Afrasianet - only weeks after the heated confrontation between US President Donald Trump and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, over Trump's allegations of white killings in South Africa, Trump returned to flexing his muscles in front of five African leaders, whom he summoned to the White House, and addressed them in an abusive and insulting manner.
The confrontation in the White House between Trump and Ramaphosa, as Trump apparently wanted it, was to settle a score with South Africa, not only in what is alleged to be the targeting of wealthy whites by the Ramaphosa government, but also because of South Africa's position on the aggression on Gaza, and its decision to prosecute Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a courageous decision that rallied international public opinion against Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
South Africa's position did not appeal to the US administration, where Zionist biases are common, both team and policy.
The current US foreign policy largely reflects the mood of President Trump, a policy that cannot be described or controlled, due to its unexpected fluctuations and surprises, linked to Trump's personality, which is characterized by a unique character that transcends traditional classifications. He is a rebel against the traditions and norms of the establishment, and transcends the foundational political constants in U.S. diplomacy and foreign relations.
Africa today seems fully concerned with these fluctuations in US foreign policy, and the major revisions and transformations that Trump wants to impose, and through which he re-engineered a new diplomat, breaking with the foundations of traditional US foreign policy.
Many American experts predicted that U.S.-African relations would be affected and transformed with Trump's return to the White House. U.S. foreign policy toward Africa is based primarily on a "soft power" strategy, through the advanced role of the U.S. Agency for International Development ( USAID) Foundation, particularly in catalyzing political transitions, humanitarian aid, economic development, or military cooperation (AFRICOM ).
These U.S.-African relations now seem to be in limbo, with the Trump administration's decision to abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the directive to end U.S. Africa Command, and tariffs on African goods. Decisions will have major repercussions on the countries of the African continent, especially in terms of disrupting development opportunities and containing climate challenges, social crises, and security challenges.
However, this American attitude towards Africa, which Trump expressed crudely when he received the South African president, and then the humiliation suffered by the leaders of five African countries when they were received by Trump, forces the countries of the continent to seize this historic moment in order to pause to assess their international position, the challenges they face, and the opportunities available to develop a vision that takes into account the potential, capabilities and location of this continent, and draws a gradual strategy of strategic independence, taking advantage of its status.
• First, the African continent has a demographic weight of about 1.4 billion people (about a quarter of the world's population), and is the second most populous continent globally after Asia.
But it will be the first continent with the most labour force because of the proportion of the population under the age of 25. Africa has an area of more than 30 million square kilometers (about a quarter of the world's land area). The continent includes the Sahara Desert, the Nile River, and a major mountain range, and has a climate ranging from tropical to desert.
• Second: The economic importance of the countries of the continent increases because of the continent's natural resources that are successively discovered, especially the wealth of oil, gas, gold, diamonds and rare metals, which are now the subject of frantic international competition, some of which has turned into hidden conflict and undeclared wars.
The competition for the continent's wealth is intensified by many major powers, with remarkable discoveries of precious and rare metals in many countries of the continent.
The continent also represents and continues to be one of the world's leading sources of energy, boosted by important new discoveries, both in the Sahel and West Africa, and in the countries of the south of the continent.
• Third: The continent includes 54 countries that make up the Organization of the African Union and are members of the United Nations. This figure represents significant diplomatic and political weight in influencing the vote of the United Nations and its subsidiary institutions, such as the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Security Council, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Major powers are working to win African UN member states to vote for them and support their positions, such as the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain.
Many countries are also racing to attend effectively, whether through the opening of embassies or consulates, or through summits with the countries of the continent. Within a few years, an African-American summit, an African-Chinese summit, an African-European summit, an African-Russian summit, an African-Turkish summit, an African-Japanese summit, and an African-Saudi summit were held.
China is keen to co-opt African countries in the Taiwan file, while Russia has been co-opting it in the Ukraine file since Moscow returned Crimea, and for its part, Israel is trying to win over what it can in its favor in the Arab-Israeli conflict file.
A renewed debate is taking place today in the corridors of the United Nations about the internal reforms required, and there are proposals for Africa to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. About two years ago, the continent broke up its membership in the Group of Twenty (G20).
Between 2010 and 2016, 320 new embassies and consulates were opened in Africa, including more than 30 for Turkey. China has made 79 visits to Africa in a decade, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan leads the world's leaders most visited by African countries.
• Fourth: At the military level, in addition to the presence of the US Africa Command, the Russian military presence is increasing significantly in many African countries, and this Russian presence takes an official and an informal form, through "military" forces that play different roles in many African countries, in terms of providing support for the work of government forces, or carrying out special missions to maintain security. The Horn of Africa has become a battleground for Iran on the one hand and Gulf states on the other.
China maintains a military base in Djibouti and plays a leading role in peacekeeping. Beijing surpasses the rest of the world powers in arms sales, as it has a military association with 45 countries, against the backdrop of protecting its more than $200 billion investment in the continent.
China protects its trade on the continent, which represents the New Silk Road line, where more than a million Chinese reside in Africa. Beijing in 2011 sent a battleship to Africa in a dramatic move to evacuate its nationals from Libya after the revolution broke out in the country. China's arms exports rose from 16 percent to 26 percent between 2012 and 2017.
US President Donald Trump's behavior towards Africa, whether by announcing the reduction of the United States' presence on the continent or insulting the continent's leaders, does not reflect an awareness of the continent's place in the international scene now and in the future.
A continent that represents a significant demographic weight (more than 2.5 billion people in 2050), diplomatic weight (54 African member states of the United Nations), economic (natural resources and a huge market), and strategically (the continent's location), cannot be treated recklessly and arbitrarily.
The importance of Africa is increasing rapidly and at multiple levels, which makes it a continent capable of benefiting from this competition and competition between major powers for it, especially if it succeeds in deepening reforms within the Organization of the African Union and developing a strategic vision to enhance the continent's position and empower it at the global level.
The entry of young Africa into a promising new phase and its transformation into a field of competition between the major Powers must not allow this competition to be zero-sum, but rather that this continent, with its position and potential, impose itself as an attractive pole for various development and investment projects, which reflect on the countries of the continent in terms of political stability, economic development and a comprehensive renaissance that turns the page on the stereotype of inferiority of the continent coming from afar.