Africa in the news: U.S. – Africa updates, South Sudan unity government, and Mauritius elections
Dhruv Gandhi Saturday, November 9, 2019 Africa in focus.
U.S. hosts GERD dam talks and U.S. – Cameroon relations. On Wednesday November 6, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin hosted foreign ministers from Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan to discuss issues related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) under construction in Ethiopia. The hydropower project is expected to be the largest in Africa when completed. Keeping in mind that the Nile river runs south to north, Egypt has raised concerns about the filling and operationalization of the dam, warning the project will reduce water supplies to the country. A joint statement published after the meeting announced that the foreign ministers would meet again in Washington on December 9 and January 13, with the goal of finalizing an agreement by January 15. If an agreement is not reached by the deadline, the countries agreed to invoke Article 10 of the 2015 Declaration of Principles, which would bring in an international mediator to resolve the dispute.
In other news, President Trump announced that the U.S. would cut Cameroon’s preferential trade access under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) starting January 1, 2020 in response to human rights violations by the country’s government in the ongoing Anglophone crisis, which began in 2016. Cameroon’s exports to the U.S. were $220 million last year. In a statement, C.J. Mahoney, deputy U.S. trade representative, noted that cutting Cameroon’s preferential access “underscores the Administration’s commitment to upholding the human rights criteria as required in the AGOA legislation.”