WASHINGTON: Dozens of leaders descended on Washington on Monday for the start of President Barack Obama’s first major US-Africa summit, focused on trade ties but also overshadowed by war and disease.

Some 50 countries sent high-level delegations led by 35 presidents, nine prime ministers, three vice presidents, two foreign ministers and a king to the three days of talks and ceremony in the US capital.

Washington is seeking stronger economic ties with Africa, having found itself outpaced by China and Europe on a continent where the International Monetary Fund expects to see 5.8 per cent growth this year.

But health and security issues will also be high on the agenda with headlines dominated by news of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the rising threat of Islamist extremist insurgencies.

African delegates are due to hold a day of economic talks with US officials and business leaders on Tuesday, but first US Secretary of State John Kerry addressed them on civil rights concerns.

“Strong civil society and respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights — these are not just American values, they are universal values,” Kerry told activists as talks began.

Ebola outbreak: Citing the example of South Africa’s late anti-apartheid champion Nelson Mandela, Kerry said that most Africans supported limiting their leaders to two terms in office.

“We will urge leaders not to alter national constitutions for personal or political gain,” Kerry said, shortly after meeting President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The United States has been urging Kabila to respect a constitutional limit and step down when the long-troubled country — the giant of central Africa — holds its next elections in 2016.

But, while the United States will push African leaders to respect democratic norms — and in particular to halt the persecution in some countries of homosexuals or the free press — trade will top the agenda.

Last year, Obama described Africa as “the world’s next major economic success story. “The United States currently lags in third place in trade with Africa, far behind the European Union in first and China in second.

The White House insists that the summit initiative is not a belated response to Beijing’s growing investment and influence across the continent over the past decade.

But it is clear that China’s emergence is at the forefront of American minds.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2014