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US President Joe Biden is visiting Angola this week on his first bilateral trip to Africa as president – weeks before he leaves office Donald Trump.
Biden will arrive in the Angolan capital of Luanda on Monday after a brief stop in the West African country of Cape Verde. The two-day trip to Angola is seen by many analysts as a last-ditch, desperate attempt to fulfill a long-held promise by Biden to counter China’s growing influence on the continent.
Expected visit, which was pushed back from October because of Hurricane Milton, Biden will visit the port of Lobito, which is at the center of US trade relations with Angola. There, he will assess an ongoing critical mineral infrastructure project that will bring massive supplies of cobalt and copper to the West.
Here’s what you need to know about Biden African visit and why Lobito is important:
Why hasn’t President Biden visited Africa?
Analysts say Biden’s failure to visit any African country apart from Egypt at COP27 in November 2022 shows his administration has not made the continent a priority.
Biden first promised to visit Africa in December 2022, two years into his presidency, and some note that was already too late.
He made a promise at US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, where 49 African leaders gathered. At the time, Biden declared that the United States “is in Africa and is in Africa.” He also announced a $55 billion aid package for the African Union.
The Biden administration has hosted several African leaders at the White House, but the promised visit never materialized – until now.
“Presidential trips to Africa are rare enough that they always matter,” Cameron Hudson, senior Africa analyst at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al Jazeera.
“It would matter less, as it does at the very end of a lame duck presidency. Ironically, (the trip to Africa) is probably more important to Biden, who is looking for a legacy in Africa … than to Africa, which is already preparing for his successor,” Hudson added.
Africa’s significant natural resources, rapidly growing population (1.3 billion) and significant voting power in the United Nations (with 54 votes) make the continent an increasingly important strategic player.
How has Biden approached relations with Africa so far?
US influence on the continent has been waning for years, even as China and Russia have strengthened their presence in several countries.
Since 2013, China has overtaken the US to become Africa’s largest trading partner. This year, the US lost a major spy base in the West African nation of Niger and its military was kicked out of Chad. Consequently, it has difficulty finding military stability in the Sahel region, which has become a hotspot for violence by various armed groups.
In 2022, the White House released an an ambitious African strategy document which deviated from the first Trump administration’s focus on trade relations.
Rather, the document promises that the US will push for Africa to take leading roles in international platforms, including permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council and membership in the G20. Analysts at the time hailed the approach as “modern” and “ambitious,” but enthusiasm for it quickly faded when little action followed.
Several senior officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited African countries at various times.
Meanwhile, Biden found time to travel elsewhere. He has visited the UK five times, in addition to numerous other visits to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.
In contrast, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have visited African countries at least twice as heads of state.
Why is Biden visiting now and why Angola?
During his visit to Luanda, Biden will focus on the $800 million US-backed railway project in the Lobito corridor. The crossing is a strategic trade route connecting the resource-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia with Angola, home to the Atlantic port of Lobito.
The Lobito Atlantic Railway project, largely financed by the United States and the European Union, will upgrade the existing rail network in the Lobito corridor. This would allow faster exports of cobalt and copper, as well as other minerals extracted from the DRC’s mining town of Kolwezi, to the West.
The DRC is one of the world’s largest producers of copper and cobalt. Minerals are key components of batteries that power electric vehicles, which the US and EU are looking to further develop as demand for clean energy supply chains grows.
Washington has provided a $550 million loan to start the project. The African Development Bank and the African Finance Corporation are also involved.
The railway line is about 1,300 km (800 mi) long and is likely to be extended into the mineral-rich regions of Zambia. The Portuguese company Trafigura is leading a consortium of three companies that will operate the railway for 30 years under a concession agreement. In August, the company announced that it sent the first container of minerals to the United States through the port of Lobito.
Analysts say the US faces challenges in the corridor. China is also eyeing the region and has already blocked much of the minerals that would theoretically be sold to Western countries as part of its massive Belt and Road initiative, notes researcher Wala Chabala in a paper on Africa Policy at the Berlin think tank. Research Institute.
“Not only is China omnipresent on the African continent, but China is already far ahead in building supply chains for cobalt, lithium and several other essential metals and minerals,” Tchabala wrote.
In September, China State Engineering Corporation signed a concession agreement to operate the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), another railway line in the corridor linking central Zambia to the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
What does Biden’s visit mean for Angola?
US officials say the purpose of the visit is to highlight the close relationship between Angola and the US.
Luanda is also currently playing a leading role in mediating the dispute between the DRC and Rwanda. violence continues in eastern Congo.
Angola was a big borrower from China until a few years ago. It has also historically been close to Russia: During Angola’s 27-year civil war, the United States and the former Soviet Union backed the rival sides, leading to frosty relations between Luanda and Washington.
However, the government of President Joao Lourenco, in place since 2017, has supported closer ties with Washington. The two countries have deepened their trade relationship, and by 2023 US-Angola trade will reach approximately $1.77 billion. Angola is the US’s fourth largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2021 and most recently in November 2023, Biden hosted President Lourenco at the White House.
But analysts say Washington’s view of Lorenzo’s government overlooks the alleged human rights abuses he has overseen. Lourenco is unpopular with many Angolans due to the high cost of living, corruption and crackdown on growing dissent. In June, authorities opened fire on protesters angry about inflation, killing eight people in central Huambo province. Several others were arrested in cities across the country.
Analysts say Biden’s refusal to acknowledge these concerns about potential rights violations is a stain on his legacy.
“Many observers believe that Biden’s visit may inadvertently embolden an unpopular president,” said Florindo Chivukut, director of the Friends of Angola group.
“While the United States lags behind China in terms of trade and political influence in Angola, it should not compromise its core values of democracy and human rights in an effort to catch up,” he said.
What will happen to US-Africa relations?
While President Biden has finally followed through on his promise to visit Africa, his administration has failed to meet some of its other goals.
The African Union was admitted as a permanent member of the G20 in September 2023. However, no African country is still a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
In September 2024, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that her country would support two permanent UNSC seats for Africa. However, she warned that these seats would not have veto power, a position criticized by many analysts as it would create a two-tier system – one for UN Security Council members with veto power and one for those without.
Meanwhile, Trump’s presidency is likely to focus solely on trade relations, as it did the first time, experts say.
The new administration will likely want to compete with the influence of China and Russia and gain land access to critical minerals, Tibor Nagy, the last Trump administration’s top envoy to Africa, told Reuters.
There, at least, projects like the Lobito railway could see sustained US investment. “It checks both boxes,” Nagys said, referring to the rail project.
