Foreign policy is usually low on the laundry list of American voters’ top concerns. And even when it is an issue, Africa is almost never discussed outside of some sort of real or perceived imminent security threat.
But what long-time Africa watchers, both Democrats and Republicans, have been arguing for some time now is that viewing Africa simply through a security or aid lens is outdated. Africa, they note, is too obviously important to the future of the global economic, climate, and demographic order to maintain that perspective.
Until recently, the only way Africa has been able to grab the attention of key players in Washington, particularly during the Trump years, was to invoke the inexorable rise of China’s presence and influence across the continent.
After a period of US officials blaming China for “debt traps” during the Trump years, the Biden administration has taken a slightly different tack. It has focused much of its Africa efforts on the multibillion-dollar Lobito Corridor infrastructure project, which connects the Lobito port in Angola to the green mineral mines of Zambia and DR Congo by rail and by telecommunications and so much more.
Harris supporters often suggest that she’ll care more about Africa than Biden because she is a member of the Black diaspora. That’s certainly not a given. But then again, the first time I noticed the VP show that unbridled “joy” with which she launched her campaign was on her trip to Ghana. Maybe that matters.
