On December 13th, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton unveiled Trump’s Africa strategy. The plan focuses heavily on “countering China and Russia’s expanding influence across the region, while also making sure US taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly with a reduction in US involvement in United Nations peacekeeping missions.”
He emphasized that the US vision for Africa is “one of independence, self-reliance, and growth — not dependency, domination, and debt.”
It is somehow, however, to include additional cuts to aid and peacekeeping programs.
“This strategy is the result of an intensive interagency process, and reflects the core tenets of President Trump’s foreign policy doctrine. Importantly, the strategy remains true to his central campaign promise to put the interests of the American people first, both at home and abroad,”he said.
“Under our new approach, every decision we make, every policy we pursue, and every dollar of aid we spend will further US priorities in the region.”
The plan relies on three priorities.
The first one is to enchance US economic ties with the regio; but without providing examples of how that would be done. Bolton also accused both Russia and China of “predatory practices,” which only benefit the countries and are detrimental to Africa itself.
“In short, the predatory practices pursued by China and Russia stunt economic growth in Africa; threaten the financial independence of African nations; inhibit opportunities for U.S. investment; interfere with U.S. military operations; and pose a significant threat to U.S. national security interests.”
The second priority, according to Bolton, is to counter the threats caused by “the lack of economic progress in the region has accompanied the proliferation of Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent conflict, across Africa.”
Evidently, he mentioned Russia and China first, because they appear to be the prime guilty parties responsible for that lack of economic progress in his vision of the situation.
Bolton mentioned aid provided to Africa in past fiscal years and periods, saying that it hasn’t stopped Russia and China from taking advantage of African states.
Thus, the aid without effect will be cut, there will be no assistance without accountability.
“Americans are a generous people, but we insist that our money is put to good use,” Bolton said.
The third priority is “ensuring that all U.S. assistance dollars sent to Africa are used efficiently and effectively to advance peace, stability, independence, and prosperity in the region.”
This will be done through “a new initiative called “Prosper Africa,” which will support U.S. investment across the continent, grow Africa’s middle class, and improve the overall business climate in the region.”
This will come in addition to encouraging African leaders to “choose high-quality, transparent, inclusive, and sustainable foreign investment projects, including those from the United States.”
He finalized his speech with the following:
“Under our new Africa Strategy, we will expand economic ties on the basis of mutual respect. We will help African nations take control of their own economic destinies and their own security needs. And, we will ensure that all U.S. foreign assistance in the region gets results for the American people.”
It is no secret that what Bolton claims goes contrary to the US conduct around the world.
On Russia’s part, on December 16th, it announced that it is ready to help to build the Trans-African cross-continental railway including the Dakar – Port Sudan – Cape Town route by expanding the existing Trans-Africa Highways 4 and 5.
#Russia is ready to help build the Trans-African cross-continental railway including the Dakar – Port Sudan – Cape Town (West to East, North to South) route through the expansion of the existing Trans-African Highways 4 & 5 https://t.co/Xwx8OCV0mz pic.twitter.com/V42vk5jCJZ
— Russian Embassy in South Africa 🇷🇺 (@EmbassyofRussia) December 16, 2018
“The Sudanese side expressed interest in participation of the Russian companies in constructing of the Trans-African railway over Dakar – Port Sudan – Cape Town,” said the commission in a document seen by TASS.
“The Russian side confirmed readiness to work out the opportunity for participation with interested economic operators, provided that the initiator ensures formal confirmation of interest by all states – project participants and submission of elaborated financial and organizational-legal models of this project,” the document says.
The first phase of the project will be an estimated $2.2 billion upgrade to 1,228 kilometers of existing rail between Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and Bamako, the capital of neighboring Mali.
In addition to that, Le Monde reported, that “Putin’s chef” Evgeny Prigozhin took part in a meeting the leaders of militant groups of the Central African Republic that took place in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum on August 27th and 28th. The report was based on anonymous claims of the alleged meeting participants. Similarly to earlier Bloomberg’s claims, Prigozhin appeared to be some sort of “right-hand-man” of the “evil mastermind Putin,” and is definitely up to no good, but it is all speculation.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that ambassador-at-large Konstantin Shuvalov participated in the talks on August 29th.
“He was received by President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera who expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the Russian Federation for its efforts. In response, the Russian representative emphasised that Russia’s assistance was in line with the efforts of the African community which was making a decisive contribution to relieving the crises on the African continent in accord with the principle enunciated by the African Union, which is that African problems need an African solution.”
Thus, it may appear that, despite Bolton’s claims, Russia might actually be trying to help the African region. It may also just be a part of “Putin, the Bond villain’s” plot. If one takes a neutral look at the situation, it would appear that China and Russia are just expanding their influence in Africa in both economic and military fields. These developments are leading to a further decrease of the influence of the US and its allies in the continent.
