By Enyichukwu Enemanna
US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced plans to visit sub-Saharan Africa soon, even as US seeks to expand its presence in the region and counter the influence of Russia and China.
“We’re all going to be seeing you and you’re going to see a lot of us,” Biden told the about 49 African leaders while he participated on the third day of the just concluded US-Africa Leaders summit in the US capital, Washington.
The visit would be Biden’s first to sub-Saharan Africa since his election as president.
In the last two years in office, Biden has focused his foreign visits on Asia and Europe, as he seeks to bolster Indo-Pacific ties and coordinate western efforts against Russia.
Ahead of the summit, US officials had stressed that the US must strengthen ties with the African continent, where both China and Russia enjoy a heavy presence in investment.
Earlier in the year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken embarked on a three-nation African tour to promote his country’s new strategy for sub-Saharan Africa, which seeks to counter the influence of China and Russia in the region.
Biden also expressed Washington’s support for a permanent role for the African Union within G-20 economies.
“Africa belongs to the table in every room — every room for global challenges that are being discussed — and in every institution,” the president said.
Also in September, the US president called for an African permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
The Biden administration has pledged $55 billion (€52 billion) worth of public investment, private investment, aid, and trade deals across Africa. This he said was “just the beginning.”
