African leaders gather for US summit

[Ab-Titchaz]

African leaders gather for US summit

One of the first meetings was between DRC President Joseph Kabila and US Secretary of State John Kerry

Delegates are gathering in Washington DC for the largest ever summit of African leaders in the US.

Nearly 50 heads of state are expected to attend the three-day event, which began on Monday.

US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has said about $900m (£535m) in business deals will be formally announced during the event.

But the presidents of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have cancelled their plans to attend amid an Ebola outbreak.

The disease has killed more than 800 people across West Africa.

The Ebola crisis forced Guinea to cancel


US President Barack Obama promised to convene a summit during his three-country Africa tour last year, when he visited Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa.

The summit's focus is on trade and business with the continent, where the US lags behind China, says the BBC's African Service editor Solomon Mugera.

China has a trade volume with the continent of $200bn (£119bn), more than double the US, and it started the Africa summit trend in 2001. Japan, India and Europe have followed.

The summit also comes shortly after Ghana has said it will seek financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help strengthen the West African nation's currency, which has become one of the world's worst-performing currencies this year.

Ghanaian president John Mahama (left) talks about expanding access to power sources in a related event


In 2013, 67% of African trade with the US was conducted by only five countries - Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Egypt and Algeria.

The US imports more from these nations than it exports to them, with mineral fuels accounting for over half of the commodities going to the US.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) figures show a similar pattern - the top five destinations in Africa accounted for 74% of total FDI from the US in 2012.

Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Algeria are again amongst these countries, with Mauritius replacing Angola as the fifth.

And while China does much more trade with Africa than the US, research by the International Monetary Fund shows that it is also limited to a handful of countries.

75% of exports to China from sub-Saharan Africa came from only five countries in 2011, and six countries account for 80% of imports from China.

Central African Republic, Eritrea, Sudan and Zimbabwe have not been invited.

Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has dismissed the snub as a "non-issue".

"We understand this to be America pursuing its interests, afraid that China has made headway," Mr Moyo told the state-owned The Herald newspaper.

Mr Obama will host a dinner for the attending African leaders at the White House on Tuesday after a day-long business forum hosted by the US commerce department.

Mr Kerry also had a meeting with Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni


On Wednesday, African leaders and the US president will meet during sessions on business, security and governance.

Critics of the summit have focused on the lack of one-to-one meetings between Mr Obama and his African counterparts.

And the invitation of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has attracted the ire of gay rights activists after he signed a law earlier this year imposing tough penalties against homosexuality.

The first African-American president of the US - the son of a Kenyan man and US woman - has sometimes been accused of neglecting relations with the continent.

Aside from the 2013 tour, he has made only two trips to sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency - one brief stopover in Ghana, in July 2009, and a visit to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's funeral.

BBC News - African leaders gather for US summit

 

[p.col]

we may benefit something from that summit,all the best our leaders!!!!!

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

US-Africa summit: What does Obama hope to achieve?

As President Barack Obama hosts the first-ever US Africa summit, which has seen invitations being issued to 50 African leaders, BBC Africa's Alexis Akwagyiram considers what the US hopes to achieve from the gathering.
Micheal Kimbi Tchenga is excited about the future.
The young civil servant from Limbe, in Cameroon, is in Washington for an address by President Obama.

Mr Tchenga, who has spent the last few months in the US participating in a fellowship programme aimed at nurturing the next generation of African leaders, is in a reflective mood.

"When we came here we discovered that the perception people had of Africa was one of a dark place - a jungle where people are at war and diseases decimate people living in shacks," he says.

"We've had to challenge those views. We are educated and we have good stories that aren't being told by the Western media.

"Through this opportunity, we've been able to showcase those stories and demonstrate that Africa has a voice."

Mr Tchenga is one of 500 young African students and activists that Mr Obama addressed just days before most of the continent's leaders descended on the US capital for a three-day summit organised under the theme of "investing in the next generation".

The US president will hope that his enthusiasm is shared by the continent's leaders.


The summit has been expected since President Obama promised to convene it during his three-country Africa tour last year, when he visited Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa.

