Africa-Press – Uganda. From the Clinton-era Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) to George W Bush’s Pepfar (the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief) and Barack Obama’s Power Africa, the US policy toward Africa has sold itself as being familiar with the nuances of the continent.
As President Biden picks the minds of selected African leaders—including Uganda’s—this week, he will confirm what he probably already knew: the American approach lends everything it undertakes in Africa an avuncular air.
The mournful edge that Africa has collectively assumed at being seen by development partners from the Global North through the lens of a problem as opposed to an opportunity is well-documented. While currying favour with China has vindicated those that sounded the knell for the debt-trap diplomacy phenomenon, the Russian Federation represents a clear and present danger to American interests in Africa.
Most, if not all, the African leaders headed to Washington DC having dipped into their nest eggs thanks to the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war. It remains to be seen how the Biden administration will have exploited this position of “ relative weakness” by the time the African leaders make their way through an eight-course dinner at the White House on Thursday.
President Macky Sall of Senegal—who doubles as the African Union (AU) president—made clear before the summit that Africa no longer countenances a condescending tone. Nation states from the continent want to be treated like equal partners. The US says it is intent on using its shared values and interests with Africa to build a partnership of equals.
We agree that Africa should be desirous of a bold and ambitious cooperation with its partners. An asymmetrical partnership will do anything but secure the continent’s future. Mr Sall is also bang on about the AU increasing its agency when it comes to setting the agenda. The AU president has taken exception to the fact that “when we talk, we’re often not listened to, or in any case, not with enough interest.”
It will of course take more than just a three-day summit to upset centuries-old power dynamics. The framework that the AU brings to the rethinking of relations with the US therefore ought to be one that does more than pivot on the fact that the continent counts China, Russia and Turkey amongst its suitors.
We are heartened to learn that American support for an AU seat on the G20 and a more robust representation in global institutions will be made widely known during the summit. Whether its rich rewards—real or imagined—will trickle down to a commoner in a manner that continues to elude undertakings like Agoa rests on a cornerstone of conjecture.
With Chinese infrastructure, Russian weapons and Turkish drones providing something tangible in supposed equal partnerships, the US’s nuanced offers might be seen as lacking symmetry. We invite African leaders to dispense with such a line of thought.
One of the ways Africa can get agency is by making the most of any presence in key multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. The question, though, is: will this voice be used to line the pockets of the continent’s haves or move to empower the have-nots? We hope it is the latter.
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