Abdullah Abu Daif (Cairo)
The African continent represents a huge weight that may not be enjoyed by another continent in terms of its possession of marine, mineral and agricultural wealth, which made it the subject of strong competition between international powers, especially at the economic level at a time when the world, especially the United States, China and Russia, is looking for different places to invest, especially within the black Continent.
American political analyst Irina Zuckerman believes that over the past decades, successive US administrations have ignored the entire African continent, and any intervention was only related to security issues and in a very limited scope in many conflicts such as those related to Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Tsukerman added, in statements to Al-Ittihad, that the United States has repeatedly changed its strategies in Somalia, and participated in limited training for the Somali special forces, but abandoned the country after that for several years until extremism reached its highest levels inside the country, and dealt with some files, But it ignored the growing problem of terrorism represented by al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists.
She pointed out that the United States has focused over the past ten years on other issues outside the African framework, so countries have spread their economic and military influence and soft power throughout Africa, including China and Turkey in particular, and to a lesser extent Russia.
And the American analyst believes that President Joe Biden has failed to develop any concrete strategy regarding engagement in Africa to counter the influence of other countries and non-state actors, and one of the unresolved issues – for example – is the issue of rare minerals that are available in many African countries and exploited. China directly, and this is one of the main reasons that prompted many experts in the White House to get more involved in the brown continent in recent years, which made the United States host a summit that includes dozens of African leaders, aiming to restore influence on the continent, especially in the face of competition within the continent. .
She said Congress has introduced a bill related to the pursuit of these important natural resources, and educational and humanitarian issues to combat extremism and help grassroots movements against government corruption would also be welcome.
Sudanese political analyst Imad Hussein attributes the great American interest in the African continent to the resumption of the African-American summit, to the political and economic importance of the brown continent, as the population of the continent has almost doubled and is growing by a much larger amount than the rest of the continents, for example Nigeria will reach more than 400 million people. In 2050, the political, economic and demographic aspects of the continent are thus changing.
The Sudanese analyst explained that the rate of economic cooperation between China and Africa reaches about 15%, which is a large and high percentage and it is natural for the United States to pay attention to it. There is also the BRICS group that has great privileges on the continent, which reflected positively with Russia and China.
#Africa #place #great #competition #among #international #powers