Tag: American- Africa Relations

The Good and Bad Continuity of Biden’s New Africa Strategy

The Biden strategy document fails to take a “whole of Africa” approach that Africans themselves embrace and instead reverts to the Obama-era billing of a “Sub-Saharan Africa” focus.

by J. Peter Pham Samuel B. Millner

The Biden administration’s new U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, unveiled during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent swing through the continent, reflects little more than a commitment to the status quo. Despite the White House’s attempt to spin it as a “new vision for a 21st Century U.S.-African Partnership,” Africa watchers on and off the continent will note that much remains unchanged, both for good and for ill.

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Georgia State University to Virtually Host 2021 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders

By Ebimo Amungo

ATLANTA—The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies (AYSPS) at Georgia State University (GSU) has announced that it has been selected as an Institute Partner for the 2021 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

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Meet Akunna E. Cook | The  United States Deputy Assistant Secretary Bureau of African Affairs

By Ebimo Amungo with State Department þ

Akunna Cook serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Biden-Harris Administration. In this role, Ms. Cook oversees the development of U.S. foreign policy for Southern Africa, as well as economic and regional issues including trade, investment, climate, health, multilateral engagement, democracy, and human rights.

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Does Africa Matter to the United States?

By Charles Ray | Foreign Policy Research Institute

Most Americans generally have one of two images of Africa: a primitive home of famine, disease, and civil war, or an idyllic motherland. Neither image is entirely correct. While Africa does have more than its fair share of problems and is the homeland of many Americans, it is a diverse continent of more than 50 nations and hundreds of ethnicities and languages.

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Africa is America’s greatest geopolitical opportunity. Does the US know it?

By Rama Yade | Atlantic Council

As the world celebrates Africa Day, which commemorates the founding of the Organization of African Unity on May 25, 1963. On that day, as two-thirds of the continent obtained independence, thirty-two African nations met in Addis Ababa, hosted by Haile Selassie, in order to establish the institution.

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Congo rejoins United States’ AGOA trade partnership

By Stanis Bujakera  and Hereward Holland  | Reuters

Democratic Republic of Congo has rejoined a trade partnership giving it duty-free access to U.S. markets, a sign of warming diplomatic ties since Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi came to power last year.

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US Rescinds Sudan’s Designation as State Sponsor of Terror

By Voice of America – English

The United States announced it was formally rescinding Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism as a result of its “historic democratic transition.” Sudan was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 in part because of the policies of then-President Omar al-Bashir, who supported militant organizations such as Hamas, and harbored militants such as al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

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What Joe Biden’s Africa strategy might look like

BY MICHAEL SHURKIN | TheHill

The election of Joe Biden as the next president may present the United States with a welcome opportunity to reset its relationship with sub-Saharan Africa. Two of the priorities of the Trump administration in the region had merit, namely a focus on competition with China and a reduced emphasis on counter-terrorism.

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US Adds Nigeria to Religious Freedom Blacklist

By Agence France-Presse | VOA

The United States has placed Nigeria on a religious freedom blacklist, paving the way for potential sanctions if it does not improve its record.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated the U.S. ally — for the first time — as a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious freedom, alongside nations that include China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. 

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US President-elect Joe Biden phones Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, talks about regional security, climate change

By Nancy Agutu | The Star

US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday called Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to offer his gratitude after congratulating him on his win.

“The president-elect offered his gratitude for President Kenyatta’s congratulations and expressed his appreciation for the strong and lasting ties between our two countries,” Biden said.

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Obama didn’t deliver for Africa. Can Biden show black lives matter everywhere?


By Vava Tampa | The Guardian

How different is the Biden-Harris administration’s Africa policy going to be from Donald Trump’s, or even Barack Obama’s? Many African people, as well as the continent’s strongman leaders, are now gingerly asking – is Biden going to be Obama 2.0, or Trump-lite? For the sake of black lives mattering everywhere in these turbulent times, I hope Biden will chart a bold new course, diametrically away from not only Trump but also Obama’s Africa policy.

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What the Biden Presidency Could Mean for Africa


By Leah Feiger and  Zecharias Zelalem

In the summer of 2010, then-Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Africa. He stopped in Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa, where he met with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh, spoke with Sudanese and Kenyan presidents and prime ministers in Nairobi, and celebrated the World Cup while linking up with leaders in South Africa. 

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Mr. President-Elect, Please Don’t Forget Us Billion Africans

By Ivor Ichikowitz | US News

DEAR MR. President-elect: Africa is watching in amazement as America faces what many perceive to be an existential crisis. Never before has the world’s most powerful country been so divided. From continued social injustice and the storming of streets across the country in protest, to lockdowns and mass unemployment caused by the coronavirus pandemic, to present-day controversies over vote-counting, the only thing that is seemingly certain in the United States is uncertainty.

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The Biden Administration’s Approach to Africa

Though still not certain, Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris will likely be elected president and vice president of the United States. A Biden administration’s approach to Africa will depend on policy but also on who the president appoints to his cabinet and senior positions.

