For the first time, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the president of resource-rich Angola on Thursday. The main topic of discussion between the two leaders was a $1 billion rail project that would link the oil-rich country’s ports to the continent’s resource-rich interior, potentially weakening China’s influence over the region.
A discussion “focused on the secure and stable supply of energy and deeper commercial ties while advancing our shared climate goals” will take place in 2019 according to the leaders’ agreement. The United States and Nigeria, the continent’s largest oil producer, have had similar discussions.
This was a rare visit by an African leader to the Oval Office, and Biden used it to illustrate his retooled Africa strategy.
In front of a blazing fireplace and seated close to President Joao Loureno, Biden declared, “As you’ve heard me say before, America is all in on Africa.”
The continent “has 1 billion people,” he continued. How it operates is vitally essential to everyone on the planet.”
Africa had a population of approximately 1.4 billion people in 2023, according to the CIA’s World Factbook.
Notwithstanding the specifics, the continent—and Angola in particular—should be seen as significant, according to historian Jean-Michel Mabeko-Tali of Howard University.
“I think it’s a really important partner,” he said to VOA. Naturally, it all depends on how America wishes to view Angola or any other African nation. Angola will not gain from it if it views it as merely another nation with which to discuss minor matters.
“If we remember that it’s a country with a long history of conflict resolution, nationally and regionally, it would be positive and not just as another country with natural resources that America is interested in,” Mabeko-Tali stated.
During their hour-long discussion on Thursday, the two leaders primarily discussed a rail line that would be funded by the United States and stretch from the oil-rich coast of Angola deep into the African interior, where China and the United States are vying for access to resources. The route dips into Zambia, which is rich in copper, and passes through the unstable southern Congo, which is home to many rare earth minerals.
“The U.S. engagement in the Lobito Corridor in telecommunications and energy, mainly green energy, is an evidence of that support, because infrastructures like those will help the development not only of Angola, but the whole African continent,” said Lourenco.
As part of Lourenco’s duties as the lead peace envoy for the African Union, VOA questioned the White House about how this corridor—to which Biden has committed $1 billion—can function in the absence of peace in the Congo.
In the volatile region, where issues are complicated by a few long-serving leaders with large personalities, well-documented violations of human rights, civil liberties, and democratic practises, and a history of meddling in each other’s affairs, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby did not specify what steps the administration is taking to support Lourenco’s efforts.
Kirby, however, focused on the administration’s initiatives under Biden’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which is generally regarded as the United States’ rebuttal to China’s considerably more expansive Belt and Road Initiative.
Kirby remarked, “The president is very excited about this.” “As part of PGII, this is a truly historic endeavour, assisting lower-middle income nations in identifying long-term infrastructure projects that can, in this case, open up economic prospects throughout that southern region of sub-Saharan Africa in addition to creating jobs. So, it’s really thrilling. And we will, we shall continue to press.”
According to analysts, the fate of the corridor hinges on Congo, which will vote in a fight between the incumbent and the head of the southern state that will host it next month. However, China might possibly be involved.
Michael Walsh, a senior scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Africa Programme, told VOA that “making the Lobito corridor a success is going to require cooperation while also competing with China, and I think that’s sort of what’s happening behind the scenes with China.” “The Lobito corridor is both competition, and to some extent, is going to probably be cooperation.”
In addition, VOA questioned Biden about his wishes to address Lourenco over the critique of his human rights record.
“We never shy away from talking about human rights,” Kirby stated. “The president routinely brings that up.”
Lourenco gave the assembled reporters less than a minute’s notice before departing the White House. He declared the encounter to be “better than I expected.”
