Biden is courting Africa – and wants to push back China’s influence on the continent

Johannesburg, Washington “I know you want me to get off the stage quickly,” joked US President Joe Biden during his speech at the Africa summit in Washington on Wednesday. “After all, there’s a semi-final coming up,” he said, referring to the World Cup match between France and Morocco. But it is important, stressed the President, to “focus on the common future between the United States and Africa” ​​for a moment. The summit was a “turning point” in relations.

The three-day meeting aims to revive the stale relationship with the 48 countries south of the Sahara. At least symbolically, Biden shows that the United States takes the African continent seriously. The summit hosts dozens of delegations and is a logistical tour de force. It is the largest international gathering since the pandemic began. Roadblocks and security checks characterize the US capital.

“When Africa thrives, the US thrives and the whole world thrives,” Biden said. There is plenty of need for action: the Covid pandemic is not under control in Africa either, and climate change is threatening the 1.3 billion inhabitants. The Ukraine war is having an acute impact on Africa because fertilizer and wheat exports are no longer being exported.

The White House demanded in advance that the African Union must be accepted as a permanent member of the G20 group and given a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. In addition, the US wants to make 55 billion dollars available over the next three years, including for digital infrastructure, power grids and combating climate change.

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The rivalry with China can be felt everywhere

But the efforts are also selfish. China’s growing influence in many African countries has alarmed the US government. Washington therefore wants to take countermeasures. China has lent a total of US$700 billion in Africa, including for infrastructure, energy and other projects.

On the sidelines of the summit, US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves admitted that China has overtaken the United States in terms of direct investments in Africa. “We have lost sight of the ball, US investors and companies have to catch up now,” he said at a panel of the Semafor portal.

Foreign Minister Antony Blinken with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

Africa has long played a subordinate role for the US government.

(Photo: AP)

Other figures illustrate the gap: the trade volume between China and Africa last year was around 250 billion dollars. Between the US and Africa, on the other hand, it is only $64 billion, which roughly corresponds to the American trade volume with Brazil.

>> Read here: EU supports South Africa’s green energy transition – but buys more and more coal there

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Nigeria last year, accused China of making African countries dependent. The conflict boiled over at the Africa summit in Washington. China’s Ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, said China is “sincere” and sees Africa as a “vibrant emerging market of the future”. However, Beijing is “not interested in the views of other countries on China’s role in Africa”.

US media report that the Pentagon is concerned about a potential Chinese military base in West Africa and the widespread use of Huawei networks in Africa. US officials also warn of Russia’s influence in Africa in background talks. Russian oligarchs and military companies find refuge in African states, a government official said.

The USA not only pursue geopolitical but also economic interests in securing supply chains. According to the Africa strategy published by the US government in August: The US is striving for “public-private partnerships for the sustainable development and safeguarding of critical minerals”. Behind this are possible cooperations in the promotion of raw materials and rare earths. The US President needs both in order to implement the planned conversion of the US economy to e-mobility and renewable energies.

The example of Nigeria shows that there is still a lot to do

The continent played a subordinate role for the US government for a long time. It’s been eight years since the United States held its first Africa Summit in Washington. At the time, Biden was vice president to President Barack Obama, whose father is from Kenya. Obama’s successor Donald Trump once described the economically far behind African states as “shitholes”.

Observers are skeptical that the current summit will actually bring any results. If Africa were included – significantly as a collective – in the round of the G20 states, the G20 would then probably be called the G21 and 54 new countries would be added at once. How this is supposed to work in view of Africa’s divisions on many political issues, such as the attitude to the war in Ukraine, remained open at the summit.

Jill Biden receives spouses of African heads of state

Jill Biden listens as the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Fatima Maada Bio, speaks.

(Photo: AP)

The use of the new investment funds was also not specifically defined. Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden’s national security adviser, spoke of “a broad range to address the key challenges of our time.”

A sensible use would be a better power supply. Because more than 60 years after the independence of the first states, there is still a halfway intact electricity, which is essential for the survival of every modern economy. Even South Africa is now struggling with massive power outages of up to ten hours a day.

>> Read here: “We have to listen to each other” – Federal government wants to revise Africa strategy again

To this end, some Western corporations are withdrawing from Africa. For example, the international confectionery manufacturer Cadbury and the beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola have closed plants in recent years. The corona pandemic did not trigger this downward spiral, but it accelerated it.

The example of Nigeria shows how far we still have to go to create a stable middle class in Africa. According to the World Bank, almost half of Nigeria’s population lives below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. In addition, reforms in Africa’s largest economy are stalling. For decades, oil revenues have been misused to subsidize gas and electricity.

The US is planning high-profile state visits

A special focus is on fighting terrorism in Africa, for example in the Sahel on the southern edge of the Sahara, but also on the East African coast. The increasingly poor security situation is jeopardizing large-scale economic projects, such as in Mozambique, which has large natural gas reserves.

Over a year ago, the French group Total stopped work on the largest private onshore project in the north of the country. Islamist terrorists had captured a larger town nearby. Total now expects gas production to start in 2026 at the earliest, if at all.

It is imponderables like these that complicate relations with major Western powers such as the United States. Nevertheless, the Biden government does not want to lose focus on Africa, she promises. In the coming year, according to the White House, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are to fly to Africa for visits.

More: Robert Habeck’s visit to South Africa – the Economics Minister encounters a battered country and an ailing head of state

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