Biden’s Africa strategy seeks to revitalize ties with the continent

Biden’s Africa strategy seeks to revitalize ties with the continent

By Witney Schneidman and Landry Signé, Brookings, August 25, 2022

President Biden is delivering on his commitment to make Africa a priority for the United States.

Most notable is his administration’s sharp uptick in U.S. diplomacy toward the region. With visits to Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal last November, Morocco and Algeria in March, and South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has visited the continent three times in just 10 months. This frequency of outreach is a first for any U.S. cabinet official, let alone a secretary of state and represents a more hands-on approach from the Biden administration.

Indeed, one tangible outcome of Blinken’s most recent visit was an agreement between the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to initiate direct communications aimed at ending tensions in eastern Congo.

Blinken is not alone in this diplomatic upswing. A number of senior officials have engaged their counterparts this year across the continent on various issues ranging from counterterrorism to climate change, food security, strategic minerals,democratic governance, and human rights. The announcement last month by Vice President Kamala Harris that the administration will convene the second Africa Leaders Summit in Washington on December 13-15, has further energized this process.

Biden’s Africa strategy

As Blinken landed in South Africa, the White House released its promised U.S. strategy toward sub-Saharan Africa, which has been in the making for nearly nine months. The Biden Africa strategy seeks to affirm an“ African agency” and work toward a more“ flexible regional architecture,” which is a welcome paradigm shift from the previous administration. Indeed, as the new approach notes, the U.S. “must reset its relations with African counterparts, listen to diverse local voices, and widen the circle of engagement to advance its strategic objectives to the benefit of both African and Americans.” If acted on and sustained, this approach could substantially deepen ties with African governments and other stake–holders on the continent. 

Moving away from the Cold War

In contrast with the Trump administration’s approach to the region, which largely saw the continent as a “great power” battleground between Russia, China, and the United States, the Biden approach is considerably more balanced and recognizes that Africans live increasingly globalized lives. China’s mercantilist approach to the continent is rightly criticized, as is Russia’s efforts to foment instability for its strategic and financial benefit.

In support of common objectives that Africans regard as integral to their national security, the Biden administration understands the importance of working multilaterally with its partners from Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. Yet, there are few details about how the administration might work toward a new, more flexible regional architecture.

The four pillars

The strategy is built on four pillars; fostering openness and open societies; delivering democratic and security dividends; advancing pandemic recovery and economic opportunity; and supporting conservation, climate adaptation, and a just energy transition. 

The first pillar, fostering openness and open societies, commits the United States to working with its African partners to transparently leverage natural resources, combat digital authoritarianism, and strengthen independent judiciaries, among other priorities.

The second pillar, delivering democratic and security dividends, underscores the linkage between poor governance, corruption, human rights abuses, and the growing influence of malign actors. This pillar reflects enduring U.S. priorities when it comes to democracy promotion, and conflict mitigation and prevention, which the administration emphasizes will be done in tandem with African governments, regional bodies, and civil society groups. Enhancing democracy and security remains a significant challenge as the strategy notes, given the
instability in the Sahel and the fact that there are only eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa that Freedom House regards as free, which is the fewest since 1991.

The third pillar, advancing pandemic recovery and economic opportunity, focuses on enabling African countries to sustainably recover from COVID-19 and mitigate its economic and social consequences. Hopefully, this pillar will also focus on strengthening Africa’s health care system in the long term.

The final pillar supports conservation, climate adaptation, and a just energy transition. It also underscores the United States’ commitment to increasing support, development assistance, and financing for achieving these objectives—especially given Africa’s particular vulnerability to climate change twinned with low energy access. 

Trade and investment

The importance of the private sector is implicit throughout the Biden Africa strategy, but it could have been more pronounced. Indeed, the fact that the U.S. government has helped to close 800 deals across 45 countries for an estimated value of $50 billion in exports and investments over the last three years, according to
Prosper Africa, challenges the perception that the U.S. is not commercially engaged on the continent.

Now, U.S. companies and leaders across Africa are interested to know more about the Biden game plan for building on this success. Importantly, an
Africa Business Forum will be part of the Africa Leaders Summit. The strategy also highlights the administration’s support for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and working with Congress “on the future” of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

When it comes to commercial and economic diplomacy, the Biden administration’s strategy frames its priorities around pandemic preparedness and leveraging different financing mechanisms to support country goals. The inclusion of conservation, climate adaptation, and a just energy transition is also a key difference and may help to differentiate the strategy from less favorable development models.

