Interview on e-tv

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you for inviting me.

MR. REDDY: There was hardly a mention of Africa during last year's presidential elections, yet you are here four months into your administration. Has Africa suddenly become a priority for the United States?

SECRETARY POWELL: No, I think Africa has always been a priority for the United States. In a domestic election campaign you focus on the issues which will move voters in one direction or another and that's what you saw in our election campaign last year.

But from the very first day of the Administration, President Bush made it clear to me that he wanted Africa to be a priority and he wanted Africans to see that America had Africa as a priority. So he has encouraged me to find a place in my calendar early on to visit Africa. He has participated in a number of activities already, whether it is the announcement of a forum that will be held later this fall to keep the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act movement accelerating or whether it is a global trust fund to combat HIV/AIDS which he announced with Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the UN. He has received President Obasanjo and he looks forward to receiving President Mbeki next month, so I think it's not bad for the first five months to show that we believe that Africa is important.

The reason for it is quite simple, 800 million people in a continent that is undeveloped, where there are challenges but where there are a very large number of bright spots -- nations that are following the democratic path and understand that free enterprise is the proper direction into the future -- and we want to work with those nations. And we also see as a matter of urgency HIV/AIDS and other communicable disease pandemic that is in sub-Saharan Africa.

MR. REDDY: Now you met President Mbeki last night and you praised him for his leadership in Southern Africa. Yet, President Mbeki has been criticized for dithering on issues such as HIV/AIDS. What advice would you have for President Mbeki?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well I think President Mbeki has been a tremendous leader for South Africa for many years -- during the resistance effort, as vice president during the period of transition, and now as the elected President of South Africa. He is also playing a role of regional leadership, concerned about problems in neighboring countries and other parts of the continent. And I also think he has put together a strategic plan, a good strategic plan, to deal with HIV/AIDS.

You may have noticed that earlier today the Foreign Minister and I gave a joint press conference and Foreign Minister Zuma described in very, very clear terms the government's approach to foreign ministers sitting together talking about HIV/AIDS. Quite impressive, I thought. But she has a grasp of the problem and she gave the government's position quite clearly. It is HIV/AIDS; HIV causes AIDS. You need a comprehensive, integrated approach to deal with the problem. So I think that shows leadership on the part of President Mbeki and so I congratulate the government for the plan that it now has in place. I have gotten good reports on that plan from our ambassador, Ambassador Lewis.

So whatever might have been some of the concerns in the past, I leave here with a pretty clear understanding in my mind that everybody now considers that the scientific community is correct and we're all marching in line with the finding that HIV is the cause of AIDS. Our programs have to accept that fact and prevention, treatment and ultimately finding the cure for AIDS has to be linked to the scientific knowledge that exists and we all accept.

MR. REDDY: Now HIV/AIDS has become a priority for your administration. What can African governments expect in terms, perhaps, of a new package from the United States Government?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we have increased funding for HIV/AIDS efforts by over one hundred percent over the last three years, over two administrations and we'll continue to seek increases from the Congress. I have already testified this year for a ten percent increase in the State Department budget. On top of that President Bush directed us to work with Kofi Annan and others to come up with this global trust fund idea and we found additional money within existing accounts to put another $200 million dollars into this trust fund. It's just the beginning. A lot of others should also put money into this trust fund.

(Inaudible) Africa will certainly be a priority because the greatest problem is here in Africa, but I would say to all the leaders of Africa, don't sit around waiting for money to come your way. Help is on the way, help will come, we are working with pharmaceutical companies, we're investing billions of dollars in our domestic health accounts to find a cure for HIV/AIDS which will benefit the whole world. But there is a lot that governments can do right now, leaders can do right now, without a single dollar from the United States or anywhere else, and that is to stand up and speak out about the practices that cause AIDS to be transmitted. They can stand up and speak out against taboos and "let's not talk about this" and "let's not educate our children." That doesn't take any money, that just takes leadership to speak in the right way with respect to prevention, getting treatment, not stigmatizing people, allowing people to continue to find gainful employment even though they may be HIV-positive. These are things that don't require money, don't require programs, they require leadership and I encourage all leaders throughout Africa to begin speaking at every level -- community leaders as well as national leaders, religious leaders, cultural leaders; all have to speak out.

MR. REDDY: Why don't we move on to another issue and that is neighboring Zimbabwe. President Mbeki has been criticized for his softly-soft approach in dealing with Zimbabwe, but other countries have been more robust in their criticism of Zimbabwe to no avail. How do you deal with a country like Zimbabwe who doesn't seem open to persuasion?

SECRETARY POWELL: That's very difficult. It is always challenging to deal with a country that has an entrenched leader who doesn't realize that the right thing to do at this stage in his nation's history is to trust the people. Trust the people to make a decision as to how they should be governed and how they want to be governed. And you do that with the democratic process, you do that through elections. As I said in the speech earlier today at Witwatersrand University, one vote, one person, one time, but do it frequently.

