Security and economy. These are the main subjects on the agenda of the mini-African tour that the American vice-president, Kamala Harris, is starting from March 25 to April 2. A tour that will take her successively to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, for what is her first official visit to the land of her ancestors. For Washington, this tour by the Vice-President is an extension of the USA-Africa summit last December, and aims to “to strengthen American partnerships across Africa and to advance our joint efforts toward security and economic prosperity.” Two themes that fit well with the news of the black continent which is today suffering, economically, from the induced effects of the war in Ukraine and for which the security challenge remains unresolved throughout its territory. If this is not a way for Washington to show all the importance it attaches to its relations with Africa, it looks very much like it.
This diplomatic offensive by the Biden Administration looks like a catch-up operation
And this first trip of the number 2 of the White House to Africa is anything but trivial, when we see the tireless efforts of the head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, who is increasing his trips to Africa where he was still last week, more specifically in Ethiopia and Niger to talk, among other things, about peace, development and security. A position that contrasts with that of the former tenant of the White House, Donald Trump, who has never hidden his disinterest in a continent that he has always considered a conglomeration of ” shitty country “. That is to say whether this diplomatic offensive by the Biden Administration, which has all the appearance of a catch-up operation if not redemption from the dark continent, can be perceived as a desire by Washington, turn the Trump page. We are all the more justified in believing this since this trip to Africa of the first black woman appointed Vice-President of the United States is in line with a series of tours by senior American officials on the continent. black, since the beginning of the year 2023. In this case, the visit of the American Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, who was in Senegal, Zambia and South Africa, from January 18 to 28, that of the Ambassador of the United States to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who successively visited Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya from January 25 to 29, the visit of the First Lady, Jill Biden, to Namibia and in Kenya, from February 22 to 26, and Anthony Blinken’s trip, which in mid-March went to Ethiopia and Niger in turn. And by the end of his term, we are waiting to see if President Biden can achieve ” his intention to visit your countries which he launched to African leaders at the end of the Africa # United States summit last December in Washington.
It is up to Africa to know how to derive the maximum benefit from this diversified cooperation by knowing how to define its priorities.
But beyond the iconoclastic Republican president who fully assumed his choice to abandon Africa, the diplomatic offensive of the country of uncle sam, also responds to the need to increase the American presence and counter the growing influence of rival powers such as Russia and China, which are also engaged in a tireless diplomatic ballet that looks like a crossover on a continent resolutely determined to diversify his partners. A continent that presents itself today as a beautiful young lady courted on all sides by the great powers, because of the economic, political and geostrategic interests that it represents in their eyes. But there is nothing surprising in this, since it is well known that only interests guide the steps of the great powers. And there is no doubt that when they come to Africa, they know what they are looking for. That said, it is up to Africa to know how to maneuver in such a way as to derive the maximum benefit from this diversified cooperation by knowing how to define its priorities. Because, for a continent which is considered as the future of the planet, it is inconceivable that despite all its wealth which arouses so much desire, Africa is still struggling, more than half a century after independence, to truly begin its development and continues to vegetate, as far as the majority of its populations are concerned, in crass poverty and underdevelopment. This means the need for awareness in view of a paradigm shift. African leaders are challenged.
” The country ”