Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - Saturday, May 26, 2001
Warren P. Strobel, Herald World Staff
Powell was heckled and jeered, called an "Uncle Tom," and his motorcade was blockaded for half an hour by demonstrators. But he also drew a standing ovation from a crowd of college students and touching personal tributes from AIDS victims.
"I am here today to say on behalf of President Bush that Africa matters to America, by history and by choice," Powell assured teachers and students of Witwatersrand University.
He was met by skeptical inquiries from students, who questioned recent U.S. actions abroad and even Powell's own military past. Their comments suggested they see Powell as the sympathetic public face of a less-than-sympathetic White House.
As he prepared to leave the university in downtown Johannesburg, a small group of students protesting U.S. policies in the Middle East blocked his motorcade for half an hour in a sometimes-tense confrontation.
The scene could hardly have been more different earlier in the day in the sprawling black townships of Soweto, where Powell and his wife, Alma, listened intently at the Village of Hope community center to the stories of women infected by the AIDS virus, which is ravaging South African society.
"Your visit means a lot to us," said Florence Ngobeni, whose child died of AIDS and who is infected with HIV, the virus that causes the disease. "The government has always let us down, but you have promised and always deliver."
From the West African nation of Mali to South Africa to Kenya and Uganda, where he stops this weekend as part of a six-day tour, Powell is making the case that Africa is a major foreign policy concern of the Bush administration.
He notes Bush's $200 million contribution to a world AIDS fund, his recent meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and an African trade forum that Powell will convene in Washington this fall.
Powell received a standing ovation after his speech at the university, in which he called on a new generation of Africans to embrace free markets, democracy, the rule of law and foreign investment. "America will be with you every step of the way into the future," he pledged.
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