Financial Times – Dr. Uzodinma Iweala, CEO of The Africa Center, wrote a piece outlining the way in which President Biden can repair the relationship with the African continent for Financial Times.
Dr. Iweala writes: The US and sub-Saharan Africa are entwined by history. The exploited labour of enslaved Africans has without doubt contributed to America’s economic dominance today. Their descendants overwhelmingly helped propel Biden to the presidency. Franklin D Roosevelt was the first sitting US president to visit sub-Saharan Africa, in 1943, when he met with President Edwin Barclay of Liberia — significant because the US was still gripped by white supremacist Jim Crow laws. Thirty-five years later, Jimmy Carter visited Nigeria. Every US president since George HW Bush — with the exception of Donald Trump — has followed suit, albeit with low frequency and light agendas. Trump’s snub, coupled with travel bans and xenophobic rhetoric, were provocations to a region that generally has very high favourability ratings for the US. Biden, who visited Kenya and South Africa as vice-president, did well to swiftly reverse Trump’s discriminatory travel policy, but showing up in person would truly cement partnerships.
Read the full essay here.