(Dakar) Africans “do not have to choose” in the context of growing rivalries between China and the United States, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday in Abuja, while assuring that his country could help them. offer more in terms of democratic rights.
The head of American diplomacy then flew to Dakar where he arrived Friday evening, for the last stop of his African tour which also took him to Kenya.
A few days before China held a summit with Africa in Senegal, the White House announced Friday night in Washington that President Joe Biden would host “next year” a summit with the leaders of the continent.
“This summit will continue efforts to strengthen ties with African partners” and “will also be an opportunity to listen to our African counterparts and collaborate with them on key issues that the United States and Africa deem essential for the future of the continent and our world community ”, indicates the American presidency.
On Friday, in a speech at the headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Blinken made no explicit mention of China, but said he knew that Africans ” beware of the “paw threads” that often accompany foreign engagements.
“I want to be clear: the United States does not want to limit your partnerships with other countries,” he assured. “We want to further strengthen our partnerships. We don’t want you to make a choice. We want to give you choices ”.
“Our approach will be sustainable, transparent and driven by values,” added the head of US diplomacy.
Infrastructure deals with other nations, which can be “opaque, coercive and entangle countries in unimaginable debt, destroy the environment and do not always benefit residents,” he said.
“We will do things differently,” he promised.
Mr Blinken acknowledged the mistrust of many African countries: “Too many times African countries have been treated as minor partners – or worse – rather than equal partners”.
“And we are sensitive to the fact that centuries of colonialism, slavery and exploitation have left painful legacies that endure,” he added.
According to him, the Biden administration “firmly believes that it is time to stop treating Africa as a subject of geopolitics and to start treating it as the major geopolitical actor that it has become. ”
The head of US diplomacy has promised cooperation in the fight against climate change and COVID-19.
Decline of democracy
Wanting to distance himself from the former Trump administration, Joe Biden called for a new commitment to Africa, but also to democracy, subjects his predecessor was seen as ignoring.
The US president will hold a virtual summit of democracies in December to show solidarity in the face of the rise of authoritarian leaders around the world.
Mr Blinken admitted that the United States was not a perfect model, as demonstrated by the January 6 attack by supporters of then-incumbent Donald Trump on the Capitol in Washington in an attempt to overthrow the election results that brought Joe Biden to the White House.
“The decline in democracy is not just an African problem, it is a global problem. My own country is fighting the threats to our democracy. And the solutions to these threats will come as much from Africa as from anywhere else. ”
“We need to show how democracies can meet the expectations of citizens, quickly and effectively,” he added.
For the Biden administration, China, given its rapid growth and growing international presence, is one of the main challenges facing the United States in the 21st century.
Also present in Abuja, US State Department spokesman Ned Price accused Beijing of “directly threatening regional peace and stability” in Asia, where the American ally, the Philippines, accused China the day before. for firing water cannon at some of its ships in the hotly contested South China Sea.
In recent years, China has invested heavily on the African continent, particularly in infrastructure and in the exploitation of its raw materials (gold and wood in particular).
On Thursday, speaking alongside Blinken, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama dismissed concerns about China, saying the Asian power offered a “great opportunity” for a country in need of infrastructure.