When John Bolton, US national security adviser, unfurled President Donald Trump’s “New Africa Strategy” in Washington this month, he cited an incident from 2018 in which the Chinese military allegedly shone blinding lasers into the eyes of two US airmen. The crew had been flying a mission over the strategic African state of Djibouti where Chinese and US soldiers have been peering at each other warily since Beijing opened its first overseas military base in the Red Sea port last year.
As in most of what followed during Mr Bolton’s address, Africa figured not so much as protagonist as backdrop, the green screen on which the important business of “Great Power” rivalry was projected. Yet the US initiative could turn out to be an opportunity for the continent’s 54 countries.
In the US policy document, China was mentioned 14 times. Neither South Africa nor Nigeria, Africa’s two biggest economies and Washington’s natural allies, got a look in. Russia, Mr Bolton’s other bogeyman despite its relatively modest African presence, got six mentions.