Page 7 - AfrOil Week 50 2022

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

This means large swaths of Africa are forced to long run.”
rely almost exclusively on food imports. Biden must have finally felt the pressure to
Russia’s war on Ukraine, indeed, has made convene a new summit, perhaps spurred by the
things worse by stripping the continent of two urgent need to convince African countries to
pivotal suppliers of staple crops and fertiliser. support US sanctions against Russia (and coun-
The “Black Sea Initiative” brokered by the UN ter the growing influence of China).
last summer only partially restored such trade, To further sweeten the pot, ahead of the his-
which is still very far from the pre-war levels. toric summit, the White House pledged $55bn
Against this backdrop, the Biden administra- in economic, health and security support for
tion is trying to convince African countries that Africa over the next three years “across a wide
its aid and development plan is the most reliable range of sectors to tackle the core challenges of
in the long term, not least to curry their favour our time,” as National Security Advisor Jake Sul-
in support of the Ukrainian cause. livan put it.
African nations have proved reluctant to vote
for US-led resolutions against Russia in the UN. Major challenges
This stance transcends post-colonial resentment Africa’s challenges are numerous and pressing:
towards the Global North, and rather points to food insecurity, health, climate change and mili-
Africa’s yearning for a multipolar world, where tary conflicts are first on the summit’s discussion
Russia and China – countries that invested con- board. On the business side, debates at the sum-
siderable resources in the continent over the last mit will touch on the economic hurdles facing
decade – deserve due recognition. investors on the continent, such as limited access
African leaders have repeatedly made it clear to capital, high cost of financing and legal and
that the Russia-Ukraine war must end, come regulatory bottlenecks. In terms of
what may, preferably with a diplomatic solution Human rights don’t appear high on the
– not necessarily one that respects Ukraine’s ter- agenda, though movement on that score yet may business
ritorial integrity, as the West wishes. come, perhaps due to the White House’s desire potential, it
to keep thorny topics at bay while ensuring the
AGOA outcomes $55bn pledged remain in the headlines of Afri- should be
Washington’s first organic initiative for Africa can media.
was called AGOA (African Growth and Oppor- The US is fiercely competing for influence self-evident
tunity Act) and was enacted in 2000 by former with China and Russia. What sets it apart from
President Clinton. its rivals – and could thus be its crucial leverage that Africa
Officially, that plan is still in place today, – is its ability to foster public-private partner- cannot be
due to expire in 2025. However, it hasn’t been ships between American and African economic
updated in years, and African nations have actors. This approach should walk in lockstep ignored
expressed mixed feelings while assessing the with the African Union’s “Agenda 2063” plans,
plan’s results. helping to meet the continent’s ambitious targets
The political instability that plagued America concerning infrastructure, connectivity and a
in recent years further harmed Africa’s trust in more balanced energy policy leaning towards
the US; President Trump de facto put AGOA on the green transition.
hold during his tenure, pursuing only a few sep- “It’s really about focusing US government
arate trade deals with selected African countries, resources to support the private sector, which
namely Kenya in 2020. is the driver of transformation, of change, of
Such an attitude – coherent with then-Presi- trade, of being very forward-leaning,” said
dent Trump’s “America First” mantra – irritated Camilla Richardson, Deputy Assistant Secretary
many governments in the region, which felt for the Middle East and Africa, Department of
abandoned by the US while China racked up Commerce.
investments – becoming the continent’s larg- America’s committed support for AfCFTA
est trading partner – and Russia-backed mili- (African Continental Free Trade Area), the
tias successfully intervened in Mali (where the world’s largest free trade area by population that
French military left all of a sudden) and Libya entered into force in January 2021, has to be
against radical Islamists. viewed in this perspective. The US is looking at
Obama (with Biden at his side) timidly tried all the “ways that we can use AGOA to support
to restore ties with the continent, convening the development of the free trade area, which
the first US-Africa summit in 2014. However, holds so much promise for the continent”, as
until today no news followed on the American Molly Phee, assistant secretary of the Bureau of
side, while Russia, China and even the EU kept African affairs, put it.
organising similar conferences on a much more The stakes are high, and so must be the Afri-
regular basis. can representatives’ expectations.
Judd Devermont, senior director for African The outcome of the summit may not be fully
affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), grasped for weeks or months to come, but one
said: “The gap between 2014 and 2022 certainly thing is already clear: America has woken up.
is regrettable. And so we’ve had, I think, a num- Biden has realised it’s time to start dealing with
ber of conversations with our partners and with African countries on the basis of mutual respect
counterparts in our own government about first and shared values, rather than with the old-
and foremost making sure that whatever comes school – and counterproductive – paternalistic
out of this summit is going to stay here for the approach. ™

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