© AP
The department announced Friday that the US secretary of state will travel to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda in August. The United States is trying to counter Russian diplomatic influence.
gjssource: BELGA
Anthony Blinken wants to show African countries “that they have an essential geostrategic role and that they are essential allies on the most thorny issues of our time, from promoting an open and stable international order to combating climate change, food insecurity and global warming,” the State Department said in a statement. epidemics”.
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield, will travel to Ghana and Uganda next month, while USAID Administrator Samantha Power was recently in Kenya and Somalia.
Lavrov
These diplomatic efforts come on the heels of a tour by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Africa. He blamed Western sanctions for the sudden rise in food prices, a hypothesis that Washington rejects.
Blinken will visit Johannesburg and Pretoria from 7-9 August and then the Congolese capital Kinshasa before heading to Rwanda. In Kigali, the head of US diplomacy will call for the release of opponent Paul Rossabgina, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence. He has permanent resident status in the United States. Rusesabagina is best known for “Hotel Rwanda” (2004), which tells how this moderate Hutu saved hundreds of lives in the 1994 genocide.