During his address to the African youth activists in Washington, the US president said: "The security and prosperity and justice that we seek in the world cannot be achieved without a strong and prosperous and self-reliant Africa."

President Obama launched the Young African Leaders Initiative (Yali) last year

The scheme has allowed 500 young African leaders to broaden their skills in their fields of expertise


He said it was time for African leaders to seek their own solutions to the continent's problems.

"There is no doubt that, dating back to the colonial era, you can trace many of the problems that have plagued the continent," he said, pointing to how borders were drawn up and resources have been extracted.

"But at some point, we have to stop looking somewhere else for solutions, and you have to start looking for solutions, internally. And as powerful as history is, and you need to know that history, at some point you have to look to the future and say, 'OK, we didn't get a good deal then, but let's make sure that we're not making excuses for not going forward.'"
Fast-growing economies
Mr Obama said the US-Africa summit was set to be a "truly historic event" since it would be "the largest gathering any American president has hosted with African heads of state and government".

Fifty heads of state have been invited, as well as the head of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

Who was not invited?

• Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe
• Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan
• Catherine Samba-Panza, interim president of Central African Republic
• Isaias Afewerki, president of Eritrea

Most are likely to attend, although the presidents of Sierra Leone and Liberia have decided to stay at home to co-ordinate their respective efforts against the Ebola outbreak which has claimed more than 700 lives across West Africa.

The US administration has been keen to focus the summit on trade and investment.

With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasting that the economies of sub-Saharan Africa will grow at an average of 5.4% this year and 5.8% in 2015 - faster than the global average - the appeal in reaching out to the continent's leaders is clear.

The US works has been working closely with Nigeria to combat its Islamist insurgency


US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has said as much as $900m (£534m) worth of deals between American companies and African nations are expected to be formally announced during the summit.

The response from African nations in the build-up to the talks has been mixed.

The Standard, one of Kenya's leading dailies, says the US administration has billed the meeting as "a historic opportunity to promote its own Africa initiatives, identify trade partners and foster much-needed counter-terrorism co-operation across the continent".

But there have been some detractors.

Critics have focused on the lack of one-to-one meetings between the US president and his African counterparts.

And the invitation of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has attracted the ire of gay rights activists after he signed a law earlier this year imposing tough penalties against homosexuality - legislation which has just been annulled by the country's Constitutional Court on a technicality.

BBC News - US-Africa summit: What does Obama hope to achieve?

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Analysis: Solomon Mugera, BBC African Service editor

It is incredible that this is the first ever US-Africa summit. Many countries have been working closely with the US in the fight against global terrorism - particularly Kenya and Nigeria.

However, the US is keen to focus its attention on trade and investment during this summit. In that respect, we have not seen a proactive push by US companies into Africa. That gap is being filled by China, which has been pulling away from the US in recent years.

This summit is a move in the right direction - although a stronger message would have been sent if it had taken place on African soil. It is a fantastic opportunity to build closer relations.

However, the time is too short for detailed talks between President Obama and his various counterparts on an individual basis. As a consequence, the summit is unlikely to lead to meaningful changes. Many African leaders prefer to deal with China for one simple reason: Respect. They will be looking for respect from Mr Obama - a US president who is unprecedented in having an African parent.

The lasting impact of this summit will, to some extent, rely on whether President Obama gives them what they want.

Meanwhile, the exclusion of some countries has also prompted barbed comments from some quarters.

'Afraid of China' There have been reports that some nations would boycott the summit in solidarity with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who is currently the deputy chairman of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and vice-president of the African Union.

Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo dismissed the lack of an invitation as a "non-issue".

The fact that Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was not invited has upset some


"We understand this to be America pursuing its interests, afraid that China has made headway," he told the country's state-owned Herald newspaper.

Many observers have alluded to China's growing influence in Africa which has seen it surpass the US in trade with the continent.

China's current annual trade volume with Africa stands at $200bn, as opposed to $85bn for the US, according to United States Census Bureau figures.

Despite being the world's largest economy, the US is still only Africa's third largest trade partner.

It lags behind the European Union and China.

