New US Secretary of State may be worse for Africa, ex-envoy warns
CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who has been nominated by President Donald Trump as the next US Secretary of State meets at Capitol with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (right). PHOTO | AFP
President Donald Trump’s designated replacement for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could well take US policy on Africa “further backwards,” a former ambassador to Kenya is warning.
“The appointment of CIA Director Michael Pompeo to replace former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not lead to an uptick in interest or engagement,” ex-envoy Johnnie Carson predicts.
US POLICY
“If anything, this change will reinforce America’s focus on security and counter-terrorism. This emphasis could end up taking US policy further backwards. It could align the US with increasingly corrupt and autocratic governments,” Mr Carson writes in African Arguments, an online journal published by the London-based Royal African Society.
Mr Pompeo, 55, described as a “hawkish conservative,” has displayed little awareness of Africa during a six-year career in the US Congress and as head of the US spy agency for the past 14 months, Mr Carson points out.
Mr Tillerson, the former head of the ExxonMobil oil conglomerate, “was probably the only cabinet official with any interest or prior experience in Africa,” observes Mr Carson, who also served as the State Department’s top Africa official during President Barack Obama’s first term.
TILLERSON
President Trump recalled Mr Tillerson to Washington during his first visit to Africa earlier this month and sacked him two days later.
“His departure underscores the senior level policy void,” Mr Carson says, noting that key State Department slots remain empty or are occupied by placeholders.
Mr Pompeo’s expected elevation to the top US diplomatic post is “probably bad news for those who want to see the US energise its engagement and lay out a comprehensive set of policies and programmes regarding Africa’s economic, social, health and trade challenges,” Mr Carson warns.
“It is probably good news for all those who believe America’s priority in Africa should be to expand security alliances to combat threats in Somalia, the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin.”
Mr Pompeo’s first priority for Africa will likely be to bolster military collaboration with Kenya and the four other East African countries providing troops to the 11-year-long African Union mission in Somalia, Mr Carson says.
