Obamania Vs. Chinafrica

President Obama’s first visit in Africa was to Ghana. The American president has some definite African origins, and a way with communication. But will that be enough to (re)start relations between the United States and Africa? Indifference, disinterest … while the United States has been ignoring Africa, China has known how to make an incontrovertible place for itself on the continent.

The visit to Ghana thus assumes a highly symbolic nature. Why Ghana? In the opinion of the White House, it’s because Ghana is a model and stable democracy, but also because it’s the African country where the image of the United States is highest (with the exception of Kenya, due to Obama). His landing was welcomed by the sound of drums and dances, and the head of the White House met with President John Atta Mills. But beyond some symbols, the attempts are strongly on the African side. They then talk about a redefinition of American-African relations. But based on what, and for what goal?

An Extraordinary Popularity

This trip was the opportunity to measure the degree of Obamamania in Africa. For numerous Africans, Barack Obama is a native son. His Kenyan origins thus guarantee a popularity that no other American president has been able to reach on the African continent. Aside from his origins, and the fact that he is systematically touted as the first Afro-American president to live in the White House, it’s his message that grants him lots of popularity in Africa. During a previous visit to Kenya as a senator, he made an indelible impression. In Ghana, the highly symbolic visit in the heart of Cape Coast, a historic place in the slave trade, was the highlight of Obama’s first visit on African land as the American president. And his speech to the parliament of this tiny country was legitimately taken to be a true honor. On all points, this trip was the occasion to measure the strength of Obamamania in Africa.

America Conquering Once More

In fact, the Obama administration has to try to conquer Africa once again. The eight years of the Bill Clinton administration had been marked by a return, or even a starting point some would say, of relations between the United States and Africa. The black continent had never really captured Washington’s attention, who devoted the bulk of its foreign policy to Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and recently Asia. In that manner, Africa remains the only barrier to American leadership since the end of the Cold War, simply due to disinterest from the White House on African issues. The first initiatives in Africa during the Clinton administration were characterized by intervention politics in the settlement of crisis. Following failures in Somalia and in Liberia, which had been a veritable military and political fiasco, a certain number of experts had announced Washington’s retreat from the African scene.

Yet, it seems contrary to what follows these operations that Africa has become a very important issue in Washington. At the same time, the African continent has interested American investors since the ‘90s, notably in raw materials and energy products, to the point where the United States has become one of Africa’s principal commercial partners in recent years. Finally, Washington has brought substantial developmental aid to African countries and at the same time is quickly establishing itself as one of its principal donors.

These initiatives were largely abandoned during the Bush administration, which was more concerned with the war on terrorism and seeing African countries as more like lands potentially favorable to the development of terrorist activities than a land of opportunity. Thus, the United States lost footing on the African continent for eight years, all the more so as American unilateralism reinforced Washington’s negative image in the region, like elsewhere in the world. That’s why, benefiting from an immense popularity in Africa, Barack Obama is truly conquering it again, and from this angle one must understand the “new partnership.”

A Firmly Rooted China

However, Barack Obama must deal with a new actor who has grown considerably stronger in Africa in the last few years: China. We even talk of Chinafrica in order to describe the ever-tightening relations that Peking keeps with sub-Saharan Africa, notably in the frame of economic and commercial exchange. But it would be wrong to limit China’s investment in the region to only that. Today, there are over 1,500 Chinese soldiers who are intervening in peacekeeping operations for the U.N. (MOMUC and MINUL). Peking became a major actor in sub-Saharan Africa, of which Obama is particularly aware, since he himself mentioned it to his opponent John McCain in one of the televised debates last autumn.

Currently, even if Obama benefits from an exceptional image on the continent where some of his family lives, China is the country that brings what Africans need most: massive investments. And on that front, the economic crisis that the United States faces doesn’t invite any optimism as for a massive return of American investments. The Chinese demographic presence equally plays a role in Peking’s strategy on the African continent. More than 150,000 Chinese have thus moved to Africa. This strong presence comes not only from the implantation of numerous small businesses, but also an enormous continent of workers from the BTP, who sometimes, when they finish missions, choose to stay in a place where they are generally well accepted. And all that combines to make China a country that is still more popular than the United States in Africa, notably in Ghana, as is indicated in multiple investigations devoted to the question published by American think tanks. In spite of appearances, the task for the first American president of African descent will not be so simple in Africa.