- US Vice President starts three-nation Africa tour
- Washington is trying to counter Chinese and Russian influence
- Harris says she raised the issue of LGBT rights
ACCRA, March 27 (Portal) – The United States will provide $100 million to Ghana and four other West African countries to help them deal with violent extremism and instability, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Monday during a visit to Ghana.
Harris was in Accra at the start of a week-long three-country tour of Africa, the latest in a string of visits by senior US officials as Washington seeks to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent.
“President Biden and I have made it clear that the United States is strengthening our partnerships on the African continent,” she said during a joint press conference with Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo.
China has invested heavily in Africa over the past two decades, particularly in infrastructure, mining, timber and fisheries, while private Russian military contractor Wagner Group provides security assistance in several countries.
Akufo-Addo reiterated that he was concerned about Wagner’s presence in West Africa.
“It raises the very real possibility … that our continent will once again become the playground for great power conflicts,” he said while standing next to Harris.
Several countries in West Africa and the Sahel are struggling to quell Islamist insurgencies that have caused humanitarian disasters and fueled discontent – factors that have contributed to military coups in Mali and Burkina Faso.
“We appreciate your leadership in response to the recent democratic backslide in West Africa,” Harris told Akufo-Addo.
“To counter the threat of violent extremism and instability, I am pleased to announce today $100 million in support to Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo,” she said.
This is in addition to the $139 million in bilateral assistance the United States plans to send to Ghana in fiscal 2024, Harris’ office said.
[1/5] U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo during their week-long trip to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia in Accra, Ghana March 27, 2023. Portal/Francis Kokoroko
After Ghana, Harris will travel to Tanzania and Zambia.
LGBT RIGHTS
Harris was asked during the press conference if she would campaign for LGBT rights during her tour, including in Ghana where a bill that would severely limit LGBT rights is going through parliament.
“I raised this issue,” Harris said, adding that supporting freedom and equality for all people is very important to her and that LGBT rights are a human rights issue.
Ghana’s draft law would criminalize being gay, bisexual or transgender. Homosexual sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison under Ghanaian law, although no one has been prosecuted for years.
The new law would increase jail terms and force people to undergo “conversion therapy,” practices aimed at changing their sexual orientation. Parliament has held public hearings on the bill starting in 2021. It is unclear when this will be voted on.
When asked by a US reporter about the bill, Akufo-Addo said it was not official government policy, but rather a legislature acting in a private capacity.
He also said the country’s attorney general had provided views to a parliamentary committee examining the bill on “the constitutionality or the contrary of several of its provisions.”
“My understanding is that significant elements of the bill have already been changed as a result of the Attorney General’s intervention,” he said, without giving details.
“I have no doubt that, as in the past, the Parliament of Ghana will show its sensitivity to human rights issues as well as to the feelings of our people and will provide a responsible response to the proposed legislation.”
Additional reporting from Estelle Shirbon, Nellie Peyton and Hereward Holland; Edited by Peter Graff and Alison Williams
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.