Asst. Sec. Thomas-Greenfield at YALI 2016

Photo: State Department

YALI Mandela Washington Fellow Summit

Remarks
Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs

Omni Shoreham Hotel, Regency Ballroom
Washington, DC
August 3, 2016

Good afternoon, everyone! It is truly an honor to be here today to speak to you as you round out what I know has been an extraordinary rich experience in your respective universities across the United States. I know that you have had an exciting week so far and I suspect your excitement will peak later this afternoon, not by my speaking, but who comes after me.

It is really amazing to see almost 1,000 of you here today – double the number we had last year. I’m thrilled by the growth in this program and I congratulate all of you for being selected to what you know was an extremely competitive program.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of you in advance of today. I met the Liberian cohort in May. Where are you, Liberians? When I was visiting Liberia, they had just been selected. I also met this year’s cohort from Howard University. Are you here in the room? And I apologize to those of you who were at Madison, Wisconsin. I was supposed to meet all of you. And I welcome every single one of you here today. On Monday night I had the opportunity to meet the 50 entrepreneurs who received grants from the African Development Foundation and I want to congratulate all of you for your success.

When people ask me what is the most important initiative that the U.S. government under the Obama administration has in Africa and what will be the Obama legacy in Africa – and everyone has a different answer to that question, but I have one – YALI. I point to YALI for many reasons. But the most important one is all of you and what all of you bring to the program – your talent, your passion, and your potential.

You have heard this before but I will say it again: you are Africa’s future, and you inspire all of us every day by your enthusiasm, by your ambitions, and by your creativity. You are the reason, in the face of so many challenges, that we all continue to strive to make Africa better.

Empowering young people is at the heart of U.S.-Africa relations. Our mission is to partner with Africa to promote democracy, peace, prosperity, and opportunity. And we believe those goals intertwined in everything we do.

As we work toward these goals, I can think of no better partner than all of you – the Mandela Washington Fellows. You have already made a big difference through the work you have done in your home countries – and that’s why you were all chosen for this program. And it is our hope that this program helps you to make an even bigger impact in your country.

When President Obama addressed the African Union in Ethiopia last year, he said, “The most urgent task facing Africa today and for decades ahead is to create opportunity for the next generation.” 70 percent of Africans are under the age of 25. It’s a youthful continent. We have to ensure that youth like yourselves are engaged in your communities and you are vested in the future of your countries – that’s a central goal of YALI.

You are the change agents of the future and you will need to take the skills and ambitions you have to encourage other young people, because you are just a drop in the bucket. So we need you to be change agents; to be that one drop of red paint in the bucket of white that will taint the whole bucket to infect all African youth with the enthusiasm and dreams that you have. Your ambitions will have to encourage other young people who do not have the advantages that you have. They need you to invest in them the way we have invested in you.

We also have to ensure that women are fully engaged in their communities and contributing to their country’s growth in all areas. I’m really thrilled to say that half of the Mandela Washington Fellows in this room are women. Nothing against you guys, now. It was one of your colleagues on the first day, who said that women must lean in – they must lean in completely. This is your time, she said, let’s own it. We know African countries cannot succeed if they leave half of their population out of the mix. So I encourage you women out there to let your voices be heard. And I encourage you men to listen. I encourage you to listen to the voices of these women, because they are your partners.

As you all think about your future back home, after you return – and I know that you are anxious to get back home to your families, and to your traditional foods, and your own cultures – I want you to consider a famous quote by President John F. Kennedy and you have all heard it before – “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Let me hear you all say it – “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Do you know that this quote was made 55 years ago? And it still inspires all of us today. It still resonates with us and it continues to be relevant regardless of who we are and what country we are from.

For those of you not staying on for the internship program this summer, let me just state, this is the beginning – the beginning of a long-term commitment to being a force for good. And it is the beginning of the next chapter of your lives back in your home countries, where you will be not asking what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

The responsibility of being a Mandela Washington Fellow carries with it a huge burden to succeed. I know about that burden coming from a segregated background, where you can’t fail. I’m putting the burden on you. You cannot fail. Your burden is to succeed. It also means that you have to choose the high road. You have to choose what is right as you move forward. That responsibility extends to serving as role models for the youth of your country, sharing your experiences with them, and sharing your skills and expertise to create a multiplier effect across the region.

