[Source: BBC]

Joe Biden has begun his long-anticipated maiden visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president but it comes amidst uncertainty over future US-Africa relations as Donald Trump prepares to succeed him in January.

Biden’s visit to oil-rich Angola seeks to underline an attempt by America to focus more on trade and heavy investment in infrastructure, in what some analysts see as the most direct counter yet to China’s influence on the continent.

Biden’s choice of Angola is significant – he is the first US president to visit the country, signalling a dramatic improvement in relations between the two nations.

Angola was firmly in the political orbit of China and Russia after independence from Portuguese colonial rule in 1975, but since taking power in 2017, President João Lourenço has steered it towards closer relations with the US.

Biden will highlight his signature initiative in the region – a railway line that will stretch for 1,344km (835 miles), connecting the cobalt, lithium and copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the copper-belt region of Zambia, to the Angolan port city of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.

Apart from oil, Angola is also rich in minerals, including cobalt and lithium, which are essential for making batteries for electric vehicles.

Once completed, the Lobito Corridor will help transport these important minerals from the resource-rich heart of Africa across to Europe and the US.

On its website, the Lobito Corridor Investment Promotion Authority (IPA), says the US involvement “represents the first alternative from Washington DC to China’s Belt and Road Initiative” that is aimed at building a series of trade routes that tie several countries in Africa, and elsewhere, to the Asian giant.

Biden’s visit comes at the tail-end of his presidency, with no clarity yet on whether the Trump administration will continue with the project.

Dr Vines believes it “may survive the Trump presidency as it is primarily aimed at competing against China”.

However, he points out that both Western and Chinese firms will be able to use the infrastructure, and that “may make its value questionable to Trump, a US president who will likely define his administration in large measure by competition with Beijing”.

Lourenço expressed hope that the Trump administration would build on the initiative.

The Lobito Corridor is a joint project between the three African countries, the US, other G7 powers and private investors.

Lourenço defended the investment, dismissing concerns that it mimics the colonial-era exploitation of Africa’s resources.

But more and more African countries are considering reducing the export of raw materials to promote local processing.

Anthony Carroll, a minerals expert at the US Institute of Peace, said that if this happens, it could derail the projected economic impact of the corridor.

He is optimistic that the vast deposits of copper in DR Congo and Zambia will keep the Lobito Corridor viable as there exists “a steady demand” for it globally.

Lithium and cobalt have a more “cyclical” demand, he says.

The US Geological Survey estimates that DR Congo has nearly half the world’s cobalt deposits.

The vast central African country currently accounts for about 63% of the global supply of the mineral, the bulk of which is exported raw.

Mr Angelo is optimistic that African countries will incrementally grow their industrial capabilities.

He describes Biden’s visit, and the investment in the Lobito Corridor, as a huge boost for Angola’s efforts to change its image.

Angola has been rebuilding its infrastructure following the end of an almost 30-year civil war in 2002.

The conflict destroyed the colonial-era Benguela railway line, which is part of the corridor, with only 3% of it in use at the end of the conflict.

Efforts to revive it then began, with China being the first to invest in it.