US-Africa summit has done well, but China will remain a key player

When the continent’s leaders went to Washington DC last week for the much-anticipated US-Africa Summit last week, they knew what they wanted. “African countries don’t want to be taken out for an ice cream,” one expert watcher of the continent told the New York Times. He was emphasising the seriousness of the leaders projected not to be taken for granted. Commitments pledged by US President Joe Biden at the summit probably met a substantial chunk of the leaders’ expectations, including emphasis that African countries would be equal partners. Africa is now set to receive $55 billion in projects over the coming three years, with the US private sector pledging $15 billion in investment in technology. The US will back African Union’s admission to the G20 group of the world’s largest economies, possibly also a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. These are only some of the highlights. But one important promise that does not seem to have gained much media attention was digital inclusivity in Africa. “I’m announcing a new initiative, the Digital Transformation with Africa, working with Congress to invest $350 billion to facilitate more than almost half a billion dollars in financing to make sure people across Africa can participate in a digital economy,” President Biden told the gathered leaders. If it should come to pass, it will be a signature project in the order of the project to combat HIV and AIDS known as PEPFAR launched by former US President George W. Bush in 2003 costing $100 billion saving many millions of lives. It is also similar to President Obama’s signature Power Africa project to end energy poverty in sub-Saharan Africa to connect 600 million to electricity, though it remains not fully accomplished. Hope is that the promises are implemented to the letter as pledged, even though underlying this year’s edition of the summit was United States' bid to regain ground ceded to China’s trade and investment in the continent. It wasn’t openly acknowledged, but it was a superpower rivalry in which China remains Africa’s largest trading partner. In 2021 China-Africa trade stood at $254 billion and greatly outstripped U.S.-Africa trade, which stood at $64.3 billion. But rivalry or not between the two major superpowers, China will remain a key player in the continent. Count in this mix Turkey, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and their dalliance with Africa in previous summits. The focus however is China, of which it has been suggested together with the US, each should capitalise on its strengths. None other than the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent institution founded by the US Congress, makes that observation. The USIP acknowledges that US companies are not competitive against Chinese and other firms in certain industries, such as road and bridge construction. Chinese firms have lower cost structures and benefit from decades of African experience. But some US companies are competitive, including in the health, financial technology and renewable energy sectors. The United States also has a great asset in its large and vibrant African diaspora, many of whom maintain commercial connections with Africa and eagerly lap up America’s soft power like the rest of the world. The USIP notes that the US is conscious of this and has been engaging and profiling the African diaspora. On such scores the US outdoes China, including in other measures such as development aid that enables African countries to function and which projects such as PEPFAR exemplifies. But neither of the two powers is perfect. China's relationship with its African partners is fraught with controversy, specifically in the many allegations of its predatory lending practices and in the many cases Chinese aid has and continues to be inextricably linked with procurement to Chinese firms and State Owned Enterprises (SOE’s). The United States on its part has been accused of arrogant self-importance talking down on the rest of the world and flaunting its economic might to bend others to its will. This the African leaders at the summit were clear about, as articulated by President Macky Sall of Senegal, who is president of the African Union: “Let no one tell us no, don’t work with so-and-so, just work with us. We want to work and trade with everyone,” he is quoted saying. But also the African leaders themselves, neither are they perfect. Some of them still harbour ideological and historical grievances with the West, for which they were called out in their vengeful anti-imperialism taking of sides in the Ukraine war—a war that is in itself an imperialistic misadventure by an unprovoked aggressor. The taking of sides was chided as unconscionable opportunism to guard against. Best wishes and happy holidays to you. Twitter: @gituram

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US-Africa summit has done well, but China will remain a key player