And let me be clear, Africa has undeniable challenges in terms of good governance, rule of law, and citizen empowerment. One of the speakers on the first day said all we hear about is the bad news of Africa. We need to do more to hear about the good news. And certainly, you are about that good news. But we cannot ignore the bad news, because you live it every single day. When the YALI Fellows were here in 2014, we were all engrossed about the impact of Ebola in West Africa. In 2015, it was the crisis in Burundi that is still slowly burning.

Today, South Sudan is very much on our minds as those brave and strong people continue to suffer from the threat of renewed fighting. I know we have 15 South Sudanese Fellows in this room right now. I want to tell them — to tell you — that the United States is dedicated to working with the international community to find a peaceful solution and a way forward for the people of South Sudan. So I ask all of you to stay connected with our brothers and sisters from South Sudan. Pray for their courage and their strength to face the challenges that confront them and their families over the next few years.

But let’s face it. While we remain involved, ultimately the leadership and the people of South Sudan will determine its fate. And that is true across the continent of Africa. Your families and friends and fellow citizens deserve stability and they deserve the opportunity to live their lives with dignity, free from fear and turmoil.

You, the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellows, were selected because of your talent; you were selected because of your potential; and you were selected because of your commitment to public service. Because you are blessed with special gifts – please don’t ignore that. Because of those special gifts, you have special responsibilities. And in my view, that responsibility is to build a better future for your country and for Africa.

I know no country is perfect, including my own. You have been here during an incredible time in the U.S. You have witnessed polarizing times in the United States this summer. I’m referring to the issue of well-publicized and tragic police killings of African-American men, and the tragic killings of dedicated police officers. Americans have different views on these tragedies, and different perceptions and assumptions that align with race.

I experience this issue personally. I have a son – of course he is black. I have a nephew, who is a police officer. Both are young black men who I worry about every single day. But I can tell you this because I think it is important for you to understand that all people continue to struggle. To build a more perfect union, we have to continue to work together. And that more perfect union, we are all working in the United States to build. And I think it was important for you to see that we are not a perfect society, but we work constantly to pursue perfection. We work constantly to address issues. And we have confidence in the future of our own country.

Martin Luther King once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Sometimes it seems like it is not bending quickly enough, but let me be clear – it is bending. And through YALI, through this fellowship, I hope we can continue to understand each other’s struggles and make sure that we all have better futures together. I am totally confident that we will achieve this in the United States and on the continent of Africa because of young people like yourselves, both in the U.S. and in Africa.

Today I also want to note that in this midst of celebration, there is a pale of mourning in this room – mourning of a loss. And I would like to take a moment to reflect on the life of John Paul Usman, a Fellow from Nigeria, whom we lost in a tragic accident this summer. And I want to offer our condolences to John Paul’s family, friends, and to the YALI family. John Paul’s promise and leadership brought him here with you this summer, and it is our sincere hope that those of you who knew John Paul will carry forward his aspirations of peace and gender equality as you return to your communities. Although John Paul is no longer here with us today, we know that he will live forever as a Mandela Washington Fellow.

Finally, as you think about your futures, I want to offer four pieces of advice to add to what I know are your already full notebooks:

Number 1: Stay connected. Stay connected with each other and serve as each other’s mentors, sounding boards, and more importantly, as each other’s support. Senator Coons said that to you on Monday. He encouraged all of you to stay connected when he spoke.

YALI erases borders. We have 49 countries here today, and I see no borders between you. With modern technology such as WhatsApp – the 2015 YALI Fellows taught me WhatsApp when I was visiting South Africa – you can share ideas, seek advice, and commiserate with each other. And also, you can mentor each other, you can inspire each other, you can provide inspiration to each other. You are each other’s brain trust. So let me repeat: Stay in touch, offer advice, and help each other succeed.

Number 2: Stay in touch with us. Stay in touch with your universities you attended and the amazing
staff and professors who guided you through this program.

And we hope that your relationship with us is just beginning. I encourage you to participate in embassy programs when you return home. Maintain contact with the YALI Network and our Regional Leadership Centers. Take advantage of all of the professional development opportunities that you have. This is, I think, the lasting value for you of YALI.

