After a gap of over three years, US President Donald Trump has envisioned a New Africa Strategy. The National Security Advisor John Bolton’s just-concluded visit to a few countries in the continent can be viewed as a trigger to the new approach. Admittedly, Washington had attracted fair share of criticism in the recent days for the lack of an African centric policy, which his predecessors like Jim Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barak Obama had painstakingly put in place and paid off to a great extent.
As if to add salt to the wound, Trump had a penchant to take an anti-Africa stand. Apparently not so kind responses to some of the developments there, had earned him less of cordiality and more of enmity. A classic case is his proclaimed support to the Whites in South Africa, who openly appealed for President Trump’s intervention in a complex racist issue of land acquisition from them. A novice in diplomacy and more prone to vituperative statements and comments, President positively reacted to the appeal of the White minority, thereby creating negative vibes among not only the South African black community but also the continent’s majority. The other instance was his unkind reference to the Nigerian President when the latter visited the US mostly for seeking aid in terms of weapons to fight against the insurgents. The delay in appointing a higher ranking official- at least in the position of an Assistant Secretary to look after Africa affairs, was more interpreted as willful neglect of the huge continent. Now, President has made all noises to show an olive twig to attract the African community. As a natural corollary, Washington may announce some doles and aids to connect with the Africans.
Yet the pertinent point is whether these belated overtures would help the US to build the bridges with Africa, which is also adjudged as one of the future markets along with South Asia and Latin America. It is rudimentary to a student of diplomacy that the sudden connect Washington is trying to strike with Africa is less driven by the economic partnership and more by geopolitics. China’s spread in Africa is both extensive and intensive. Hardly is there any country in Africa, which has not received the largess from China either in terms of investment, financial support, aid, grants, rolling over debt or even writing off the debts. Close on the heels, the Russians are positioning Africa mainly as their supplier of defense and aerospace. Many Russian firms are extending long-term credit to enable the African nations to buy armaments, revamping their ports, building military installations and what have you.
These developments are taking place amid lack of interest being shown by countries in Europe and Japan. Former had a colonial interest in most of the countries in Africa, while the latter-Japan-in 1990s had considerable presence in the continent, which got dissipated in the later years.
Will the US succeed in its current Africa policy? As one columnist has put reaction from Africans would be more of bemusement than anything else. Should we say China has gained Africa advantage, which the US has squandered? Many would say it is something that one has to see based on how things will be played out, while others cryptically remark that it is a foregone conclusion.
