Published on : 09/08/2022 – 11:17
Speaking in the South African capital, Pretoria, on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States does not see the region as the “final playing field in a great power competition” and that they wanted a “real partnership” with Africa.
Washington wants a “true partnership” with Africa, announced Monday, August 8 in Pretoria US Secretary of State Antony Blinkwhile ensuring that the United States does not seek to “surpass” the influence of other world powers on the continent, China and Russia in the lead.
“What we are looking for above all is a real partnership between the United States and Africa. We do not want an unbalanced or transactional relationship,” said Antony Blinken, during a press briefing. with his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor.
“The United States will not dictate Africa’s choices and no one else should,” he said later in a speech at the University of Pretoria. “The right to make these choices belongs to Africans alone.” “Too often, African nations have been treated as instruments of other nations’ progress, rather than authors of their own progress,” he insisted.
Fight once morest extremist groups
At the same time, Washington unveiled a policy document announcing an all-out overhaul of its policy in sub-Saharan Africa, where the Americans intend counter the Russian presence and China and in particular to develop non-military approaches once morest terrorism.
This new strategy, which recognizes in passing the growing demographic importance of Africa, its weight in the United Nations as well as its immense natural resources and its opportunities, comes at a time when the emphasis placed by the United States on the military struggle once morest extremist groups in Africa is criticized for its ineffectiveness.
“The bad governance, exclusion and corruption inherent in weak democracies make them more vulnerable to extremist movements, as well as to foreign interference”, underlined Antony Blinken. “This includes (the company) Wagner backed by the Kremlin, which exploits instability to plunder resources and commits abuses with impunity,” he added.
Countering Russian influence on the continent
His visit to Pretoria, first leg of an African tour who will lead him in the coming days to Kinshasa and Kigali, aims to try to bring South African diplomacy closer to the Western camp and thwart Russian influence on the continent, several experts have argued. She shortly follows the tour in Africa at the end of July of her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
But on Monday, the bilingual English-French secretary of state swore that his country did not see the region as the “last playing field in a competition between great powers”. “That’s fundamentally not how we see it,” he insisted. “Our commitment to a stronger partnership with Africa is not regarding trying to outdo anyone.”
The United States’ attention to Africa has often been relegated to the background and the American government says it wants to change the dynamic.
With AFP