Number 3: Work on ‘closing the gap.’

I always write down notes when I talk to people if something resonates with me. And I recently met a young woman who serves on the High Court of Uganda. She spoke about the need to ‘close the gap’ between men and women. And we talked a little bit about that. But this applies to all sectors of society. The gap between the haves and the have nots is way too big. The gap between the educated and those who are not educated is way too big. The gap between those who have the advantages of YALI and those who don’t is way too big.

So I ask you to close the gap. We need youth leaders like yourselves to close all of these gaps. In many cases, it is as simple as extending a helping hand to one person. That hand might actually be the hand that will make a difference to that person’s future.

Number 4: Lastly, and most importantly, I want to urge all of you to dream big.

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf once said at a Harvard University graduation speech, “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”

You all have incredible potential – do not limit yourselves. And remember that you are already leaders. YALI did not create you as leaders. We found you as leaders. The goal of YALI is to give you the tools to be even better, greater leaders than you might have been otherwise. So let me tell you – dream big.

Let me conclude:

Every single one of you in this room – you are going to change lives. You are going to change the trajectory of Africa and the world. I am as confident of that as I am standing here with you today.

I want to congratulate all of you for what you have achieved thus far, and I want to congratulate you in advance for what you will achieve in the future. I look forward to meeting all of you when I’m traveling around Africa. I always ask to see the YALI Fellows. I actually have every single one of your email addresses. You may not have mine, but I have yours. And you will hear from me as I get ready to go to a particular country. I might just pick one YALI Fellow from the cohort from your country and say I’m coming, can you organize to make sure we have an opportunity to see each other.

And the reason I do that is because you inspire me. I know that dealing with all the crises we have to deal with, the difficulties of everyday life, dealing with war and peace on the continent of Africa, it would be hard for me to keep going if I did not have the inspiration that you provide to me and my colleagues every single day.

So, let me end. Go forth and do great things!

Thank you.

Secretary Kerry Issues Statement on Cote d’Ivoire’s National Day

Department of State
Washington, DC
August 5, 2016

On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the people of Cote d’Ivoire as you celebrate the 56th anniversary of your nation’s independence on August 7.

Looking to the future, Cote d’Ivoire has many reasons for confidence, including your country’s robust rate of economic growth, a decline in poverty, and democratic progress in the wake of successful elections last fall.

The friendship between our two countries is based on shared values and a commitment to working together closely to build prosperity, foster development, protect the environment, and safeguard the security of our citizens from violent extremism and other threats. We look forward to continued partnership with you in all of these areas and more.

I offer my warmest wishes to the Ivoirian people on this special day and throughout the year to come.

Secretary Kerry Issues Statement on Niger’s National Day

Department of State
Washington, DC
August 3, 2016

On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the people of Niger as you celebrate the 56th anniversary of your nation’s independence on August 3.

The United States commends Niger for its leadership in countering security threats and promoting economic development in the Sahel. We are committed to continued partnership in support of democratic institutions and humanitarian assistance, and we look forward to working together to improve irrigation and market access for agricultural products through the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact you secured this year.

I wish all the people of Niger a peaceful and joyous Independence Day.

Secretary Kerry Issues Statement on Benin’s National Day

Department of State
Washington, DC
August 2, 2016

On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the people of Benin as you celebrate the 56th anniversary of your nation’s independence on August 1.

Benin and the United States enjoy a close friendship that is firmly rooted in the interests we share and the values we uphold. Your country’s position as one of the leading pillars of democracy in West Africa was reaffirmed by the free and fair elections conducted this year. My government looks forward to working closely with you in the year ahead to promote good governance, sustainable economic growth, access to quality health care, and security for all your citizens.

On this joyous day, I wish all Beninese happiness and prosperity.

U.S.-Angola Strategic Energy Dialogue in Washington

Office of the Spokesperson
Department of State
Washington, DC
August 1, 2016

The U.S. Department of State’s Energy Resource Bureau welcomed a delegation from Angola for the third installment of the U.S.-Angola Strategic Energy Dialogue. The Minister of Petroleum of the Republic of Angola, Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, and the Minister of Energy and Water of the Republic of Angola, Joao Baptista Borges, participated in the discussion co-hosted by the U.S. Department of State’s Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, Amos J Hochstein, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Christopher Smith. The dialogue focused on Angola’s petroleum and power sectors.

