By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
As the White House prepares for the African Leaders Summit in mid-December, various reports have indicated that some African countries may not attend. US President Joe Biden plans to hold a meeting of African leaders in Washington as another important step to strengthen geopolitical dialogue and multifaceted relations between the US and Africa.
In November, the White House National Security Council told Today News Africa the criteria for inviting African governments to attend the US-Africa Leaders Summit scheduled for December 13-15. While the main goal is to host a broadly inclusive gathering of high-powered delegations from across the African continent, several African countries were blacklisted.
In a statement, four countries were not invited because they were suspended by the African Union (AU) after military coups and counter-coups. Currently, four countries, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sudan and Mali, are suspended by the AU and were not invited. The four countries that were not invited are currently led by strongmen who have seized political power with weapons. The United States recognizes most African nations, except for a few like Western Sahara.
According to reports monitored by this author, the US-Africa summit will discuss the emerging global order and changing geopolitical and economic issues and will also provide huge funds for various development projects, as well as good governance and human rights. Under the plan, Washington says the summit will focus on existing challenges, especially those related to peace and security, food security, climate change and poverty alleviation directions in Africa.
The high-level dialogue is expected to set the stage to review opportunities for US and African corporate leaders from various public and private sectors and to further review how to strengthen the US-Africa economic partnership.
That US-Africa summit “will demonstrate America’s enduring commitment to Africa and underscore the importance of US-Africa relations and greater cooperation on shared global priorities. Africa will shape the future, not just the future of the African people, but of the world. Africa will make a difference by tackling the most pressing challenges and seizing the opportunities we all face,” according to a statement from the Biden Administration.
Washington believes that U.S. collaboration with African government leaders, civil society, the private sector, and the African diaspora would help address some of the current and future challenges, especially in efforts to provide billions of dollars for various development projects, including building much-needed infrastructure and supporting energy security for the population.
In terms of expanding trade and economic cooperation, according to our monitoring sources, African leaders will need to bring large delegations for special sessions during the mid-December summit. Along with his potential US investors, he would examine ways to explore and take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
AfCFTA aims to create a single market with an estimated population of 1.3 billion and ultimately requires all kinds of business services and consumable products. However, it is quite challenging, but there are new legislations that stipulate the location of production and distribution within Africa.
US government and private sector leaders, along with African political and corporate business leaders, have been working steadily over the years to share ideas on critical issues and policies that influence the US-Africa economic partnership.
The United States Agency for International Development would work closely with African institutions and organizations; I would be working closely on the participation of Africans. Over the past several months, USAID has provided approximately $1.3 billion in aid to the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are listed as beneficiaries to help prevent famine and mass deaths in the drought-stricken Africa region.
On top of that, Dana Banks, the White House’s senior director for Africa, said the White House administration has been pushing the Prosper Africa Build Together campaign that would generate billions of dollars in investment in Africa. Details of the summit will soon be announced with more detailed information, according to Washington and the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA).
On her trip to Africa in August, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the long-planned trip is not part of a global competition with any of the US’s rivals. But it is part of a series of high-level US engagements “aimed at affirming and strengthening our partnerships and relationships with African leaders and peoples.”
His August 4-7 trip was immediately followed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visits to South Africa, Congo, and Rwanda from August 7-11. “We are not catching up. They are catching up,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “We have been committed to this continent for decades, and even my own career is great evidence of that.”
Thomas-Greenfield first went to Africa as a student in the 1970s, and in her career as a US diplomat, she rose to Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2013 to 2017. Many American business leaders have visited and invested significantly in various sectors in Africa.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has made a resounding announcement that it will spend $7 billion over the next four years to improve health, gender equality and agriculture in Africa. Strengthening and supporting these sectors has become necessary due to growing complaints about lack of funds and, even worse, due to the negative impact of geopolitical changes.
In addition, it will continue to invest in researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators and health workers who are working to unlock the tremendous human potential that exists across the continent, according to the statement, noting that the crisis between Russia and Ukraine was reducing the amount of aid. that flowed to the continent and created global instability. It calls on world leaders to intensify their commitment to find solutions to multiple problems in African countries.
It is worth reiterating here that President Biden has held several summits since his inauguration in January 2021. For example, on December 9 and 10, 2021, President Biden held the first of two Democracy Summits, which brought together leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector in a shared effort to set “an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to address the greatest threats facing democracies today through collective action.”
Now, the US-Africa Leaders Summit comes just months after Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken unveiled the new US Africa policy in South Africa in August. The new policy says that the United States will pursue four main goals in Africa. The four goals of the new strategy are to foster openness and open societies, generate security and democratic dividends, promote pandemic recovery and economic opportunity, and support conservation, climate adaptation, and a just energy transition.
The new strategy begins by recognizing that “sub-Saharan Africa plays a critical role in advancing global priorities for the benefit of Africans and Americans” and that it “has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, the largest free trade areas , the most diverse ecosystems , and one of the largest regional voting groups of the United Nations (UN)”.
To achieve its goal of “open and open societies,” the US will promote government transparency and accountability, increase US focus on the rule of law, justice, and dignity, and help African countries to make more transparent use of their natural resources for sustainable development.
For democracy and security dividends, the United States will focus on “working with allies and regional partners to stem the recent wave of authoritarianism and military takeovers, support civil society, empower marginalized groups, center voices of women and young people, and defend liberty and liberty.” fair elections, enhance the ability of African partners to promote regional stability and security, and reduce the threat from terrorist groups to the homeland, people, and diplomatic and military installations of the United States.”
The mid-December Summit has already gained widespread popularity among African leaders and will mark the second largest U.S.-Africa meeting in Washington since former President Barack Obama hosted African leaders in 2014.
In addition, Obama also launched the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), which brings a group of young Africans to the White House each year. To this day, YALI continues to run various educational and training programs, including seminars for Africans. The Times Higher Education Index indicated that approximately 43,000 Africans are currently enrolled and studying at US universities.
Angolan President João Lourenço, in an interview with Hariana Veras, a White House correspondent, praised President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for hosting the US-Africa Leaders Summit, saying it will help create an association of mutual benefit between the United States and Africa, accelerate industrialization, increase foreign direct investment and further consolidate the already good collaboration between Angola and the United States.
According to that report, he noted the assertiveness of the Biden administration’s approach to trade and investment in Africa, highlighted the United States’ commitment to Africa’s security, its democratic development and its people, and emphasized the depth and breadth of the commitment of USA. to the African continent.
The Angolan leader advised that the war between Russia and Ukraine should open the eyes of advanced countries to lead efforts in increasing investments in more alternative energy sources in addition to traditionally used energy sources. As the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Europe and its ramifications spread to other parts of the world, including Africa, Lourenço called for more food production and investment in African nations, saying the global food crisis has severely affected Africa.
Despite some negative criticism, African leaders continue to get different types of economic assistance and support provided by the United States. African leaders are mostly Western-oriented, admiring their never-failing practical game of soft power while maintaining a long-term geopolitical interest in the West. The United States has political, economic, and cultural ties to independent African countries.
