Washington PostSecretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Ethiopia on Wednesday at the start of a week-long trip that comes amid a sense on the continent that President Trump’s administration is simply uninterested in Africa. Tillerson will visit Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria, even as many top posts for the continent in the State Department remain unfilled and little has been said of the administration’s priorities for the continent. Witney Schneidman of the Brookings Institution said that for Tillerson, the trip will probably be focused on hearing African leaders’ concerns. “I think this trip seems to be pretty much a listening tour by Secretary Tillerson,” he said at a briefing ahead of the trip. During the transition, mentions of the continent seemed largely in the context of cutting some of the United States’ signature programs.

Source: Ethiopian News March 08, 2018 03:39 UTC