During the dialogue, the U.S. and Angolan delegations reviewed progress made in the bilateral relationship in the energy sector since the previous strategic energy dialogue in August 2011. Participants discussed the need for regulatory changes in the energy sector as well as the importance of creating a favorable business climate to attract more private investment to Angola. Other topics included oil and gas sector operational security and the environmental impacts of oil and gas installations.

The U.S. and Angolan delegations concluded the dialogue by reaffirming their joint commitment to this important area of cooperation and mutual interest.

For further information, please visit www.state.gov/e/enr, and Twitter @EnergyAtState for more information.

U.S. Official on Religious Extremism in Africa

File Photo
 
Remarks
Sarah Sewall
Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights
Remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington, DC
August 1, 2016

(As prepared for delivery)

Good afternoon. Thank you, Jennifer, for the warm introduction, and to Richard, Ben, and the terrific teams at CSIS and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom for bringing us together.
As you probably know, we at State rely on CSIS’s world-class research and analysis to help us look around the corner and make sense of emerging challenges. So I’m pleased that you’ve taken on the topic of religious extremism in Africa.

As your project implies, policymakers need to better understand both how religion affects issues of security and stability, and equally important, how to encourage and reinforce non-violent, tolerant expressions of faith.

And while much global attention to violent extremism focuses on Syria and Iraq, religiously motivated violent extremism is on the rise in Africa – in East Africa, West Africa, the Sahel and the Maghreb. You have picked an understudied yet vitally important issue to examine.

Now let me state the obvious at the outset: freedom of religion and conscience are bedrock principles of US foreign policy. The United States favors no particular faith. Within our own borders we embrace all religions.

The United States abhors the use of any ideology to justify violence or to violate universal rights. It simultaneously rejects claims that specific religions are the cause of terrorism. As President Obama has said repeatedly, “we are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”

In Africa and around the world, religion propels many people to do inspiring good. In my work as Under Secretary, one of my greatest privileges has been meeting countless faithful who give all they have to their communities.

Last March I traveled to Zanzibar, a small island off the coast of Tanzania. As I so often do, I met with representatives from different local faith communities. This meeting had particular impact – because it’s where I learned what acid does to a person’s face.

Sheikh Zaraga is more than a local imam; he’s an institution. He won people’s respect not through fiery sermons, but through tireless, thankless work for people in the community. Connecting the unemployed to jobs. Mentoring aimless youth. Preaching tolerance and respect.

His face was the face of Islam – positive, hopeful, peaceful. When attackers hurled acid at it, they shook the community to its core. Extremist violence had come to Zanzibar in the last couple of years, seeking to terrorize in the name of the same religion the community had practiced for centuries. Sheik Zaraga’s faith was being perverted and rebranded.

Elsewhere in Africa, violent extremism is linked to purported religious tenets. Boko Haram abducts young girls who have the audacity to learn. The Lord’s Resistance Army enslaves children to carry out horrors. Rogue followers of traditional religions attack people with albinism to traffic their body parts. Homophobic vitriol spouted in some churches and mosques has inspired mobs to murder gay people in the streets of Abuja, Kampala, and elsewhere.

Many violent extremists harness religious claims to cloak their depravity and inspire followers. Sadly, acts of violence in the name of religion are as old as religion itself, and they persist in communities around the world, from so-called honor killings to wife burnings.

But today we see trends that appear novel and dangerous: the rise of organized, heavily armed, non-state actors that justify violence and territorial ambitions with religious ideologies. Groups like al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, al-Qai’da in the Maghreb, and the LRA. These groups threaten Africa’s every achievement and aspiration: from economic growth, to women’s rights, health care, and education. For Africa’s future – and for global security – they must be defeated.

That begins with understanding what allowed these groups to take root and spread. We cannot ignore the influence of violent religious ideologies that inflame passions and dehumanize the other. Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram, for example, justify their brutality in twisted interpretations of Salafism. Many al-Shabaab leaders were indoctrinated in ultra-conservative religious schools in the Middle East. The LRA’s purported faith entails a warped version of the Ten Commandments it seeks to impose on others. When these groups repeatedly invoke religion to spill blood and inspire followers, we cannot pretend religion has no role.

