Antony Blinken making second trip to Africa as battle for influence similar to Cold War era rages on the continent between the United States, China, Russia and Europe

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Simon Ateba( Chief White House Correspondent )

Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will be making his second trip to Africa August 7-12 to launch the U.S. Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa and strengthen ties as the battle for influence similar to Cold War era rages on the continent between the United States, China, Russia and the European Union. The announcement of his trip on Friday morning followed similar visits by Russian, French, and other American officials, who have been crisscrossing the continent to win hearts and minds amid the war in Ukraine and a global food crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French President Emmanuel Macron visited several African nations this week, a week after Samantha Power, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International development returned from the continent. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced this week that she will be traveling to Ghana and Uganda next week. The United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa (SEHOA) Michael Hammer has also been traveling to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia July 24-August 1 to help forge a diplomatic resolution to issues related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as well as the devastating crisis in Tigray.