A recent editorial in South Africa's Business Day newspaper argued that "the US government was running the risk of missing the African bus".

"China is already far ahead if trade volumes and infrastructure contracts are the main yardstick," it said

Last year President Obama visited Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa


China, Japan, India and Europe have had Africa summits - a trend started by China in 2001.

The first African-American president of the US - the son of a Kenyan man and US woman - has sometimes been accused of neglecting relations with the continent.

Aside from the 2013 tour, he has made only two trips to sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency: One brief stopover in Ghana, in July 2009, and a visit to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's funeral.

Some sceptics argue that the Washington gathering will prove to be more of a public relations exercise than a policymaking initiative.

Mr Obama will hope to prove them wrong

BBC News - US-Africa summit: What does Obama hope to achieve?

 

[Ndinani]

The guys went to Washington bowl in hand inspite of Africa being a resource rich continent!! It will be a good opportunity for them to take photos with the Obama clan!!! As a matter of fact some of them would have done better to stay back home and solve pressing constitional problems in their home countries; but as fate would have it they preferred to go to Washington D.C. for the photo up!!!

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

​

 

[Ngongo]

Duh mbona sijamwona Vasco wetu nitashangaa sana kama katulia nyumbani.

 

[Ndinani]

Duh mbona sijamwona Vasco wetu nitashangaa sana kama katulia nyumbani.

Jamaa yetu hawezi kuacha kitu kama hiki tena kikiwa huko U.S.A.!!

 

[MSHERWAMPAMBA]

We will never going to benefit nothing from this so called summit,the africans leaders who were invited to this so called summit Mr are all beggers and are about to be turned to the world us capitalists mouth pieces no wonder Mr Robert Mugabe was not invited to this ----.There here to be treaned to accept homosexualism and sodomy,always beggers love to stay under the masters table in order to catch at least the bread crumbs coming from the masters mouth.Shame on you all africans leaders.End.

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Duh mbona sijamwona Vasco wetu nitashangaa sana kama katulia nyumbani.

Mkulu wa Kaya lazima keshaondoka magogoni yuko huku. Ngoja nikamtafute kisha tumtundike humu nae...:A S wink:

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Uhuru Kenyatta arrives in Washington for US-Africa summit

President Uhuru Kenyatta receives flowers after arriving in Washington, DC, in the United States

President Uhuru Kenyatta chats with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda

President Uhuru Kenyatta chats with former US President Bill Clinton

By PSCU

President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived in the United States on Monday for the US-Africa summit hosted by US President Barack Obama.President Kenyatta went straight to attend an event held to honour a former American ambassador to the United Nations.

The event, a gathering of Pan-African leaders, was held at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel to honour ambassador Andrew Young.

Mr Young - a pastor, civil rights leader and former congressman - championed key partnerships between the US and Africa for decades.

In an article he published in USA Today on Monday, Mr Young said: "Forty years ago, I went to Africa for the first time. Travelling to a World Bank meeting in Kenya with George Schultz (former US Secretary of Labour), who served as Treasury secretary during the Ford administration, we saw a view of Africa that had not been previously imagined."

CLOSER PARTNERSHIP

Since that visit, Mr Young has championed closer partnership between Africa and the US.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and former US President Bill Clinton also attended the event.

President Kenyatta and Mr Clinton chatted for more than 20 minutes.

Earlier, Mr Clinton gave an opening address, calling for more partnership between Africa and the US.

President Kenyatta's visit will focus on strengthening ties between the US and Kenya in trade, capital investment, infrastructure, energy and security.

The President is scheduled to hold a number of high level meetings with Chief Executives of major US companies that are keen in investing in Kenya.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

He is also set to meet a select group of businesspeople who have Kenya-specific investment proposals at a forum convened by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the US Chamber of Commerce.

Investment opportunities for US companies in Kenya's mega infrastructure projects, newly discovered petroleum deposits and power-generation initiatives will be the focus of talks during the President's visit.

Several ministerial-level meetings dealing with power, infrastructure development and investments in health have been going on at the US-Africa summit.

