The United States courts Africa in the face of China's advances on the continent

The United States wants to seduce Africa after years―decades―of neglect.

With a three-day summit in Washington in which 49 countries will participate, and where he promises substantial announcements of aid and investment, the White House seeks to relaunch its relationship with a continent in which China above all, but also Russia, have strengthened and expanded its presence over the past decade.

Africa is essential for the United States as a source of raw materials, including cobalt or lithium, essential in the electric vehicle sector.

Those responsible for US national security also closely monitor the activities on the continent of Islamic extremist groups such as Boko Haram in the west or Al Shabab in Somalia.

Its fifty nations also represent a juicy bloc of votes in international institutions.

And many of these votes have supported Beijing, and not Washington, in key calls.

The summit, inaugurated this Tuesday and in which Biden will intervene with a speech this Wednesday, represents, in the words of a senior official who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, a "recognition that Africa is a key geopolitical actor that is shaping our present and will shape the future”.

It will have as its main issues, he maintains, the issues that the African interlocutors themselves have indicated are of most concern to them: the economy, climate change and the environment, security, health and education.

It's a completely different discourse from the one countries on the continent had to hear during the Donald Trump era, when the real estate mogul-turned-president called those nations and Haiti "shit holes."

The region was disappointed even at times when good relations were anticipated.

President Barack Obama, the first African American to reach the White House and a Kenyan father, called the first US-Africa summit eight years ago, but cut aid funds for the fight against AIDS on the continent.

By contrast, China has carefully cultivated ties with the region for years.

It maintains excellent relations with all African countries, without making distinctions between regime types or their values.

It has multiplied its investments, it has built ports, railways - including the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa - and it has awarded credits for the construction of infrastructure worth more than 700,000 million dollars.

The region has been one of the main recipients of Chinese covid vaccines.

Africa hosts the first Chinese military base abroad, in Djibouti, and US military officials have pointed out that Beijing is considering a second in Equatorial Guinea.

The Chinese authorities have visited the region regularly;

Africa has hosted the first foreign trip of every foreign minister of the Asian powerhouse in the post-Tiananmen era.

Beijing has become the region's first trading partner, from which it purchases all kinds of raw materials and sells a wide range of merchandise at moderate prices.

Last year, its commercial exchange reached 254,000 million dollars, 35% more than in 2020;

in comparison, although it grew 40% over the previous year, that of the United States and Africa was 64,000 million dollars.

The Chinese summit with African countries has been held every three years since the beginning of this century;

in the last edition, held in Senegal in November,

The name of China is avoided at this summit in Washington with the care with which Voldemort's is avoided at Hogwarts.

But in August, the Biden Administration published its strategy for Africa and there it mentioned that the Asian giant perceives the continent as "an important terrain to challenge the international order based on Law, to promote its own focused geopolitical and commercial interests, undermine the transparency and openness, and weaken America's relations with the African peoples and governments."

Despite the rise of Beijing, or a Russia that offers its military muscle to interested governments in the region, the United States maintains prestige on the continent.

It is a notable donor in some of the poorest countries, it participates in military exercises with African countries, it is a key figure in the fight against Al Shabab and - although voices in the Horn of Africa lament that Washington has neglected this area and has left a gap that the United Arab Emirates is filling - its diplomats played a key role in signing an agreement last month in the civil war in Ethiopia.

The White House assures that concrete measures will be announced at the summit to relaunch the relationship with Africa.

"There will be tangible results and initiatives will be announced throughout the meeting that will address a wide range of issues that concern us," said the senior official.

Biden has already made known his support for the African Union becoming a permanent member of the G20.

“It is time for Africa to have permanent seats at the table in international organizations and initiatives,” White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said last Friday.

In these days, US economic, security and health investments worth 55,000 million dollars will also be announced.

The extension of the United States-Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which boosts imports from the continent by eliminating tariffs on certain products but which expires in 2025, will also be confirmed. And the appointment of a special US envoy for the continent is expected, in all likelihood veteran diplomat Johnny Carson.

Biden himself is preparing, according to the digital Axios, a tour of Africa by 2023. His Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has visited the continent three times in the last year.

"Getting the most bang for your buck at the summit will require sustained follow-up, building on progress at the Washington meeting, including stronger diplomatic engagement," writes Thomas Sheehy of the American Institute for Peace.

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