· Some of the African leaders figuring in the Invitee list have raised strong criticism from lawmakers and human rights activists. They allege that participation of African leaders with history of war crimes or crimes against humanity goes against the proclaimed agenda of the Summit to revive democratic values and human rights.
The forthcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit is regarded as an effort by the US to showcase America’s renewed commitment to Africa amidst geopolitical tensions with Russia and China. The changing geo-political order has underlined the growing strategic importance of Africa. The event scheduled for Dec. 13-15 in Washington will see participation of several African Leaders.
Some of the African leaders figuring in the Invitee list have raised strong criticism from lawmakers and human rights activists. They allege that participation of African leaders with history of war crimes or crimes against humanity goes against the proclaimed agenda of the Summit to revive democratic values and human rights. Nicole Widdersheim of the Human Rights Watch advocacy organization observed that inclusion of autocrats, and non-democratic African leaders in the Summit will give these leaders more power and legitimacy.
The three African leaders accused of war crimes and poor human rights record who are included in the invitee list are- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
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To avoid thorny political and diplomatic issues, the Biden administration, sought to strike a careful balance by inviting as many leaders as possible. The metric they applied was to invite the top leaders from all countries in good standing with the African Union. Applying this formula, most coup leaders of West Africa except Chad have been exempted from the invitation. Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea have all been suspended from the AU and didn’t get an invite. But Chad which is still in AU list has got an invite. Political experts are of the view that inviting autocratic leaders in Africa to the Washington Summit would erode any gains on the human rights front.