On Monday, Cabinet Secretaries Michael Kamau (Transport), Davis Chirchir (Energy and Petroleum), Henry Rotich (National Treasury) and James Macharia (Health) spoke at a forum organised by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA).

WHITE HOUSE DINNER

CCA represents major US companies, including General Electric, Coca-Cola, IBM and others.

Cabinet Secretaries Amina Mohamed (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) and Adan Mohamed (Industrialisation and Enterprise Development) attended a meeting at the World Bank where an extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act was discussed.

Kenya has been championing a seamless renewal of the AGOA agreement.

On Tuesday, President Kenyatta will join other visiting African heads of state for a schedule of events where they will be joined by US President Obama.

President Obama will later host the leaders to a dinner at the White House.

Uhuru Kenyatta arrives in Washington for US-Africa summit - News - nation.co.ke

 

[2013]

viongozi waafrika wanaonekana wamenenepa na kunawiri.. Utawala Africa Mzuri jamani

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

Duh mbona sijamwona Vasco wetu nitashangaa sana kama katulia nyumbani.

Huyu hapa keshafika nae....afu karauka tangia tarehe mbili...akose achekwe mazee?.

Tanzania: Kikwete Arrives in U.S. for Leaders' Summit

By Tuma Abdallah

Washington DC: PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete arrived on Friday for the USAfrican Leaders' Summit which is expected to bring together more than 40 Heads of State and governments from across the continent.

The three-day summit to be held under the theme "Investing in the next generation" aims to build on US President Barack Obama's trip to Africa mid last year and strengthen ties between the two continents.

The summit which begins on August 4 and ends on August 6 will thus provide an opportunity to discuss ways of stimulating growth, unlocking opportunities, creating an enabling environment for the next generation, which is at the core of governments responsibility and work.

According to the programme of events, discussions during the summit, the first of its kind and the largest event any US president has held with African Heads of State and government, will centre on how to encourage progress in key areas which Africa defines as critical for the continent's future.

They include expanding trade and investment ties, engaging young African leaders, promoting inclusive sustainable development, expanding cooperation on peace and security and gaining a better future for Africa's next generation.

Apart from participating in the summit, president Kikwete who is accompanied by his wife, Mama Salma, will be involved in a number of activities including a visit to the US National Institute of Health this morning where there will be a discussion on the value of biomedical research to improve health and advance economic development.

In the evening he will meet Tanzanians living in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia and neighbouring states while on Sunday the president will have a series of meetings with a number ofpersonalities. Other activities that the president will be part of include the Corporate Council on African's "Leading the way on US-Africa investment" series on Monday morning, where he will give a keynote address that will focus on doing business in Tanzania.

President Kikwete will also participate in a luncheon at the Centre for Global Development where he will share his vision on the future of Tanzania following the discoveries of oil and gas before attending a dialogue on combating wildlife trafficking to be hosted by the US Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell.

On Tuesday morning, the President will attend a US-Africa Business Forum to be hosted by the Bloomberg Philanthropies and the US Department of Commerce, attend the Tanzania Day event during which a Memorandum of understanding by SAGGOT; Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives and the Morogoro Agriculture group which is a partnership between the Sokoine University of Agriculture and Wilmer Otto group.

The president will also attend a Business Forum which will be closed by President Obama in the evening before participating in the US-Africa leaders summit meetings which will focus on Investing in Africa's Future, Peace and Regional Stability, and governing for the next generation.

allAfrica.com: Tanzania: Kikwete Arrives in U.S. for Leaders' Summit

 

[Rugambwa31]

we may benefit something from that summit,all the best our leaders!!!!!

We need to change now, our problems can't be solved by developed countries.

 

[Koborer]

In Summary

• Hundreds of US and African business chiefs joined political leaders in forums, including the top executives of General Electric, Coca-Cola and Walmart, as well as African billionaires such as commodities king Dangote, telecoms tycoon Mo Ibrahim, and Ashish Thakkar, young founder of the tech-focused Mara Group.

- News - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

 

[AZUSA STREET]

tz tuna nini hapo?

 

[Koborer]

tz tuna nini hapo?

