WASHINGTON — Nearly 50 African leaders converge on Washington on Tuesday to begin three days of negotiations on issues central to the future of the continent and the world, including health, food security, climate change, civil war and even exploration. destroy outer space.
The America-Africa Leaders Summit This week, the first since 2014, comes as the world is grappling with urgent crises, some of which are having catastrophic effects on Africa. The continent is struggling with lack of food made worse by both Russia’s war with Ukraine and supply chain problem arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, US officials said they also wanted to discuss forward-looking topics such as trade and technology investments that could benefit the continent in the long run.
“Over the next few days, we will be announcing additional investments to make it easier for students to participate in our international exchange programs, increasing trade opportunities for members of the public. Africans and supporting African entrepreneurs and small businesses,” said Minister of State Antony J. Blinken at the opening event of the summit, a forum devoted to what the State Department calls what the State Department calls “Young African leaders and diaspora.”
“Each of these investments is driven by one overarching goal: to continue building our partnership so we can better tackle the common challenges we share,” said Mr. Blinken. encountered”.
The first day’s meetings focused on important topics including the environment, public health, democratic governance, and security. Administration and security session chaired by Mr. Blinken; Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III; and Samantha Power, manager of the US Agency for International Development. Katherine Tai, US trade representative, led a Ministerial Conference are trading.
During the morning, Mr. Austin and Mr. Blinken discussed military cooperation with the leaders of Djibouti, Niger and Somalia. “We recognize that African leadership remains key to facing the defining challenges of our time in terms of peace, security and governance,” said Austin.
President Biden
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President Biden is scheduled to deliver speeches Wednesday and Thursday, and he and first lady Jill Biden are expected to host the delegation leaders to dinner on Wednesday night.
The Biden administration is trying to mend relations with African nations after President Donald J. Trump ignored them and famous disparage some during a meeting at the White House in 2018.
American officials are concerned about the influence of China and Russia on the continent, as well as instability caused by hunger, climate change, disease and war. US officials say they also want to help African countries create economic opportunity for their growing young populations. And at a forum on space Tuesday, Nigeria and Rwanda became the first African nations to sign on to the treaty. Agreement of Artemisan agreement to establish guidelines for space exploration.
Mokgweetsi Masisi, President of Botswana, said at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday morning that many African nations were wary of the intentions of the world’s superpowers and sought to exercise some self-determination over the policies of those larger countries.
“The world has not been so kind to Africa,” he said. “It is almost as if the exploitation and colonization of Africa takes on a new form without the label of colonization – but rather some means of conquest. And we’re trying to move away from that and get them to work with us and not with us and through us.”
In one Africa strategy announced in August, the White House stressed the need to strengthen democracies across the continent and help them benefit their citizens, with the aim of reinforcing stability. Mr. Blinken highlighted similar themes in the policy speech he delivered in South Africa before visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
The Biden administration’s democracy-promoting efforts include anti-corruption programs and support for an independent press. The US government arranged for 25 journalists from Africa to attend the summit.
Leaders from 49 countries as well as the African Union were invited. American officials uninvited leaders from four countries that have had recent coups and the African Union suspended its membership: Mali, Sudan, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
“We continue to work individually with those countries to encourage a return to the democratic transition, to a democratic path, so we are in a better position to have a strong partnership.” strong with those countries,” said Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said in a short meeting with reporters on December 7.
Mr. Blinken had private meetings on Tuesday afternoon with Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, and Félix Tshisekedi, Congo’s president.
Mr. Abiy is a particularly complicated figure for US officials. Awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with neighboring Eritrea after decades of war, he is considered an international hero. But Biden administration officials were wary last year when Mr. Abiy’s forces ruthlessly quell a growing rebellion by the country’s ethnic Tigray people.
Mr Blinken testified in March 2021 that Ethiopian government forces had carried out “atrocities” and “ethnic cleansing”. US officials fear Africa’s second most populous nation after Nigeria could descend into violent chaos.
But Mr Abiy arrived at his highest-level meeting with the Biden administration weeks after signing a truce with Tigrayan rebel leaders that ended, at least for now, the country’s two years of civil war.
During a sit-down with the Ethiopian leader on Tuesday, Mr Blinken told Mr Abiy he faced a “historic moment” to move his country towards lasting peace.
The United States is also dealing with thorny issues with Congo. When Mr. Blinken visited Kinshasa in August, Mr express concern Tshisekedi and other officials about civil strife in the east, in relation to neighboring countries, and about the country’s plan to auction off vast swaths of rainforest and peatland for oil and gas extraction. The two countries have agreed to set up a working group to assess the plan and the environmental impact.
Congo is important to Mr. Biden’s climate change policy in another way: It is the world’s leading source of cobalt, a key ingredient for electric vehicle batteries. But US officials are concerned about mining practice there, as well as the growing presence of Chinese companies in the industry.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mr Blinken presided over the signing of an agreement with Congolese and Zambian officials in which the US pledged to establish an “electric vehicle battery panel” with the two countries to review mechanisms. investment and supply chain.
Christophe Lutundula, Congo’s foreign minister, said his country was working to “contribute our strategic natural and mineral resources to the collective management of the fate and future of the world.” in this day and age with climate change.”
US officials have been careful not to shape this week’s summit or Mr. Biden’s Africa strategy as about compete with China, has been expanding trade on the continent for many years. American officials say they want to deal with African countries on their own terms. In fact, discussions in Washington about Africa often revolve around China.
On Monday, China’s ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, said at a talk hosted by media outlet Semafor that Beijing is focused on its own interests in Africa, despite Washington’s concerns .
“We don’t care about any other country’s view of China’s role in Africa,” he said. “And we believe that Africa should be a place of international cooperation, not a place of great power competition for geopolitical interests.”
