Biden administration - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Kamala Harris calls out Israel over ‘catastrophe’ in Gaza

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris bluntly called out Israel for not doing enough to ease a "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza as the Biden administration faces increasing pressure to rein in its close ally while it wages war with Hamas militants. Harris, speaking in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers beat U.S. civil rights marchers nearly six decades ago, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a 6-week cessation of hostilities. But she directed the bulk of her comments at Israel in…

Dec

2023

By HUMEYRA PAMUK, JONATHAN SAUL and MAGGIE FICK

Despite Gaza death toll soaring, U.S. unlikely to rethink weapons supplies to Israel

WORLD

FACING a soaring death toll from Israel's renewed offensive in southern Gaza, the Biden administration is trying to pressure its ally to minimize civilian deaths while stopping well short of the kind of measures that might force it to listen, such as threatening to restrict military aid. Top U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have urged Israel publicly to conduct a more surgical offensive in the south to avoid the heavy civilian casualties inflicted by its attacks in the north. About 900 people in Gaza were killed in Israeli airstrikes between Friday when a truce…

Dec

2023

By TREVOR HUNNICUTT

Biden plots trip to Angola as promise of Africa trip lingers

NEWS

U.S. President Joe Biden said that he will visit Angola in a trip that could mark renewed engagement with Africa at a time of international turmoil. "I have been there and I will be back," Biden said when asked about visiting the country during an Oval Office meeting with his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco. Biden did not specify when the meeting would take place. The White House did not respond to a request for additional details. The U.S. president, seeking re-election next year and facing a range of foreign policy challenges from Ukraine to Israel, has drawn attention for the…

Sep

2023

By PATRICIA ZENGERLE

Menendez indictment prompts calls in US Congress for Egypt aid rethink

NEWS

CHARGES that Senator Bob Menendez accepted bribes in exchange for wielding his influence to aid the Egyptian government prompted calls in the U.S. Congress for the Biden administration to rethink $235 million in military aid to Cairo. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Middle East subcommittee, said he hoped the committee would investigate the allegations and Egypt's involvement. U.S. prosecutors announced an indictment on Friday accusing Menendez of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for wielding his influence to aid the Egyptian government. "I would hope that our committee would…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

TikTok says US threatens ban if Chinese owners don’t sell stakes

WORLD

ECHO WANG and DAVID SHEPARDSON THE Biden administration has demanded that TikTok's Chinese owners divest their stakes in the popular video app or face a possible U.S. ban, the company told Reuters. The move is the most dramatic in a series of recent steps by U.S. officials and legislators who have raised fears that TikTok's U.S. user data could be passed on to China's government. ByteDance-owned TikTok has more than 100 million U.S. users. It is also the first time under the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden that a potential ban on TikTok has been threatened. Biden's predecessor, Republican…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

U.S. grants relief to Cameroon immigrants

NEWS

KRISTINA COOKE and MICA ROSENBERG THE Biden administration will grant temporary deportation relief and work permits to Cameroonians living in the United States due to the ongoing conflict between government forces and armed separatists in that country, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced. The decision will apply to Cameroonians residing in the United States by April 14 and last a period of 18 months, DHS said. An estimated 12,000 Cameroonians will be eligible for the status, according to the department. President Joe Biden has championed the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program, which grants immigrants who cannot return…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. to withhold Egypt’s $130-million over rights

NEWS

HUMEYRA PAMUK THE Biden administration will withhold $130 million worth of military aid to Egypt in order to pressure the Arab ally to improve its human rights record, two sources familiar with the matter, including a U.S. official, said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned move is a break with his predecessors' policy of overriding a congressional check on military aid to Egypt. In the past, an exception was granted to free up $300 million in Foreign Military Financing for Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's government on that argument that it was in the interest of U.S. national security. But a portion…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

After messy pullout, Blinken to intensify Afghanistan diplomacy in Qatar, Germany

WORLD

HUMEYA PAMUK A week after declaring America's "new chapter" of engagement with Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will aim to form a united front with allies this week on how to tackle the Taliban and ensure continued support for U.S. bid to help evacuate Americans and at-risk Afghans who remained behind. In a trip to Qatar and Germany, Blinken will be overlapping with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who is also departing for a wider Gulf visit covering Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. The visit by the top two U.S. national security officials comes as the Biden administration…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. looks to leverage African diaspora in trade with Africa

BUSINESS

THE Biden administration plans to tap the African diaspora in the United States to bolster trade with Africa, a U.S. official has said, in a push to work with people who understand "social nuances" on the continent. Working with diaspora-owned enterprises is part of the revival of Prosper Africa, an initiative begun by former President Donald Trump in 2018 that the Biden administration aims to make the "centerpiece of U.S. economic and commercial engagement with Africa." Speaking at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit on Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said the diaspora can overcome a major impediment to…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden revives Trump’s Africa business initiative; eyes future digital project

BUSINESS

DOYINSOLA OLADIPO and ANDREA SHALAL THE Biden administration has announced a new push to expand business ties between U.S. companies and Africa, with a focus on building needed digital, health and physical infrastructure on the continent, a senior U.S. official said. U.S. industry executives welcome the interest, but say dollar flows will lag until the Biden administration wraps up its lengthy review of Trump administration trade measures and sets a clear policy on investments in liquefied natural gas. Dana Banks, senior director for Africa at the White House National Security Council, will kick off a U.S.-Africa business summit, with a…