This weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris will begin a three-nation tour of Africa. This is part of an effort by the U.S. to show that it is a better partner than China, which has made a lot of investments across the continent over the past few decades.
After spending the 26th to the 29th of March in Ghana, Harris will travel to Tanzania from the 29th to the 31st of March. Her last destination will be Zambia, and she will be there from the 31st of March until the 1st of April. Before announcing investments in both the public and private sectors, he plans to meet with the presidents of the three countries.
According to senior officials in the United States, Harris will talk about China’s involvement in debt restructuring as well as China’s involvement in technology and economic problems in Africa that are of concern to the United States. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zambia became the first country in Africa to default on its sovereign debt. The country is trying to come to an agreement with its creditors, which include China. When asked about the competition with China, a government official told Reuters, “We’re not asking our partners in Africa to choose.” However, he did add that the United States has “real concerns about some of China’s behavior in Africa” and its “opaque” business transactions.
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Because of the sensitivity of the issue, the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Harris would discuss the best methods for the international community to address the debt challenges faced by Ghana and Zambia. In December, the White House hosted the Africa Leaders’ Summit, and Vice President Joe Biden is likely to make a trip to the continent before the year is over.
Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State for the United States of America, traveled to Ethiopia and Niger in March of this year. His trips to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Morocco, Algeria, and Rwanda occurred less than a year ago The U.S. policy during the presidency of Biden’s predecessor, Republican President Donald Trump, who mostly ignored the continent, was different from the recent string of event. This shift coincides with Russia’s expansion of military engagements in Francophone Africa.
One of the officials said that Harris is “looking forward to going back to Lusaka, which is a part of her family’s history and a source of pride.” When Harris was a young girl, she would visit her maternal grandfather there while he worked. During her trip, Harris will also meet young leaders and business people, with whom she will talk about things like the effects of climate change and the amount of food that is available.
