Ghanaians Cheer Clinton’s View of Africa

ACCRA, Ghana —  President Clinton launched his tour here Monday with an exhortation for the United States, telling a huge, exuberant--sometimes too eager--audience here, “It is time for Americans to put a new Africa on our map.”

Clinton said he hopes his six-nation, 12-day visit, the longest by any sitting president to this continent, will send Americans a new message about Africa: It is about more than famines and tribal warfare. It is richer and more diverse. More than half of the 48 nations in sub-Saharan Africa have elected their governments. Many have growing economies.

“I want to introduce the people of the United States through my trip to the new face of Africa,” the president told an estimated half-million Ghanaians gathered in the capital of this West African nation. “Africa has changed so much in just 10 years. Dictatorship has been replaced [in] so many places.”

The crowd packed bleachers and jammed Independence Square, exceeding the size of any of Clinton’s previous audiences. It symbolized, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said, Africans’ enthusiasm for this visit.

But some of the Ghanaians were so eager to get a look at the American leader that they pressed against barricades, angering military police who used small clubs, whips and belts with metal buckles to keep the people back.

Despite the rough treatment, the crowd remained calm.

Clinton’s temper flared, though, when, while shaking hands and working the crowd in front of the stage, he saw some women being crushed toward him and into a gate. With concern and anger, the president yelled “Back up!” and “Get back!” at the throng.

After a short while, the president continued to mingle with the crowd.

There were no reports of serious injuries among Clinton’s audience--Ghanaians who were tired, thirsty and soaking with sweat after waiting as many as four hours in the steamy square to hear the president.

Joseph Donkor, 50, who farms an acre in a village in the Volta region northeast of Accra, had traveled six days over rough roads to catch a glimpse of Clinton. “America is the mother of all states, and when America speaks, the whole world bows down, so I deem it very important to see the head of that state,” Donkor said.

The president, accompanied by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, also plans to visit Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Botswana and Senegal--showcasing the successes in Africa. Clinton also will admonish those still engaged in violence, corruption and human rights abuses.

In Accra, he urged Ghanaians and other Africans to meet their huge challenges--malnutrition, disease, poverty, unemployment and illiteracy, as well as violent regimes.

Ghana, a British colony that won its independence in 1957, is a relative bright spot on the continent. It has a per-capita gross domestic product of $1,400 and held democratic elections for its president and parliament in 1996. By comparison, neighboring Togo’s per-capita gross domestic product is $900, and Ethiopia’s is $400. The United States’ is $27,607.

America gave Ghana $50 million in aid last year and “the United States is ready to help you,” Clinton said. “First, my fellow Americans must leave behind the stereotypes that have warped our view and weakened our understanding of Africa. We need to come to know Africa as a place of new beginnings and ancient wisdom.”

The president played to the crowd, starting his address by speaking in Akan, the dominant language of Ghana. Later, Clinton smiled as Ghanaian President Jerry J. Rawlings wrapped a bright yellow kente cloth around him. The crowd roared as Clinton displayed his garb.

Although Clinton did not come bearing big gifts--his administration did offer $67 million in new loans for power plants and a $500,000 grant for police training--many in the crowd said they hoped his visit indicated that help would be coming. “He’s the second Jesus,” Donkor said, stressing that he believes America can help Ghana to develop better roads, expand access to education and improve health care.

Maxwell Owusu, 34, a tailor from Accra, added: “I’m here to meet President Clinton because I think he’s the president of the world. It means a lot to see him in person. We believe our young democracy will have a big boost from his visit.”

In his speech, Clinton emphasized U.S.-African links, noting that 30 million Americans can directly trace their ancestry to this continent, which experts consider the cradle of the human species.

Referring to African Americans, Clinton noted, “It wasn’t so very long ago in the whole sweep of human history that their ancestors were yanked from the shores of western Africa as slaves. Now, they come back home to Africa and to Ghana as the leaders of America, a country that hopes to be a better model than we once were for the proposition that all men and women are free and equal, and that all children ought to have an equal chance.”

Clinton’s large traveling delegation, with African American members of Congress and his administration, includes: Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and his personal secretary, Betty Currie, who has been thrust into the limelight with her questioning by special prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr.

Earlier, the Ghanaian president also referred to the ties that slavery had forged between the nations. “Out of that tragic trade episode have arisen the indissoluble bonds that link the people of Ghana with the people of the United States,” Rawlings said.

Meantime, moved by discussions she heard on her last trip to Africa, Hillary Clinton lashed out Monday at the traditional practice of female genital excision, also known as female circumcision or mutilation. She called the custom, practiced in many countries throughout Africa and the Middle East, “sometimes deadly but always inhumane.” She praised Ghana for outlawing the tradition, which involves cutting off all or portions of a girl’s labia and clitoris and in some cases sewing the vagina closed.

“I want to congratulate this nation for your leadership, not only by passing a law outlawing this practice, but by making sure this law changes hearts and minds so that individuals understand what the law means and why it should be enforced in every village,” she told representatives of dozens of women’s groups at an Accra day-care center.