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Start of Biden's check out to Angola overshadowed by boy's pardon

U.S. President Joe Biden landed in Angola on Monday for a go to focused on a U.S.backed train project and on the tradition of slavery, but his choice to pardon his kid Hunter Biden threatened to overshadow the main agenda.

The go to satisfies a pledge to check out Sub-Saharan Africa throughout his presidency and intends to reinforce the Lobito Passage project, which links resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.

At stake are vast supplies of minerals like copper and cobalt, which are discovered in Congo and are a crucial component of batteries and other electronic devices. China is the leading player in Congo, which has actually become an increasing concern to Washington.

China signed a contract with Tanzania and Zambia in September to revive a competing railway line to Africa's eastern coast.

It's going to create amazing financial opportunities here on the continent, Biden's national security spokesperson John Kirby stated, speaking about the Lobito Passage throughout a. rundown to press reporters on Flying force One throughout the flight to. Luanda.

He said Biden would reveal extra commitments to the. job during his check out, along with to health, climate and. tidy energy programs.

However, reporters on the flight had more questions. about the Hunter Biden pardon than they did about investment in. Africa. The president's spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. reacted to them primarily by duplicating Joe Biden's own declaration. on the issue.

The president, whose term in workplace surfaces in January,. flew out of Washington soon after pardoning his kid, who had. pleaded guilty to tax infractions and been founded guilty on. firearms-related charges.

Biden himself did not address press reporters' questions on the. pardon throughout a brief refueling drop in the little island nation. of Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, earlier on Monday.

During his two-day check out to Angola, Biden is set up. to meet with President Joao Lourenco and the Zambian leader. President Hakainde Hichilema, and to visit the national slavery. museum and numerous facilities in Lobito.

Partly funded by a U.S. loan, the Lobito Passage would. make it faster and easier to export critical minerals towards. the United States, which has been widely seen as a way to divert. a few of those resources from China.

There is no Cold War on the continent. We're not asking. nations to select in between us and Russia and China, Kirby. stated.

We're just searching for dependable, sustainable,. proven financial investment opportunities that individuals of Angola. and individuals of the continent can depend on, because too many. countries have actually counted on spotty investment opportunities and are. now racked by financial obligation, he said.

The Lobito task is backed by global commodities. trader Trafigura, Portuguese building group Mota-Engil. and railway operator Vecturis. The U.S. Development. Finance Corporation has actually supplied a $550 million loan to. refurbish the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) rail network from. Lobito to Congo.

(source: Reuters)