{"id":84718,"date":"2023-02-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kuwaitnewsgazette.com\/jill-biden-to-visit-africa-for-first-time-as-first-lady\/"},"modified":"2023-02-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T00:00:00","slug":"jill-biden-to-visit-africa-for-first-time-as-first-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kuwaitnewsgazette.com\/jill-biden-to-visit-africa-for-first-time-as-first-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"Jill Biden to Visit Africa for First Time as First Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Jill Biden arrives in Namibia Wednesday for her first visit to Africa as U.S. first lady.<\/p>\n

Biden will focus on women\u2019s empowerment, children\u2019s issues and food insecurity that has ravaged parts of the continent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Biden’s trip builds on last year’s U.S.- Africa Leaders summit and as another demonstration of President Biden’s commitment that the United States is all-in on Africa and all-in with Africa,\u201d Judd Devermont, senior director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, told reporters Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. strategy toward sub-Saharan Africa, which we released last August, starts with the conviction that Africa is critical to advancing our shared global priorities,\u201d Devermont added. \u201cWe believe that we are in the early years of a decisive decade which will determine the rules of the road on a host of vital issues from trade and economics, cybersecurity and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this visit, Jill Biden also becomes the first U.S. first lady to visit Namibia since the southwest African nation gained independence in 1990.<\/p>\n

In addition to focusing on women and children, the first lady will draw attention to the dire food insecurity that is again gnawing at East Africa as she visits Kenya.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Kenya, Dr. Biden will very specifically draw attention to the food security crisis impacting the Horn of Africa, which is noted as the worst drought that this region has experienced in decades,\u201d said NSC spokesperson Becky Farmer. \u201cOver 20 million people are increasingly experiencing acute food insecurity with many more at risk of increased hunger over the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

President Biden highlighted the situation in December when he announced a large humanitarian aid package at a summit that brought African leaders to Washington. And he discussed it again Tuesday as he highlighted the effects of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine on global food supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutin tried to starve the world, blocking the ports of the Black Sea to stop Ukraine from exporting its grain exacerbating a global food crisis that hit the developing nations of Africa especially hard. Instead, the United States and the G-7, and partners around the world answered the call with historic commitments to address the crisis and to bolster global food supplies. And this week my wife, Jill Biden, is traveling to Africa to help bring attention to this critical issue,\u201d President Joe Biden said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration has been seen as trying to woo Africa to support Ukraine over Russia, recently dispatching Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s foreign minister has visited multiple nations that have historic or ideological ties to Russia or the former Soviet Union, such as Mali, Sudan and Angola.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

China sent its new foreign minister to Africa for his maiden voyage \u2014 a sign of that nation\u2019s deep interest in the continent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Warm receptions are the norm<\/p>\n

Presidential-spouse visits often provide a contrast to the strategic, muscular approach of the presidency \u2014 partly because, as Biden herself points out, she has no executive authority and no mandate from American voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t elected \u2014 but I had a part to play,\u201d she said in December, at a gathering of spouses of African leaders. \u201cAs spouses, we serve the people of our countries, too. Don\u2019t we? We see their hearts and hopes. We witness the small miracles of compassion and generosity between neighbors. We know what can happen when communities come together \u2014 how much can change when we work towards a cause that\u2019s bigger than ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. first ladies are generally well-received on the African continent, said Katherine Jellison, a professor of U.S. women’s history and gender history at Ohio University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s just going to be warmer feelings toward a nonpolitician who’s visiting than a politician, because there may be strings attached,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

U.S. first lady Laura Bush was well received during her multiple visits to the continent, where she promoted the Bush administration\u2019s HIV and malaria initiatives and attended the inauguration of the continent\u2019s first female president, Liberia\u2019s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in 2006.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And for first Black first lady, Michelle Obama, trips to the continent were fraught with deep significance. She also used her platform to push for girls\u2019 education.<\/p>\n

And then there was first lady Melania Trump, whose 2018 visit to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt was overshadowed by one, highly examined fashion choice.<\/p>\n

For a safari in Nairobi National Park, the former model donned headgear that, for many Africans, evoked the continent\u2019s painful history.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wore a pith helmet and looked like she was out of some movie about colonial-era Africa and so that didn’t go over well,\u201d Jellison said. \u201cAnd instead, the visual images very much played up the idea of Western colonization of Africa \u2014 absolutely the opposite of Michelle Obama, the daughter of Africa returning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jill Biden visited Africa five times as second lady, highlighting the plight of the powerless. In 2011, when visiting the continent\u2019s largest refugee camp at Dadaab in Kenya, she made an earnest plea, one she is likely to repeat on this trip as the region again descends into crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cMothers are bringing their children from Somalia, walking sometimes 15, 20, 25 days and they lose their children along the way, the children die,\u201d she said. \u201cSo what I\u2019m asking is for Americans just to be, maybe reach out and help and because the situation here is dire.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Source: Voice of America<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jill Biden arrives in Namibia Wednesday for her first visit to Africa as U.S. first lady. Biden will focus on women\u2019s empowerment, children\u2019s issues and food insecurity that has ravaged parts of the continent. \u201cDr. Biden’s trip builds on last year’s U.S.- Africa Leaders summit and as another demonstration of President Biden’s commitment that the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJill Biden to Visit Africa for First Time as First Lady - Kuwait News Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kuwaitnewsgazette.com\/jill-biden-to-visit-africa-for-first-time-as-first-lady\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jill Biden to Visit Africa for First Time as First Lady - Kuwait News Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jill Biden arrives in Namibia Wednesday for her first visit to Africa as U.S. first lady. 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