In his first year in office, US President Joe Biden pledged to reset US-Africa relations based on a doctrine of equal partnership.

He sent his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to Kenya, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The visit was used to outline the administration’s policy outlook toward Africa. It laid the foundation for the official US-Africa political engagement that Blinken launched the following year in South Africa.

Since then, there have been high-level engagements between the United States and African countries to deepen ties. They included visits from senior members of the administration’s Cabinet: Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. First lady Jill Biden also attended.

Biden hosted a packed US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC in December 2022. Kenyan President William Ruto made a state visit to the White House in May.

However, our view, based on years of studying and writing about US-Africa relations, is that the Biden administration has not fulfilled its commitment to reset US-Africa relations on the basis of equal partnership. It has failed to recognize Africa’s growing agency in international affairs.

We argue that there has been a mismatch between the rhetoric and practice of equal partnership. For example, African leaders and the African Union were not consulted on the agenda of the 2022 US-Africa Leaders Summit. This was also the case for the US Africa strategy.

This reflects the United States’ traditional paternalistic relationship with Africa.

Biden is scheduled to visit Angola in December, his only visit to Africa as president. A much more encouraging message of equitable partnership would have been conveyed if the US-Africa Leaders Summit, for example, had been held at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia. Biden would then have been able to dialogue with African leaders on the continent at the beginning of his term.

There are a number of positive indicators of Biden’s commitment to restoring relations with Africa.

August 2022: The first tangible step was through the United States Strategy towards Sub-Saharan Africa. This presented a shift in emphasis from great power policy (against China and Russia in Africa) and America First diplomacy under Trump, to one of mutual respect and partnership (at least on paper) under Biden.

Priorities included fostering open societies, generating democratic and security dividends, promoting pandemic recovery and economic opportunities, and supporting the climate agenda.

December 2022: The US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC was attended by 49 African leaders, three months after the publication of the Africa strategy. The focus was on strengthening ties with African partners based on principles of mutual respect and shared interests and values.

Biden pledged $55 billion in investments through 2025 to advance goals that align with shared priorities. The United States is said to have allocated 80 percent of those funds.

The United States used the summit to formally announce its support for African Union membership in the G20. This became a reality when the AU officially joined the G20 as a permanent member in 2023.

November 2023: Biden received Angolan President João Lourenço at the White House on an official visit. They discussed cooperation in economy, security, energy, transportation, telecommunications, agriculture and outer space.

May 2024: Kenyan President William Ruto’s state visit was the first by an African leader in more than 15 years.

September 2024: US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced US support for Africa to obtain two permanent seats on the UN security council.

FinallyBiden’s visit to Angola, scheduled for the first week of December, would be the first by a US president since 2015.

It is possible to see serious flaws in the United States’ approach to Africa compared to the expectation of an equal partnership.

First, the United States has attempted to undermine African agency through its attempt to pressure African countries to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many African countries opted for non-alignment.

Second, the United States advocating two seats for Africa on the security council seems commendable on the surface. But the lack of veto power perpetuates power imbalances between Africa and the current permanent members of the security council: the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and China.

The question again is how equitable the partnership will be if Africa were a junior member of the security council.

Third, there has been a lack of joint agenda-setting. African countries have not contributed to the US-Africa Strategy or the US-Africa Leaders Summit.

Failure to consult African leaders, institutions and civil society on the continent’s own priorities reflects the same old practice of imposing priorities on African states. It seems a continuation of the usual presentation of American national interests as African interests.

Fourth, there have been challenges in implementing the provisions of the United States Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy. These include the inappropriate allocation of resources.

Fifth, the Biden administration has used the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) as diplomatic leverage over African countries. For example, in October 2023 it announced the removal of Uganda, Niger, Gabon and the Central African Republic from beneficiaries.

Previously, the administration eliminated Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. These countries were removed from Agoa for failing to meet US political and human rights demands.

Between February and March 2024, the US Congress also considered the US-South Africa Bilateral Relations Bill, which risks excluding South Africa from Agoa due to Pretoria’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict. .

Finally, the fact that Biden only visits Africa in the final days of his presidency suggests that Africa is not a priority. The fact that only one African head of state has been granted a state visit to Washington reinforces this idea.

If the United States is serious about equal partnership, it should not treat Africa as an afterthought. You must always consult African states when formulating policies that affect them and the continent.

By Christopher Isike (Director, African Center for the Study of the United States, University of Pretoria) and Samuel Oyewole
(Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Pretoria)

Ruth Kasanga, a graduate student in the Department of Political Science and research assistant at the African Center for the Study of the United States at the University of Pretoria, contributed to this article..