Debates

The following remarks were delivered at a plenary session on 19 October 2007 in New York City at the 50th meeting of the African Studies Association. This was, for an ASA, an extremely animated plenary attended by over 400. The question and answer session that followed indicated the huge concern of all those present. For instance, one suggested that the 'US is not interested in development or democracy; it is focused only on the "war on terror" and placing the Bureau of Homeland Security into as many states in Africa as possible'. Another suggested that 'the trend in Africa is militarising the continenet, creating terror in order to have a "war on terror" and suggested that the US was establishing military bases across the continent - a discussion we've had here in the pages of ROAPE about the use of language, i.e. when is a base not a base? when it's a facility run by privatised military or Bureau of Homeland Security. ROAPE asked the plenary partcipants to rise to the challenge once again and put pen to paper; they were given a very short time to do this. Mahmood Mamdani was not well afterwards and wasn't able to contribute in time and the US Ambassador to the AU, Cindy Courville, had at first agreed but then withdrew at the last moment.