“It’s a revolution,” said Joe Biden on Wednesday in Angola about the emblematic investment of his mandate in Africa, the “Lobito Corridor”, a major rail and commercial axis supposed, in the long term, to cross the continent of East to West.
This project, intended primarily to facilitate the export of strategic minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia from the Angolan port of Lobito, respects “the highest criteria for workers, for the environment and for local populations, because the United States knows that the way we invest in Africa is as important as the amounts we invest,” assured the outgoing American president.
Joe Biden had promised to make an official trip to Africa. He executed at the last minute, before giving way on January 20 to his biggest rival, the Republican Donald Trump.
“It’s a revolution,” said the 82-year-old democrat, who appeared tired during a round table with leaders of Angola, Zambia, the DRC and Tanzania, all countries concerned by this project.
60 million dollars
“Imagine the impact this will have for technology, green energy, agriculture, food security,” he listed, announcing an additional $600 million in American investments in the “Corridor of Lobito.”
Joe Biden, who is making the first official trip by an American president to Africa since 2015, and whose visit to Angola is a historic first, joked that he was going to “come back to take that train”, recalling that he was a fervent promoter of rail transport.
English President Joao Lourenço called the infrastructure project a “crucial step”, while Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said it opened up “huge opportunities.”
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi declared that this major project was a “symbol of our collective will”.
The heads of state spoke from an agricultural materials processing plant, which Joe Biden quickly visited.
The American president, who then flew back to the United States at the end of this two-day trip, had previously inspected the railway installations very close to the port of Lobito, located about 500 kilometers south of the capital Luanda.
From 45 days to 45 hours
The “Lobito Corridor”, a project also supported by the Europeans, should make it possible to dramatically reduce the time it takes to transport minerals between the DRC or Zambia and the coast: from 45 days today by road to 40 to 50 hours by train.
A senior American official said he was convinced that Donald Trump would support this project.
“You can’t pretend to be in competition with China and not support what’s happening here,” he said.
Still, to make the “Lobito Corridor” a real success, the United States will have to cooperate with China. The latter “dominates the mining sector in the DRC and Zambia,” recalls Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research institute based in Washington.
Joe Biden strove during his mandate to launch a diplomatic and economic offensive aimed at African countries, neglected for several years by the leading world power.
One of its objectives is to ensure the supply of the United States with strategic metals and raw materials for the technology sector and the energy transition.
While China has already invested pharaonic amounts, Washington claims to be proposing more targeted initiatives that are more respectful of the interests of African countries, where Beijing is accused of burdening them with debts that are impossible to honor.
■
