[dolanbaker]

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28668533


US President Barack Obama said US companies have pledged $14bn (£8.3bn) of investment in Africa in areas such as energy and infrastructure.

The announcement came at the first US-Africa Leaders Summit, attended by over 40 African heads of state.

The summit is an effort to strengthen US ties with Africa as China increases its African investments.

Mr Obama will also host a dinner for African leaders at the White House in Washington this evening.

Looks like the US is waking up to the fact that China is buying Africa right out from under their nose.

[shortonoil]

I take that was before the Ebola epidemic broke out. African oil production will probably be over by the end of the year. Only a complete utter idiot would stay there now, or someone with a death wish!

[pinkfoot]

It irritates me that I have allowed myself, after years of lurking, to register just to reply to this post. Sigh.

Ebola is in WEST Africa, which is closer to Europe, than it is to most expatriate American in Easter and Southern Africa.

So allay your concerns, my American friends in South Africa are just fine.

[Keith_McClary]

The Washington-Pretoria-Tel Aviv Relay
by PATRICK BOND
Durban, South Africa.

What, ultimately, was the importance of the Africa-US leadership summit at the White House last week? It came at a very decisive moment for geopolitical relations in the axis linking Washington, Pretoria and Tel Aviv. And surprising US-China economic connections were also revealed, potentially reaching deep into Africa. Mega-corporations of both US and African parentage revelled in the attention and repeated blasts of public subsidies, with deals alleged to have reached $37 billion over the three days.

We may never know the backroom Faustian Pacts done by African elites with these firms, but what public signals were sent? How dangerous is it that President Jacob Zuma is welcoming US military and corporate institutions back to Africa with open arms, as the continent’s aspirant gatekeeper?