06-12-05
The United States faces stiff competition from China for oil supplies from
Africa and Washington must take a more strategic view of the continent by
investing more resources there, US experts said.
The influential Council on Foreign Relations said in a report that Africa was
growing in strategic importance, particularly for energy supplies, and the
United States should go beyond the usual humanitarian approach and view the
continent more as a partner.
"By 2010, Africa could be providing the United States with as many oil imports
as the Middle East," said Anthony Lake, co-chair of the think tank's task force
that wrote the report and a national security advisor in the Clinton
administration.
The report predicted Africa would have the biggest incremental increase in
oil production of any region over the next two or three years and said China was
gaining a greater foothold in oil-producing African countries.
"It is increasingly in US interests to locate new oil sources outside the Middle
East," said the report, pointing to West Africa's sweet crude, which was easily
transported to the eastern United States.
China now receives 28 % of its oil imports from Africa, mostly from Angola,
Congo and Sudan, said the report, adding that Chinese investment totalled about
$ 4 bn in Sudan, making it Khartoum's biggest foreign investor.
Beijing was becoming a bigger player on the west coast of Africa, the
continent's biggest oil-producing area. China recently made a $ 2-bn loan to
Angola secured by future oil deliveries to win an oil exploration bid and in
July China and Nigeria signed a $ 800-mm crude oil sale deal.
The Bush administration has voiced concern that China is courting "rogue"
states in Africa like Sudan and Zimbabwe and ignoring their human rights records
in favour of closer economic ties. Lake said as the Darfur crisis worsened in
Sudan in 2004, China had used its position on the UN Security Council to dilute
repeated resolutions on the crisis.
China also courted Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who is seen by the United
States as having wrecked his country's economy.
Beijing's influence in Africa is likely to come up during talks between US
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and key Chinese officials. The State
Department's point person on Africa also visited China recently and expressed US
fears over its role in Africa.
The report called for a US-Africa energy forum to promote cooperation and
develop public-private partnerships. In addition, it said US companies trying to
compete in Africa needed more government help to win deals now going to Chinese
firms. It suggested the US diplomatic presence be upgraded in energy-producing
African countries and that there should be Cabinet-level visits to those
nations.
A former US ambassador to South Africa, Princeton Lyman, said Africa was too
often viewed as a "humanitarian backwater" and given scarce diplomatic and
intelligence resources.
Asked about the report, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the Bush
administration was engaged "in a strategic way" in Africa and wanted to
cooperate more closely with China on Africa.
"Rather than competition, I would say the United States views its role and its
work with other nations in Africa as a process of cooperation and coordination
in pursuit of what the countries of the region are looking for," he said.
Source: www.miningweekly.co.za