Biden visits Angolan port city of Lobito to tout railway plans

LOBITO, Angola (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in the Angolan port city of Lobito on Wednesday, the last day of a trip to Africa, to tout a plan to extend a railway that could channel critical minerals from Congo to the West.

The United States has provided a $550-million loan to support the venture, which involves refurbishing an existing railway through Angola and extending it into Congo's mining heartland as part of the first phase. No date has been given for its completion yet.

A second phase of the project envisions connecting and extending the Lobito corridor through Tanzania. The U.S. has funded feasibility studies but critics say it will offer a rival route east to China, undermining the entire project.

After Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president in January, Washington is expected to take a harsher line with China and some officials have questioned whether U.S. support for the eastern route will continue.

U.S. officials announced financing this week through the Development Finance Corporation worth $600 million for projects including solar, minerals and telecommunications along the first phase of the project.

Biden pledged lasting U.S. engagement with Africa on Africa's own terms as he met with his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco in Luanda on Tuesday on his first and only visit to Africa as president. The trip delivers on a promise to visit the continent, but comes only weeks before his presidency ends.

Despite Biden's repeated pledges to be "all in on Africa", U.S. influence in Africa as declined during his term in office. The U.S. has lost a military base in the Sahel region and made little progress breaking China's grip on minerals seen as critical to national security.

Angola has long nurtured close ties with China and Russia but has recently moved closer to the West. Angola wants to expand its collaboration with the United States on security and military initiatives, its president said during Biden's visit on Tuesday.

The incoming Trump administration will have to address blind spots in its understanding of a fast-changing continent increasingly allied with China and Russia, and threatened by spreading jihadist insurgencies.

The Lobito project is backed by global commodities trader Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil and railway operator Vecturis.

The U.S. Development Finance Corporation has provided the $550-million loan to refurbish the 1,300-km (800-mile) rail network from Lobito to Congo.



(Reporting by Jessica Donati and Trevor Hunnicutt, Editing by Timothy Heritage)