Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South) – The United States government is set to spend more on military interventions in Africa than on humanitarian and development aid if President Trump’s proposal pass Congress.
Mr. Trump’s proposed Pentagon budget for the 2018 fiscal year —calls for an additional $52 billion on top of the current $575 billion base budget.
The Ynited States will thus spend more money on military affairs in Africa but reduce humanitarian and development assistance across the continent.
According to media reports the Trump budget proposes cutting aid to Africa to $5.2 billion in the 2018 fiscal year from $8 billion now, a stark drop.
Even some of the money still in the Trump proposal would shift to security areas from humanitarian and development, foreign policy experts say.
“We are radically narrowing the definition of why and how Africa matters to U.S. national interests,” said J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Gone are the days, he said, when human rights, development, economic growth and humanitarian relief dominated the American agenda on the continent.
The Pentagon has not yet specified how much money will go to African militaries, but officials say there will be more of it for training programs, joint exercises and counterterrorism efforts.
There may also be more funding for Camp Lemonnier, the American base in Djibouti, where visitors are greeted with a video of American and East African troops parachuting out of planes and rolling on the dirt together, to the screaming howls of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.”
The Trump administration has proposed slashing programs that buy antiretroviral drugs for people who are infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, by at least $1.1 billion — nearly a fifth of their current funding.
Researchers say the cuts could lead to the deaths of at least one million people in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. Over all, Mr. Trump’s budget submission would reduce State Department funding by roughly a third and cut foreign assistance by about 29 percent.
Mr. Trump’s proposal would also move away from traditional development assistance programs in favor of so-called Economic Support Funds, short-term investments based on national security calculations.
The White House has yet to nominate someone for the post of assistant secretary of state for African affairs — the top administration envoy to the continent. Mr. Trump has made only a handful of calls to African leaders since taking office, and the National Security Council still doesn’t have a director for African affairs.
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