be talking about regional conflicts on the continent. Is there any indication that the United States will be taking a higher profile in mediating and peacekeeping?
ENSOR: Secretary Powell will urge, for example, the leaders in Uganda, where we'll be going, to honor the Lusaka accords and withdraw Ugandan troops from the Congo. He'll be focusing on the problems in the Congo, Sudan, and some of the other issues of warfare on the continent.
He's also very worried about Zimbabwe, and he'll be talking to the South African president, Mr. Mbeki, about the breakdown of law and order in that country, and what can be done by the neighbors.
MESERVE: There was some discussion yesterday that, at the end of this African tour, the secretary of state might meet with Yasser Arafat or Ariel Sharon. What do the prospects of that look like?
ENSOR: It's unlikely. Secretary Powell said yesterday he has no such plans. He announced that he is asking a senior American diplomat, Ambassador William Burns, in Jordan, who will be the next assistant secretary for the Middle East, if the Senate agrees, to come up with a series of recommendations for what the United States can do to try to get the Middle East peace process back on track.
So they are raising their profile a little bit. Mr. Powell hopes he won't need to go, but if something really bad happens in the meantime...
MESERVE: What is the risk of that, that there could be another big event?
ENSOR: Over the last few years, people haven't realized how important the security cooperation between the Palestinians and the Israelis has been. The American Central Intelligent Agency played an important role in keeping those security officers talking to each other. That probably saved a lot of lives.
That isn't happening right now -- there isn't the kind of security cooperation there has been, so there is a greater danger than there has been in a long time of some major conflagration, some majorly successful terrorist bomb. People are very worried about that, and crossing their fingers. If something really bad happens, you might have to see the secretary lengthening his trip.
MESERVE: David Ensor, thanks. Have an informative trip.
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