The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Tillerson’s department, meanwhile, submitted a 2019 budget request that would cut US health programs in Africa by a fifth and diplomatic programs by more than a third.
The US military, whose already huge budget is set to balloon still further, is already complaining that the US civilian commitment to Africa is lagging behind the competition.
General Thomas Waldhauser, head of US Africa Command, told US lawmakers on Tuesday that Washington “will never outspend the Chinese on the African continent.”
The United States and French military bases in Djibouti preceded the Chinese one, but Beijing’s presence in the country is unmistakable and welcomed by locals, he said.
“The Chinese are building facilities, they are building a shopping mall, they built a soccer stadium, they have built the infrastructure for communications,” he said.
He noted that China had brought a hospital ship off Djibouti to provide basic care for local people and argued that the US could get a lot of mileage from doing “small things.”
“We may not keep pace with the Chinese in terms of what they are doing, but at least our influence and our involvement there will not go away,” he said.
There will be strong positive symbolism on the trip. Tillerson’s visit to Chad — a key US military partner — will be the first by a sitting secretary of state.
But two negative symbols also stand out.
Tillerson has yet to appoint an assistant secretary of state for African affairs and eight US embassies in Africa have no ambassadors, including key players South Africa and Egypt.
And President Donald Trump caused upset on the continent when he reportedly referred to African countries as “shitholes” from which the US ought not to accept immigrants.
So, as Africa growth expert Brahima Coulibaly, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, argues, of the “three Ds” of engagement — defense, development and diplomacy — only one is properly resourced.
Tillerson arrives in Ethiopia on Wednesday and returns to Washington on March 13.
