By Will Brown

For Africa watchers, Donald Trump’s first stint in the White House was defined by three iconic episodes. The 45th president set the tone early with his comments about African countries being “shitholes.” Then there was the utter confusion as a khaki-clad secretary of state Rex Tillerson rushed back from his first official trip to Africa, only to be given The Apprentice-style ‘you’re fired’ treatment on Twitter. Finally, Melania Trump finished up with a right-wing hook: a less-than-successful attempt to get the pith hat back in fashion on a visit to Kenya.

European officials might be tempted to scream at a Brussels side-alley wall when contemplating Trump’s policies on Ukraine, Gaza, or tariffs. But on Africa, at least, they probably can breathe a measured sigh. Much like America’s policy towards China, how it engages with Africa seems to be one of the few holdouts in bipartisan politics. Unlike US-China policy, however, this is mainly because Africa is so low on Washington’s agenda that it often becomes subservient to other foreign policy objectives.

Regardless, African and European officials should prepare for Trump to play a wild card regarding security. It is simply not clear what ‘America First’ will mean regarding boots on the ground in Africa and military assistance to the continent.

During the last Trump administration, the president made fighting Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria a mainstay of his foreign policy. He cultivated his image as the slayer of jihadi bosses, proclaiming in a 2019 speech – accompanied by many a gesticulation – that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “died like a dog.” But on Africa, two paradoxical things happened. The US at once massively upped its drone strikes in Somalia to never-before seen levels, while Trump dramatically decreased the number of US troops on the continent from 5,000 to about 1,500.

Now the centre of the jihadist conflict has shifted to West Africa’s Sahel, with one in every four deaths from terrorist violence last year........

© Eurasia Review