Vice President Kamala Harris was greeted by schoolchildren, dancers and drummers as she arrived Sunday in Ghana for the beginning of a weeklong visit to Africa intended to deepen U.S. relationships amid global competition over the continent’s future.
“We’re looking forward to this trip as an extra statement of the long and enduring very necessary relationship and friendship between the people of the USA and people who live to tell the tale this continent,” Harris said.
The youngsters cheered and waved Ghanaian and American flags as she stepped off her plane after an overnight flight. She smiled broadly and placed a hand on her heart as she passed by the dancers.
“What an honor it’s to be here in Ghana and on the continent of Africa,” Harris said. “I’m very excited concerning the way forward for Africa.” She said she wanted to advertise economic growth and food security and welcomed the possibility to “witness firsthand the extraordinary innovation and creativity that is happening on this continent.”
Ghana is one among the continent’s most stable democracies, but Harris is arriving at a time of severe challenges for the West African nation. Its economy, among the many fastest growing on this planet before the COVID-19 pandemic, faces a debt crisis and soaring inflation that’s driving up the fee of food and other necessities.
A rustic of 34 million those that’s barely smaller than Oregon, Ghana can be wary of threats from instability within the region. Burkina Faso and Mali have each endured two coups in recent times, and native offshoots of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate in the world often called the Sahel, which is north of Ghana. 1000’s of individuals have been killed and hundreds of thousands more have been displaced.
The fighting has created a gap for the Russian mercenary outfit often called Wagner, which maintains a presence in Africa despite participating within the invasion of Ukraine as well. Mali welcomed Wagner after it pushed out French troops that were based there, and there are fears that Burkina Faso will do the identical.
The economic and security challenges will likely be discussed on Monday when Harris meets with Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo. Additionally they are expected to carry a joint news conference.
The 2 leaders have met twice before, each times in Washington.
During their first meeting, in September 2021, Akufo-Addo said “our big challenge — and it’s a challenge of all those that wish to develop democratic institutions on our continent — is to make sure and reassure our those that democratic institutions is usually a vehicle for the resolution of their big problem — that’s economic development because the means to eradicate poverty on the continent.”
Harris is the highest-profile member of President Joe Biden’s administration to go to Africa this 12 months. After Ghana, she plans to go to Tanzania and Zambia. She returns to Washington on April 2.
The expanded outreach is meant to counter China’s influence, which has turn into entrenched in recent times through infrastructure initiatives, lending money and expanding telecommunications networks. Ghana, for instance, reached a $2 billion take care of a Chinese company to develop roads and other projects in return for access to a key mineral for producing aluminum.
Most of Harris’ events in Ghana will deal with young people. Africa’s population has a median age of 19.
On Monday, she plans to go to a skate park and co-working space that has a recording studio for local artists. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, who’s accompanying her on the trip, will hold a town hall meeting with actors from an area television show and attend a girls basketball clinic.
Within the evening, they are going to attend a state banquet with the Ghanaian president and first lady.
On Tuesday, Harris will give a speech and visit Cape Coast Castle, where enslaved Africans were once loaded on ships sure for the Americas.
Before leaving for Tanzania on Wednesday, Harris will meet with women entrepreneurs and Emhoff will tour a chocolate company that was founded by two sisters. The name of the corporate, ’57 Chocolate, is a reference to when Ghana became independent.
Cameron Hudson, an Africa expert on the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Ghana has been “a vibrant spot within the region” but “it’s facing some very stiff headwinds.”
He noted that the country’s south, where the capital of Accra is positioned, is primarily Christian, while the northern area is generally Muslim, and there are fears that militants could expand their operations there.
“These terrorist groups are capable of prey on existing fault lines inside these societies,” he said.
Hudson said Ghanaian authorities have intercepted weapons shipments and human smugglers. Sometimes there are bursts of violence, and the variety of incidents spiked last 12 months.