U.S. to commit $55 billion over three years to Africa
Eva Deschamps / December 13, 2022
The United States "will spend $55 billion on Africa in a wide range of sectors," the White House said Monday, before Joe Biden hosted a summit of the continent's leaders in Washington.
Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, said the funds would be spent specifically on health care and climate change response over three years, but did not give details on where they would come from or how they would be allocated.
There will be "a real mobilization of resources on concrete objectives," he said, indicating that details would be revealed in the coming days.
"If you compare what the U.S. is promising over the next three years with what other countries are promising, I think the comparison is very favorable to us," Sullivan said.
He assured that this funding, and more generally the American commitment, would not be linked to the attitude of African countries to the war in Ukraine, at a time when many of them refuse to openly condemn Russia.
"We're not putting a gun to anyone's head" on this issue, Joe Biden's adviser said.
The three-day summit in Washington is supposed to revive US relations with the African continent, left more or less fallow by former President Donald Trump, at a time when both China and Russia are advancing their pawns on the continent.
This is the second meeting of its kind, after a first edition held in 2014.