West loses grip as Africa charts new path in global power shift

At the onset of President Donald Trump’s second term in January, he went ballistic, cutting down foreign aid, imposing heavy tariffs, and the loss of several jobs, for those employed under the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded programmes, hospitals running dry of antiretroviral drugs, forcing several HIV positive patients to relapse, with nothing to turn to, and a host of other problems that had been managed through the USAID funding.

Ms Michelle Gavin, the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, called the Trump response “incredibly self-defeating,” and said, “I just don't understand why we are taking a bunch of tools in our foreign policy toolbox and tossing them into a dumpster”. “And not only have we lit our credibility on fire, but you see, particularly China making the most of this. The favourite phrase now is reliable partner. China is a reliable partner. They’re not going to abruptly pull the rug out from under you.

And I think that some of the kind of knock-on effects consider the tens of thousands of health workers in Kenya who are out of work now. These are educated, engaged citizens, and the messaging we want to do about this long relationship with Kenya, it's at odds with their lived experience now,” she added.

Mr Joshua Meservey, a Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute, Washington, said now is the time not to dictate terms on what America must give to Africa, but to listen to the continent to understand what they want. “And I think we need to start giving African countries more of what they want and less of what they don’t. That seems like an obvious proposition, but frequently our Africa strategy doesn’t seem to be guided by that principle,” he said.

Mr Meservey added: “So the existential crisis that every African government faces is youth unemployment, and our development assistance and humanitarian assistance as useful as that is in some contexts, is not going to address those problems.”

Mr Timothy Michael Kaine, a Democratic senator from Virginia, on his part said it is wrong to engage in fights with the continent instead of engaging with it diplomatically.

He cites the recent altercations between Mr Trump and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa over allegations of genocide against white South Africans. Mr Kaine said America is charting the wrong path in dealing with Africa.

“Picking a fight with South Africa, a pretty important nation, and labeling them as committing genocide against Afrikaner farmers, accepting Afrikaner refugees while we're shutting off other refugees from Africa. Church World Service, which works on refugee issues, has been dramatically curtailed. The church I go to is heavily Congolese refugees who have been resettled and enriched by Catholic Refugee Service, but their work has been curtailed,” he said.

Mr Kaine said countries like Kenya, South Africa, and others that used to be strong partners and allies have drifted towards China, which he said is dangerous for the US interests in Africa. While in Beijing recently, President Ruto, during a public said the ongoing trade war between the US and the rest of the world was a good thing which would lead to the destruction of the old world order and then create a new one, where the global south will play a prominent role.

Mr Kaine said the US must not ignore such talks, but take a keen interest in listening to the voices of dissent. “From April 23, just recently, speaking during a public lecture at Peking University in Beijing, President William Ruto emphasised the need to fashion a new world order which takes cognizance of present realities. He's suggesting that the trade wars might be the destruction of the Old World Order and the creation of a New World Order where China and Kenya, and other nations focus more attention on the Global South. How do we get to a place where the president of Kenya, who we've had this long relationship with just two weeks ago, is making those assertions in the middle of a state visit to China?” he questioned.

He also took issue with US Africa Command, which is based in Germany, wondering why a command that must serve the US interest in Africa must be based in Europe when China is expanding its military presence in Africa.

“AFRICOM is not based in Africa and has perennially been under-resourced. It’s based in Germany. And that leads a president like President Ruto to make those kinds of comments, almost gleefully hoping that Donald Trump’s tariff war will destroy the world order that the US created in the aftermath of World War II to the benefit not only of the United States but other nations all over the world. We’ve got to reverse this. .. And I hear this all over Latin America as I travel there,” he said.

According to him, many countries would prefer the US to China, but the ongoing policies are driving them right into the arms of America’s arch-foe, which he says must be reversed.

“We’d rather deal with you than with China. I think in the Americas, there’s even a closer cultural connection because of migration patterns and family ties, but there are with Africa as well. We’d rather deal with you than China, but you’ve got to have something on the table. And China does, and they’re not going anywhere, the conditions may be bad, and there are strings attached; they may not perform, but they got something on the table. What do you have on the table? The things we’ve had on the table are being hollowed out,” he said.

Mr Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator, called the current relations between the US and Africa a crisis that must be handled with utmost care. He said America’s foes are making inroads into the continent while the US is retreating. The New Jersey senator said the forthcoming elections in Tanzania and Uganda clearly point to the fact that more resources should be channelled to monitoring the shrinking democratic spaces on the continent. “We are stopping, especially as we see the Tanzania elections and the Uganda elections and the instabilities there, we’re cutting back our resources, helping with democratic stability at a time that democracies are under retreat all across the globe and the democratic freedoms and ideals that we preach are being undermined by forces that don't share our values,” he said.

Senator Booker said while the US is planning to cut a number of its embassies on the continent, China has filled every capital city in Africa with its own embassies and is opening more consulates across different cities in Africa.

The New York Times last month published leaked content of President Trump’s plan to cut costs by scaling back the US’ diplomatic presence globally. According to Mr Trump's plan, nearly 30 embassies and consulates worldwide will be closed, many of them in Africa, through a draft executive decree, which will take place by October 1. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the reported plan as “fake news” through his X, formerly Twitter, handle.

Mr Booker said this is dangerous for US diplomacy in Africa, in which China is outpacing the US interests. “There’s no place that to me that this is more obvious where our embassies and consulates that this administration is slating to close. China has embassies in every single country and we now see a list that consulates and embassies all over the world, but six embassies and two consulates in Africa, including around the Horn are being shut down.

“We are truly pursuing a set of policies that are going to undermine America’s safety, security, and economic strength in the future and make us be more targeted by forces from the Red Sea all the way to terrorist attacks here at home based upon the instability and folks who are focusing and targeting and trying to undermine America,” he said.

Senator Booker said while he was already angry with the past administrations for their failure to prioritise, what’s happening right now is “just utterly stunning”. “And generations of Americans will pay a price for it unless we find a way, in a bipartisan way, to focus and do more,” he added.

Mr Christopher Coons, the Delaware senator to the US Congress, said the US needs more engagements with Africa and less threats and trade wars. “What I hear from both of you is more engagement, not less. More of what we have done that works, and that the abrupt and chaotic closure of a very wide range of our most effective tools for engaging with Africa, from the MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) to YALI (The Young African Leaders Initiative) to the PEPFAR (US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) programme, puts all of this at risk,” he said.

Senator Coons also wondered why the Trump administration would deny funding to programmes introduced by the Bush Administration over 25 years ago and whose benefits have all been visible. “A 25-year-old programme, long deserving of bipartisan support. What does it do to our reputation on a continent of 54 countries, a continent with enormous human potential and natural resources, a country that China and Russia see as the continent of the 21st century? What’s it do to our place in East Africa and across the continent if we abruptly shut down these long-standing, demonstrated, and effective programmes?” he said.

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