President Biden is in Angola today in his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president and as the first U.S. president to visit the former Portuguese colony. The U.S. is attempting to transform its relationship with Angola, still marked by the legacy of the Cold War, in order to compete with China’s growing influence, particularly over access to African resources. Biden is expected to promote a U.S.-funded multibillion-dollar railway project connecting Angola to Central Africa. Biden’s approach will likely further entrench Angola in its “profound economic crisis,” says Angolan anthropologist António Tomás, as foreign loans mire the country’s government in even higher levels of debt while enriching elites. “This visit has excluded the majority of Angolans,” says Zenaida Machado, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in the region. Machado speaks to Democracy Now! from the neighboring country of Mozambique, another former Portuguese colony, where protests over election results are continuing for the second straight month.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.