Obama’s Africa visit: US playing catch-up with China

 US President Barack Obama began his African tour in a bid to strengthen ties and investment opportunities. But experts say the task might prove difficult as China already has significant influence in the region and US is forced to play catch-up.

Obama arrived in Senegal on Wednesday and is also set to visit South Africa and Tanzania.

The president’s tour is happening as US is taking on a bigger military role in Africa, RT’s Gayane Chichakyan reported.

“We hear about new drone bases popping up on the African continent in countries whose governments receive aid from the US in one form or another. We hear US arming and training US security forces in a number of states in Africa, then we learn how some of those forces commit horrible atrocities and yet the US does not stop to take a second to look who they empower,” Chichakyan said.

Just a few recent examples of US-backed violence include, a UN report about US trained troops in Congo guilty of mass rape and other atrocities and a Human Rights Watch report documenting abuse, rape and torture of at least 1,000 Somali refugees by US-backed Kenyan police forces.

One of the reasons why US wants to strengthen ties with Africa is to push out China’s growing influence from the region, an expert told RT.

“They want to of course maintain relations with all these different African states and at the same time to edge out the People’s Republic of China that has been gaining considerable amount of influence in Africa. Just over the last few years China has become the number one trading partner of the African Union,” editor of Pan-African News Wire Abayomi Azikiwe said.

Another reason for increased US involvement is the fact that Africa is an extremely rich continent and US wants to keep its oil imports secure.

This is Obama’s second trip to sub-Saharan Africa since he first assumed office in 2009, but it might fall short as China has already been making great strides in Africa.

The time Obama has spent in Africa falls short of significant when compared to China’s engagement in the region. China’s top leaders, including the president, vice president, premier, deputy premier, cabinet ministers and top Communist Party officials have visited around 30 African countries in comparison to Obama’s soon-to-be four.

China's current President Xi Jinping has visited three African countries since taking office on March 14, 2013 and former Chinese president Hu Jintao has been to 17 African nations in a single 10-month stretch between July 2006 and February 2007.

Watch Chichakyan’s full report for more information.

Washington says it expects the Russian government to 'look at all options available' to expel Edward Snowden to the US to face espionage charges. That's after the White House expressed 'disappointment' China and Hong Kong didn't detain the NSA leaker.

"We expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged,"  the White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden stressed.

However, a senior Russian lawmaker stressed that Washington should not expect Moscow to extradite Snowden.

"Ties are in a rather complicated phase and when ties are in such a phase, when one country undertakes hostile action against another, why should the United States expect restraint and understanding from Russia?" Aleksey Pushkov, head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, pointed out to Reuters.

Earlier, the US strongly objected to the authorities in Hong Kong and China at the decision to let Snowden flee through their territories.

The US Justice Department has been in “continual contact” with Hong Kong authorities since the prominent whistleblower Edward Snowden first revealed his identity and whereabouts on June 10, Reuters reports.

RT’s Gayane Chichakyan indicated that in its official statement, Hong Kong government centers on the revelations rather than on the leaker.

“Hong Kong says they want more information about the hacking of the systems in Hong Kong by US government agencies that was part of the Snowden’s revelations. So, in this official statement we see how Hong Kong shifts the focus from the messenger, Edward Snowden, to the message.”

She also said the US authorities are doing everything possible not to focus on the revelations, which “show that the US has lied and has been doing the same as they accuse China of doing. Policy makers in the US are doing everything to shift the attention away from the revelations by focusing on Snowden himself, or even by attacking other countries like Russia...”

 In Sunday’s press release, announcing that Snowden has left Hong Kong, the island government acknowledged that the US was aware of discrepancies.

“Snowden left Hong Kong …on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel… [as there was] no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving,” the release read.

Earlier the US State Department issued a statement warning the countries of the ‘Western Hemisphere” about reports that Edward Snowden might be looking refuge in the region and urging them to not let the whistleblower in and assist with returning him to the US.

The announcement by the Justice Department came as US authorities revoked Snowden’s passport, according to several US officials who spoke with the media on condition of anonymity.

"As is routine and consistent with US regulations, persons with felony arrest warrants are subject to having their passport revoked," Jen Psaki, State Department spokeswoman said in a statement. "Such a revocation does not affect citizenship status."

On Sunday, WikiLeaks which is allegedly helping Snowden escape the American justice system tweeted Snowden left Hong Kong and is "bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum."

Ecuador is currently considering Snowden's bid for asylum.

En route to his final destination, whistleblower Edward Snowden made a stopover at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. Due to the absence of a Russian visa, he allegedly stayed overnight in a hotel in the airport's transit zone. On Monday, he was expected to fly to Cuba before changing planes to Ecuador.

However, Snowden has not been seen aboard the plane to Havana, although two seats had been checked in under his name, RT's Egor Piskunov reported. The plane departed from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

Snowden has been charged by the US authorities with theft of federal government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person. The last two charges fall under the US Espionage Act.