Headline

Blinken To Visit Nigeria As Russia, China Make Gains in Africa

Published

2 years ago

January 18, 2024

Editor

The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit sub-Saharan Africa for the first time in 10 months, the State Department said Thursday, redirecting his focus as rivals Russia and China seek gains there.

After four frenetic tours of the Middle East since war broke out on October 7 with a Hamas attack on Israel, Blinken will visit Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Angola and Cape Verde starting Monday.

Blinken will discuss economic growth and “advance security partnerships based on shared values such as respect for human rights, promotion of democracy and expansion of the rule of law,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

On Blinken’s last visit to sub-Saharan Africa, he became the highest-ranking US official ever to visit Niger, hoping to champion the fragile democracy, also a frontline country in the fight against Sahel jihadists.

Just four months later, the military deposed the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. Niger’s army-installed prime minister this week visited Russia for talks on boosting military cooperation.

Russia, through its powerful Wagner mercenary group, has also been active in Mali, the Central African Republic and allegedly Burkina Faso.

Molly Phee, the top US diplomat for Africa who visited Niger in December, said that Niger should look at Mali’s descent since aligning with Russia.

“That isn’t a model that I would want to follow,” she told reporters.

“We have a demonstrated track record there that they’re well aware of, and we hope they make the right decision,” she said.

Ivory Coast has been among the most outspoken countries against the Niger coup, backing sanctions and with President Alassane Ouattara initially musing about joint West African military action to restore democracy.

Blinken will also look to show Washington’s softer side, including by attending a football match in Abidjan during the Africa Cup of Nations.

In Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and home to the headquarters of West African regional bloc ECOWAS, Blinken will head to Abuja to meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and also tour the bustling metropolis Lagos.

US President Joe Biden, who vowed a new interest in Africa when he welcomed African leaders to Washington in December 2022, had promised to visit in 2023 but did not do so, and a trip is seen as increasingly unlikely this year as he focuses on reelection.

Combatting unease in Africa
Even before the Middle East crisis, in which the United States has been nearly isolated in its staunch support of Israel, many in Africa had watched uneasily as the West devoted billions of dollars to Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion.

Blinken will arrive in Ivory Coast on Monday, days after a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

While US-China tensions have eased, Washington considers Beijing its top long-term rival and has pitched itself as a better partner for Africa than Beijing, whose speciality is major infrastructure projects financed through loans.

Phee rejected talk of a US-China “soccer match” on African soil, saying, “If China didn’t exist, we would (still) be fully engaged in Africa. Africa is important for its own sake, and it’s important for American interests.”

Mark Green, a former US ambassador to Tanzania and congressman who is now president of the Wilson Center think tank, said that while China will inevitably come up, African leaders will not respond well if it dominates the conversation.

Political leaders “tend to go to Africa because of ‘security’ or China or problems. In fact, listening to African leaders — their hopes, their dreams, their capacities — is the way we brighten the world’s future,” said Green, pointing out that the continent has the world’s youngest population.

“There are short-term issues, but this is a long-term investment,” he said.

The United States has been developing closer relations with Angola, a major oil producer, since its transition to democracy, after supporting UNITA rebels in the country’s decades of civil war.

Angola, along with close US ally Kenya, has worked to broker an end to fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which accuses Rwanda of backing rebels there

AFP

Related Topics:#Nigeria Africa Blinken China Russia

Up Next

Video: How Four Nigerian Caregivers Abused 89-year-old Grandma in UK

Don't Miss

Singapore Transport Minister Resigns Over Corruption Charges

Comments

Headline

S’Africa Offers US New Trade Deal To Avoid 30% Tariff

Published

14 hours ago

August 12, 2025

Editor

South Africa will offer a “generous” new trade deal to the United States to avoid 30 percent tariffs, ministers said Tuesday.

Washington on Friday slapped the huge tariff on some South African exports, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, despite efforts by Pretoria to negotiate a better arrangement to avoid massive job losses.

The ministers did not release details of the new offer but said previously discussed measures to increase imports of US poultry, blueberries, and pork had been finalised.

“When the document is eventually made public, I think you would see it as a very broad, generous and ambitious offer to the United States on trade,” Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said at a press briefing.

Officials have said the 30 per cent tariff could cost the economy around 30,000 jobs.

“Our goal is to demonstrate that South African exports do not pose a threat to US industries and that our trade relationship is, in fact, complementary,” Trade Minister Parks Tau said.

The United States is South Africa’s third-largest trading partner after the European Union and China.

However, South African exports account for only 0.25 per cent of total US imports and are “therefore not a threat to US production”, Tau said.

Steenhuisen said US diplomats raised issues related to South African domestic policies, which was a “surprise given the fact we thought we were in a trade negotiation”.

The two nations are at odds over a range of policies.

US President Donald Trump has criticised land and employment laws meant to redress racial inequalities that linger 30 years after the end of apartheid.

“Things like expropriation without compensation, things like some of the race laws in the country, are issues that they regard as barriers now to doing trade with South Africa,” he told AFP on the sidelines of the briefing.

“I think we’re seeing some form of a new era now where trade and tariffs are being used to deal with other issues, outside of what would generally be trade concerns,” Steenhuisen said.

Headline

Over 600 Pilgrims Hospitalised After Chlorine Gas Leaked In Iraq

Published

2 days ago

August 10, 2025

Editor

More than 600 pilgrims in Iraq were briefly hospitalised with respiratory problems after inhaling chlorine as the result of a leak at a water treatment station, authorities said on Sunday.

The incident took place overnight on the route between the two Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, located in the centre and south of Iraq, respectively.

This year, several million Shiite Muslim pilgrims are expected to make their way to Karbala, which houses the shrines of the revered Imam Hussein and his brother Abbas.

There, they will mark the Arbaeen — the 40-day period of mourning during which Shiites commemorate the death of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

In a brief statement, Iraq’s health ministry said, “621 cases of asphyxia have been recorded following a chlorine gas leak in Karbala”.

“All have received the necessary care and left the hospital in good health,” it said.

Security forces charged with protecting pilgrims, meanwhile, said the incident had been caused by “a chlorine leak from a water station on the Karbala-Najaf road”.

Much of Iraq’s infrastructure is in disrepair due to decades of conflict and corruption, with adherence to safety standards often lax.

In July, a massive fire at a shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut killed more than 60 people, many of whom suffocated in the toilets, according to authorities.

AFP

Headline

PHOTOS: US Soldier Searching For Her Nigerian Father

Published

2 days ago

August 10, 2025

Editor

Old photos of Zainab James Parents, Lateef Quadri and Claudine James. Credit: Facebook

A US soldier, Zainab James, has launched a public search for her Nigerian father, identified as Lateef Quadri

The 31-year-old took to Facebook on Sunday to share old photographs of her father and her late mother, Claudine James, including one where Claudine was pregnant with her.

According to Zainab, her mother became pregnant in 1993, and she was born in 1994. Sadly, she lost her mother.

Old photos of Zainab James Parents, Lateef Quadri and Claudine James. Credit: Facebook

In her post, Zainab wrote, “Update: Mother’s name : Claudine James, born Decenber 9, 1969 in Montego Bay, Jamaica (deceased) , Hey All! A real shot in the dark but why not! My mom(pictured) got pregnant with me in 1993 ( I was born 1994) while living in Brooklyn New York. I’m looking for my father or any of his family. All I know is he was Nigerian, possibly named Lateef Quadri or something like that. They didn’t have a long term relationship as he wasn’t present at my birth but he did choose my name. No one in my family met him either. Apparently she was friends with his sister who worked in a jewelry store with her.”