Trump values Africa – adviser

US Senior Adviser for Africa Massad Boulos has said that President Donald Trump values Africa, despite announcing sweeping aid cuts that have caused considerable humanitarian distress across the continent. Trump announced the aid freeze on his first day in office in January in line with his ‘America First’ foreign policy, while Trump's recent tariffs have raised fears of the end of a trade deal between the US and Africa meant to boost economic growth. But Boulos told BBC News that Africa was ‘very important’ to Trump and downplayed reports that the US was planning to close some of its missions in the continent. ‘He highly values Africa and African people,’ Boulos added. The aid cuts have affected health programmes across Africa, including shipments of critical medical supplies, including HIV drugs. The majority of the US Agency for International Development's programmes, which provided health and humanitarian assistance to vulnerable nations, have since been terminated. Eight countries –  six of them in Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya and Lesotho - could soon run out of HIV drugs following the US decision to pause foreign aid, the World Health Organiation has warned. There are fears that nearly 6m more Africans could be pushed into extreme poverty next year following the aid cuts, according to the Institute for Security Studies. Earlier this month, eight people, including five children, died after walking for hours to seek treatment for cholera in South Sudan after aid cuts by the Trump administration forced local health clinics to close, the international charity Save the Children reported. But Boulos said those reported deaths could not be directly linked to the US aid cuts and said they were needed to ensure the money was being well used.

Boulos, whose son is married to Trump's daughter, Tiffany, said several US companies had expressed an interest in exploiting minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), following his recent trip to the resource-rich central African nation. DRC, home to vast natural reserves like lithium which is essential for battery and electric vehicle production, has been battling Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, who have seized large areas of territory this year. According to BBC News, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi believes US involvement in extracting the minerals could help quell the violence that has plagued the east of the country for nearly 30 years. Currently, DRC’s mineral wealth is dominated by Chinese firms. Asked if the US was only interested in benefiting economically from Africa and not its welfare, Boulos said ‘our job is to promote the US interests and promote our strategic partnerships’. Trump is also determined ‘to end wars and establish peace’ across the world, the envoy said, citing the conflict in Sudan as a big concern for the US Government.