Newspaper Page Text
4A Friday, December 14, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WASHINGTON/POLITICS
Senate rebukes Saudis over Khashoggi, Yemen war
J. SCOn APPLEWHITE I Associated Press
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrives to give House
members a classified security briefing, with Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo, not shown, on the murder of Jamal
Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, on Capitol Hill
in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 13.
BY MARY CLARE JALONICK
AND LISA MASCARO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Sena
tors voted Thursday to
recommend that the U.S.
end its assistance to Saudi
Arabia for the war in
Yemen and put the blame
for the death of journalist
Jamal Khashoggi squarely
on Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, in
a direct challenge to both
the longtime Middle East
ally and President Donald
Trump’s handling of the
relationship.
The succession of biparti
san votes came two months
after the Saudi journal
ist’s slaying at the Saudi
consulate in Istanbul and
after Trump persistently
equivocated over who was
responsible. U.S. intelli
gence officials concluded
that bin Salman must have
at least known of the plot,
but Trump has repeatedly
praised the kingdom.
Senators made clear
where they put the blame.
The resolution, passed by
unanimous agreement,
says the Senate believes the
crown prince is “responsible
for the murder” and calls
for the Saudi Arabian gov
ernment to “ensure appro
priate accountability.”
Senators voted 56-41 to
recommend that the U.S.
stop supporting the war in
Yemen, a direct affront to
the administration’s war
powers abilities.
The floor action brought
an unusual show of bipar
tisan resolve in the Senate
over U.S foreign policy,
even amid an uncertain out
come as the measures move
to the House.
Frustration with the
crown prince and the White
House prompted several
Republicans to support the
Yemen resolution as a way
to rebuke the longtime ally.
Seven Republicans and
all Democrats voted for it.
Some already had concerns
about the war, which human
rights groups say is wreak
ing havoc on the country
and subjecting civilians,
many of them children, to
deadly disease and indis
criminate bombing.
Independent Sen. Bernie
Sanders of Vermont, who co
sponsored the Yemen reso
lution with Republican Sen.
Mike Lee of Utah, called the
vote a “historic moment.”
Lee said Khashoggi’s
death focused attention “on
the fact that we have been
led into this civil war in
Yemen half a world away”
and “we’ve done so fol
lowing the lead” of Saudi
Arabia.
“What the Khashoggi
event did was to demon
strate, hey, maybe this isn’t
a regime that we should just
be following that eagerly
into battle,” Lee said.
The resolution con
demning Saudi Arabia
for Khashoggi’s slaying
was introduced by Senate
Foreign Relations Chair
man Bob Corker and Sen
ate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell. Both Republi
cans opposed the Yemen
resolution and voted against
it.
McConnell said sena
tors have grave concerns
about Khashoggi’s killing,
but “we also want to pre
serve a 70-year partnership
between the United States
and Saudi Arabia, and we
want to ensure it continues
to serve American interests
and stabilizes a dangerous
and critical region.”
But McConnell urged col
leagues to back the resolu
tion on Khashoggi’s death.
Its passage, he said, pro
vided “a clear and unambig
uous message about how we
feel about what happened to
this journalist.”
The resolution also calls
the war in Yemen a “human
itarian crisis” and demands
that all parties seek an
immediate cease-fire.
It appears unlikely that
the House would be willing
to consider the Yemen reso
lution. House leaders added
a provision to an unrelated
House rule that would make
it more difficult for lawmak
ers there to call it up.
CIA Director Gina Haspel
briefed House leaders on
the Khashoggi slaying on
Wednesday, and Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo and
Defense Secretary Jim Mat
tis briefed the full House on
Thursday.
Pompeo and Mattis
briefed the Senate last
month and told senators
there was “no direct report
ing” or “smoking gun” to
connect the crown prince
to Khashoggi’s death at
the Saudi consulate. But a
smaller group of senators
leaving a separate briefing
with Haspel days later said
there was “zero chance”
the crown prince wasn’t
involved.
House Republicans were
less eager than their Sen
ate counterparts to criticize
Saudi Arabia and the Trump
administration. House
Majority Whip Steve Scalise,
R-La., said after Thursday’s
briefing that he was waiting
to see the outcome of the
administration’s ongoing
investigation.
Scalise said there had
been “discussions” about
action before the end of
the year but wouldn’t say if
GOP leaders would consider
Corker’s resolution.
Khashoggi, who had lived
in the U.S. and wrote for The
Washington Post, had been
critical of the Saudi regime.
He was killed in what U.S.
officials have described as
an elaborate plot as he vis
ited the consulate for mar
riage paperwork.