People should have the right to change their minds as to how they will be governed. That's what a democracy is all about . And President Mugabe does not accept that clear principle and as a result he has been taking political actions and other actions which have destabilized his economy, destabilized confidence in the country and it is going to be a problem much more for South Africa than it is going to be for the United States or other nations, because you are liable to get the refugees that might come from an economic crisis, humanitarian crisis.

So I think we should use both soft voices from time to time and harsh voices but at the end of the day these are decisions that the people of Zimbabwe and President Mugabe will have to make themselves.

MR. REDDY: In your meeting with President Mbeki last night, did you press him to take a harsher stance?

SECRETARY POWELL: We discussed his approach. He explained it to me in considerable detail and we had some conversations as to what approach might work best. But I would not wish to suggest that I know what President Mbeki might do at the next opportunity that he has with President Mugabe.

MR. REDDY: It has become well known that the U.S. has little appetite for getting embroiled in peacekeeping on the African continent, but given the U.S. involvement in other parts of the world, Kosovo, for example, couldn't this be interpreted as double standards on the part of the United States?

SECRETARY POWELL: I don't think it is a double standard. I think that we should be careful where we send our troops for various missions, particularly when there are alternatives to sending our troops. I think it is a much more effective way to deal with peacekeeping requirements in Africa by training African units to serve these kinds of missions. And so we are quite willing to support that kind of effort -- regional training initiatives -- we have been training African battalions for service in Sierra Leone. We have been paying for their training. Sending American trainers, sending American troops in to do the training and then getting them out, giving them the equipment they need to perform in the field.

We are spending almost $300 million dollars -- over $300 million dollars in the upcoming year to support the United Nations peace keepers in Sierra Leone and so there are troops that can perform these kinds of missions from other nations, and in some cases can perhaps perform them in a better way than U.S. troops who are coming from cultures that are quite different and backgrounds that are quite different.

And because of our worldwide responsibilities -- we have commitments all over the world in hundreds of different places. And even though we are a large country with the largest military, the most powerful military on the face of the earth, we can't constantly pick up new missions all over that tie down our troops for long periods of time.

MR. REDDY: But what would it take in the DRC, for example, for the United States to intervene directly?

SECRETARY POWELL: Intervene directly how? I mean, what you need there is a political solution not a United States Army infantry division sweeping into the country. I could assure you if that was our idea and we had done such a thing, we would be attacked now for intervening in Africa's internal affairs with the United States Army. So we think the better way is to support the peacekeeping efforts, support political reconciliation. Use our diplomatic efforts. I've met with President Kabila; I've met with President Kagame. Provide financial support, technical support. Those are things we are quite good at. And we don't rule out peacekeeping of all kinds forever and ever, we just think it's wise for us to be careful how we commit our troops, under what circumstances and to make sure we commit them in a way that will improve the situation.

MR. REDDY: We can take Angola. Angola, of course, is of strategic importance to the United States because of the oil. Is the Bush Administration prepared to use its influence to get all parties to the table to end the civil war there?

SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, I'm very anxious to see that civil war ended. We have not been supporting Mr. Savimbi in recent times and political reconciliation is what is needed now. This is a country with an enormous potential, enormous wealth potential, with its access and ownership of oil; if only this conflict can be ended this can be a rapidly developing country. So I hope that we can find a political solution, that the two parties can find a way to reconcile their differences. President Mbeki and I had a long talk about this last night. I know he is trying play a helpful role to bring that about.

MR. REDDY: Mr. Secretary there have been increasing calls for South Africa and especially leaders of the stature of former President Nelson Mandela to get involved in peace efforts in the Middle East. Do you see a specific role for South Africa?

SECRETARY POWELL: Not directly, yet. I think what is very helpful right now is for South Africa, should it choose to do so, to fall in behind the Mitchell Report that was issued earlier this week which starts the process going toward a satisfactory settlement. And I would call on both sides to cease violence -- unconditional cessation of violence. "Unconditional," a key word. Meaning let's not wait for other things to happen, let's just do it now. Let's stop the violence and I hope both sides will realize that it's the only way they really will achieve peace in the region and find a way for these two peoples to live in this one land.

We had two more suicide bombings in the area today -- what's been accomplished? Two more young men, I understand, have given their lives for their cause and two innocent people were killed -- are the reports I have. And has this moved anything one way or the other? No. But will retaliation help? No. The violence will continue. So I call on all leaders of the world to call on leaders in the region to have an unconditional cessation of violence, then we can move on to the issues that are keeping them apart, whether it has to do with settlements or refugee resettlement or what have you. But you are not going to be able to move this process forward under these conditions of violence.

Mr. Sharon has been elected to bring some level of security to the Israeli people and he has not forgotten his election pledge and it will be difficult for him to move forward. So Mr. Mbeki and I had a good conversation about this, as did Foreign Minister Zuma and I, and I am encouraging them to play the helpful role of keeping the political pressure on the two sides.

Mr. Mandela, at some point, his standing in the world, is always useful for these kinds of activities and I'm pleased to see he is working on the problems in Burundi.

MR. REDDY: Mr. Secretary, we have to leave it there. Thank you very much for joining us this evening.