Namibian dancers, president welcome Jill Biden to Africa
NAMIBIA >> Dancers, drummers and Namibia's president and first lady welcomed U.S. first lady Jill Biden on Wednesday as she opened a five-day, two-country visit to Africa aimed at highlighting the challenges facing women and young people and the food insecurity plaguing the Horn of Africa.
After flying all night, the first lady was feted at the airport by members of some of Namibia's ethnic groups — clad in red, white and blue, or bright pink — who greeted her with singing, dancing, drumming and ululating. The last high-level U.S. official to visit was Vice President Al Gore in 1996, the White House said.
The first lady's trip is part of a commitment by President Joe Biden to deepen U.S. engagement with the fast-growing region. The United States has fallen well behind China in investment in sub-Saharan Africa, which has become a key battleground in an increasingly fraught competition between the major powers.
Jill Biden and Monica Geingos, Namibia's first lady, embraced on the tarmac before Biden greeted U.S and Namibian diplomatic and government officials. The two first met in December, when dozens of African leaders flew to Washington for a summit hosted by President Biden.
After leaving the airport, Jill Biden was driven 45 minutes south of Windhoek, the capital, to lay a wreath at Heroes' Acre, Namibia's official war memorial. She later met with President Hage Geingob and his wife at the State House, where her arrival was heralded with more singing and dancing.
It's Jill Biden's sixth time in Africa, but her first trip as first lady. She is following in the footsteps of her recent predecessors, who all made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean in the name of trying to help foster goodwill toward the United States.
“We have a lot to accomplish,” she said Tuesday before departing Washington.
Africa is the fastestgrowing and youngest region in the world, according to the White House, which says 1 of every 4 people in the world will be African by 2050.
Jill Biden previously visited Africa in 2010, 2011, twice in 2014 and once in 2016, all during her husband's service as U.S. vice president. Two of those trips were with him.
This time, she is traveling to Africa without the president, who was wrapping up a trip to Poland to mark Friday's anniversary of Russia's aggression toward Ukraine. She brought along her granddaughter Naomi Biden.
Patricia Nixon was the first first lady to travel to Africa on her own. She went as President Richard Nixon's “personal representative” to Liberia, Ghana and the Ivory Coast in 1972. She addressed legislative bodies and met with African leaders about U.S. policy toward the country now known as Zimbabwe, and human rights in South Africa, according to the National First Ladies' Library.
Melania Trump visited for the first time in 2018, when she spent five days as first lady stopping in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt to promote U.S. developmental aid and education, cradle babies and highlight animal and historic preservation.
She traveled without President Donald Trump, who had denied making disparaging comments about African countries.
She opened the trip at an infant clinic in Ghana. She also learned about Africa's slave past during a tour of Cape Coast Castle, a former slave holding facility on the Ghanaian coast.