Biden in Angola: What’s behind the last-ditch Africa journey? | Joe Biden information

International Courant

US President Joe Biden will go to Angola this week on his first-ever bilateral journey to Africa as president – weeks earlier than he fingers over the put up to Donald Trump.

Biden will arrive within the Angolan capital Luanda on Monday, after a brief cease within the West African nation of Cape Verde. The 2-day journey to Angola represents, many analysts say, a last-ditch effort to satisfy a promise Biden made way back, and to counter China’s rising affect on the continent.

The anticipated go to, which was postponed from October as a consequence of Hurricane Milton, will see Biden go to the port of Lobito, which is on the coronary heart of US commerce ties with Angola. There he’ll assess an ongoing vital minerals infrastructure undertaking, which is predicted to provide giant portions of cobalt and copper to the West.

This is what it’s worthwhile to find out about Biden’s go to to Africa and why Lobito issues:

Why hasn’t President Biden visited Africa?

Analysts say the truth that Biden has not visited any African nation – besides Egypt for COP27 in November 2022 – to date exhibits that his administration has not prioritized the continent.

Biden promised to go to Africa for the primary time in December 2022, two years into his presidency – which some mentioned was already too late.

He made the pledge at a US-Africa summit in Washington that introduced collectively 49 African leaders. The US “is all in for Africa and all in for Africa,” Biden declared on the time. He additionally introduced a $55 billion support bundle for the African Union.

US President Joe Biden takes half in a bunch picture with leaders of the US-Africa Leaders Summit on the Walter E. Washington Conference Middle in Washington, DC, on December 15, 2022 (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

The Biden administration has hosted a number of African leaders on the White Home, however the promised go to by no means materialized — till now.

“Presidential journeys to Africa are so uncommon that they all the time matter,” Cameron Hudson, a senior Africa analyst on the US-based Middle for Strategic and Worldwide Research, informed Al Jazeera.

“This one would matter much less if it comes on the very finish of a lame-duck presidency. Paradoxically, (a visit to Africa) might be extra essential for Biden, who’s on the lookout for a legacy in Africa… than for Africa, which is already making ready for his successor,” Hudson added.

Africa’s important pure sources, fast-growing inhabitants of 1.3 billion individuals and important voting energy within the United Nations – with 54 nation votes – make the continent an more and more essential strategic participant.

How has Biden approached ties with Africa to date?

American affect on the continent has been declining for years, at the same time as China and Russia have strengthened their presence in a number of international locations.

China has overtaken the US as Africa’s largest buying and selling companion since 2013. This yr the US misplaced a serious spy base in Niger, West Africa, and its navy was pushed out of Chad. That has left the nation struggling to achieve a navy foothold within the Sahel area, which has change into a hotspot of violence by a spread of armed teams.

In 2022, the White Home launched an bold Africa technique doc that shifted from the primary Trump administration’s deal with commerce ties.

Somewhat, the doc promised, the US would push for Africa to achieve management roles on worldwide platforms, together with everlasting seats on the United Nations Safety Council and membership within the G20. Analysts praised the strategy on the time as ‘fashionable’ and ‘bold’, however enthusiasm for it shortly light as little motion adopted.

A number of high officers, together with Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited African international locations at totally different instances.

In the meantime, Biden discovered time to journey elsewhere. He has visited the UK alone 5 instances, aside from quite a few different visits to Europe, the Center East, Asia and Latin America.

In distinction, President Xi Jinping of China and Russian President Vladimir Putin have visited African international locations not less than twice as heads of state.

The Angolan and American flag cling from a constructing close to the Quatro de Fevereiro Luanda Worldwide Airport on December 2, 2024, earlier than US President Joe Biden’s go to to Angola (Julio Pacheco Ntela/AFP)

Why is Biden visiting now, and why Angola?

Through the go to to Luanda, Biden will deal with an $800 million US-backed rail undertaking within the Lobito Hall. The passage is a strategic commerce route connecting the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia to Angola, house to the port of Lobito, positioned on the Atlantic Ocean.

The Lobito Atlantic Railway undertaking, largely funded by the US and European Union, will improve an present rail community within the Lobito Hall. That may permit quicker exports of cobalt and copper, amongst different minerals, extracted from the DRC mining city of Kolwezi, to the West.