Building on bipartisanship

The Biden strategy notes that there has been bipartisan support for a deeper U.S. engagement in Africa for three decades. Such collaboration has led to a host of programs, such as AGOA, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Power Africa, Feed the Future and, most recently, the creation of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation. The Biden administration is well positioned to build on this legacy and renew the momentum of engagement that was lost with the previous administration.

The U.S.–Africa Leaders Summit in December will be a critical steppingstone to delivering on the Biden vision of a revitalized relationship that is at the core of the new Africa strategy. Indeed, as Blinken said in Senegal last November and recently repeated at the University of Pretoria in describing the Biden strategy to the region, Africa “shaped our past, is shaping our present, and will shape our future.” The question remains about whether the summit will be a one-off or a further steppingstone to a new era of sustained engagement with the continent.

African wildlife parks face climate, infrastructure threats

By WANJOHI KABUKURU

MOMBASA, Kenya — Africa’s national parks, home to thousands of wildlife species such as lions, elephants and buffaloes, are increasingly threatened by below-average rainfall and new infrastructure projects, stressing habitats and the species that rely on them.

A prolonged drought in much of the continent’s east, exacerbated by climate change, and large-scale developments, including oil drilling and livestock grazing, are hampering conservation efforts in protected areas, several environmental experts say.

The at-risk parks stretch all the way from Kenya in the east — home to Tsavo and Nairobi national parks — south to the Mkomazi and Serengeti parks in Tanzania, the Quirimbas and Gorongosa parks in Mozambique and the famous Kruger National Park in South Africa, and west to the Kahuzi Biega, Salonga and Virunga reserves in Congo.

The parks not only protect flora and fauna but also act as natural carbon sinks — storing carbon dioxide emitted into the air and reducing the effects of global warming.

An estimated 38% of Africa’s biodiversity areas are under severe threat from climate change and infrastructure development, said Ken Mwathe of BirdLife International.

“Key biodiversity areas over the years, especially in Africa, have been regarded by investors as idle and ready for development,” said Mwathe. “Governments allocate land in these areas for infrastructural development.”

He added that the “powerlines and other energy infrastructure cause collisions with birds, due to low visibility. The numbers killed this way are not few.”

In their quest to bolster living standards and achieve sustainable development goals, such as access to clean water and food, boosting jobs and economic growth and improving the quality of education, African governments have set their sights on large building projects, many of them funded by foreign investments, especially by China.

The proposed East African Oil Pipeline, for example, which the Ugandan government says can help lift millions out of poverty, runs through Uganda’s Kidepo valley, Murchison Falls and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, threatening species and drawing criticism from climate campaigners.

The growth of urban populations and the building that goes with it, like new roads, electricity grids, gas pipes, ports and railways, have also added to the pressure on parks, conservationists said.

But they add that replacing wildlife with infrastructure is the wrong approach for economic growth.

“We have to have a future where wildlife is not separated from people,” said Sam Shaba, the program manager at the Honeyguide Foundation in Tanzania, an environmental non-profit organization.

When “people start to see that living with wildlife provides the answer to sustainable development ... that’s the game-changer,” said Shaba.

Most of Africa’s wildlife parks were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by colonial regimes that fenced off the areas and ordered local people to stay out. But now conservationists are finding that a more inclusive approach to running the parks and seeking the expertise of Indigenous communities that live around the parks can help protect them, said Ademola Ajagbe, Africa regional managing director of The Nature Conservancy.

“The inhabitants of these areas are forcefully evicted or prevented from living there such as the Maasai (in Tanzania and Kenya), Twa and Mbutis (in central Africa) who for generations have lived with wildlife,” said Simon Counseill, an advisor with Survival International.

“Africa is depicted as a place of wildlife without people living there and this narrative needs to change,” he said.

“If we don’t pay attention to communities’ social needs, health, education and where they are getting water, we miss the key thing,” said John Kasaona the executive director of the Integrated Rural Development in Nature Conservation in Namibia.

The effects of worsening weather conditions in national parks due to climate change should also not be ignored, experts said.

