As Russia and the United States Seek Influence in Africa, Strategic Pitfalls Loom
Global Conflict TrackerJul 28, 2022
On the final leg of a three-country tour of Africa on Thurs., US Sec. of State Antony Blinken visited Rwanda, where he discussed "credible reports" of Kigali supporting the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Blinken said Rwandan Pres. Kagame and his DRC counterpart Félix Tshisekedi had agreed to direct talks to resolve the fighting. He condemned support for any armed groups in eastern Congo and called on the countries to respect each other's territorial integrity.
Diplomatic initiatives such as these are prudent and timely steps by the Biden administration. If Washington is careful to treat African countries with mutual respect and not as potential venues for proxy competition against Russia and China in a new "cold war," the new US Africa strategy will be doing a great service to the rules-based global order.
Blinken's talk of peace and a renewed US Africa strategy can't hide the fact that the US is really only concerned with its geopolitical interests, whether in the DRC, Rwanda, South Africa, or elsewhere. Blinken's Africa trip also shows that a growing number of countries are no longer willing to go along with the West's double standards on a "rules-based global order."