The DRC is without doubt one of the largest producers of copper and cobalt on the planet. The minerals are key parts of batteries that energy electrical automobiles, extra of which the US and EU are eager to develop as demand for clear power provide chains grows.

Washington offered a $550 million mortgage to start out the undertaking. The African Growth Financial institution and the Africa Finance Company are additionally concerned.

(Al Jazeera)

The railway is roughly 1300 km lengthy and is more likely to be prolonged to mineral-rich areas in Zambia. Portuguese firm Trafigura leads a consortium of three firms that may function the railway for 30 years underneath a concession settlement. In August, the corporate mentioned it had shipped its first container of minerals to the US by the Port of Lobito.

Analysts say the US faces challenges on this space. China additionally has a watch on the area and already controls most of the minerals that will theoretically be offered to Western international locations underneath its huge Belt and Street Initiative, researcher Wala Chabala notes in an article for the Berlin-based assume tank Africa. Coverage Analysis Institute.

“Not solely do the Chinese language have a ubiquitous presence on the African continent, however China is already far forward in constructing provide chains for cobalt, lithium and several other different important metals and minerals,” Chabala wrote.

In September, China’s state-owned engineering firm signed a concession settlement to function the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), one other railway line within the hall linking central Zambia to the port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

What does Biden’s go to imply for Angola?

US officers say the go to is meant to focus on the shut ties between Angola and the US.

Presently, Luanda can be enjoying a number one position in mediating a row between the DRC and Rwanda over the continued violence in japanese Congo.

Till a number of years in the past, Angola was a serious borrower of China. The nation has additionally been traditionally near Russia: Throughout Angola’s 27-year civil struggle, the US and the previous Soviet Union supported rival sides, resulting in chilly ties between Luanda and Washington.

Nevertheless, the federal government of President Joao Lourenco, which has been in energy since 2017, favors stronger ties with Washington. The 2 international locations have deepened commerce ties, and in 2023, commerce between the US and Angola totaled roughly $1.77 billion. Angola is the US’s fourth largest buying and selling companion in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2021, and extra not too long ago in November 2023, Biden hosted President Lourenco on the White Home.

Supporters of the Nationwide Union for the Complete Independence of Angola (UNITA) and different opposition teams maintain banners as they collect after a march to protest Angola’s ruling celebration and President Joao Lourenco in Luanda, on November 23, 2024 (Julio Pacheco Ntela/ AFP)

Nevertheless, analysts say Washington’s view of Lourenco’s authorities ignores alleged human rights abuses underneath his watch. Lourenco is unpopular amongst many Angolans as a result of excessive value of dwelling, corruption and the rising crackdown on dissent. In June, authorities opened hearth on protesters indignant about inflation, killing eight individuals within the central province of Huambo. A number of others have been arrested in cities throughout the nation.

Analysts say Biden’s refusal to acknowledge these considerations about alleged rights abuses is a stain on his legacy.

“Many observers imagine that Biden’s go to might inadvertently embolden an unpopular president,” mentioned Florindo Chivucute, director of Mates of Angola, a bunch that advocates for stronger democratic values ​​in Angola and is predicated in Luanda and Washington, DC.

“Whereas the US lags behind China in commerce and political affect in Angola, the nation mustn’t compromise its core values ​​of democracy and human rights in an try to catch up,” he mentioned.

What’s subsequent for US-Africa ties?

Though President Biden has lastly made good on his promise to go to Africa, his administration has failed to attain a number of the different targets it set for itself.

The African Union was admitted as a everlasting member of the G20 in September 2023. Nevertheless, no African nation remains to be a everlasting member of the UN Safety Council.

In September 2024, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield introduced that her nation would assist two everlasting UN Safety Seats for Africa. Nevertheless, she warned that these seats wouldn’t have veto energy, a place criticized by many analysts as it might create a two-tiered system: one for UN Safety Council members with vetoes, and the second for these with out that energy.

A Trump presidency, in the meantime, will possible focus solely on commerce ties, because it did the primary time, consultants say.

The brand new administration will possible need to compete with Chinese language and Russian affect and entry to essential minerals, Tibor Nagy, a high envoy to Africa underneath the final Trump administration, informed Reuters.

At the least there, initiatives just like the Lobito Railroad may see sustainable American funding. “This meets each necessities,” Nagy mentioned, referring to the rail undertaking.

Biden in Angola: What’s behind the last-ditch Africa journey? | Joe Biden information

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