A recent study conducted in Kruger National Park linked extreme weather events to the loss of plants and animals, unable cope with the drastic conditions and lack of water due to longer dry spells and hotter temperatures.

Drought has seriously threatened species like rhinos, elephants and lions as it reduces the amount of food available, said Philip Wandera, a former warden with the Kenya Wildlife Service who’s now range management lecturer at the Catholic University of East Africa.

More intensive management of parks and removing fences that prevent species from migrating to less drought-prone areas are important first steps to protecting wildlife, Wandera said.

He added that financial help to “support communities in and around national parks” would also help preserve them.

Monkeypox: How it spreads, who’s at risk - here’s what you need to know

GENEVA - Monkeypox is not a new disease, and in some African countries it is endemic. However, the international outbreak which began in May 2022, has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global health emergency. Here are some of the important things to know about monkeypox.

What is Monkeypox?

Monkeypox got its name in 1958, when it was detected in several laboratory apes. It is a zoonotic viral disease, which means it can be transmitted from animals to humans. It can also pass from human to human.

Human monkeypox was first identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a 9-month-old boy, in a region where smallpox (a close relative) had been eliminated in 1968.

Symptoms are similar to those seen, in the past, in smallpox patients, but it is clinically less severe (smallpox was eradicated worldwide in 1980). In 2003, the first Monkeypox outbreak outside Africa was reported in the United States and was linked to contact with infected pet prairie dogs.

Despite the name, most of the animals susceptible to contracting the disease, and then infecting people, are rodents, such as Gambian giant rats, dormice, or tree squirrels.

Where is it typically found?

Monkeypox is most found in the rain forests of central and western Africa, where animals that can carry the virus are native, and the disease is endemic. In these countries, it is increasingly appearing in urban areas.

On occasion, it can also be found elsewhere, in people who could have been infected after visiting these countries.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms usually include fever, severe headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, swollen lymph nodes, and skin rashes or lesions.

The rash usually begins on the first or third day of the onset of fever. The lesions may be flat or slightly raised, filled with clear or yellowish fluid, then crust over, dry up, and fall off.

The number of lesions varies, from a few to several thousand. The rash tends to appear on the face, the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet. They can also be found in the mouth, genitals, and eyes.

Can people die from monkeypox?

In most cases, the symptoms of Monkeypox go away on their own within a few weeks but, in between three and six per cent of cases reported in countries where it is endemic, it can lead to medical complications and even death. New-born babies, children, and people with immune system deficiencies may be at risk of more severe symptoms and death from the disease.

In severe cases, symptoms include skin infections, pneumonia, confusion, and eye infections that can lead to vision loss.

Many of the fatal cases are children or people who may have other health conditions.

How is monkeypox transmitted from animals to humans?

The virus can be spread to people when they come into physical contact with infected animals, which include rodents and primates.

The risk of contracting it from animals can be reduced by avoiding unprotected contact with wild animals, especially those that are sick or dead (including contact with their flesh and blood).

It is crucial to stress that any food containing meat or animal parts should be cooked, especially in countries where Monkeypox is endemic.

How is it spread from person to person?

The virus is spread through physical contact with someone who has symptoms. Rashes, body fluids (such as fluids, pus, or blood from skin lesions), and scabs are particularly infectious.

Ulcers, lesions or sores can also be infectious since the virus can be spread through saliva. Contact with objects that have been in contact with the infected person - such as clothing, bedding, towels - or objects such as eating utensils can also represent a source of infection.

People who have the disease are contagious while they have symptoms (usually within the first two to four weeks). It is not clear whether or not people who are asymptomatic can transmit the disease.

Who is at risk of getting it?

Anyone who comes into physical contact with someone with symptoms or an infected animal, is at increased risk of infection.

Those who live with infected people have a high risk of infection. Health workers, by the very nature of their job, are at risk of exposure.

Children are often more likely to have severe symptoms than teens and adults.

The virus can also be transmitted from a pregnant woman to the foetus through the placenta, or through contact of an infected parent with the child, during or after delivery, through skin-to-skin contact.

How can I protect myself and others?

You can reduce the risk of contagion by limiting contact with people who suspect they have the disease, or are confirmed cases.

