Biden's Angola trip marks final Africa push in office

US President Joe Biden's first Africa trip next week will be among his final international engagements before leaving office. 

Biden had postponed a planned visit to Angola in October as Hurricane Milton approached the state of Florida to oversee preparations for and the response to the storm.

After Air Force One lands in Luanda, Angola's capital, on Monday, Biden faces a packed agenda. 

Military, political and economic agreements are set to be signed, signaling strengthened ties between the United States and Angola.

"This trip is the result of years of diplomatic efforts from Angola's president," Angolan political analyst Claudio Silva told DW. 

"This is a win for [Angolan] President Joao Lourenco, who for years has been striving for more international recognition. It's time to reap what he sowed."

The timing of the visit, shortly before the US Presidential election, is no coincidence and rubberstamping economic cooperation projects seems a priority.

Ambitious economic plans

Angola hosts a number of significant current and future projects with American involvement. These include the construction and running of an oil refinery in Soyo, northern Angola.

But the development of the so-called Lobito Corridor is the biggest. It involves the development of a rail link between Lobito on Angola's Atlantic coast, the Copperbelt in Zambia, and the cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), connecting the resource rich central Africa with an Atlantic port.

The Lobito Corridor is part of the American Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), which many see this as a reaction to China's famed Belt and Road infrastructure program, ultimately aimed at securing links to resources and markets.

The Lobito Corridor would use the 1,344-kilometer (835-mile) Benguela Railway, which transects Angola from west to east and connects to Congolese tracks. Due to Angola's three-decade civil war, in 2001, only 34 kilometers of track remained in service.

The plan is to build 550 kilometers of railway in Zambia and 260 kilometers of roads, with support from the US, European Union, and the African Development Bank, which will contribute $500 million to the $1.6 billion project.

"The Americans don't want to give up the region's valuable [resources] to the Chinese. But the question is if they can even match the Chinese, who have invested in the region for decades and have a massive advantage," said Silva.

In the 1970s, China began pouring money into southern and central Africa, with a focus on raw materials: Angolan oil, Zambian copper, and Congolese cobalt.

Angola owes China around $25 billion, the most of any African country. Contractually, Angola must settle its debts with China, preferable in oil deliveries.

US-China tug of war spans Africa

With the Lobito Corridor seeking to connect central Africa to the Atlantic, China is already building a new line to the Indian Ocean. In March 2024, Beijing announced the expansion of the Tanzania Zambia Railway (TAZARA) at a cost of $1 billion.

Started in the 1970s, this 1,860-kilometer-long stretch was fully financed by China, and opened in 1975. It links Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri Mposhi south of the Zambian-Congolese copper belt.

In future, there would be two alternatives of roughly equal length for transporting mining products: to the Atlantic (Lobito Corridor) or to the Indian Ocean (TAZARA). However, the Chinese-financed railroad has been in operation much longer, and is currently being extensively modernized.

China, Russia, US: Angola's tightrope walk

"The Angolan President wants to work with both economic superpowers and wants to profit from the competition. Russia also has skin in the game," said political analyst Silva. While Angola is aware of its geopolitical importance, it has not always been easy negotiating between the various partners, he added.

Analysts have noted that Lourenco skipped the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation summit in September, sending his foreign minister Beijing instead. Soon after, the Washington, DC-based Corporate Council on Africa announced the 2025 US-Africa summit would take place in Luanda.

Planned military bases?

"Recently, military cooperation between the USA and Angola has also increased," said Angolan political sociologist Paulo Ingles, who conducted research at the Bundeswehr University in Munich and the University of Bayreuth, among others. Ingles even suggested to DW that the US plans to establish a military base in northern Angola.

Such a move would be in line with Washington's geostrategic interests.

"The plan is to establish a network of US military bases in the South Atlantic. And Angola is part of this network," says Ingles.

However, in June 2024, the American Embassy in Luanda said there were no current plans for a military base in Angola.

Nevertheless, Ingles stood by his statement,claiming work was already underway to build a US base in Soyo, a large city at the mouth of the Congo River in an oil-producing region on the Atlantic coast.

"Soyo was chosen because it is close to the oil-rich exclave of Cabinda and the Congo and therefore is a strategic location," said the Africa expert.

As far as military cooperation is concerned, Russia is America's biggest adversary in the region, said Ingles, pointing to a wide-ranging military agreement Luanda signed with Moscow in 2014.

What will Biden's visit mean for Angolans?

"President Joe Biden's visit to Angola is undoubtedly a historic event, but unfortunately, this visit will not immediately change Angolan lives for the better," Angolan international relations expert Kinkinamo Tuassamba told DW. Only a few members of the Angolan elite are likely to benefit from the American investments, as was the case with the major Chinese projects.

"There is serious unemployment for Angolan youths, who make up the majority [of] the population. The large investments promised by the United States will unfortunately not change this," said Tuassamba.