By Declan Walsh

NAIROBI, Kenya — In Russia, Africa’s leaders were feted at a seaside resort where military aircraft for sale were parked outside the summit hall. In China, they dined with President Xi Jinping, some of them one-on-one, and received promises of investments worth $60 billion. In Turkey, they won support for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Now they are headed to Washington for a major summit hosted by President Joe Biden — the latest diplomatic drive by a major foreign power seeking to strengthen its ties to Africa, a continent whose geopolitical clout has grown greatly in the past decade.

An international scramble for military, commercial and diplomatic interests in Africa, long dominated by China, has expanded in recent years to include other powers such as Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. In this intense competition, the US has often lagged behind, analysts say — a decline the Biden administration hopes to reverse with the US-Africa Leaders Summit that starts Tuesday (13).

White House officials say the three-day gathering will include top-level meetings, new initiatives and business deals, and a gala dinner at the White House. But African leaders have grown accustomed to being courted by foreign suitors, and Washington is one stop on what has become a global circuit of Africa summits held by China, Russia, Turkey, France, Japan and the European Union.

As the planes of more than 40 African heads of state descend on Washington, a question looms: What can Biden offer that they want?

“The US has traditionally seen Africa as a problem to be solved,” said Murithi Mutiga, Africa director at the International Crisis Group. “But its competitors see Africa as a place of opportunity, which is why they are pulling ahead. It’s unclear if this conference is going to change that.”

Africa’s top diplomat says that, first of all, they want to be heard.

“When we talk, we’re often not listened to, or in any case, not with enough interest,” President Macky Sall of Senegal, who is president of the African Union, said in an interview in Dakar last week. “This is what we want to change. And let no one tell us no, don’t work with so-and-so, just work with us. We want to work and trade with everyone.”

Much has changed since the first US-Africa summit, hosted by President Barack Obama in 2014. Chinese trade with Africa has continued to grow — hitting a record high last year of $261 billion — as have the debts of African countries to China. In contrast, US trade with Africa has dwindled to $64 billion — a mere 1.1% of US global commerce.

Russia has emerged as the continent’s largest arms dealer and become a muscular force across a swath of the continent through its use of mercenaries from the Wagner Group to prop up shaky regimes, often in return for precious minerals.

Turkey has built dozens of new embassies and Turkish companies have been on a spree, constructing airports, mosques, hospitals and sports stadiums, even in unlikely conflict zones such as Somalia. The UAE has built ports on the Red Sea and supplied armed drones to Ethiopia.

The issues that have long hobbled Africa’s progress remain, including poverty, conflict, threatened famines and corruption. But the continent also has many new strengths that are drawing foreign powers.

As birth-rates tumble elsewhere, Africa’s population is projected to double by 2050, when the continent will account for one-quarter of the world’s people — potentially a huge market. Africa’s large reserves of rare minerals will be needed to power the electric vehicles of the future.

Africa’s vast forests are among the world’s biggest carbon sinks, and its cultural footprint is expanding. Nigerian Afrobeats music is wildly popular worldwide, its movie industry is growing, and a thriving tech sector in countries such as Kenya has emerged as a source of innovation and cheap software talent.

That new strength has changed the tone of Africa’s relationship with wealthy Western countries. On a visit in 2009, Obama brought a message of tough love, saying that American help to Africa should be matched by Africans taking responsibility for their problems.

These days American officials stress partnership, and shared interests and values. Africa has become “a major geopolitical force,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in August. “One that shaped our past, is shaping our present, and will shape our future.”

What’s less clear is whether this week’s summit will match up to that soaring rhetoric.

In a series of briefings, US officials said the summit would feature a string of business deals between African and American companies, and an initiative to boost the continent’s “digital economy.” Biden will announce American support for an African Union seat on the G-20, as well as for greater African representation in global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.

There will be initiatives to tap African countries for new ideas in higher education, creative industries and the environment and for collaborations with NASA on space programs. A guide for summit delegates, obtained by The New York Times, predicts that Africa’s “space economy” will grow 30% by 2024 — an opportunity for the US to help with technologies to solve problems related to climate change, agriculture, security and illegal fishing and mining.

But there is little sign that Biden intends to launch a signature policy initiative as previous American administrations have.

A massive project to combat HIV and AIDS, launched by President George W. Bush in 2003 and known as PEPFAR, has cost $100 billion and saved 25 million lives, according to the government. Obama’s biggest initiative was Power Africa, which has brought electricity to 60 million African homes — about half its original goal.

In this summit, Biden’s approach is broader, driven by a theme of “building 21st century partnerships,” Judd Devermont, Africa director at the National Security Council, said last week. The coming decade will reshape the world order, Devermont added, and “African voices are going to be critical in this conversation.”

But at summits elsewhere, African leaders often leave with hard promises of assistance — Chinese infrastructure, Russian weapons or Turkish drones, for instance. Analysts say that American talk of respect and shared values may not be enough for them.

“African countries don’t want to be taken out for an ice cream,” said Michelle D. Gavin, a senior fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. “They want debt relief. They want loss and damage. They want a TRIPS waiver.”

(TRIPS is an intellectual property law that African countries want waived so they can manufacture vaccines.)

The White House says it will use the summit to revitalize older American initiatives such as the Africa Growth Opportunity Act, a Clinton-era law lowering some trade barriers to Africa, which is set to expire in 2025. While that approach makes sense, the danger is that African leaders will “see it as a downgrade,” said Cameron Hudson, an Africa specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“When you prioritize everything, you prioritize nothing,” he added.

-New York Times