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Trump’s Dangerous Rhetoric Toward Ethiopia Is Indicative of a Larger Problem

by Michelle Gavin | Council for Foreign Relations

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US foreign policy toward Africa: An African citizen perspective

E. Gyimah-Boadi, Landry Signé, and Josephine Appiah-Nyamekye Sanny | Brookings Institution

Despite the Trump administration’s announced December 2018 Africa strategy, a significant gap between the lofty blueprint and the concrete actions needed to turn it into reality remains. U.S. interests in the region are being increasingly undermined as China, Russia, and other powers move to fill the policy spaces left vacant by the United States and other Western nations.

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There’s a lot riding on the outcome of the US presidential election in terms of Africa’s relations with China

A Trump victory in the 3 November US elections is likely to see the US intensify its attempts to roll back China’s successful Africa policy. A Biden administration will find areas in which its US-Africa policy will converge with that of China. The US and China will be more likely to cooperate within multilateral forums and will actively seek a multilateral approach to global challenges, such as peacekeeping and health matters.

By David Monyae | Daily Maverick

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Trump tweets that US will Remove Sudan from Terror List

By VOA News

U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States will remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after the country follows through on an agreement to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. terror victims and families.      

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America to Remove Sudan From List of Terrorist States

By Lara Jakes, Declan Walsh and Eric Schmitt |NYTimes

WASHINGTON — The State Department will take Sudan off a list of countries that sponsor terrorism, clearing the way for the East African nation’s fragile government to seek international assistance and, potentially, normalized relations with Israel — a diplomatic goal for President Trump before the election next month.

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The US government makes its big push for investment in Africa

by David A. Wemer | Atlantic Council

Buoyed by bipartisan commitment and a new government agency, the United States has taken new and significant steps to help drive investment in Africa, strengthen the region’s dynamic economies, create lucrative opportunities for US and African businesses, and advance US foreign-policy goals in the region.

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U.S. Halts Some Foreign Assistance Funding to Ethiopia Over Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Dispute with Egypt, Sudan

BY ROBBIE GRAMER | Foreign Policy

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has approved a plan to halt U.S. foreign assistance to Ethiopia as the Trump administration attempts to mediate a dispute with Egypt and Sudan over the East African country’s construction of a massive dam on the Nile River.

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U.S., Nigeria Square Up for Tussle Over African Bank Chief

By Katarina Hoije and Leanne de Bassompierre | Bloomberg

The U.S. and Nigeria are facing off in a dispute over whether allegations against the head of the African Development Bank should be investigated a second time, exposing a fault-line between the West and the continent over the issue.

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Present and former African presidents condemn George Floyd killing

By BBC

Former African presidents have condemned the killing of George Floyd as violent protests continue in the US following his death in police custody. The Forum of Former Heads of State and Government has urged African countries to “raise a strong protest” to the killing and demand that the “perpetrators of this crime and all other crimes of this sort be punished in the strongest terms”, according to a statement released by former Beninese President Nicéphore Soglo.

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Donald Trump targeting of Nigeria: Is it really about terrorist problem or is America fearful of Africa’s first superpower emerging?

by Darius Shahtahmasebi

The US is punishing Nigeria amid a current humanitarian crisis where the West African nation is grappling with a violent terrorist problem in the form of Boko Haram; a terrorist entity that the US indirectly helped rise to power.

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Nigeria most hit by Trump’s new visa ban on four African countries

By Yomi Kazeem

The Trump administration’s controversial visa and travel bans has now been extended to include four more African countries.

The new restrictions will see the United States no longer issue immigrant visas that offer a path to permanent residency, and possibly citizenship, to nationals of Nigeria and Eritrea, US officials have confirmed.

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Ancient gold coffin returned to Egypt from New York as looted antiquity

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, perhaps America’s most esteemed art museum, has given up a stolen antiquity from its vast collections: The Gold Coffin of Nedjemankh.

The ancient gilded coffin, which was acquired by the Metropolitan in 2017 and was featured in an exhibit of artifacts from ancient Egypt, is on its way back to Egypt after it was determined to be a looted antiquity. 

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U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will support American Investment in Africa

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation is a new, modernised agency that will support investments in developing countries to drive economic growth, support stability, and improve livelihoods. In this briefing to launch the programme, Overseas Private Investment Corporation Acting President and Chief Executive Officer David Bohigian give insight into the initiative. Excerpts:

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African Governments Rush to Hire Trump-Linked Lobbyists

Cameroon is only the latest to jump in, employing a firm that just brought on Donald Trump’s former acting attorney general.

By Robbie GramerJefcoate O’Donnell

The lobbying firm that represents an African government accused of atrocities has hired U.S. President Donald Trump’s former acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker—the latest in a recent surge of contracts with African countries seeking to improve their image in Washington.

Whitaker, who is joining Clout Public Affairs as managing director, will not be working directly on the contract with the government of Cameroon and will not be filing as a lobbyist, a Clout Public Affairs spokesperson told Foreign Policy.

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From Akufo-Addo in DC to Pelosi in Accra. The story of the year of the return

Washington DC – May 1, 2017: The 115th Congress of the United States of America passes a Resolution (‘HR 1242’) establishing the “400 Years African American History Commission” to carry out activities to commemorate the anniversary.
Washington DC – Friday, Sept 28, 2018: President Akufo Addo launches ‘Year of Return’

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