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| US President Donald Trump (left) and Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta make their way through the Colonnade to the Oval Office for a meeting, on August 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. |
Kenya will reportedly be named an “anchor” country when the Trump administration unveils its Africa policy on Thursday.
National
Security Advisor John Bolton, known for his hard-line foreign-policy
views, is set to outline a new approach to Africa that puts emphasis on
countering perceived threats to US interests on the continent, posed in
particular by China.
ENHANCED RELATIONS
The
Trump team’s initiative is said to entail efforts to enhance relations
with Kenya and other African countries viewed as regionally important
and as prime targets of China’s moves to gain political and economic
advantages on the continent.
“The White House strategy
is expected to name several countries as anchors for the US strategy,
and experts close to the administration expect the list to include
Kenya, a longstanding US ally,” NBC News reported on Monday.
Mr Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, will
present the long-awaited Africa blueprint in a speech at the Heritage
Foundation, a Washington think tank generally supportive of President
Trump’s policies.
Joshua Meservey, the Heritage
Foundation’s Africa specialist, said in an email on Tuesday that US
corporations will be encouraged to invest in select African countries.
“I
expect that part of operationalising enhanced relationships with
countries will include trying to facilitate, in various ways, US
companies’ greater involvement in Africa,” Mr Meservey told the Nation.
“I
expect Ambassador Bolton will reaffirm the administration’s recognition
of geopolitical competition as the most urgent challenge to US
interests,” Mr Meservey added.
“In the Africa context, that means responding especially to China, but also Russia, Iran and the DPRK [North Korea].”
COUNTER-TERRORISM
The
Trump approach is also expected to give lessened importance to
counter-terrorism operations in Africa, which has been the centrepiece
of Washington’s approach to the continent in the 21st century.
Mr
Meservey, however, cautioned that “the US is unlikely to ignore
terrorism and other security concerns as part of its Africa strategy. It
is too pressing a problem to ignore.”
US military assistance to Somalia is thought likely to be sustained in the new policy.
Thursday's
roll-out is intended to demonstrate the Trump administration engagement
with Africa as the continent had been treated for many months as an
afterthought in US global calculations.
Mr
Trump expressed his dismissive view early this year by using a vulgar
term to describe African countries. And in a meeting with several
African leaders last year, he referred to Namibia as Nambia.
The new policy will not include additional funding for aid, diplomacy or intelligence-gathering, NBC News reported.
The
plan will also not involve heightened US attention to human rights
issues in Africa. This will likely lead critics in Congress to argue
that the Trump approach resembles China's hands-off posture in regard to
repressive practices by the African governments it is courting.