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Will U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Create New Image Of Africa?

Will U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Create New Image Of Africa?

In the first of a two-part series, different African and foreign views are presented on global, African and American implications of the upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

From a global perspective, the upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit may create a new image of Africa advocating for itself as an integral part of the interdependent world order in terms of trade and investments.

The summit has the potential to make the international community think about the African continent yet again as a place of abundant opportunities if mutual (African and other) interests are met.

For reasons connected to its own national interests, the U.S. wants heavy security-related issues discussed during its first-ever summit with African leaders on American soil Aug. 4-6 in Washington, D.C.

U.S. commitment to human security including civil society, women, food, education and health has been high on any U.S. concept-strategy toward Africa for decades. In addition, American national security does not only focus on military involvement in terms of reducing terrorist threats, but also energy security both for the U.S. and increasingly, within African countries. Power Africa is one of the programs announced by President Barack Obama after his 2013 Africa Tour. 

Denise Kodhe is director general of the Nairobi-based Institute for Democracy and Leadership in Africa.

“I see the summit as an opportunity for both Africa and the U.S. to cement relationships and also to reach out and talk to each other,” Kodhe told AFKInsider. “This relationship has been slow and not so active in the recent past due to changing geopolitics, which turned American attention to other parts of the world. The indictment of certain African leaders by the International Criminal Court, which is largely supported by the U.S., Japan and other European countries, has created a major rift between African leaders especially with the U.S. and other countries that are committed to the objectives of the Court.”

‘Clean hands have to play the game’

Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is one of the few uninvited African leaders to the summit. He has allegedly conducted violent campaigns against ethnic populations in the Darfur region of Western Sudan and has been issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, according to an earlier report in AFKInsider.

Mursi Awad Mursi Taha is North African regional representative of the African Youth Panel, a pilot project funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From a Sudanese point of view, “Sudan not being invited by the Obama Administration to attend the summit is a mistake,” Mursi Awad told AFKInsider. “It should also participate in discussions that can help Africa and change many perspectives for societies at large across the continent.

“Also from a security angle, Sudan will remain a priority for President Obama. However, we will not feel a real change soon as the current regime is listed among the highly corrupted countries in the world and things therefore cannot progress in the desired way forward. Clean hands have to play the game.”

Global perspective on the summit

From a global perspective, the summit may create a new image of Africa advocating for itself as an integral part of the interdependent world order in terms of trade and investments.

Paul O. Folorunso is a lecturer of philosophy at Ekiti State University in Nigeria.

With the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, “the U.S. may initiate a rebranding of Africa, which (will) also define the future of the continent with the outside world,” Folorunso said. “However, positive change can only occur if genuine and mutually beneficial cooperation is ensured.”

While Nigeria is an important player in African peacekeeping operations, it is becoming more and more difficult for its government to quell internal threats posed by Islamist terror group Boko Haram. “This threat is a cog in the wheels of trade and investments in Nigeria, and this is part of the agenda that the summit needs to contend with if Nigeria is seen as a critical factor in the socio-political and economic growth of the continent,” Folorunso told AFKInsider.

Copying China in summit diplomacy?

AFKInsider reported earlier on the questions of whether or not the U.S. is — or should be — copying China in summit diplomacy. Folorunso, Mursi Awad and Kodhe agree that with the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the U.S. wants to reduce the influence of China over Africa. However, “the U.S. should not redefine its positions in Africa by compromising its approach and demand for democracy and good governance practice among African leaders,” Kodhe said. “Africa cannot remain a dark and backward continent forever because of bad autocratic leadership.”

“The U.S. and other European countries should always play the role of a ‘positive big brother’ irrespective of criticism, hatred and other dissent opinions,” Kodhe added. “Leadership style in Africa must change for the benefit of African people.”

For Kenya in particular, the summit will provide a great opportunity to reach out and reconcile with the U.S. and to renew its partnership, Kodhe concluded. Kenya “requires U.S. support to fight terrorists,” she said. The country “is struggling to survive without U.S. and European support….terrorism… is threatening its economic and political stability.”

Istvan Tarrosy is assistant professor of political science and director of the Africa Research Center at the University of Pecs, Hungary. He was Fulbright Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for African Studies, University of Florida in 2013 and early 2014. He is co-editor of “The African State in a Changing Global Context, Breakdowns and Transformations” (Berlin, 2010) and editor of “Afrika Tanulmanyok,” the Hungarian journal of African Studies.