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28-03-2023
WASHINGTON: Vice President Kamala Harris has said that the United States will increase investment in Africa and help spur economic growth as she began a week-long tour of the continent aimed at countering the influence of rivals Russia and China.
China has invested heavily in Africa in recent decades, including in infrastructure and resource development, while Russian influence has also grown, including through the deployment of troops from the private military contractor Wagner Group in several countries.
“On this trip, I intend to do work that is focused on increasing investments here on the continent and facilitating economic growth and opportunity,” Harris said on Sunday shortly after touching down in Ghana, the first destination in a trip that will include visits to Tanzania and Zambia.
“We are looking forward to this trip as a further statement of the long and enduring very important relationship and friendship between the people of the United States and those who live on this continent,” Harris said.
The administration of President Joe Biden has sought to strengthen ties with Africa, in part to offer an alternative to rival powers, amid global competition over the continent’s future.
African nations are aware that there are ulterior motives for this push for a closer alliance, observers say.
“African nations are not naive … The US has a long history of meddling in African affairs, supporting dictators versus liberation movements, pushing hard for US multinationals’ access to African markets and resources, while leaving countries with nothing,” said journalist Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC.
“So the US is saying, ‘that’s all in the past now, we are partners, we can all be successful’, whereas what we’re hearing from Africa is, ‘we don’t want to choose between China, Russia and the US, but we will do what we feel is in our best interest.’”
In December, ahead of the US-Africa Leaders Summit, Washington committed $55bn to the continent over the next three years. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
