Through the approach, Washington hopes its offerings will be more appealing than what China and Russia provide in Africa.

Blinken said the US Development Finance Corporation was putting US$300 million in financing towards developing, building and operating data centres across Africa. Further, the US has recently awarded a US$600 million contract to build an undersea telecommunications cable that will stretch more than 17,000km (10,500 miles) – from Southeast Asia through the Middle East and the Horn of Africa to Europe – delivering high-speed connections across the continents.

“After all, we’ve seen the consequences when international infrastructure deals are corrupt and coercive, when they’re poorly built or environmentally destructive, when they import or abuse workers or burden countries with crushing debts,” Blinken said in an apparent swipe at Beijing.

“That’s why it’s so important for countries to have choices, to be able to weigh them transparently, with the input of local communities without pressure or coercion,” the top US diplomat said.

Chinese officials have variously denied claims that Beijing is burdening or trapping countries with loans they cannot repay.

To counter the belt and road plan, US President Joe Biden led the G7 in launching the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment in June, which aims to mobilise US$600 billion globally towards concrete projects over the next five years.

“The US is committed to raising US$200 billion towards this effort,” Blinken said.

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Blinken’s tour to Africa comes hot on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo last month to rally support amid Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

The US recently passed the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, which explicitly tasks the State Department with developing a “strategy for containing Russian efforts to undermine democracy”. Moscow is Africa’s largest supplier of military arms and equipment and has also made inroads into the oil, gas, mining and nuclear power sectors.

Wagner Group, a mercenary group with links to Moscow, has a presence in Mali, the Central African Republic and Sudan – but Western nations blame the group for fuelling violence and looting natural resources in some West African countries.

Although Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister for international relations and cooperation, dismissed Russia as a negligible economic partner for South Africa – with their US$4 billion two-way trade paling compared to US$20 billion US-South Africa trade – she said it was “patronising” for some European countries to force countries to condemn Russia.

“One thing I dislike is being told ‘either you choose this or else’,” Pandor told reporters alongside Blinken following bilateral talks.

02:02

China is building a new Egyptian capital in the desert under its Belt and Road Initiative

China is building a new Egyptian capital in the desert under its Belt and Road Initiative

It is during the briefing that she took a swipe at the US with an accusation of double standards. She said no one in South Africa supported the war in Ukraine but the rules of international law were not being applied equally.

“We should be equally concerned at what is happening to the people of Palestine as we are with what is happening to the people of Ukraine,” she said.

This is Blinken’s second official trip to the continent since taking office last year, as part of a renewed push by the Biden administration to mend relations destroyed by the previous Trump administration.

Observers say the first trip in November, which took him to Kenya, Senegal and Nigeria, was about breaking with former president Donald Trump’s past and responding to Chinese influence in Africa.

But the second trip is about Russia and its growing inroads into the continent. The US accuses Russia of causing a global food crisis by blocking Ukrainian ports, but Russia denies the allegations saying the crisis is caused by Western sanctions.

Blinken said the food crisis in Africa was exacerbated “by Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine”. He also blamed the Wagner Group for exploiting instability to “pillage resources and commit abuses with impunity, as we’ve seen in Mali and the Central African Republic”.

Hence, he said, “If we allow a big country to bully a smaller one, to simply invade it and take its territory, then it’s going to be open season, not just in Europe but around the world”.

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Douglas Yates, a political scientist specialising in African politics who teaches at the American Graduate School in Paris, said “the main issues at play in this trip are Russia and China, but more so Russia”.

“The failure of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to attend Biden’s Summit for Democracy in December 2021, his failure to condemn Russia for the invasion of Ukraine this spring and South Africa’s continued alliance with [BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa], all give the Biden administration and the Washington security establishment reasons to worry,” Yates said.

Further, he said the visit to South Africa was a reset. “During the Cold War, South Africa was a staunch US ally against Russia. Today, it must be one again,” Yates said.

“Blinken’s visits to DRC and Rwanda are less visits to vaunt their democracies, and more because they are ‘strategic’ partners. We need to make sure they are on our side, they vote with us in the UN, and they do not let Wagner operate in their territories,” Yates said.

01:42

Ukrainian leader warns Russia is diverting attention away from Ukraine by sparking global crisis

Ukrainian leader warns Russia is diverting attention away from Ukraine by sparking global crisis

W. Gyude Moore, a former minister of public works in Liberia, said South Africa was the US’ biggest trade partner in Africa, and both the DRC and Rwanda were large recipients of US development aid. US intervention in the worsening crisis between DRC and Rwanda is seen as key.

“So, in all of these countries, Blinken’s visit will be welcomed,” Moore said. He said South Africa was also one of the few African countries with a well-articulated foreign policy. “I don’t see how Blinken’s presence will change this position,” Moore said.

Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at London-based think tank Chatham House, said Blinken’s trip was partly about the containment of China and Russia in Africa – as Africa made up 25 per cent of the UN General Assembly.

Vines said the unveiling of a refreshed US Africa strategy had been over a year in the making. Its objective was to curate better US assets and efforts in Africa – especially in this period of heightened geopolitical rivalry.

US envoy to UN says Africa trip isn’t to catch up with China and Russia

Vines said Washington increasingly understood that African states preferred to abstain in votes related to Ukraine – in a strategy to ensure they remain truly non-aligned.

“This will be difficult in South Africa – where many in the governing African National Congress (ANC) have signalled their sympathy for Moscow and their continued ambivalence to the US,” Vines said.

He said the visit to DRC was also about strategic and critical minerals and security of supply. The flare-up in eastern Congo and reports that Rwanda was once more supporting the M23 rebels have worried Washington.

“Blinken in Kinshasa and Kigali will try to encourage both sides to de-escalate and dial down on tensions,” Vines said.