Biden in Angola: What’s behind the last-ditch Africa trip?

United States President Joe Biden is visiting Angola this week connected his first-ever bilateral travel to Africa arsenic president – weeks earlier helium leaves the station to Donald Trump.

Biden is acceptable to get successful the Angolan capital, Luanda, connected Monday, aft a little halt successful the West African federation of Cape Verde. The two-day travel to Angola, galore analysts say, represents a final, hopeless effort to fulfil a committedness Biden made agelong ago, and antagonistic China’s expanding power connected the continent.

The anticipated visit, which was pushed backmost from October due to Hurricane Milton, volition spot Biden sojourn the Lobito Port, which is astatine the bosom of US commercialized relations with Angola. There, helium volition measure an ongoing captious minerals infrastructure task that is acceptable to spot immense supplies of cobalt and copper delivered to the West.

Here’s what to cognize astir Biden’s Africa visit and wherefore Lobito is important:

Why has President Biden not visited Africa?

Analysts accidental Biden’s nonaccomplishment to sojourn immoderate African state – but Egypt for COP27 successful November 2022 – until present shows that his medication has not prioritised the continent.

Biden archetypal promised to sojourn Africa successful December 2022, 2 years into his presidency – which immoderate enactment was already excessively late.

He made the committedness astatine a US-Africa leaders summit successful Washington, wherever 49 African leaders gathered. The US “is each successful connected Africa and each successful with Africa”, Biden declared astatine the time. He besides announced a enactment bundle of $55bn to the African Union.

US President Joe Biden participates successful a radical photograph with the leaders of the US-Africa Leaders Summit astatine the Walter E. Washington Convention Center successful Washington, DC, connected December 15, 2022 [Brendan Smialowski/AFP]

The Biden medication has hosted respective African leaders successful the White House, but the promised visit ne'er materialised – until now.

“Presidential trips to Africa are uncommon capable that they ever matter,” Cameron Hudson, a elder Africa expert astatine the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al Jazeera.

“This 1 would substance little coming arsenic it does astatine the precise extremity of a lame-duck presidency. Ironically, [an Africa trip] astir apt matters much to Biden, who is searching to found a bequest successful Africa…than for Africa, which is already preparing for his successor,” Hudson added.

Africa’s important earthy resources, rapidly increasing colonisation of 1.3 billion, and sizeable voting powerfulness successful the United Nations – with 54 state votes – marque the continent an progressively important strategical player.

How has Biden approached ties with Africa truthful far?

US power connected the continent has been waning for years, adjacent arsenic China and Russia person strengthened their beingness successful respective countries.

China has since 2013 overtaken the US to go Africa’s largest commercialized partner. This year, the US mislaid a large spy basal successful the West African federation of Niger, and its service got kicked retired of Chad. That has near it struggling to find a subject foothold successful the Sahel portion which has go a hotspot of unit by a scope of equipped groups.

In 2022, the White House released an ambitious Africa strategy document that shifted from the archetypal Trump administration’s absorption connected commercialized relations.

Rather, the papers promised, the US would propulsion for Africa to person enactment roles astatine planetary platforms, including imperishable seats connected the United Nations Security Council and rank of the G20. Analysts lauded the attack arsenic “modern” and “ambitious” astatine the clip but enthusiasm for it rapidly faded arsenic little action followed.

Several apical officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, person visited African countries astatine assorted times.

Meanwhile, Biden recovered clip to question elsewhere. He has visited the United Kingdom unsocial 5 times, isolated from galore different visits to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

In contrast, President Xi Jinping of China and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin person visited African countries astatine slightest doubly arsenic heads of state.

The Angolan and US emblem bent from a gathering adjacent the Quatro de Fevereiro Luanda International Airport connected December 2, 2024 earlier the sojourn by US President Joe Biden to Angola [Julio Pacheco Ntela/AFP]

Why is Biden visiting now, and wherefore Angola?

The sojourn to Luanda volition spot Biden absorption connected an $800m US-backed railway task successful the Lobito Corridor. The transition is simply a strategical commercialized way that connects the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia to Angola, which hosts the larboard of Lobito, located connected the Atlantic Ocean.

Funded mostly by the US and the European Union, the Lobito Atlantic Railway task volition spot an existing obstruction web successful the Lobito Corridor upgraded. That would let for the faster export of cobalt and copper, amongst different minerals, mined from the DRC’s Kolwezi mining town, to the West.

The DRC is 1 of the world’s largest producers of copper and cobalt. The minerals are cardinal components of batteries that powerfulness electrical vehicles, which the US and EU are anxious to make much of arsenic request for cleanable vigor proviso chains grows.

Washington has provided a $550m indebtedness to commencement the project. The African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation are besides involved.

(Al Jazeera)

The obstruction enactment is astir 1300km (800 miles) agelong and volition apt spot extensions into mineral-rich regions successful Zambia. Portuguese institution Trafigura is starring a three-company consortium that volition run the railway for 30 years nether a concession agreement. In August, the institution said it shipped the archetypal instrumentality of minerals to the US via the Lobito Port.

Analysts accidental the US faces challenges successful the corridor. China has eyes connected the region, too, and has already locked successful overmuch of the minerals that would theoretically beryllium sold to Western countries wrong its immense Belt and Road Initiative, notes researcher Wala Chabala successful a insubstantial for the Berlin-based deliberation tank, Africa Policy Research Institute.

“Not lone are the Chinese ubiquitously contiguous connected the African continent, but China is already acold up successful gathering proviso chains for cobalt, lithium and respective different indispensable metals and minerals,” Chabala wrote.

In September, China’s authorities engineering corp signed a concession statement to run the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), different railway enactment successful the corridor that links cardinal Zambia to the larboard of Dar-es-Salaam successful Tanzania.

What does Biden’s sojourn mean for Angola?

US officials accidental the sojourn is meant to item the adjacent ties betwixt Angola and the US.

At present, Luanda is besides playing a pb relation successful mediating a spat betwixt the DRC and Rwanda, concerning ongoing unit successful eastbound Congo.

Angola was, until a fewer years ago, a dense borrower from China. It has besides been historically adjacent to Russia: During Angola’s 27-year civilian war, the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union backed rival sides, starring to acold ties betwixt Luanda and Washington.

However, the authorities of President Joao Lourenco, which has been successful spot since 2017, has favoured stronger ties with Washington. The 2 countries person deepened commercialized relations and by 2023, US-Angola commercialized totalled astir $1.77bn. Angola is the US’s fourth-largest commercialized spouse successful sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2021, and much recently, successful November 2023, Biden hosted President Lourenco astatine the White House.

Supporters of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and different absorption groups clasp banners arsenic they stitchery pursuing a march to protestation against Angola’s governing enactment and President Joao Lourenco successful Luanda, connected November 23, 2024 [Julio Pacheco Ntela/ AFP]

However, analysts accidental Washington’s presumption of Lourenco’s authorities ignores alleged quality rights violations nether his watch. Lourenco is unpopular amongst galore Angolans owed to precocious surviving costs, corruption, and mounting crackdowns connected dissent. In June, authorities opened occurrence connected protesters aggravated astatine inflation, sidesplitting 8 radical successful the cardinal Huambo province. Several others were arrested successful cities crossed the country.

Analysts accidental Biden’s refusal to admit those concerns implicit alleged rights abuses is simply a stain connected his legacy.

“Many observers judge that Biden’s sojourn whitethorn inadvertently embolden an unpopular president,” said Florindo Chivucute, manager of Friends of Angola, a radical advocating for stronger antiauthoritarian values successful Angola and based successful Luanda and Washington, DC.

“While the US lags down China successful presumption of commercialized and governmental power successful Angola, it should not compromise its halfway values of ideology and quality rights successful an effort to drawback up,” helium said.

What’s adjacent for US-Africa ties?

While President Biden has yet fulfilled his committedness to sojourn Africa, his medication hasn’t been capable to execute immoderate of the different goals it acceptable for itself.

The African Union was admitted arsenic a imperishable subordinate of the G20 successful September 2023. However, nary African state is inactive a imperishable subordinate of the UNSC.

In September 2024, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that her state would enactment 2 imperishable UNSC seats for Africa. However, she warned that those seats would not person veto power, a presumption that galore analysts criticised due to the fact that it would acceptable up a two-tier strategy – 1 for UNSC members with vetoes, and the 2nd for those without that power.

A Trump presidency, meanwhile, is apt to absorption lone connected commercialized relations, arsenic it did the archetypal time, experts say.

The incoming medication volition apt privation to vie with Chinese and Russian influence, and onshore entree to captious minerals, Tibor Nagy, a apical envoy to Africa nether the past Trump administration, told the Reuters quality agency.

There, astatine least, projects similar the Lobito Railway could spot sustained US investment. “This checks some boxes,” Nagy said, referring to the railway project.