Kamala Harris is on a special mission to Africa.
The vice president of the United States, with a higher bar than her predecessors, perhaps because she is the first woman in office and, moreover, not white, began a nine-day trip to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, three chosen countries this Sunday. by Washington in light of his efforts to maintain democracy in the face of the economic pressures that are shaking the continent.
Apart from these intentions of political solidarity, his main effort on this long journey is to demonstrate that the Joe Biden Administration is committed to strengthening ties with Africa.
But few doubt that Harris will face suspicions that that effort is more an attempt to counter the expanding and growing influence of China and Russia in this territory than a desire to improve relations with the mainland for its own good.
"We hope that this trip is a declaration of the relationship and friendship between the citizens of the United States and those who live in Africa," the vice president remarked this Sunday as soon as she landed in Accra (Ghana).
"That speaks to us of growth and I see a great opportunity for the continent and for the world," he replied when told that the average age of the population is around 19 years. “We have a lot to do,” she added, and went over to talk to a group of children.
In addition to youth and its prospects for the future, one must not forget the amount of natural resources on the continent, which has attracted many other powers, especially Beijing and Moscow in search of influence and dominance.
“The message is the same one that President Biden delivered at the White House meeting last December with African leaders,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council. “And that message is that Africa matters and our relationship across the continent matters. This is about Africa above all, its leaders, its nations more than anything else," Kirby reiterated.
Not everyone sees it the same way. “We have a saying in Swahili, ‘when the elegant fight, it is always the grass that is trampled. We don't want to be trampled on," Fatma Karume, former president of the Bar Association, told the Washington Post. It is clear who the elephants are.
Harris's trip is the most important step to date in courting Africa in a relationship that the previous president left in discord. Donald Trump never visited the continent and destroyed bridges with the famous expression that it was made up of "shitty countries".
The current government is characterized by a landing of authorities in search of staunching the damage.
First Lady Jil Biden traveled to Namibia and Kenya in February and Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Niger and Ethiopia this month. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield have also paid visits.
President Biden, who offered his support for the African Union (55 nations) to become a permanent member of the G-20, also plans to undertake this trip throughout 2023, still without a date.
For Harris, who will meet with the top leaders of the three countries, this journey has a special meaning. She is the first woman and black woman, of Jamaican and Indian descent, to reach the second-highest ranking in the US A spokesperson said she will touch on the human connections between Africa and her diaspora during this trip. She will visit one of the facilities where the slaves were shipped.
