• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Africa Horn Now

"We don't take sides; we help you see more sides."

Africa Horn Now

ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ

Published: May 6, 2021

PBS: Escaping Eritrea … [Read More...] about ካብ ውሽጢ ቤት ማእሰርታት ኤርትራ

AU chief overlooks Trump’s insult

March 9, 2018 By AHN

Agency Staff | 08 March 2018  | Business Day

The AU head tells Rex Tillerson that a letter from Donald Trump reaffirming his commitment to Africa ‘put the incident in the past’ 

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, flanked by his chief of staff Margaret Peterlin (L), meets with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Addis Ababa — Washington’s top diplomat began his first Africa tour Thursday by meeting with the African Union chief, who said the continent had moved on from a reported insult by President Donald Trump.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and AU commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat discussed security and counter-terrorism, trade and development, corruption and conflict in an hour-long meeting at the continental body’s headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.
But looming over the meeting was Trump’s alleged description of African nations as “shithole countries” in January, which forced the president to pen a letter reaffirming his commitment to the continent.

Faki, however, insisted the slur was now in the past.

“I received a letter written by President Trump to myself and I shared that with other African leaders. I believe this incident is of the past,” he said.
Tillerson’s five-nation Africa tour — to include Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria, all key allies in fighting Islamic extremism — has been described by analysts as a “listening tour”, with no deals or initiatives due to be announced.

“The purpose of my trip is to listen to what the priorities of the countries here on the continent are and see where there is good alignment,” said Tillerson.

Analysts highlight the choice of countries visited by Tillerson as a sign of the US’s focus on security issues on the continent.

Chad, Kenya and Nigeria are all battling Islamic extremism, with help from the US, while Djibouti hosts the only permanent US military base on the continent.
Tillerson and Faki discussed continued US support to African counter-terrorism forces in the Sahel and Somalia but no new concrete commitments were given.
“We have not yet won that battle in Somalia and we must stay at it,” Tillerson said.

His visit is also a bid to counter the mounting perception that the continent is a low priority for the Trump administration, with US-Africa policy ill-defined and key ambassadorial and State Department posts unfilled.

Tillerson’s department, meanwhile, submitted a 2019 budget request that would cut US health programmes in Africa by a fifth and diplomatic programmes by more than a third.
However he said his visit was “an indication of the importance the continent plays in the future of the US, both in security and from the economic standpoint”.
Also looming over the journey is the rise of China as an economic and diplomatic power to rival the West.

Tillerson warned against blind acceptance of booming Chinese investment in Africa. He said the US was “not in any way attempting to keep Chinese investment dollars out of Africa” but urged governments to “carefully consider the terms of those investments” so they do “not forfeit any elements of your sovereignty”.

He also solicited African support in putting pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Tillerson’s trip to Ethiopia is scheduled to briefly overlap with a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said he had requested a meeting. Washington denied receiving an invitation to talks.

“We sent proposals to the Americans and they said they will think about that but later. As you know, they announced that there will be no meeting and that no discussions (about it) have taken place at all,” Lavrov said in Zimbabwe.

Tillerson, in Addis Ababa, called the idea that he had rejected a meeting with Lavrov “silly”.

“If it doesn’t work out here, he and I see each other often around the world and we have each other’s telephone numbers and we do use them.”

 

Filed Under: AHN NEWS

Primary Sidebar

A New Administration Won’t Heal American Democracy

Published: November 6, 2020

The Rot in U.S. Political Institutions Runs Deeper Than Donald Trump Larry Diamond | November 5, 2020 | Foreign … [Read More...] about A New Administration Won’t Heal American Democracy

Archives

  • May 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • June 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014

Log In

Copyright © 2025 Africa Horn Now · WordPress · Log in