Blinken Wraps Up Africa Tour in Rwanda

Facts

• On the final leg of a three-country tour of Africa on Thurs., US Sec. of State Antony Blinken visited Rwanda, where he discussed "credible reports" of Kigali supporting the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• Blinken said Rwandan Pres. Kagame and his DRC counterpart Félix Tshisekedi had agreed to direct talks to resolve the fighting. He condemned support for any armed groups in eastern Congo and called on the countries to respect each other's territorial integrity.
• Blinken's comments follow an unpublished UN report claiming there's "solid evidence" that Rwanda is supporting the M23 rebels and that Kigali is conducting military operations in the DRC's eastern North Kivu province.
• The Sec. also expressed Washington's "serious concerns" about the trial of imprisoned dissident and permanent US resident Paul Rusesabagina, who reportedly saved hundreds of people during the 1994 genocide, inspiring the film "Hotel Rwanda."
• Blinken arrived in Kigali after a two-day visit to the DRC, where the conflict in the country's east also reportedly topped his agenda. The trip came amid rising geopolitical tensions over Africa and US concerns about Russian and Chinese access to the DRC's rare earth minerals.
• On the first stop of his Africa tour in South Africa on Mon., Blinken said his trip was not about fighting Russia's influence in Africa and that the new US "strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa" recognizes African states as "equal partners."

Sources: Reuters, voaafrica, FT, france24, voa, and CNN.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Council on Foreign Relations. Diplomatic initiatives such as these are prudent and timely steps by the Biden administration. If Washington is careful to treat African countries with mutual respect and not as potential venues for proxy competition against Russia and China in a new "cold war," the new US Africa strategy will be doing a great service to the rules-based global order.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by South China Morning Post. Blinken's talk of peace and a renewed US Africa strategy can't hide the fact that the US is really only concerned with its geopolitical interests, whether in the DRC, Rwanda, South Africa, or elsewhere. Blinken's Africa trip also shows that a growing number of countries are no longer willing to go along with the West's double standards on a "rules-based global order."