Biden: US is ‘all in’ on Africa

LUANDA (AP):

Speaking of “our nation’s original sin”, President Joe Biden on Tuesday toured a slavery museum in Angola and inspected shackles and a whip but also addressed Africa’s future, saying Africans will make up one in four people by 2050 and the world’s fate rests in their hands.

Biden’s visit, the first to Angola by a US president, is meant to promote billions of dollars of commitments to the sub-Saharan African nation for what he called the largest ever US rail investment overseas.

“The United States is all in on Africa,” Biden earlier Tuesday told Angolan President João Lourenço, who called Biden’s visit a key turning point in US-Angola relations dating back to the Cold War.

But even as the trip was meant to counter China’s influence on the African continent of over 1.4 billion people by showcasing a US commitment of US$3 billion for the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment linking Zambia, Congo and Angola, China announced its own move.

The corridor across southern Africa is meant to make it easier to ship raw materials for export and advance the US presence in a region rich in critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies.

China already has heavy investments in mining and processing African minerals, and on Tuesday it announced it is banning exports to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other high-tech materials. It came a day after the US expanded its list of Chinese technology companies subject to controls.

The US for years has built relations in Africa through trade, security and humanitarian aid. The 800-mile (1,300-kilometre) railway upgrade is different, with shades of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure strategy in Africa and other parts of the world.

Biden will visit the coastal city of Lobito on Wednesday for a look at the corridor’s Atlantic Ocean outlet. The project also has drawn financing from the European Union, the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations, a Western-led private consortium and African banks.

It was not clear how much of the US commitments had been delivered and how much will depend on the Trump administration.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the corridor’s completion is “going to take years”. That means much of it may fall to Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20.

Asked whether the project could proceed without Trump’s support, Kirby said the Biden administration’s hopes “that they see the value too”.

Kirby also insisted that the corridor was about more than simply trying to outpace Beijing, saying that “we’re not asking countries to choose between us and Russia and China.”

One Angolan, 19-year-old Ladislau Ngola, called Biden’s visit “very important for our country as the Lobito Corridor will create lots of jobs for young people.” Julião Oliveira said ”Africa in general” would benefit, too.

The rainy streets of the capital, Luanda, had a heavy military presence but few civilians — a striking change from Biden’s arrival on Monday, when cheering onlookers lined his route. Authorities on Tuesday encouraged people downtown to stay home. As the motorcade passed through outer neighbourhoods, crowds waved from rooftops or intersections.