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Obama hosts Africa summit with an eye on his legacy
From left to right, President Macky Sall of Senegal, Former Malawian President Joyce Banda, U.S. President Barack Obama, President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, and Prime Minister José Maria Pereira Neves of Cape Verde at a meeting held on March 28, 2013. PHOTO/File
As U.S. President Barack Obama immerses himself in talks on Africa’s regional security, democracy building and business investment this week, the world’s attention, and much of his own, will be on an extraordinary array of urgent overseas crises.
Obama is meeting nearly 50 African heads of state in Washington for an unprecedented summit aimed in part at building his legacy on a continent where his commitment has been questioned.
But recent world events emphasize how hard it is for Obama to focus attention on areas that he chooses to promote. As the conference begins Monday, a number of international events are competing for his attention.
Among them: Gaza clashes, Russia’s provocations in Ukraine and mounting extremism in Iraq, to name just a few. An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa also threatens to cast a shadow over the summit, with leaders from at least two affected countries canceling plans to travel to Washington.
White House officials say the American interests in Africa are immense. The continent is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies and a rapidly expanding middle class. The United States is also competing for those consumers with China, which surpassed the United States in 2009 as Africa’s largest trading partner.
“The importance of this for America needs to be understood,” Obama said Friday. “Africa is growing, and you have got thriving markets and you have got entrepreneurs and extraordinary talent among the people there.” He added: “Africa also happens to be one of the continents where America is most popular, and people feel a real affinity for our way of life.”
From the start of his presidency, Obama has faced sky-high expectations from African leaders and U.S. policymakers who hoped the son of a Kenyan would bump Africa up the White House list of foreign policy priorities. Obama’s first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president, an overnight stop in Ghana in 2009, also suggested that he could be an American president able to tell hard truths to the continent’s leaders. During a speech to parliament in Accra, he declared that Africa “doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions.”
