United States: The New African Frontier

From high hopes to little steps, American policy on the African continent has not evolved much during Barack Obama’s first term. But the changes that took place after the Arab revolutions and the growth forecast in most countries are prompting Washington to review its targets.

Africans were expecting a natural affinity toward them from Obama — he delivered the bare minimum. In three and a half years as president, Barack Obama, son of a Kenyan and an American, has only visited the continent twice: in Cairo in June 2009, for an ode to the Arab world; and in Accra a month later, to sing the praises of democracy and good governance. And then nothing, apart from the occasional reception of some heads of state, on the hunt for a souvenir photo at the White House and civil society leaders, to mark the 50 years of independence of African states. Is the United States losing interest in Africa? Of course not. The continent may not be at the heart of their foreign policy, but it does represent an area of growing interest where Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, has toured several times. In Washington, African cases are dealt with by the State Department (namely Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; Jeffrey Feltman, his counterpart for the Middle East and North Africa; and Susan Rice, UN Ambassador), the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the CIA.

Taken by surprise by the Arab Spring, the White House eventually rallied to its cause by encouraging regime changes in Egypt and Libya. It invested $500 million to support the transitions in 2011. For a long time now, to the contrary of the French, Americans have been engaged in discussions with Islamist parties. Washington nevertheless worries about the proliferation of weapons in the Sahel region since Gadhafi fell. Like his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama is trying to diminish the jihadists’ influence. If we are witnessing some improvement in the conflict with the Shebab in Somalia, the Sahel is a new haven for terrorists. The upsurge of attacks from the Boko Haram faction in Nigeria is another thing to worry about. The West African giant supplies 8 to 9 percent of American oil needs, a figure equivalent to the imports from Saudi Arabia. Washington fears the creation of a terrorist arc linking the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Construction

While American troops are not welcome there, the White House provides a multi-faceted contribution (material assistance, troop training, intelligence, actions focused on Islamist groups) to help governments and regional organizations. This support is built around the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative and its military variant, Operation Enduring Freedom Trans-Sahara, led by the United States Africa Command (Africom), based in Stuttgart, Germany.

Nearly 20 percent of the American oil supply comes from Africa, where Texan corporations are well established (in Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea). This share has been growing steadily for the last 10 years and has boosted the United States’ imports to reach $74.2 million in 2011. As for exports towards the African continent, they have gone from $7 billion in 2001 to $21 billion in 2011. “Africa is a growing market,”* Johnnie Carson reminded us, after leading major corporations in February 2012 (Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Chevron, General Electric and Caterpillar) to prospect in four African countries (Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ghana). “There is a huge infrastructure build-out taking place in Africa – energy, roads, ports, railways — and that build-out is going to take place over the next 10-15 years. It’s very important for U.S. companies to be there now,” added Nils Tcheyan, director of government affairs and policy for Africa for General Electric.

Other than that, the American doctrine has not evolved since Bill Clinton. “We plan to continue to prioritize funding for democracy programs which reinforce good governance and the rule of law, and promote participation of women and civil society,” Johnnie Carson explained to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 18. Regularly, Washington examines the good and the bad points. The American president received his counterparts Bony Yayi (from Benin), Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger), Alassane Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire) and Alpha Condé (Guinea) on July 29, 2011. He justified this meeting by declaring “all these leaders were elected through free and fair elections.”

This year, the American administration called on President Wade to respect the institutions and accept the verdict of the ballot. Carson deplored the fact that the Cameroon presidential election was marred by irregularities. A way of justifying American aid to the emergence of dynamic civil societies, the only true powers of opposition against regimes deemed overly autocratic. 11 presidents have been in power in Africa for over 15 years. This is obviously too much for the United States, which advocates for a limit placed on term lengths.

*While accurately translated, this statement could not be independently verified.