Trump’s new Africa strategy takes sharp aim at China, Russia
BY MARIA DANILOVA
AND CARA ANNA
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
Trump administration on
Thursday announced a sharp
refocus of its Africa strategy
to counter what it called the
“predatory” practices of
China and Russia, which are
“deliberately and aggres
sively targeting their invest
ments in the region to gain a
competitive advantage.”
National security adviser
John Bolton laid out the new
strategy in remarks at the
Heritage Foundation, saying
the U.S. will now choose its
African partners more care
fully. He took special aim at
China, accusing it of wielding
“bribes, opaque agreements,
and the strategic use of debt
to hold states in Africa cap
tive to Beijing’s wishes and
demands.”
Russia, he alleged, is also
“seeking to increase its influ
ence in the region through
corrupt economic dealings.”
Russia and China’s efforts
across the African continent,
he said, “stunt” its economic
growth.
Some critics have said this
administration has let Africa
policy drift for too long, while
the president is well known
for his disparaging remarks
about the continent that is
home to 1.2 billion people.
Addressing members of
Congress on Wednes
day, Assistant Sec
retary of State Tibor
Nagy was the latest
to warn of China’s
increasing economic,
military and political
influence in Africa, a
continent with some
of the world’s fastest-
growing economies
and trillions of dollars’ worth
of natural resources. Africa’s
population is set to double
by 2050, he said, a “demo
graphic tsunami.”
Any renewed U.S. effort
to counter China in Africa,
however, comes years late.
China became the continent’s
top trading partner nearly a
decade ago and has invested
billions of dollars in high-pro
file infrastructure projects.
In response to warnings
by the U.S. and others about
indebtedness to China, some
in Africa have noted some
times uncomfortable finan
cial terms set out by Western
powers in the past. Others
praise China’s no-strings-
attached terms with no
insistence on human rights
reforms.
Congress passed
legislation earlier
this year creating
a $60 billion inter
national devel
opment agency,
widely viewed as a
response to Chinese
overseas develop
ment programs.
Under the new
“Prosper Africa” strategy,
Bolton said, “we will encour
age African leaders to choose
high-quality, transparent,
inclusive, and sustainable
foreign investment projects,
including those from the
United States.”
He warned that the U.S.
will “reevaluate its support
for U.N. peacekeeping mis
sions” as well as aid to coun
tries whose governance it
finds troublesome, including
South Sudan.
“The United States will no
longer provide indiscrimi
nate assistance across the
entire continent,” Bolton said.
He added that “countries that
repeatedly vote against the
United States in international
forums, or take action coun
ter to U.S. interests, should
‘Russia is also “seeking to increase
its influence in the region through
corrupt economic dealings.’”
John Bolton
National security adviser
Bolton
not receive generous
American foreign
aid.”
On the military
front, China opened
its first overseas mili
tary base last year in
the Horn of Africa
nation of Djibouti,
the site of the only
permanent U.S. mili
tary base on the continent.
Bolton warned of a possible
shift of the strategic region,
along the lucrative and busy
Red Sea shipping lane, to
China.
As Beijing and others seek
to grow their military pres
ence, the U.S. is pulling back.
The Pentagon in November
said it planned a 10 percent
cut in the U.S. Africa Com
mand’s total force of 7,200
troops, to be carried out over
several years, as its global
focus shifts from counterter
rorism to perceived threats
from Russia and China.
Whatever steps the U.S.
takes next, perceptions
are an immediate hurdle.
The president is known for
his reported unflattering
remarks: comparing some
countries to a filthy toilet,
referring to the nonexistent
nation of “Nambia” and
saying Nigerians — from
Africa’s biggest economy and
a top oil producer — would
never return to their “huts”
once they saw the U.S.
While Congress has
restrained some
of his administra
tion’s proposed deep
cuts in foreign aid,
Trump has put forth
no signature Africa
project and there is
no sign he intends to
visit.
Jennifer Cooke,
director of the Insti
tute for African Studies at
George Washington Univer
sity, said the U.S. should avoid
trying to be too transactional.
“We are not going to beat
China at its own game, which
is massive investments and
in infrastructure and roads,
ports, railroads and vanity
projects,” Cooke said. “What
sets the U.S. apart has been
a broader engagement,
beyond government, looking
at development, civil society
and, frankly, serving as some
thing of a moral authority on
human rights, democracy
and governance issues.”
African nations will ulti
mately benefit from this com
petition, Judd Devermont,
who was the U.S. national
intelligence officer for Africa
until earlier this year, told the
Senate Armed Services Com
mittee on Wednesday.
“Some of the current
uproar over Chinese invest
ment in Africa is overblown
and ill-informed,” he warned,
saying many of China’s infra
structure projects address
desperate needs.
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