I don't know the 33bn USD is for the whole of Africa.

 

[Waterloo]

wacha tuendelee kupangiwa maendeleo na marekani

 

[Extraterrestrial]

Obama is meeting with a number of African leaders this week. But rather than a sign of strength, it’s a sign of weakness.

The Guardian reported Sunday:

Barack Obama is convening the largest ever gathering of African leaders in Washington on Monday – 50 have been invited – for a summit billed by the White House as “elevating our engagement” with a continent increasingly under China’s influence.

***

Ben Rhodes, a US deputy national security adviser, denied it was an attempt to play catch-up with China – which has vigorously pursued political and economic ties with the continent.

***

Melvin Foote, founder of the Constituency for Africa, a group promoting African interests in Washington, said it was disingenuous for the White House to claim the summit was not in large part a response to China.

“The administration won’t tell you that but it’s at the front of their mind. America is losing influence and respect in Africa,” he said. “I hear it whenever I travel there.”

The US has good reason to be concerned. China’s trade with Africa rose to $200bn (£119bn) last year – largely made up of Beijing’s imports of oil and minerals, and export of electronics and textiles – more than double the US and far ahead of the EU. Twenty years ago trade between China and Africa was just $6bn.

***

“Africans say ‘why do we need the United States’?” said Foote. “When I travel around Africa, I’ve seen airports, I’ve seen roads, I’ve seen railroads, I’ve seen ports, I’ve seen all kinds of things that are really impressive built by China, that you have to say the United States refused to build.”

Why has the U.S. refused to build infrastructure in Africa?

Because it has been focused on defense. As the Guardian notes:

But Beijing’s influence has been greatly enhanced by the large numbers of Chinese now living and working in Africa, from factory managers to traders, and by big construction projects that have rapidly transformed parts of the continent when decades of western aid was often directed to propping up authoritarian cold war allies, not development.

***

But the US remains dominant in security issues, which will be a strong undercurrent at the summit.

***

“We are very focused on the threat of terrorism in Africa,” said Rhodes. “We see it as particularly acute in … North Africa, Somalia with al-Shabaab, and of course Boko Haram in Nigeria,” he said.

Indeed - as of last year – the Obama administration was sending troops to 35 African countries under the guise of fighting Al Qaeda and related terrorists. And the U.S. has planned regime change in Northern African countries for 20 years.

CBC reports:

“The U.S., in many senses, miscalculated their approach to Africa. It has always been to focus on bilateral relationships— select a few countries and deal solely with them,” says [Thomas Tieku, an assistant professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto]. “Now they’re playing a catch-up game to try to establish equally strong relationships with multilateral institutions like the African Union.”

***

The U.S. will always have to contend with the fact that China is not limited in its economic partnerships by commitments to propping up democracy and freedom, since the cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy is to take a non-interventionist approach with its trading partners, says Tieku.

The Guardian noted Tuesday that the leaders of the African nations didn’t seem that impressed with the new U.S. summit:

African leaders were more cautious in their assessment of the summit and the difference that foreign businesses can make.

***

None [of the African leaders] were talking about the meeting as groundbreaking.

We noted in 2012:

In a must-read article, AP analyzes IMF data on 180 nations’ trade with China – and concludes that China has surpassed America as the world’s “top global trader”:

As recently as 2006, the U.S. was the larger trading partner for 127 countries, versus just 70 for China. By last year the two had clearly traded places: 124 countries for China, 76 for the U.S. ***

Indeed, some claim that China is already the world’s biggest economy.[Update.]

***

While the U.S. has launched wars all over the world to seize control of resources, China has quietly been trading for its needs, or mining or building resources itself for subsequent export. See this, this and this. No wonder China is surpassing the U.S. as the world’s trading giant.

Sadly, the U.S. is currently doing a worse job than China in following George Washington’s advice to (1) avoid foreign military entanglements and (2) engage in free trade with all nations.

 

[oluku]

china is doing a mutual relation with African nations. As USA and other western countries syphon Africa's wealth without doing any balanced business his counterpart is always trying to do a balanced business. I am proud of China to US and its associates