America must keep its promises made to African leaders

In 2010, as South Africa prepared to host the first soccer World Cup on African soil, a cry went up that would reverberate around the continent: “Ke nako (It is time). Feel it; it is here.” 

I thought of this saying as 2022 came to a close, not just because the 2022 World Cup finals were playing out in Qatar but also because of the Biden administration’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit held in Washington, D.C. I had hoped this summit would produce a “New Deal” for Africa, but in truth I did not set my hopes too high, having attended a similar summit toward the end of President Obama’s administration. I did not think this summit would be much better.

I was wrong. 

I left December’s summit energized and excited. The Biden administration’s language reflects what we have been saying for 20 years in Africa: We must create partnerships between America and African countries on an equal and voluntary basis, with tangible investment and not just aid or concessionary trade deals, so that Africa becomes a long-term, strategic U.S. partner. This summit was a far cry from the foundations laid at the first one, which in many ways allowed China to take the lead on the continent in forging partnerships and investing in development.

Security was not front and center in the public discussion, but was debated in closed sessions and bilaterally, with particular countries — proof of the growing U.S. realization that most fundamentalist insurgencies in Africa are as much a threat to America as they are to Africa. Insurgents use African countries as recruiting grounds and staging posts, radicalizing local populations in preparation to launch against the U.S.

The strategy the White House espoused, if realized in 2023, would recognize Africa’s importance and the need to partner with African governments. The most significant way to do that, perhaps, is President Biden’s renewed call for Africa to have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and gain membership in the Group of Twenty (G20).

But there are many other initiatives for Africa, too. The Biden administration has overseen trade and investment deals worth $18 billion since last year, more than 800 reciprocal deals across 47 countries. At the summit, more than $15 billion in new deals were announced, as business leaders from more than 300 U.S. and African companies met with the heads of 50 delegations. That network of connections can only grow. In total, the U.S. will put $55 billion into its shared priorities with Africa over the next three years.

To me, business initiatives were most meaningful. The first is America’s $350 million project to transform digital access in Africa and the agricultural industry. As our African Youth Survey found, most youths regard digital access as a basic human right. Accessing affordable and reliable data enables them to connect with the world and to be entrepreneurial and internationally relevant. Working with participating African governments, the U.S. pledged to make a huge contribution toward this.

The second critical area is agriculture. Russia’s war in Ukraine has been a wake-up call for the West, with the world’s dependence on Ukraine as the “breadbasket” and on Russia for energy, basic commodities and fertilizer. It was pleasing to hear discussions on developing Africa’s agricultural industry beyond just subsistence farming. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that African countries could solve their food insecurities and export the surplus.

There is incredible interest by American companies across the spectrum — finance, tech and agriculture — to invest and collaborate. My company, for example, invested in a potash project in Congo-Brazzaville and never considered the U.S. as a viable partner before the summit. But we have since heard from several U.S. companies wanting to know how they can help develop this into a major fertilizer project.

I have spent my life in Africa and it is one of the most exciting places in the world. But I have seen how the world misinterprets Africa. Many still see the “Dark Continent,” a 19th century reference synonymous with huge social challenges and ecological catastrophes — a place that has to be “saved.”

My Africa is the opposite. It’s resilient, hopeful, proud, energetic. Africa wants to collaborate with the rest of the world, not be perceived as a victim. This was a key rationale for our establishment of the African Youth Survey — to put science behind the aspirations of those who will become the next generation of leaders.

Many perceptions about Africa are incredibly insulting to its population. As Blinken noted, by 2030, two in five people in the world will be African. And by 2050, this population will be not just the youngest in the world but also the greatest source of labor and the biggest consumer market. It is the most globally significant constituency imaginable. So, the choices African youths make will shape not just their future but the world’s.

I hope that Europe and Asia will follow America’s lead in partnering with Africa and supporting its growth and development. Still, there are caveats to America’s “New Deal” for Africa. 

The first is America’s continued use of sanctions. It is difficult to use a weapon that punishes a country’s entire population, and not just targeted individuals, and yet speak of “partnership” and “non-interference” at the same time. This is something the Biden administration should revisit.

The second caveat is China: The U.S. celebrated two-way trade with Africa of $80 billion, but that’s far less than China’s trade of $270 billion. The U.S. could catch up, but it may need to emulate the Chinese government’s credit guarantee scheme. The “elephant in the room” is the widely held perception that Africa is corrupt, its governments are unreliable, and credit is not secure. China guaranteed their private enterprise so they became highly motivated to raise capital and invest in Africa. The U.S. government should do something similar. In turn, no one can put more pressure on African governments to meet their commitments to the private sector than the U.S. government.  

President Biden noted at the summit that this is “a decisive decade.” As we say in Africa, “If you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you go together.”

Ivor Ichikowitz is an African industrialist and philanthropist. He chairs the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, which conceptualized and funds the African Youth Survey. Follow him on Twitter @ivorichikowitz.