Africa-Press – Ghana. President Joe Biden came into office eager to turn the page on his predecessor’s disdain and disinterest in the African continent.
Instead of hurtful digs about “shithole” countries, the new administration promised a new era of relations based on common interests and mutual respect. The US, Biden’s White House asserted, should be Africa’s ideal partner on everything from nation-building, to trade, to security.
Almost two years into his first term, the president’s record on Africa is about to come under the spotlight like never before.
After months of back-and-forth between federal agencies, Secretary of State Antony Blinken in August finally released the administration’s new US strategy for sub-Saharan Africa. This December, Washington will host a US-Africa Leaders Summit for the first time since President Barack Obama launched the idea in 2014.
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Together, the strategy and the summit encapsulate Biden’s vision for developing business ties with a youthful continent seen as a future economic powerhouse while staving off inroads by China and Russia. At the same time the administration has recommitted to the longtime US policy of supporting democracy in Africa and around the world after four years of “America First” priorities under President Donald Trump.
“There was definitely a deliberate departure from the way that the Trump administration talked about and engaged with Africa,” says Akunna Cook, a Nigerian-American former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs who left the government in September to launch a media production company focused on Africa. “The bar was at the floor of how you could elevate the discourse on engagement with Africa and base it on mutual respect.”
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Now comes the real test of whether US-Africa ties will finally take off or continue to fall far short of their full potential.
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