US to counter China, Russia's influence in Africa ― US National Security Adviser

The $60 billion agency was named the United States International Development Finance Corp and was created in response to the growing global influence of China.

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton on Thursday gave the administration's tentative support for moving U.S. Africa Command from Stuttgart, Germany, to a new headquarters somewhere in Africa.

Xi made it known that China, which is now Africa's biggest trade partner, was still keen on strengthening its cooperation with the continent and with no strings attached. The US has already demanded a change of the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, refused to increase funding of a mission in the Central African Republic, and has threatened to cut funds for the mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is up for renewal of its mandate in the New Year.

"The United States will no longer provide indiscriminate assistance across the entire continent", Bolton said. The immediate casualties will include United Nations peacekeeping missions whose impact the USA has questioned. "The way we do business is much more straightforward", he said.

TUKO.co.ke on Thursday, December 13, established Trump was targeting Kenya as one of the African countries he intends to use as anchors in his efforts to regain a foothold in the continent and fend off rivals like China, Russia and North Korea.

Bolton acknowledged that Beijing has taken a longer-term, strategic approach to Africa with its "One Belt, One Road" initiative announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, but he called their approach "predatory" with investment ventures "riddled with corruption". Its national power utility company, ZESCO, is set to be acquired by Chinese entities following Zambia's failure to pay back loans owed to China, African media reported in September. It lies in close proximity to the U.S.'s only permanent military base on the continent, Camp Lemonnier, and USA officials have accused it of being the site from which lasers have been fired at US airmen operating in the area.

Until now, the Trump administration has made few public statements on Africa and appeared preoccupied with nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, trade disputes with China and reimposing sanctions on Iran.

"The predatory practices pursued by China and Russian Federation stunt economic growth in Africa, threaten the financial independence of African nations, inhibit opportunities for USA investment, interfere with United States military operations and pose a significant threat to U.S. national security interests", Bolton said at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

"We will make certain that all aid to the region-whether for security, humanitarian, or development needs-advances USA interests", Bolton said.

"We are not just there to take extractive resources out of the continent". Unfortunately, billions upon billions of USA taxpayer dollars have not achieved desired effects.

But Bolton, known for his hawkish criticism of the United Nations, said that the United States would seek to "streamline, reconfigure or terminate" UN peacekeeping missions unless they "facilitate lasting peace". "Our objective is to resolve conflicts, not freeze them in perpetuity", Bolton said.

"All too often, establishing a peacekeeping force and deploying it is the end of creative thinking [at the U.N.]", Bolton said in a Q&A after his speech.