The US State Department announced Friday that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will travel to Ethiopia and Niger next week as the Biden administration accelerates its efforts to counter China’s growing influence on the continent.
Blinken will visit Addis Ababa and Niamey starting Tuesday to discuss the peace agreement that ended hostilities in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, and counterterrorism efforts targeting extremists in Niger and the Sahel region.
His visit will be the third high-profile visit to Africa this year by senior members of the Biden administration. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield, and First Lady Jill Biden have already visited the continent this year.
Blinken plans to meet officials from Ethiopia and Tigray in Addis Ababa, and he will be the first US Secretary of State to visit Niger, which has witnessed US military operations targeting ISIS groups in the region.
The US State Department added that Blinken’s discussions with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and officials from Tigray will focus on “implementing the cessation of hostilities agreement to advance peace and promote transitional justice in northern Ethiopia.”
As for his meeting with the head of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Blinken will seek to undermine the efforts of China and Russia to win the support of African countries for the Russian military operation in Ukraine, which raised great fears among countries that were previously colonized.
Chinese influence
- Major countries flock to the African continent in order to find a foothold in it, amid expanding Chinese influence and American and Russian attempts to pull the rug.
- The United States is deeply concerned about the increasing expansion of Chinese commercial activity in Africa, and the US administration considers that Beijing’s presence on the continent will lead to the expansion of its economic influence.
- China is Africa’s largest and major trading partner, and a prominent investor in infrastructure and mining projects.
- Data from the National General Authority of Customs showed that trade between China and Africa reached $254.3 billion in 2021, up 35.3 percent year-on-year.