LUANDA, Angola — It could have been the symbol of President Biden’s seemingly cursed trip to Angola.
Postponed in 2023 due to the wars in the Middle East.
Postponed again in 2024 due to the catastrophic hurricanes in the south.
And on the one full day of Biden’s first-ever trip to Africa as president, the heavens opened, dumping heavy rain and flooding poorly drained streets.
It all but ended the presidential and press convoy’s hour-long drive from the capital Luanda so Biden could deliver a speech at Angola’s National Slavery Museum.
Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot stands as President Biden delivers his speech at the National Slavery Museum in Luanda, Angola. (Greg Palkot/Fox News)
Of course, this all came in a week where other news was coming down just as hard as that rain. First, Biden’s self-imposed pardon of son Hunter. A murder of a top executive in Manhattan. The collapse of two governments of our most important allies. And the ongoing drama surrounding Trump’s cabinet choices.
But like Biden, he pulled it off, not daring to walk up the sleek marble steps to the museum itself but instead standing on a dramatic stage along the Atlantic coast, with rays of sunlight piercing the dark clouds.
He spoke of the role colonial masters played in shipping thousands of people to a life of servitude, including to the United States. Angola was a major player in the Atlantic slave trade.
“It is our duty to face our history,” Biden noted, “the good, the bad and the ugly.”
But he also discussed the real reason for the trip: to help the strategically located people southwestern African country Angola steadfast to prepare for the future. In 2050, in just 25 years. Africa will be the most densely populated continent in the world.
“In many ways, Africa’s success will be the world’s success. And I said at the 2022 US-Africa Summit that the United States is fully engaged in Africa’s future,” Biden said.
A poster showing President Biden and Angolan President João Lourenco during a welcome ceremony at Catumbela Airport in Angola on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
To cope with the present, Biden made a surprise announcement of $1 billion in U.S. humanitarian aid to help those displaced by drought and extreme weather events in Africa.
Earlier in the day, Biden discussed the future during a one-on-one meeting with Angolan President João Lourenco. There was a lot of attention for the Lobito Corridor, a rail and infrastructure project supported with 4 billion dollars from the US. It aims to bring critical minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia and agricultural products and other industrial goods from Angola to an Angolan port. .
Street scenes in Luanda, the capital of Angola. (Greg Palkot/Fox News)
“We are working together to mobilize more capital,” Biden declared, “to build more infrastructure, to make these solutions a reality, to help Africa lead the way.”
Critics scoffed that this was just a “too little, too late” effort overtaking Chinawhich has been working on infrastructure and other projects throughout Africa for years.
In an interview with Fox News, White House Director of National Security John Kirby recused himself. “It’s about them (the Angolans) catching up and keeping up and being more involved… when it comes to bringing products to market.”
BIDEN APPEARS TO REST HIS EYES ON THE AFRICAN SUMMIT IN ANGOLA
Greg Palkot’s press credential features an Angolan Soviet-style flag. (Greg Palkot/Fox News)
An expected mention of an expanded US military role in Angola failed to materialize. The US already sends hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to the country. There are new rumors of a US base there to counter the increasingly active presence of the Russian military on the continent.
But the ‘elephant’ lurking at every rally and meeting was the fact that Biden is now a very lame president and how incoming President-elect Trumpwho never made a trip to Africa during his first term of office, who even made ridiculous comments about certain countries there, could handle it all.
In a recent interview, the Angolan president said he would work with whoever is president.
President Biden stands for national anthems with Angola’s President João Lourenco at the presidential palace in the capital Luanda, Angola Tuesday, December 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
And in an interview with Fox News, former Trump Africa envoy J. Peter Pham told us he thought many of the projects could survive, especially if China feels a sting.
However, he added: “I think the new government will be asking some very tough questions about our investments on the continent, where they are going and whether this is the best return on capital.”
Prosperity and poverty in the capital Luanda. (Greg Palkot/Fox News)
On the final day of his trip, Biden inspected the Lobito rail junction, where the massive project converges. During a roundtable discussion with other regional leaders, after noting that he was an Amtrak train fan, he was seen closing his eyes and holding his head in his hands as if he were asleep, just as he had probably fallen asleep for decades during those commutes as a senator between Washington and Delaware.
Most in Angola, however, seemed to think the 82-year-old president played his role quite well in what was dubbed his “global finale.”
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The test will come when it becomes clear whether the benefits of these projects trickle down beyond the super-rich in oil-rich Angola, to the mostly young Angolans who are desperate for a living.
“Just the fact that an American is coming to Angola is a good thing,” a Luanda resident told us.
Despite bad timing and bad news elsewhere… many people here have hope.