But our analysis cannot stop there, because the story is far more complex. Many other factors play a role in spurring people to violence or making them susceptible to violent ideologies, including religious ideologies. These factors will be unique to local circumstances, but they will likely also reflect broad themes such as marginalization, poor or abusive governance, limited opportunity, and feelings of discontent and dislocation.

AQIM exploited feelings of marginalization across northern Mali to establish new outposts of terror. Most of Boko Haram’s followers hail from historically neglected regions of northern Nigeria.

Political and economic exclusion among the ethnic Acholi helped spark the LRA in northern Uganda.
In many parts of Africa, vast ungoverned territories provide violent extremists areas to train, recruit, or tax. Deep in the forests of Central Africa, the LRA and Boko Haram are free to sustain their evil. They have safe havens from which to strike and wreak havoc on communities before melting away to recover and strike again.

Government incompetence and abuse also fan extremist violence. In East and West Africa, corruption allows extremists to cast themselves as pious alternatives. In Somalia, years of anarchy in the 1990s led some to welcome al-Shabaab’s promise of security and the rule of law. Unlawful and excessive force by government – often in the name of security – can empower factions arguing that violence is the only option.

After the former Nigerian government’s spate of police brutality and extra-judicial killings, Boko Haram escalated its campaign of terror. Similarly, alleged abuses by the Ethiopian military in Somalia elevated al-Shabaab by allowing the group to tout itself as defender of the faithful.

Violent extremists are also abetted by more recent trends linked to globalization, like the proliferation of information and communications technology, which gives them new platforms to cultivate followers, connect otherwise distant sympathizers, and recruit beyond areas of their physical control.

Violent extremists similarly exploit rapid population growth and industrialization across Africa. Countless people, especially young people, have left villages to find work in teeming cities and make sense of their place in a new economic and social order. Adrift in these rapid changes, violent ideologies promising purpose, community, and identity find appeal. Compounding the problem, extreme weather events made worse by climate change add to experiences of dislocation and discontent.

All these factors help explain the emergence of violent extremist groups, and they raise serious alarm about the vulnerability of communities across Africa struggling with similar issues – especially as Da’esh seek new footholds for expansion on the continent.

The United States stands with all Africans to prevent the spread of extremist violence. Across the continent, but especially in East Africa and the Sahel, we train and equip foreign militaries, share intelligence, and support police to enhance border security. These are well-known elements of our counterterrorism approach in Africa.

However, today I’d like to focus on a newer but equally vital dimension of our approach – what we call Countering Violent Extremism, or CVE.

While counterterrorism focuses on existing extremist threats, CVE seeks to prevent the next generation of threat from emerging.

CVE emphasizes governance, elevating issues of rights in the counterterrorism partnership. It calls on governments to embrace a do no harm approach. This means working with security and police forces to end impunity for abuses, embedding public institutions with mechanisms for transparency, and reforming prisons to separate petty criminals from violent ideologues.

Engagement around CVE can work. After months of outreach by US diplomats, the police chief of Mombasa began to openly question whether the practice of widespread, indiscriminate round-ups was compounding the problem. The County Commissioner of Mombasa confided, “We are trying to stop being firefighters.”

Encouraging that shift can be hard. In the wake of extremist violence, governments and citizens often want quick results and tough shows of force, making it easier to fall into harmful patterns of overreaction that can compound the problem.

Countries must also push back against the propaganda violent extremists use to twist vulnerable minds and pull communities to their orbit. Part of that work is partnering with the tech community to disrupt extremist incitements to violence on the Internet by flagging content or accounts tied to known terrorists.

Another part is amplifying the voices of mainstream religious leaders to denounce violence as an insult to the deepest tenets of true faith. Up to 90 percent of Africans say religion is “very important” in their lives; giving African religious leaders enormous influence.

We help religious leaders make use of that influence, for example by training imams to use Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging to reach a wider audience. We lead efforts to promote inter-faith dialogue to soothe sectarian tensions that can inflame calls for violence. And we encourage the efforts of other governments, like Morocco’s regional initiative to train imams from Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria on refuting violent perversions of Islam.

