From there begins a six-day march through three countries’ capital cities, where Harris will hold bilateral meetings with all three top leaders including Tanzania’s first female President Samia Suluhu Hassan. Yet the implicit reality throughout the conference was hard to miss – and only exacerbated by the pressures created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that have hit lower income countries sharply over the last year.Īfter departing Washington on Saturday, Harris will land in Accra on Sunday afternoon. Jill Biden opens up on Africa trip, being first lady, her marriage to the president and a possible 2024 reelection run The fraught balancing act was on display when African leaders converged on Washington late last year for the US-Africa Leaders Summit, where officials were careful to stick to public messaging that US efforts were more about offering tangible economic and security measures and meant to telegraph an positive vision for the years ahead. “It would be very hard to blame Africans, if they didn’t hear that and say, ‘aha, this isn’t about us, it’s about China.’” “The danger is that we go there, and we say, ‘we’d like to talk to you about China,’” said Mark Green, a former US ambassador to Tanzania and current president of the think tank the Wilson Center. The high-profile mission will place the vice president on a diplomatic tight rope, requiring Harris to show African nations that the US wants true collaboration to amplify the continent’s potential and to avoid framing African nations as pawns in the United States’ larger geopolitical strategy, experts say. The fight to fill that vacuum has steadily evolved into a growing diplomatic proxy battle, with the Biden administration accelerating its efforts to secure sustainable African partnerships to counter the weight of China and Russia’s rising influence and Harris will be the highest-ranking Biden official to visit Africa to confront that challenge. For all the hope of Obama’s presidency, many African leaders still voiced frustrations at the continuation of the long-standing sense that promises made were only marginally kept in a region too often left on the sidelines during defining international debates. Harris’ visit fosters echoes of those by former President Barack Obama, who attracted massive crowds and the widespread personal embrace from regional leaders who tried to attach themselves to the political and historical moment rooted in the world’s most powerful leader having a direct bloodline to their continent.īut the geopolitical climate waiting for Harris is much different than when the last Black White House principal took office nearly 15 years ago. And we view her visit another opportunity to consult and engage with partners on our shared objectives.” “The United States believes Africa is critical to addressing global challenges. “The Vice President is visiting the three countries where the government (is) investing in democracies, specifically at a time where we know there is global democratic recession,” a senior administration official said on the call with reporters. And she’ll bring with her continent-wide public and private sector investments. Harris hopes to build on themes of African innovation and technology, regional security, food security, women empowerment, climate and democracy, officials said. “I’m going to Africa mainly to talk with African leaders about what we as the United States are prepared to do to have our role in investing in the future of that continent,” Harris said in a radio interview on Friday. The depth of the symbolism will serve as a critical backdrop to a trip that carries with it as much imminent diplomatic consequence as it does long-lasting historical significance.Īdministration officials previewing the vice president’s trip said it’s a “future-oriented” expedition to deepen relationship, crafted to recognize that the median age of citizens of the continent is 19 years old and its population is rapidly expanding. When Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two in Ghana on Sunday, she’ll become the first Black woman US vice president to visit Africa, marking another chapter in her barrier-breaking role.Īs the vice president sets out on her first trip to the continent since her childhood, the weight of this history making moment is one her advisers say she deeply understands.
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