US-Africa relations are one of the global engagement areas of US foreign policy. Originally an area that received quite a lot of US attention largely due to the Cold War, Africa has since become a less important engagement point for America.
Interestingly, in recent times, US relations with Africa has transformed into a largely military one, as the Trump administration continues to reduce US engagements and force the country into a gradual retreat from global affairs.
Since 2017, less concern is now shown to Africa’s economic problems woes. The US government now places more emphasis on military bases and defence operations. As a result, the diplomatic role of the State Department is waning. The US State Department has seen its budget slashed by nearly 30%; thus, greatly affecting its role as an aid giver and development partner to the continent.
In this article, we discuss these transformations in US-Africa relations and attempt to explain why these changes have occurred.
US-Africa Relations During the Cold War:
US engagements with Africa pre-dates the 20th century. As far back as the early 19th century, the US helped found the country Liberia. But due to its policy of isolation, the US never really got involved in Africa outside Liberia.
However, with the end of World War Two, and the enthronement of the US as a superpower nation, the country finally shrugged off isolation. Thanks to the Cold War ideological conflict, the US became more active in Africa. With emphasis on containing communism and Soviet expansion, the US pushed efforts to spread capitalism in Africa.
Interestingly too, the US pursued a realist approach to supporting non-communist African countries. It supported African regimes that stood against communism and supported forces and individuals who sought to hoist capitalism on their countries. Like France, the US supported even the worst African regimes and despots so long as they stood against communism.4 It provided them with military intelligence, aids and other largesse.
Infamously too, the US forced the removal of leaders and individuals whom its suspects as communist or are friendly to the Soviets. In places like Ghana, Congo, and South Africa, the US supported the arrests or removal of persons like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, and even Nelson Mandela.
And like its engagements in Asia, the US also took part in quite a few proxy wars with the Soviet Union in Africa. It supported rebel groups in places like Namibia and Angola who opposed communist groups in their quest for independence. Due to the involvement of external players like the US, independence in these countries became a complicated issue and was grossly prolonged.
US-Africa Relations in the Post-Cold War Era
Now one justification for the negative activities the US pursued in Africa was that it helped to stem communist forces on the continent. And when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the Cold War ended, this argument became more rationalised. Nevertheless, the end of the Cold War brought about a huge change in mentality and engagement with Africa.
The US was forced to abandon its support for despots and other rebel groups it previous supported, and its policy towards Africa switched from upholding capitalism. Since 1991, successive US governments have focused on four important issues: human rights, economic development, promoting democracy and promoting security and military issues.
The quest to promote human rights led to a complete break from the prior support for despots irrespective of the atrocities they committed. The US was now more willing to criticise and place sanctions on African governments that violated the rights of its people. In places like Nigeria and Kenya, the US placed sanctions consequently for various human rights violations. Places like Libya, Sudan, and Angola have also been slapped with sanctions for their human rights violations.
Democracy has also become an important talking point in US-Africa relations. “Before 1989, foreign aid for democratic development rarely topped $100 million a year. But by 1993, two years after the end of the Cold War, that figure rose to $900 million.
The US has routinely called for democratic reforms in African countries and has used this as a bargaining chip to provide aid for these countries. Obviously, very few nations have been overtly comfortable with this. And some have been forced to sought development assistance from less outspoken countries like China.
Economically, the US pushed for a new chapter in its relations with Africa. By 2000, the US Congress successfully passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to support African countries’ manufacturing for export into the United States.
The US has also supported measures to reduce the debt burden on African states. Through the platform of the IMF and the World Bank, the US supported the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative to grant debt relief and restructuring to African countries that reformed effectively. Since 1996, the HIPC initiative has provided debt services and relief to the tune of $76 billion for 36 countries, 30 of them being African.
Through the US Assistance for International Development (USAID), America has helped provide sustainable projects and facilities in many African countries.
However, many African countries remain wary of US economic activities. Its insistence for economic reforms emphasizing on deregulation and privatisation has not always been well accepted.
Rise of Military and Security Agenda
Another important transformation in US-Africa relations has been the rise in security and military agenda. Before now, the US has already established military bases in some parts of the continent. But since the emergence of Donald Trump as US President in 2016, US-Africa relations have witnessed a huge uptick in military engagements more than any other issue.
The US continues to increase its military commitments in the continent, while reducing its diplomatic and development commitments. This is most evident in the 30% funding reduction for the State Department.12 Meanwhile, new military bases are being approved in new locations in the continent.
Recently, the government successfully got approval for a new military base in the West African country of Ghana. It already has bases in Djibouti, Cameroon, and Niger.
Several calls have been made for the US to reduce these military commitments return to more balanced, largely economic relations with the continent.