Former Texas senator and United States ambassador Robert Krueger spoke to a crowd of nearly 40 students on September 23 for the Duke Political Union’s fourth installment of its Super Tuesday speaker series.  Krueger was also a Duke professor and as the dean of Trinity College.

Krueger spoke mostly about his experience as ambassador to Burundi, a position that President Clinton appointed him to after losing his 1994 Senate bid. He vividly described the situation in the nation. He explained that Burundi—one of the 10 poorest nations in the world—had barely 10 college graduates upon independence. War has raged between the ethnic Hutus and Tutsi’s for much of recent history. Kruger explained that when he arrived in Burundi, roughly 100 murders were being committed each day mostly by the nation’s army.

Although he often inquired, Burundi’s army commanders would not explain the mysterious deaths to Ambassador Krueger. They often brushed killings aside by claiming they were accidents. Krueger told his audience of a time he ventured to the countryside. He saw firsthand atrocities including a 5-year-old child whose head had been split open by an axe, and 70 hastily buried bodies on a hillside. He exclaimed that these were no mere accidents.

After this experience, Krueger held a press conference and released the names of the 70 dead. When a reporter asked who was responsible, he replied “men in uniform.” Front page articles of 2 Burundian newspapers reported soon after, “Krueger a man who needs to be assassinated.”

A few weeks later Krueger survived an assassination attempt on a narrow mountain road, which prompted the State Department to try to remove him from the war-torn country. Krueger objected stating, “In Texas, when you fall off of a horse you get right back on the horse…so the worst thing that you could do is to pull the U.S. ambassador out of here. If I remained silent, who would speak?”

The theme of American responsibility to poorer nations encompassed much of the Ambassador’s speech. “The US knew slaughter was going on but we didn’t give a damn because they were poor, unimportant to us, and black,” Krueger argued daringly. “The notion that it isn’t racism is naïve. We sent troops into Bosnia but not Africa.” Although his attack on US foreign policy may be contentious, Krueger raises an interesting question: To what extent do we as the United States have a duty to protect other nations?

In response to a question Krueger explained, “I think the US, as the largest democracy in the world, has a responsibility to other nations. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean sending in troops or forcing democracy upon people.” Although he did not approve of attempts at democratization, Krueger did express his belief that as the world’s most powerful nation, the United States needs to maintain an active presence around the world. He concluded his speech by quoting the Bible, “To whom much is given much is required” (Luke 12:49).

Although many do believe we maintain a moral obligation to help those in the world less fortunate than ourselves, we also must look out for our own interests when conducting foreign policy. China is making loans all over Africa and locking up a good deal of the continent’s vast mineral resources as well. Africa is a continent of immense deposits of natural resources, and it is certainly not in our best interest to allow China to exploit them. It is in our interest to foster a relationship with African nations beyond the basic goal of promoting human rights.

When I asked Ambassador Krueger if he was worried by China’s recent presence in Africa, he explained, “Their influence there is going to be huge and their influence is not going to be democratic. We don’t have the financial institutions that can lend in the same way. It ought to be on the radar screen of our government because it’s going to be an issue in the near future.” We must take Krueger’s advice into account: not only because of a so-called moral duty we may have to the rest of the world, but also because our immediate presence in Africa is a necessity to maintaining our international hegemony. I have to ask, can we stand not to intervene in Africa?