Angola’s Lobito — US President Joe Biden met African leaders in the port city of Lobito, Angola in an effort to strengthen commercial ties with Africa and challenge Chinese power on the continent. The main emphasis of the summit was a revolutionary concept to build a railway corridor through Lobito that would transport essential minerals from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to international markets.
The US has pledged a $550 million loan to support the rehabilitation of the old railway and extend it into the mineral-rich regions of the DRC. This project is viewed as a key development in the creation of alternative supply chains for minerals needed for battery production and other industrial components crucial for the transition toward clean energy worldwide. The second phase of the railway, from Lobito into Zambia and possibly onwards into Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam, is yet to begin, with the formal start of construction only likely in 2026.
Biden’s trip – his first and only to the continent as president so far – saw him meeting Angolan, DRC and Zambian heads of state, together with Tanzania’s vice-president. The leaders reaffirmed their mutual interest in investment and stability in the region to capitalize on the vast mineral wealth. In a meeting with DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, Biden repeated the message that peace and development would be able to unlock the potential of the country’s substantial reserves of copper and cobalt.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema underscored the railway’s potential to transform regional trade and investment. “This corridor is of vital importance to opening up our countries, our region, and truly the global economy,” he said. The Lobito project, supported by a consortium of Western companies including Trafigura, Mota-Engil, and Vecturis, has been positioned as a counterweight to China’s entrenched influence in Africa’s mining sector.
Angola’s President João Lourençoalso welcomed the initiative, emphasizing Angola’s evolving relationship with the West. Angola, traditionally aligned with China and Russia, has recently sought stronger security and military collaborations with the US. Biden’s visit reinforced these efforts, with the US pledging long-term engagement with Africa on the continent’s terms.
Despite these pledges, however, critcs observe that US influence in Africa has receded during Biden’s presidency: Washington’s presence as shrunk in hotspots such as the Sahel, and its efforts to push back against China’s commercial power have been inchoate. China continues to dominate the DRC’s mining sector, one of the most important suppliers of critical minerals to world markets.
This explains why the Lobito project has become a strategic chance for Washington to regain its influence on the
Continent. Yet not everything seems rosy. Critics say phase two, including a railway
Linkage with Tanzania, could ultimately grant China an eastern exit that Washington hopes to deny them. Uncertainty shrouds the timeline for when exactly the project will be finished as US officials predict its culmination before the end of this decade.
The visit of Biden to Lobito underscored the development of infrastructure as crucial for regional trade and economic integration. Projects such as the Lobito railway corridor reflect what is possible in terms of collaboration for a more connected and prosperous future of the continent, as the US strengthens ties with African nations.
