Colin Powell Makes First Trip To Africa As U.S. Secretary Of State

Jet, June 11, 2001

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell kicked off his first four-nation tour of Africa/making Mali his first stop.

Powell said he chose Mali because the nation is "firmly committed to democracy" and is "a model for the rest of the world."

Powell, the first Black U.S. Secretary of State, told reporters: "Obviously, I'm moved by the fact that I'm the first African-American secretary of state to visit Africa. There will be an emotional twinge to it all. Knowing that this is where my folks came from."

Powell, who traveled to Africa before he was appointed secretary of state, said: "I'm going back not to see it as a Black problem and as a Black man looking at a Black problem, but as secretary of state of the United States looking at a human problem."

The purpose of Powell's historic tour of Africa is to focus on the AIDS epidemic and democratic and economic reform.

On his second stop of the four-nation African tour, Powell met with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria, South Africa. Powell praised Mbeki for "doing everything possible" to deal with AIDS in South Africa, a country with one of the highest rates of AIDS infection in the world. More than 20 percent of South Africa's adults are infected with HIV, which causes AIDS.

The two leaders discussed various African problems, including strife in neighboring Zimbabwe and in the Congo.

At JET press time, Powell was slated to visit Kenya and Uganda before he travels to Budapest, Hungary.