ICYMI: Senator Coons writes op-ed on creating jobs in US by increasing trade with Africa

Senator Chris Coons, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs,  published an op-ed in the News Journal on Thursday highlighting the opportunity to improve Delaware’s economy by expanding trade with Africa.

When American businesses sell their products in Africa, they grow and create jobs in their offices, headquarters and factories here at home. Nearly 10 million American jobs are supported by exports – including well over 11,000 in Delaware – and every billion dollars of U.S. exports could create as many as 5,000 new jobs. So it is in our economic interest to dramatically scale up our economic engagement with Africa. If we don’t, our international competitors will – and in some cases, they already have. At a meeting about U.S. export opportunities, an African head of state told me that while they “would prefer to work with the United States, the Chinese are already here.”

We cannot allow our competitors in the global economy to lock American companies out of fast-growing African markets, which have as many as 900 million potential consumers. Large and small businesses in Delaware, from DuPont-Pioneer to Baltimore Air Coil, based in Milford, are already selling their goods and services to African customers, but we have to do more to provide the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Click here to read the op-ed on the News Journal’s website.

Click here to learn more about Chris’ work on Africa.

Video: Senator Coons issues recommendations on boosting trade with Africa

Senator Coons unveiled an 18-page report detailing recommendations for boosting U.S. trade with Africa on Thursday, convening a press conference in the Capitol to unveil it. Standing with him to talk about the report and about why stronger African economies benefit the United States were Kenyan Ambassador to the United States Elkanah Odembo, the Chamber of Commerce's Scott Eisner, and the Corporate Council on Africa's Stephen Hayes. Videos of each of their remarks are below.

Senator Coons' remarks in announcing the report are below:

His Excellency Elkanah Odembo, Ambassador of Kenya to the United States:

Scott Eisner, Vice President for African Affairs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

Stephen Hayes, President of the Corporate Council on Africa:

Senator Coons hosts screening of NatGeo documentary on illegal ivory trade

This afternoon, Senator Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the African Affairs Subcommittee, hosted an advanced screening of the National Geographic film “Battle for the Elephants” in the Capitol Visitors Center.

“Battle for the Elephants” follows investigative journalists Brian Christy and Adrian Hartley as they examine the criminal networks and market forces fueling ivory’s global supply and demand. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, one of the world’s main ports for smuggled ivory, Hartley poses as an ivory buyer and documents poachers negotiating the sale of large quantities of tusks. In Hong Kong and Beijing, China, Christy explores the thriving industry of luxury goods made from ivory and the ancient cultural tradition of ivory carving.  Following the screening, Christy joined the film’s producers and director to answer questions and share insights about the experience of tracking ivory, as well as steps the international community can take to end this destructive trade.

Last May, this issue was the topic of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled Ivory and Insecurity: The Global Implications of Poaching in Africa. Since that time, elephant poaching on the continent has reached unprecedented levels.

Senator Coons’ office will host a Delaware screening of the film at the Penn Cinema Riverfront on May 13 at 6 PM. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Katie Carpenter, one of the film’s two producers and a Wilmington native, and John Heminway, the film’s director. The Penn Cinema Riverfront is located at 401 S. Madison Street in Wilmington. The event is open to the public.

Opportunity: Africa, as told through Twitter

Video: Sen. Coons questions John Kerry during Senate Foreign Relations nominations hearing

Senator Chris Coons questioned Senator John Kerry, nominee to be U.S. Secretary of State, at a Senate Foreign Relations nominations hearing on Thursday. Senator Coons, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, specifically asked what Senator Kerry would do to stem the influence China has on Africa’s economy, and prevent the exploitation of Africa’s resources and wildlife for illegal trade. Senator Coons recently visited several Middle Eastern countries with a bipartisan group of senators, during which time he visited a refugee camp in Syria. Senator Coons questioned Senator Kerry how he, as Secretary of State, would support the opposition forces in Syria now that the American government has recognized them.   

Video: Senator Coons condemns anti-Semitic comments by Egyptian president

In Cairo Wednesday as part of a Congressional delegation to the region, Senator Coons spoke with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell about recently unearthed anti-Semitic comments made by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and how those comments could impact Egypt's relationship with the U.S. Senator Coons had met with President Morsi just hours earlier.

Senator Coons also discussed the devolving situation in Mali, where Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and affiliated extremists -- which already control two-thirds of the country -- have launched an offensive against the Malian government. French forces have gone in to assist the Malian army in meeting that threat.

He later appeared on CNBC to discuss the kidnapping of 41 individuals -- including Americans -- by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in response to the French action in Mali.

President Obama signs Kerry-Coons bill to bring war criminals to justice

Senator Coons on Tuesday praised President Obama for signing into law legislation he co-sponsored to enhance the ability of the U.S. Government bring war criminals to justice. The bill would allow the United States to offer monetary rewards for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of foreign nationals accused by international criminal tribunals of atrocity-related crimes.

The Department of State Rewards Program Update and Technical Corrections Act of 2012, which was written by Senator John Kerry, would help bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against humanity including Joseph Kony and other leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

“All of these individuals face charges before international criminal tribunals for horrific acts, including attacks on civilians, murder, the recruitment and use of child soldiers and rape,” the White House said in a statement issued on Tuesday. “We have made unmistakably clear that the United States is committed to seeing war criminals and other perpetrators of atrocities held accountable for their crimes, and today’s legislation can help us achieve that goal.”

As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, Chris has been an outspoken advocate for capturing Joseph Kony and LRA leaders.

Click here to learn more about Chris’ work to stop the LRA.

Washington Post joins Senator Coons' call for a better plan on al Qaeda takeover of northern Mali

In an editioral appearing in Monday's editions, The Washington Post joined Senator Coons' call for a better plan on al Qaeda's takeover of northern Mali. Senator Coons chaired a hearing on the situation there last week, noting that the space now controlled by al Qaeda is roughly the size of Texas and is the largest terrorist-controlled area in the world.

ACCORDING TO the Obama administration, northern Mali “has become a safe haven for extremist and terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and affiliates” — the same forces linked to the deadly Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. mission in Libya. Northern Mali, says Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Africa, has become “the largest territory controlled by Islamic extremists in the world.” A Taliban-style rule of stonings and amputations has been imposed, and a dire emergency is unfolding: 400,000 civilians have fled their homes, and, the United Nations says, 600,000 children under the age of 5 are threatened by severe malnutrition.

Not to worry. U.N. officials say that the terrorists will be subdued by a military intervention — but not before the fall of 2013.

...

The Obama administration, for its part, is insisting that military action must be preceded by a multi-step political process, including democratic elections for a new Malian government and negotiations with groups in northern Mali that are not part of al-Qaeda. One, Ansar Dine, has imposed fundamentalist rule on Timbuktu and destroyed many of its priceless religious and cultural monuments, but the theory is that it can be detached from the transnational terrorists.

Negotiations, which began this month, are certainly worth a try. But it’s also worth bearing in mind what is happening while this process drags on. As a Malian minister told the Security Council, “there are floggings, amputation of limbs, summary executions, children forced to become soldiers, rapes, stoning, looting and the destruction of cultural and historical sites.” Perhaps the diplomats in Turtle Bay can conclude it’s prudent to allow such atrocities to continue for another 10 or 12 months. But morality as well as common sense suggests that intervention must come sooner.

Click here to read the Post's full editorial.

Video: Senator Coons talks Susan Rice and DRC on MSNBC

Senator Coons talked with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Thursday about the possible nomination of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice as Secretary of State, and about the developing crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Senator Coons is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs.

You can watch the interview below: