Blinken in Africa: a Fresh Start After Trump

In Senegal, four agreements were signed, totaling over $1 billion of investment in the country’s infrastructure. Lastly, in Kenya, Blinken’s visit led to increased health cooperation and the announcement of a new vaccine initiative. The Secretary of State also underlined his support for Kenya’s mediation efforts in the Ethiopian conflict.

The pandemic, vaccine diplomacy and soft power

While the Covid-19 vaccination rate currently stands at 67% in the EU and around 58% in the US, it barely reaches 7% for the entire African continent. This figure is in stark contrast with the African Union’s target of 60% by the end of 2021, and hides major regional disparities. The EU, the US and China have been the three main contributors to the COVAX initiative created by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Last September, Biden announced that he had increased the number of vaccines donated worldwide by 500 million, bringing the total to 1.1 billion. However, Sub-Saharan African countries have so far received only 76 million vaccine doses from the US, out of the over 250 million sent out to date. For reference, 65 million vaccines have been delivered to East Asia and the Pacific, 57 million to Central and South Asia and over 50 million to North and South America.

The US further donated over $1.9 billion in emergency funds for food and humanitarian supplies to complement its debt suspension for 32 African countries under the World Bank’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). 

Strategic rivalry and economic opportunity

In a context of growing strategic rivalry between Washington and Beijing, China was notably absent from Blinken’s speeches, at least explicitly - but China was omnipresent in the priorities and concerns expressed by the Secretary of State.

In fact, China overtook the US as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009. The balance will be further affected by Washington’s threat to suspend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea on January 1, 2022, because of the war waged against Tigray by Ethiopia and the military coups that have taken place in the latter two. In a statement to Congress, the White House said the three countries "are not in compliance with the eligibility requirements of section 104" of the act. AGOA remains a critical part of the US-Africa trade relationship as the law, enacted in 2000, eliminates tariffs on thousands of products that are vital to many African economies.

However, the Biden administration does intend to remind American companies of the continent’s importance for them. Indeed, rapid urbanization and infrastructure development paired with strong demographic growth open up major investment opportunities. This is what Judd Devermont, former director of the Africa program at CSIS and now special advisor for the Africa strategy at the White House’s National Security Council (NSC) previously said in our blog. Biden’s announcement of a US-Africa summit set to be held in the summer of 2022 - news that was applauded by the US Chamber of Commerce - is a reflection of this outlook.

Co-authored with Marin Saillofest, Assistant Policy Officer.

Copyright: Andrew Harnik / POOL / AFP