By ARNALDO VIEIRA

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President Joe Biden announced last week a visit to Africa in October, his first as US president and certainly his last, as he will not be defending his seat in the November's elections.

When he hosted Kenya's President William Ruto in May, he indicated that he would visit the continent starting in January 2025, but political events in Washington have changed that plan.

Angola, where he will be visiting, is getting a big stage to market itself as a thriving democracy in the face of an onslaught by activists over its human rights record.

Last week, Amnesty International called on the Angolan authorities to release four activists who have been “unjustly detained” for a year and whose health has drastically deteriorated in prison.

Earlier, Human Rights Watch had said President João Lourenço had signed into law two bills that fail to meet international human rights standards and will severely restrict freedom of the media, expression, and association.

But Angola isn't a bad place in Washington's eyes. It has identified Luanda as a key pillar of the Lobito Corridor, a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project that the US and its allies want to use to compete with China for minerals in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

The White House referred to the project in a dispatch about the visit due on October 13-15, and also alluded to issues of democracy.

Biden and Lourenço, it said, will discuss increased collaboration on shared priorities, including bolstering our economic partnerships “that keep our companies competitive and protect workers; celebrating a signature project of the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), which advances our joint vision for Africa’s first transcontinental open-access rail network that starts in Lobito and ultimately will connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean; strengthening democracy and civic engagement; intensifying action on climate security and the clean energy transition; and enhancing peace and security.”

The civil society in Angola could use a meeting with President Biden to see if he can personally encourage President Lourenço to promote improvements in democracy and human rights, said Mr José Gama, a political commentator.

Read: Angola’s new laws alarm rights activists over civil liberties

Despite this, Angolan diplomats have reason to rub their palms in glee.

This will be Biden's first visit to Africa as US President and the first-ever by an American leader to Angola since independence from Portugal in 1975.

The visit comes at a time when Angola is preparing to host the US-Africa Business Summit mid next year, which is expected to bring together more than 1,500 delegates, heads of state and government, and other world leaders.

According to commentators in Luanda, this signals growing US interest in Angola and a certain advantage over China and Russia.

Angola is China’s biggest debtor in Africa, and Russia was the country’s largest arms supplier during the civil war and the bastion for training its top army generals.

In November last year, President Biden hosted President Lourenço in the White House, a meeting that marked 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Osvaldo Mboco, a political commentator in Luanda, said that President Biden's visit is a gain for the country's diplomacy, marking "Angola's importance in Africa and in the world."

For Mboco, this means that President Lourenço's vision and strategy are being celebrated by other countries, and that it is crucial for Angola to be prepared for possible changes in the dynamics of its bilateral cooperation with the US, according to an analysis he gave to state television TPA in Luanda.

But even before the official announcement of the visit by the White House, the trip was already being discussed on traditional and social media, with the US Mission in Luanda calming speculation last week by saying that only Washington could confirm it.

On Tuesday, the White House put an end to the speculation, causing even more excitement on social media.

The Angolan presidency said that the Lobito Corridor, its full development and expansion, as well as peace and security, would be on the minds of both presidents.

Read: The game-changer in African transport and trade

VOA Radio suggested that the leaders of DR Congo and Zambia were expected to attend the meeting between President Lourenço and Biden, as they are directly involved in the Lobito Corridor project.

The development of the Lobito Corridor is a multinational partnership that will help spur economic development through investment in the DRC, Zambia and Angola.

According to the US Department of State, in less than 18 months since the initial US commitment, more than $3 billion has been committed to the development of the corridor through investments in several interrelated sectors, including transportation and logistics, agriculture, clean energy, health, and digital access.

Read: US taps Tanzania in battle with China for minerals

“The US is deeply invested in the success of the Lobito Corridor project. Through significant financial assistance, we are demonstrating our commitment to infrastructure development and economic growth in Africa,” William Butterfield, USAid representative in Angola, said on Wednesday.

In January, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reviewed the progress on the Lobito Corridor when he visited Angola.

According to the US government, US exports to Angola in 2023 were $595 million, down 8.8 percent ($58 million) from 2022, while its imports from Angola totalled $1.2 billion in 2023, down 26.8 percent ($428 million) from 2022.

Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer and one of the continent’s fastest growing economies. But the country has been facing an economic crisis since 2015, triggered by the oil price slump.

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