Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo: rival visits to Moscow, Washington

As the U.S. government prepares to receive the Democratic Republic of the Congo President Félix Tshisekedi for the latter’s first non-Africa foreign travel since becoming his nation’s leader, the Russian government is receiving Angola’s president, João Lourenço. The timing of the visits by the African neighbors and sometimes rivals suggests geostrategic competition between Russia and the U.S. as each undertake diplomatic initiatives to inflate influence on the African continent. Both African heads of state will undertake multi-day visits: Lourenço departed for Russia on April 1 and will return on April 4; Tshisekedi will be in the U.S. from April 3-5. …

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