Biden announces over $1B in humanitarian aid for displaced Africans

KIGALI, Rwanda

US President Joe Biden announced more than $1 billion in humanitarian support Tuesday “for Africans displaced by historic droughts.”

Speaking after touring Angola’s slavery museum in the southern African nation's capital Luanda, Biden said that throughout his presidency, it has been his goal to create a strong, true partnership with the African continent aimed at achieving shared goals.

He cited the need for mutual partnerships, saying the question should not be what the United States can do for Africa, but “what can we do together with the people of Africa.”

“But we know African leaders and citizens are seeking more than just aid. You seek investment. So the United States is expanding its relationships all across Africa,” he said.

On slavery, Biden said nations’ history should not be erased, while acknowledging the horrific history of slavery which connected the US and Angola.

He spoke about the beginning of slavery in the US, describing it as cruel, brutal, dehumanizing and the US’s original sin “that’s haunted America and cast a long shadow ever since.”

An important cultural heritage site of Angola, the slavery museum was built on the property of Alvaro de Carvalho Matoso, one of the largest slave traders on the African coast, during the first half of the 18th century.

Opened in 1977, the museum is dedicated to the collective memory of roughly 500 years of slavery that Angolans were subjected to.

It is the place where slaves were baptized before being shipped to the American continent, according to historians.

The slave trade in the place ended in 1836 when a decree by Queen Dona Maria II of Portugal forbade the export of slaves from Portuguese colonies.

Biden meanwhile thanked Angolan President Joao Lourenco for mediating to resolve conflicts in the region and Angola speaking out against Russia’s war against in Ukraine, saying it matters.

Biden, who arrived in Angola on Monday on a three-day visit, earlier met with Lourenco at the presidential palace in Luanda.

In Angola, a US-backed railway line, a vital infrastructure project in terms of economic relations between the two nations, has particularly been highlighted.

The project links the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.

The 1,300-kilometer (807-mile) rail network from Lobito to Congo is expected to provide a fast route to transport exports to the West.

The $1 billion project, the largest rail investment by the US in Africa, could counter China’s grip on critical minerals such as copper and cobalt from Congo, according to analysts.

Biden described the railway as “the largest US investment in African rail infrastructure in history.”