Tillerson's visit eases concerns in Africa

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson participates in a news conference with Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Workneh Gebeyehu, after their meeting, Thursday, March 8, 2018 in in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson participates in a news conference with Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Workneh Gebeyehu, after their meeting, Thursday, March 8, 2018 in in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- All is well now between the United States and Africa thanks to a visit by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the African Union commission's chairman said Thursday as he welcomed the top U.S. diplomat.

Tillerson embarked on a five-nation tour beginning in Ethiopia with a visit to the African Union. It is the highest-level visit to date for President Donald Trump's administration and comes after Trump made derogatory comments in January that angered leaders around the continent.

"The incident is behind us, the visit by the secretary of state today is proof of the importance of relations between the different parties," Moussa Faki Mahamet said in a joint news conference with Tillerson. "I want to add I am satisfied with the discussions I had with the secretary of state, notably the engagement of the United States to support Africa in the battle against terrorism."

For his part, Tillerson ignored two questions about the comments attributed to Trump, only emphasizing the U.S. relationship with Africa, which until now has been largely undefined.

"I think the U.S. commitment to Africa is quite clear in terms of the importance we place on the relationship," he said. "The president himself wrote a personal letter to chairperson reaffirming importance of the relationship."

The letter came after Faki himself described the comments to the African Union as "profoundly" shocking and "conveying contempt, hate and desire to marginalize and exclude Africans."

In the course of the visit, Tillerson will also visit Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria, even as many top posts for the continent in the State Department remain unfilled.

"The purpose of my trip to this continent is to listen," Tillerson said Thursday. "I think it's important to listen to what the priorities of the continent are and see where there is good alignment."

Tillerson added that the continent's growing population and economies would make it increasingly important to the world.

The sentiments represent a change on the part of the Trump administration, which until now has said very little publicly on African policy. During the transition, mentions of the continent seemed largely in the context of cutting some signature U.S. programs.

In a speech ahead of the trip, Tillerson lauded these same programs, including free-trade initiatives, a program to provide electricity to Africans and one to provide AIDS treatment to millions across the continent.

Ultimately, however, the main theme of the trip may be one of security. Ethiopia is one of the biggest contributors to peacekeeping troops on the continent and, together with Kenya, one of the key allies in the fight against the Islamist militant faction al-Shabab in Somalia. Djibouti is the home of the sole American base in Africa, and Chad is a key ally in the fight against extremism in the Sahel region.

Under Trump, there have been more-aggressive U.S. attacks against extremists in Somalia, and recent deaths in Niger have highlighted the growing role played by U.S. Special Forces in training regional militaries.

Increasingly, the United States has been eclipsed in Africa, at least economically, by China, which has aggressively boosted its activities on the continent -- extracting resources, providing loans and building much-needed infrastructure across the continent.

In Ethiopia, Tillerson's first stop, China has built an electric rail line connecting the capital to the port in neighboring Djibouti and is involved in scores of other projects throughout the country that have made Chinese nationals a ubiquitous sight on the streets.

A Section on 03/09/2018

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