Those who live with infected people should encourage them to self-isolate and, if possible, cover any breaks in the skin (for example, by wearing clothing over the rash).

It is important to wear a face mask when in close proximity to the infected person, especially if they are coughing or have mouth sores, and when touching the clothing or bedding of an infected person. Avoid skin-to-skin contact by wearing disposable gloves.

Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, especially after coming into contact with the infected person, with their clothing (including sheets and towels), or touching other items or surfaces (such as utensils or dishes) that may have come into contact with rashes or respiratory secretions.

Clean and disinfect any contaminated surfaces and dispose of contaminated waste (such as dressings) properly, and wash the infected person's clothing, towels, sheets, and eating utensils with warm water and detergent.

What should I do if I suspect that I have been infected?

If you think your symptoms might be related to Monkeypox, or if you have had close contact with someone who has these symptoms, or suspects that there is a possibility of being infected, notify your doctor immediately.

If possible, isolate yourself and avoid close contact with other people. Wash your hands frequently and follow the steps listed above to protect others from contagion. Your doctor, or other health professional, should take a sample for testing so you can get the right care.

Symptoms usually last two to four weeks and go away on their own without treatment.

Is there a vaccine?

There are several vaccines, developed for the prevention of smallpox that also provide some protection.

A smallpox vaccine (MVA-BN, also known as Imvamune, Imvanex, or Jynneos) was recently developed and approved in 2019 for use in preventing Monkeypox but it is not yet widely available.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with the manufacturer of the vaccine to improve access to it. People who have been vaccinated against smallpox in the past, will also have some protection.

Is there any treatment?

Symptoms often go away on their own without the need for treatment. It is important to care for the rash by letting it dry if possible or cover it with a moist bandage if necessary to protect the area.

Avoid touching any eye or mouth sores. Mouthwashes and eye drops can be used as long as products containing cortisone are avoided.

For severe cases, an antiviral agent known as tecovirimat, that was developed for smallpox, was licensed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for Monkeypox in 2022, based on data in animal and human studies. It is not yet widely available.

What do we know about the current outbreak?

In May 2022, cases were reported in more than 10 countries in non-endemic areas. Additional cases are being investigated. You can find the latest information on case numbers from the WHO here.

As of May 2022, there is no clear link between reported cases and travel from endemic countries, and no link to infected animals.

Studies are also underway in affected countries to determine the source of infection for each identified case and to provide medical care and limit further spread.

The WHO is working with all affected countries to improve surveillance and provide guidance on how to stop the spread and how to care for those who are infected.

Is there a risk that it will turn into a bigger outbreak?

Monkeypox is generally not considered highly contagious because it requires close physical contact with someone who is contagious (for example, skin-to-skin). The risk to the public is low.

However, the WHO is responding to this outbreak as a high priority to prevent further spread; for many years Monkeypox has been considered a priority pathogen. Identifying how the virus is spreading and protecting more people from becoming infected is a priority for the UN agency

Raising awareness of this new situation will help stop further transmission.

Is monkeypox a sexually transmitted infection?

The condition can be spread from one person to another through close physical contact, including sexual contact. However, it is currently unknown whether it can be spread through sexual transmission (for example, through semen or vaginal fluids). However, direct skin-to-skin contact with lesions during sexual activities can spread the virus.

Rashes can sometimes appear on the genitals and in the mouth, which probably contributes to transmission during sexual contact. Therefore, mouth-to-skin contact could cause transmission when there are lesions in one of these parts.

The rashes can also resemble some sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes and syphilis. This may explain why several of the cases in the current outbreak have been identified among men seeking care at sexual health clinics.

The risk of becoming infected is not limited to sexually active people or men who have sex with men. Anyone who has close physical contact with someone who is contagious is at risk.

WHO response to stigmatizing messages circulating online?

Messages that stigmatize certain groups of people around this outbreak have been circulating: the WHO has made it clear that this is unacceptable.

Anyone who has close physical contact of any kind with someone with Monkeypox is at risk, regardless of who they are, what they do, who they choose to have sex with, or any other factor.

The WHO points out that it is inadmissible to stigmatize people because of a disease.

Anyone who has been infected, or who is helping care for people who are unwell, should be supported: stigma is likely to only make things worse and slow efforts to end the outbreak.