From tyrants to turbines: Obama’s subtle shift in African foreign policy

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http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/US-Africa-Leaders-Summit-Washington-Barack-Obama/-/440808/2414008/-/14o802k/-/index.html



US President Barack Obama speaks during a session on “Investing in Africa’s Future” of the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC on August 6, 2014.

From tyrants to turbines: Obama’s subtle shift in African foreign policy
By DANIEL KALINAKI
Saturday, August 9, 2014

What is Africa’s problem? To many, it is power and the failure to use, manage and transfer it peacefully.

So it is not surprising that last week’s US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington focused extensively on power in Africa — only that the focus was on electricity, not the continent’s politics.

The biggest announcement from Washington was that private US companies had agreed to invest $14 billion in US Power Africa, an initiative by President Barack Obama’s Administration to increase electricity output and access on the continent.

Power Africa, which started in 2013 with $7 billion over five years, now has more than $26 billion in promised funding. It has attracted the support of the World Bank (whose President Jim Yong Kim has thrown in $5 billion in cash, guarantees and advisory services) and the Swedish government ($300 million).