Michael Battle, the former president of Atlanta’s Interdenominational Theological Center, will be sworn in Friday in Washington as President Obama’s appointee to the African Union.
The African Union is like a United Nations for 53 African countries. Battle will spend time in training and leave for his post in Ethiopia on Sept. 4.
We spoke with Battle about his upcoming work. He has worked as an election observer in Africa and was vice-president for four years of the American Committee on Africa, a Washington nonprofit promoting peace and democracy.
Q: What is your job going to be at the African Union?
A: One of the challenges is to assist in building the capacity of the African Union so that it can address all the issues that face the continent: political instability, dealing with war, piracy off the coast of Somalia, Darfur; to strengthen the African Union so that it can respond efficiently and effectively to the crises, while at the same time to develop the kind of relationships that will allow the U.S. policy to influence agricultural markets on the continent.
Q: Why is agricultural market development important?
A: Much of the arable land in Africa lies dormant because of lack of access to [modern technology and practices]. Lack of food creates a lot of instability. President Obama announced a major effort in food security, and my intent is to work with land-grant universities in the U.S. that have exceptional skills in developing land and making it more fertile to feed Africans. That stabilizes governments, lessens dependence on foreign aid. That will be the good part, the less dramatic part of what I’ll be dealing with.
Q: What’s the bad?
A: The crisis in Darfur, the crisis in Somalia. The recent coups [Guinea, Mauritania, Madagascar]. Agricultural development can only advance in an atmosphere of peace and stability.
That is the dramatic part of my challenge.
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