These steps are important but insufficient. Violent ideologies and propaganda resonate with some because they offer something to those desperate for purpose, identity, community, and even adventure. So we can’t just refute what they’re offering; we have to offer something better, something more empowering and affirming and connected to their needs.

We must also unleash the power of communities, including local officials and civil society. The voids violent extremists try and fill are often best tackled on the ground, in town halls, schools, and families. Governments that stifle civil society and sideline communities sap their own power against violent extremism. Instead, governments need to lift burdensome restrictions on civil society and give them a meaningful role in identifying and addressing the forces behind violent extremism.

Here again, the engagement of religious actors is vital. In Africa especially, where weak states struggle to perform core functions, religious institutions often fill the void – providing education, employment, and even financing. These roles can be just as important, if not more so, for curbing radicalization.

CVE recognizes this and calls for active engagement with religious communities, and not just religious leaders, who are overwhelmingly male and are not especially young. Often the best messenger is not a crusty authority figure, but a classmate, a sister, a peer. So engaging with younger members of faith communities is vital.

The same is true of women. Although African women hold few formal leadership roles in faith communities, they are often the most active members. When women’s rights and status come under attack, it often foreshadows a broader shift toward radicalization and violence. I remember hearing the anguish of Muslim women in Tanzania, who lamented that they could barely recognize their faith in the weekly sermon because the tone had grown so hardline and exclusionary.

Finally, CVE emphasizes strengthening ties between African governments and the communities they serve. Things we may take for granted – constituency outreach by local officials, town halls between police departments and the neighborhoods they protect – these are not common in many parts of Africa. In their absence, it becomes harder to build trust and cooperation between citizens and government.

By contrast, when communities come together in common purpose, violent groups struggle to infiltrate. When dozens of young Kenyans were arrested last year for links to violent extremism, parents, police, and imams came together to develop a solution. The children were released, but on the condition that their parents vouched for their behavior and that they attended weekly religious instruction. Cooperation, trust, and little creativity by the community put these kids on a better path and saved dozens of young lives from languishing in jail. That’s what communities of common purpose can do.

Over the last two years, the US government has helped lead a shift toward this more localized and preventive approach to violent extremism in Africa and around the world. Secretary Kerry empowered the Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism to embed this broader approach in all our work. This May, State and USAID released their first-ever joint CVE strategy outlining how to unite our diplomatic and development tools. We’ve also stood up a new Global Engagement Center to spearhead our messaging effort and seize the initiative in the battle for vulnerable hearts and minds.

In East Africa, we’ve launched pilot CVE programs to serve as a model going forward. Instead of having a variety of short-term, disparate efforts – a youth outreach program in one area, a counter-messaging initiative in another – here’s what we did. Experts from across our government came together to pool funds, conduct extensive research, develop a common diagnosis, and design a truly integrated program to address the specific forces enabling radicalization to violence in the specific places identified as most vulnerable. This sort of targeted, holistic, and research-driven effort is how we can help communities remain on a path of stability instead of succumbing to extremist violence.

At the global level, State is helping foreign governments, international NGOs, and multilateral bodies establish counter-messaging centers, develop CVE strategies, and share best practices. The United Nations has taken up the cause. The U.N. Secretary General released a Plan of Action for Preventing Violent Extremism, and just last month, the General Assembly endorsed its recommendations calling on member states to emphasize good governance, human rights, community engagement, and development in their approach for violent extremism. UNESCO has mobilized to help teachers prevent radicalization to violence, and the UNDP will assist African governments undertake CVE programs.

These steps represent a positive evolution, a maturing of sorts, in how the world tackles violent extremism. These steps are more holistic and realistic in recognizing a multiplicity of sources of violent extremism and seek to address underlying factors that make people susceptible to messages of extremist violence. They are proactive in that they seek to prevent radicalization. They recognize the limits of governments to shape faith itself, and the necessity of relying upon the mainstream faith community to reassert the tolerant and peaceful tenets of a given religious practice.

As CVE efforts expand, however, governments must be clear-eyed about the challenges. It takes time to change harmful government practices, strengthen public institutions, and repair trust between communities long neglected by the state. And while there is no guarantee that research can fully disentangle the complex drivers of extremist violence to guide CVE efforts, it is certainly critical for helping governments and civil society better address the causes that render individuals and whole communities vulnerable to violent ideologies.

