Supporters of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and other opposition groups hold banners and flags as they march to protest against Angola's ruling party and President Joao Lourenco in Luanda, on Nov. 23.JULIO PACHECO NTELA/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. President Joe Biden will push for a “deepening” of democracy in Angola next week when he visits the oil-rich African country where the ruling party has held power for nearly half a century, U.S. officials say.
In briefings before his three-day visit, White House officials have emphasized that Mr. Biden’s main priorities will be economic and security issues. But they insist that he has not forgotten his promise to promote democracy worldwide, including in Angola, where police have often used violent tactics to crush peaceful protests.
Mr. Biden arrives in Angola’s capital, Luanda, on Monday for one of his final foreign trips as president. His much-delayed visit will be the first by a U.S. president anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa in nearly a decade, and it comes just a few weeks before Mr. Biden is to be replaced by Donald Trump, who has shown little interest in Africa.
“We are excited about this trip, and most importantly, President Biden is excited about this trip,” said Frances Brown, senior director for African Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, at a briefing for Africa-based journalists this week.
The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, formerly a Soviet-backed Marxist movement, has maintained a grip on power in the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975.
Just days before Mr. Biden’s planned visit, Amnesty International released a report documenting the killing of at least 17 people by Angolan police who fired bullets and tear gas at demonstrators during street protests over the past four years.
“The police violence against protesters in Angola under President João Lourenço’s administration is stomach-churning,” said Khanyo Farisè, an Amnesty researcher.
“People in Angola protested when President Lourenço didn’t live up to his electoral promises,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “But instead of respecting the right to peaceful assembly, police under Lourenço’s leadership cracked down with brutal force.”
Among the incidents, he said, were the fatal shooting of a child, the burning of limbs by tear-gas canisters, and severe beatings in police custody. Nobody has been held accountable for any of the killings, according to the Amnesty report.
In a letter to Mr. Biden, the organization asked him to ensure that human rights are not overlooked in his discussions with Angola’s leaders.
Dr. Brown, who is also a special assistant to Mr. Biden, responded to questions about the human-rights issue by saying the “the constant work of deepening democracy” will be on the agenda when the U.S. President meets Mr. Lourenço next week.
“I think you’ve seen that theme throughout the Biden administration and I don’t see a reason that he would stop now on that,” she told the media briefing.
“President Biden has made democracy a centrepiece of his administration, and I can tell you he does not shy away from talking with counterparts about how democracy takes constant work and constant tending.”
It’s clear, however, that other issues will take higher priority. When she listed the “primary goals” of Mr. Biden’s visit, Dr. Brown highlighted issues such as trade, investment, infrastructure and Angola’s regional leadership on security issues. Washington has praised Angola for its role as a mediator in the conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the United States is trying to calm a crisis that could spin into a major war.
The biggest economic issue on the agenda, from the U.S. perspective, is the Lobito Corridor, a multibillion-dollar U.S.-backed railway project that links Angola to the mineral-rich countries of Congo and Zambia. By reducing transportation times from 45 days to less than a week, the project will make it easier to export critical minerals – including copper and cobalt – to North America. It could also open up a range of economic opportunities along the corridor, including agribusiness and digital connectivity, U.S. officials say.
“We wanted to demonstrate a model … a model that works, that we can kind of rinse and repeat,” said Helaina Matza, acting special co-ordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment at the U.S. State Department.
For most of its postcolonial history, Angola was a military ally of the Soviet Union and later a close partner of China. But the Biden visit is a sign that Washington sees an opportunity to draw the country closer to the U.S. orbit.