Joe Biden’s US presidency seen as a likely boon for Africa
- Analysts anticipate a Biden-led US boosting trade ties and shifting from a stance in which US moves in Africa seemed mainly to counter China
- Biden’s 1980s opposition to South African apartheid, and his appointment of long-time Africa hands demonstrate his commitment to the continent, they say
In 1986, Joe Biden, then a Democratic senator from the state of Delaware, challenged the US government’s ambiguous policy towards the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Pressing for passage of anti-apartheid legislation, Biden described the suffering of black South Africans under the white supremacist regime and demanded that President Ronald Reagan’s administration articulate a clear policy on ending the discrimination.
“Our loyalty is not to South Africa, it’s to South Africans. And the South Africans are majority black. They are being excoriated,” Biden said. His leadership helped win congressional approval of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, imposing sanctions on South Africa.
That advocacy is well remembered in Pretoria. President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking in November with Biden, newly elected to the US presidency, said that Biden had long demonstrated his passion for human rights and dignity for all South Africans.
Biden’s past in multilateralism as well as his later experiences when he was vice-president in the Obama administration may shape his Africa policy, analysts said.