Some international actors seem reluctant to adapt their programs and priorities to address CVE, even as violent extremists threaten everything they work for – from women’s health and empowerment, to economic development, to human rights.

Resources remain limited. Last year, the U.S. spent less than $200 million on CVE programs worldwide. That’s less than the cost of just one F-22 fighter jet. Despite the attention terrorism garners and the devastation it inflicts globally, there is an unfathomable gap between what the world spends to combat existing threats instead of preventing new ones from emerging. Foreign assistance lacks a constituency, and prevention work is the most difficult to fund because it’s hard to measure dangers that never materialize.

That’s why strengthening monitoring and evaluation will be crucial to building support for a more preventive approach, and we are encouraged that bodies like the World Bank, World Economic Forum, and African Development Bank are starting to lend their expertise in this area.

There are also challenges in identifying and funding the right local partners on the ground. Local groups and leaders with the greatest influence over those most vulnerable to violent extremism often look very different from the partners the international community has grown accustomed to working with.

In addition, current law prohibiting material support for known terrorists can inadvertently prevent us from assisting those best positioned to help. For example, the group Kenya Supkem de-radicalizes and rehabilitates al-Shabaab fighters. This work is essential for peeling off faltering supporters and creating powerful voices to refute al-Shabaab’s lies. But under existing law, Kenya Supkem would have to exhaustively itemize every single expense to confirm that US funds provided no direct assistance to former al-Shabaab fighters.

Moreover, those best positioned on the ground rarely have the means – for reporting, budgeting, administration – to apply for and maintain international funding. So we have to look closely at this issue and consider how to better make use of third parties to empower those on the ground, like the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, which has pilot CVE programs in Nigeria, Mali, and soon in Kenya.

But we are making progress on this front as well. We helped establish the RESOLVE Network (Researching Solutions to Violent Extremism) to connect local researchers studying the drivers of violent extremism in their communities. And we helped launch the Strong Cities Network to link municipal leaders – including from cities in Kenya, Senegal, and Mauritania – struggling on the front lines against violent extremism.

Let me be clear: this is a struggle for the future of countless communities across Africa. The damage wrought by violent extremists measures not only in the blood they spill, but the investments they deter, the textbooks they burn, the women and girls they enslave, the vast human potential they squander.

But despite the grim headlines, I remain hopeful. I’m hopeful because I saw how, even after acid mutilated his face and terrorized his community, Sheikh Zaraga insisted on tolerance, on respect, on peace. I’m hopeful because I remember how hungry he was for answers, how resolved he was to answer the sting of violence with the strength of community.

And we must stand with him and leaders across Africa struggling for the future of their communities and the soul of their religious beliefs.

At the same time, we must reject framing the problem solely around religious ideology – not only because this pits religions against each other, but because it misses the broader picture. It needlessly limits what we can do. We know individuals are not born hating and violent. They become so for a series of complex reasons – personal, communal and structural.

Where violent religious movements operate, we are not powerless to prevent their spread, even if there are limits to what we can achieve. Moreover, much of what we can do to help avert violence is also worth pursuing on its own – giving people a greater stake in their community and greater confidence in their future; ending government abuses; improving basic education and health services.

These are steps we can take, practices we can change, debates we can and must win on behalf of the most vulnerable communities.

So the complexity of this threat is not a call for complacency, but a call to all of us who care about Africa’s future to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Thank you.

Angola Becomes 175th Party to the Biological Weapons Convention

Department of State
Washington, DC
July 29, 2016

On July 26, the Republic of Angola deposited its instrument of accession to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). The United States congratulates the Republic of Angola on taking this step, which advances the goal of universality of this important Convention.

With this action, the Republic of Angola has become the 175th State Party to this pillar of the global regime against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It will allow Angola to participate this November as a State Party in the BWC’s five-year Review Conference, where the United States will work with other Parties to reach consensus on ways to strengthen this Convention.

For more information on the State Department’s work on international security and nonproliferation, follow our Assistant Secretary on Twitter @ISNAsstSecy, Facebook @StateDepartment.ISNBureau or visit www.state.gov/t/isn/.