US deepens ties with Angola, in bid to counter Chinese and Russian influence in Africa

As the US top diplomat wrapped up his visit to Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Angola (21-26 January), experts have hailed what they call the United States finally “making serious efforts to strengthen its relations with Africa”.
The four-nation tour of the continent by the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was also officially touted as part of the effort to accelerate the US-Africa partnership since the US-Africa Leaders Summit held mid-December 2022 in Washington, particularly in key areas such as climate, food, and health security. But experts and observers have also pointed out that Blinken’s visit has also highlighted that the United States is playing catch-up with China and Russia in Africa. This was most notable in the case of the oil-rich Angola that long turned to China for infrastructure and to Russia for tanks and missiles, but it’s foreign relations now appear to be undergoing a major realignment.
The Central African country has rejected China and embraced the US and European countries to help it build Angola’s vast $250 million Lobito Corridor that will eventually link Angola with mineral-rich parts of Zambia and the DR of Congo. This major railway project will channel cobalt, copper and other critical minerals out, diversifying US supplies of raw materials critical to the green revolution. Biden administration officials have hailed Angola’s warming relationship with the US is a win-win and a model for economic cooperation that could be an especially positive sign of Washington’s appeal as a partner in Africa and across the developing world.
But as analyst Emmanuel Bensah points out, the US’ task to roll back the Russia’s and China’s influence is very daunting since “the BRICS is already emerging as a important counter to the United States.”Yet, according to Kester Kenn Klomegah, a Modern Diplomacy Africa editor, ”time is still on the side of United States, it only needs moving faster and implementing viable projects and show more comprehensive actions.”