America’s top diplomat on Monday experienced first-hand the dashed dreams of a nation alongside tens of thousands of Ivorians at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The evening started on an optimistic note, with Ivorian Football Federation President Idrissa Diallo presenting Blinken with a jersey and soccer ball at Alassane Ouattara d’Ebimpe stadium in Abidjan. Himself a lean and fit fan, Blinken extolled the virtue of sports in bringing people together while showcasing his fluent French in the Francophone country.
The game soon took a turn for the worse, however. Watching from the presidential box with Prime Minister Beugre Mambe, Vice President Tiemoko Meyliet Kone and Foreign Minister Kacou Houadja Leon Adom as well as US Ambassador Jessica Davis Ba, Blinken witnessed the Ivorian Elephants get trampled 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea, sealing their exit from the tournament.
No despair
The next day, Blinken consoled President Alassane Ouattara at the president’s tastefully decorated private residence.
“Despite the outcome of yesterday’s match, it was remarkable to see people coming from across the continent, and indeed around the world,” Blinken said.
Ouattara told his compatriots that the Elephants were a young team and that Ivorians shouldn’t despair.
The secretary is accompanied by his chief of staff Suzy George and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee. Director of policy planning Salman Ahmed, senior coordinator for Atlantic Cooperation Jessye Lapenn and spokesman Matthew Miller are also on the trip.
The National Security Council’s senior director for Africa, Judd Devermont, is expected to join up in Abuja and Helaina Matza, the acting special coordinator for the partnership for global infrastructure and investment, in Luanda.
The visit began in Cabo Verde, where Blinken met with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva and visited the port of Praia, which the US has helped to renovate and expand with a $54.8m investment. He is one of only three secretaries of state – with Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton – to visit Cabo Verde.
Investments
Blinken spent less than four hours on the island before flying to Abidjan and heading straight for the Cup of Nations. From Ouattara’s residence, he headed straight to the headquarters of the pan-African research centre AfricaRice, where he briefly met with the president of the Abidjan-based African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina.
The secretary and his team have been keen to talk about US investments in technology and food security during the trip, but the troubling situation in the Sahel – and what to do about the putschists in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso – is on everyone’s mind. Interest in relocating the US drone base and other military assets in Niger to Cote d’Ivoire and other coastal West African nations was on the agenda.
A busy Tuesday got even busier with back-to-back flights to Abuja and Lagos. After spending a few hours in the capital for meetings with President Bola Tinubu and foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar, Blinken heads to Lagos for Wednesday events with civil society and digital entrepreneurs.
He’ll wrap things up Thursday in Luanda, where he will hold more high-level meetings before returning to Washington in the evening.
Leaving Ouattara stadium under police escort Monday evening, Blinken’s motorcade created its escape route from the snarled traffic as delighted motorists joined the impromptu travel lane. No doubt the secretary and his team wish they could find such an easy way out of the region’s diplomatic morass.
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