The Horn of Africa States And The Region’s Candidate: Harris Or Trump? – OpEd

Americans vote for their presidents with respect to American issues, not really much on matters related to foreign issues, and the Horn of Africa States region is probably at the very bottom of the list of any matter of concern to any US presidential candidate - in this case Vice President Kamala Harris or Ex-President Donald Trump.

Abortion, prescription drugs, lowering voting age, universal basic income, free college, and border walls constitute some of the basic thoughts in the minds of American candidates. Whatever they are, at least, Americans have a respect for their constitution and national discipline. They carry out a legal election process every so often on scheduled dates, which no one can change at one’s whim, unlike Africans and in particular, Horn African leaders who usually overstay beyond their original mandates.

Americans vote for their presidents and legislative houses, governors and many other members in the governing structures of the country and usually, it is the one they most probably consider close to their thought processes, that they elect for any particular position, including the presidency, although money and finances play significant and tangible roles in the election processes. Four years ago, they elected President Biden although he was of an advanced age and eight years earlier, Donald Trump was elected.

The elections this year pits an ultra conservative candidate, ex-president Donald Trump against a democrat, considered a moderate, but could be more to the right than left and a female of color, Vice President Kamala Harris. It is quite a contrast, and Americans would certainly make a choice. They know Trump as a president but Harris as a president is an unknown quantity. A vice President in the United States does not really have a lot of duties other than to sit on the sidelines, waiting if anything could happen to the person on the hot seat.

What does a Donald Trump election mean for Africa

Donald Trump has no qualms about Africa. In fact, he showed his tendency to avoid quarreling with long serving people in his previous mandate and there is no reason he would not continue on this path in dealing with Africa. Long serving presidents would probably be feeling relieved if Donald Trump was elected. It is worse when this serves those aspiring to stay longer!

America’s relations with Africa will continue to be measured on its competition with China, which seems to have a firmer grip on the continent’s foreign relations. American interests were generally determined by Americans who were more interested in disturbing countries instead of working out and setting good relations with the continent.

They included parties who were acting as lobbyists for special interests, rebellious resistance groups, secessionists and/or violent opposition groups, and indeed chaos, instead of working out, through diplomacy and good intentions, closer relations between the United States and African countries. Coups and counter coups will not serve the continent, and Africa should be worried of those who represented Donald Trump in the continent, earlier. They did not serve him or the continent well.

The Horn of Africa States region will be one of the linchpins of Donald Trump’s foreign policy in Africa. It is a geostrategic location, which can serve American interests more than many other regions in the world and a new mandate for Donald Trump should be marked by a drastic and formal complete change of his previous policy on the region.

Securing good relations with the countries of the continent as a whole without breaking them up into statelets as the previous team worked on, will not serve American interests well in the region. They were responsible for most of the failures of America’s foreign policy and its decline in Africa in comparison with China. It would serve him better to keep them away from his new mandate, should he be elected.

Relations between Donald Trump and multilateral organizations could be described as to have been frosty, in the best of terms, in his previous mandate. There is no reason to believe this time that things will change. Perhaps, Donald Trump has a point in this, as multi-lateral organizations have been failing all these past years, except perhaps in the early years of their consitution. They served and still serve only the strong or are probably indecisive. There is a need to revamp them completely or replace them with new bodies that have enforceable mandates, even if an issue involves rampaging world or regional powers.

What would a Kamala Harris presidency hold for Africa?

An American president is elected to serve the United States of America. There is no reason to think otherwise. Kamala Harris will, therefore, serve her country. It is how a President Harris will approach relations with the African continent. A large continent, indeed, the second largest continent in the world, with a population surpassing those of China and India, currently above 1.6 billion people of youthful age – under thirty mostly, will need a close attention on the part of any major power.

The continent is a powerhouse in mineral and energy resources. According to the United Nations, Africa enjoys 30 per cent of the world’s mineral resources, 12 percent of the world’s oil and 8 percent of the world’s gas. And that is only what is known! Its oceans and deserts must probably have more, which makes the continent a future resource base.

It is why any American president would pay careful attention to the continent. The old colonial mindset should change as the continent is currently being manned by a growing young population invested in education and the ways of the modern world.

It is where Kamala Harris as a president should shine should she wish to do so. Correcting the old policies, which were set with the old mindsets brought in the Chinese into the continent. Would she heed such an unsolicited advice? This is to be seen.

The candidate as Vice President visited Africa and she was received like a “daughter” and that her visit was like “a homecoming.” She visited Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania. In Zambia, it was her second visit apparently. She had visited the country as a child when her grandfather was working there.

In Ghana, in a meeting with a large youth crowd, she is quoted to have said in a speech, ““African ideas and innovations will shape the future of the world…. And so, we must invest in the African ingenuity and creativity, which will unlock incredible economic growth and opportunities, not only for the people of the fifty-four countries that make up this diverse continent, but for the American people and people around the world….”

That indeed, if genuinely implemented, poses well for a Harris presidency on Africa. In the case of the Horn of Africa States region, no one knows how she will handle it. There are many unknowns in this respect and in others. It is a wait and see.

Which candidate is, therefore, better for the region?

There is one thing clear, there will not be much difference between the two candidates when it comes to the Horn of Africa States region. It will probably continue to prod on and move slowly in the reform processes towards civility, discipline and beyond the tribe and clan.