Powell promotes peace, sustainable development in Africa

Visits Angola, Gabon's rainforests

Powell met with Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos Thursday.

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (CNN) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell took a break from the frenzied debate on Iraq Thursday to focus on peace in Angola and environmental conservation in Gabon.

During a brief stop in the Angolan capital of Luanda, Powell urged the government in the war-torn country to stop siphoning the country's vast wealth and start spending money on reconciliation.

Angola is facing the daunting task of recovering from nearly 27 years of civil war, which ended with a cease-fire and a peace agreement signed in April between the government and UNITA rebels, after the death of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi.

Powell, only on the ground for four hours, sent a powerful message that although the war is over, much work remains to heal the country's wounds and maintain the peace.

Powell met with members of the government, UNITA and a new U.N. joint commission that is spearheading the peace process. The United States sits on the commission as an observer, along with Portugal and Russia.

Powell told the group, "The United States stands ready to help" the country, and invoked Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, which served as a basis of reconstruction policy in the United States following the Civil War.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all," Powell quoted Lincoln, "... do all which may achieve and cherish a just peace."

"Reconciliation must begin now," Powell said. "The people of Angola have suffered enough."

Powell talks to displaced youg girls in Luanda, Angola.

Angola is facing a growing humanitarian crisis. Nearly one-third of the population -- about 4 million Angolans -- has been displaced by the war. In addition, about 80,000 UNITA troops, which completed their disarmament last month, and some 250,000 of their family members remain in demobilization camps awaiting reintegration back into society. The United Nations calls the situation the single largest emergency in the world.

Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos has appealed for international help in rebuilding the country and reintegrating the displaced population. But many in the country and in the international community have accused him of stealing the country's wealth, rather than spending it on the people.

Angola is one of the largest exporters of oil to the United States, second in Africa only to Nigeria. The country also has some of the world's largest deposits of diamonds and is rich in other valuable minerals.

U.S. officials said Powell told dos Santos that while the United States is ready to help alleviate the humanitarian situation, it is up to the president to spend the country's resources on rebuilding and to institute economic and political reforms, that would make Angola more attractive to private investment.

"The suggestion was clearly there that our long-term assistance is going to be more technical in nature," a senior State Department official said.

Most of the displaced people were once farmers, and U.S. officials said they will work with the Angolan government on a land reform program to help rebuild the agricultural sector. Because about half of the country is peppered with land mines, the farms will have to be de-mined before families can move in. That process is being led by the United Nations.

Powell also met with girls in an orphanage, where he heard painful stories of abuse they suffered during the war.

Powell then traveled to Gabon, where he took a helicopter tour of a rainforest and then stopped for a roundtable discussion with Gabonese officials and environmental leaders. They reviewed a new U.S. partnership with non-governmental organizations and Congo River basin countries to promote conservation of forests and wildlife resources.

President Omar Bongo recently declared 13 national parks covering more than 10 percent of Gabon -- a move Powell said is an example to all of Africa and to the world.

Powell's tour of the rainforest was led by Michael Fay, an environmental conservationist whose 18-month project walking barefoot through Gabon's pristine rainforests, which was documented by National Geographic, served as a catalyst for the government's decision to declare the nature preserves and for the United States to fund the partnership.

Coming from the sustainable development conference in Johannesburg, where he faced widespread criticism for U.S. environmental policies, Powell said the highlight of his visit to Africa "was not the summit meeting but a walk in the forest."

"For the United States this is money well spent," Powell said, adding that U.S. aid to natural resource conservation in the region is "not just a one-time shot."

"We are in this for the long run," he said.

Powell's brief respite in the rainforest was interrupted by a call from Washington about the attempted assassination of Hamid Karzai in Kandahar, Afghanistan.