USA: Obama can’t save Africa

“American foreign policy only aims at defending its vital interests, the vital interests of a country that is not very interested in Africa”. Steven Ekovitch, professor of sociology and politics at the American University of Paris doesn’t share the enthusiasm of the millions of Africans who are celebrating America’s first black president. In spite of Obama’s election, Ekovitch claims that “the White House’s international political agenda will be based on the only three geopolitical areas that American public opinion is interested in: Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle-East”.

Eminent guest at a seminar organized in Addis Abeba by the UN’s economic commission for Africa on the possible consequences of US elections in Africa, Ekovitch advised the public to be down-to-earth: “From what I know of Obama, I think he will expect a lot more from you that a white president would”. In an electoral campaign marred by the financial crisis, the rare speeches that the senator of Illinois dedicated to Africa expressed three dreams: an end to slaughters in Darfour, increased diplomatic pressure on Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe and the eradication of poverty and of pandemic diseases.
He hasn’t mentioned any of the other African issues. It’s a surprising choice if what Jeune Afrique writes in a dossier dedicated to Obama is true: “For Americans Africa is a real battle field” with two open fronts, the struggle against Islamic terrorism and the access to natural resources, with oil taking the first place.

Many experts believe that as a result of Bush’s foreign policy, Obama will be faced with difficult  geographical and strategic objectives. The new president risks being overwhelmed by, on the one hand, the aspirations of tens of millions of citizens who believe that his Kenyan origins will make him sensitive to Africa’s plight and on the other by the need to rebuild a country whose world supremacy has been questioned.

In spite of the reproaches to Bush’s administration on development, the financial crisis will force Obama to reconsider his plans to help the African continent recover from poverty. “After the Wall Street crash”, says Mame Aly Konté, from the Senegalese daily newspaper Sud Quotidien, “not many people would like to be in Obama’s place. We can’t expect much from him, his agenda will be burdened by economic challenges”. In other words: “His African origins will not change anything: Africa won’t be one of his priorities”.

Even Senegal’s president, Abdoulaye Wade, an ultra-liberal who is known for his friendship with the United States, has put the African dream into perspective. In an interview with French
television channel France 5, Wade insisted on the need “to not expect too much from Obama. He will have too many problems to think about us”.