LUANDA, Angola — It may have been the image of President Biden’s seemingly jinxed journey to Angola.
Postponed in 2023 because of the wars within the Center East.
Postponed once more in 2024 because of the catastrophic hurricanes within the south.
And on the one full day of the first-ever journey to Africa for Biden as president, the skies opened up, sending torrential rain down and flooding poorly drained streets.
It nearly halted the presidential and press convoy’s one-hour experience out of the capital Luanda for Biden to make a speech on the Nationwide Slavery Museum of Angola.
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Greg Palkot, Fox Information’ senior international affairs correspondent, stands as President Biden delivers his deal with on the Nationwide Slavery Museum in Luanda, Angola. (Greg Palkot/Fox Information)
In fact, all this got here in every week when different information was pounding down as arduous as that rain. First, Biden’s self-inflicted pardoning of son Hunter. A Manhattan homicide of a prime government. The collapse of two governments of our most vital allies. And the continuing dramas surrounding Trump’s Cupboard picks.
However as Biden does, he made it, not daring to stroll up the slick marble steps to the museum itself, however standing at a podium dramatically situated alongside the Atlantic coast with shafts of daylight piercing by the darkish clouds.
He spoke of the position the colonial masters performed in delivery out hundreds to a lifetime of servitude, together with to the USA. Angola was a significant participant within the Atlantic slave commerce.
“It’s our obligation to face our historical past,” Biden famous, “the nice, the unhealthy and the ugly.
However he additionally handled the true purpose for the journey — serving to the strategically-located southwestern African nation of Angola regular itself to organize for the long run. By 2050, simply 25 years from now. Africa would be the most populous continent on the planet.
“In some ways, Africa’s success would be the world’s success. And I mentioned on the U.S.-Africa Summit in 2022, the USA is all in on Africa’s future,” Biden mentioned.
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A poster displaying President Biden and Angola’s President João Lourenco throughout a welcome ceremony at Catumbela Airport in Angola Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
To take care of the current, Biden made a shock announcement of $1 billion in U.S. humanitarian assist to assist these displaced in Africa by droughts and excessive climate.
Earlier within the day, in a one-on-one assembly with Angolan President João Lourenco, Biden handled the long run. There was a giant concentrate on the Lobito Hall, a rail and infrastructure undertaking backed with $4 billion from the U.S. It’s geared toward bringing to an Angolan port crucial minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia and agricultural merchandise and different industrial items from Angola.
Road scenes in Angola’s capital metropolis of Luanda. (Greg Palkot/Fox Information)
“We work collectively to mobilize extra capital,” Biden declared, “to construct extra infrastructure, to assist make these options actual, to assist Africa paved the way.”
Critics scoffed that this was only a “too little, too late” try to meet up with China, which for years has been busy with infrastructure and different tasks all throughout Africa.
In an interview with Fox Information, White Home Nationwide Safety communications director John Kirby pushed again, saying. “It’s about them (the Angolans) catching up and maintaining and be extra concerned … by way of bringing product to market.”
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Greg Palkot’s press credential consists of an Angola Soviet-style flag. (Greg Palkot/Fox Information)
An anticipated point out of an expanded U.S. army position in Angola didn’t materialize. The U.S. already sends a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} in army assist to the nation. There’s new discuss of a U.S. base there to counter the Russian army’s more and more energetic presence on the continent.
However the “elephant” that did lurk at each assembly and gathering was the truth that Biden is now a really lame-duck president and the way incoming President-elect Trump, who by no means made a visit to Africa throughout his first time period in workplace, who even made derisory feedback about sure nations there, would deal with all of it.
In a latest interview, the Angolan president mentioned he would work with whoever is president.
President Biden stands for nationwide anthems with Angola President João Lourenco on the presidential palace within the capital Luanda, Angola Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Picture/Ben Curtis)
And, truly, in an interview with Fox Information, former Trump Africa envoy J. Peter Pham informed us he thought most of the tasks may survive, particularly if China feels a sting.
He added, nevertheless, “I do assume the brand new administration will ask some very robust questions on our investments on the continent, the place they go and whether or not it’s one of the best return on capital.”
Prosperity and poverty within the capital metropolis of Luanda. (Greg Palkot/Fox Information)
On the final day of his journey, Biden inspected the Lobito rail hub, the place the massive undertaking converges. In a roundtable with different regional leaders, after he famous he was an Amtrak rail fan, he was seen closing his eyes and holding his head in his fingers as if he have been sleeping, very like he most likely dozed on these commuter rides for many years as a senator between Washington and Delaware.
Most in Angola appeared to assume, nevertheless, the 82-year-old president performed his position pretty nicely in what was referred to as his “world finale.”
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The take a look at will come when it’s seen if any of the advantages from these tasks trickle down past the super-rich in oil-rich Angola, to the largely younger Angolans who’re determined for a life and dwelling.
“Simply the truth that an American is coming to Angola is an efficient factor,” one Luanda resident informed us.
Regardless of unhealthy timing and unhealthy information elsewhere … lots of people right here have hopes.
