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Trade and Investment focus of the new U.S. National Security Policy In Africa, not “spreading Liberal democracy” ideology
Toronto – The White House on Friday released a 33 page document detailing the United States New National Security Policy, its engagement in the world including Africa.
While the U.S. seems to have intention to scale down its military presence and appetite for control in the east which appears to be impossible anyways due to the rise of other powers, that is not the case in the Western hemisphere. It is reverting back to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine.
“The United States is by every measure the most generous nation in history—yet we cannot afford to be equally attentive to every region and every problem in the world,” it said.
WIth the rise of China and Russia as contending global powers and various new regional power centers, the U.S seems to focus on making the Western Hemisphere its sole sphere of influence.
“We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere, “ the document reads.
The strategy to effect that appears to be a combination of carrot and stick.
Africa
As it relates to Africa, the document noted that the United States focus in the continent has been spreading the liberal ideology. This policy has been evident in countries like Ethiopia, especially after Abiy Ahmed was installed as Prime Minister from a political entity that was decaying. It was rebranded as “Prosperity Party” which has been implementing core neoliberal values particularly in the realm of the country’s economy and culture. But it was mostly implemented under the cover of “home-grown” policy measures.
Apart from government structure, civic organizations, mostly funded from the outside, have been used to effect the entrenchment of “liberal” ideology in Ethiopia.
The new policy document from the White House says the focus area has shifted to resolving existing conflicts and preventing new ones while replacing the “aid” based relation to one that is based on trade and investment.
The DRC-Rwanda and Sudan conflicts are highlighted as potential areas of engagement with the aim to resolve them.
Preventing what many describe as an “inevitable” conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia is among action areas identified in the United State’s policy document. Somalia is mentioned as a country where conflict needs to be prevented.
Ethiopia and Eritrea have been accusing each other of provocation and preparation for war. Initially it started as an opposition to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s rhetoric on the need to reclaim access to the Red Sea which many believed was lost unlawfully and through grand plot to exclude Ethiopia from the Red Sea. The issue has created a new political alliance particularly between Eritrea and what is left of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) under the leadership of Debretsion Gebremichael.
No specificity as to how the United States plans to avert war between the two countries. Somalia is also mentioned as a country where intervention is needed to avert conflict. Ethiopia and Somalia appeared as if they had resolved tense relations after signing the Ankara Declaration in December 2024. Egypt’s military presence in the country through a bilateral defense agreement and as part of African Union Peace Keeping mission is possibly one of the factors for potential conflict with Ethiopia as the latter sees it as a national security threat.
In terms of trade and investment, the new U.S policy has explicitly highlighted the energy sector and mineral development as an area of interest. Ethiopia, whose existence increasingly appeared like a U.S. sphere of influence in the area. seems to qualify in both areas given the recent image the Ethiopian government has been painting on the extraction of mineral resources.
