Vice President Kamila Harris visited Africa last month. It was the Biden Administration’s effort to salvage strained relationships in the world’s fastest growing continent.
Vice President Kamila Harris conducted a nine-day trip to Africa in March. She made stops in Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia—three countries striving to maintain democracy in the face of increasing economic pressure. The message was “Africa matters.” US relations with African countries deteriorated under Donald Trump—many African leaders presumed the former president was referring to them when he remarked about “shithole countries.” Relationally, the US has long been behind Russia and China. Russia is heir to the Soviet Union’s legacy of supporting decolonization in the 1960s. China has made substantial investments in infrastructure and provided loans to African countries over the last two decades. In addition, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and India have all increased their investments in recent years. Contrastingly, the US’s traditional emphasis on environmental issues and human rights has landed with a dull thud.
Population is one of the four leadership power sources. By 2100, one-third of the world’s population will live in Africa, and Africa will be home to 13 of the world’s 20 largest metropolises. Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will be the world’s largest city by 2075. It will be overtaken by Lagos, Nigeria, by the end of this century. Africa will need infrastructure, planning, and innovation to be to handle that many people. The US has an opportunity to make up lost ground if it makes relationships, with a region that will only grow in importance, a priority.
Most African countries remain cautious about overtures from the US and other powers. Africa, and the world in general, is seeing the re-emergence of a Non-aligned Movement, similar to the one that existed during the Cold War, with countries navigating between the West on one side and China and Russia on the other. One Tanzanian lawyer summed up the situation by invoking an old Swahili proverb: “When the elephants fight, it’s always the grass that gets trampled. We don’t want to get trampled.”
Source:
Cleve R Wootson Jr., Katharine Houreld, “Harris Embarks on Trip to Africa as Part of US Efforts to Woo the Continent,” Washington Post, 26 March 2023, A3; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/25/kamala-harris-africa-trip-courtship/
Max Bearak, Dylan Moriarty, Julia Ledur, “Africa’s Rising Cities,” Washington Post, 25 November 2021, Special Section; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/africa-cities/
Photo: Max Golka, Microcosm
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