First lady on solo Africa tour
WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump headed for Africa on Monday on her first big solo international trip, aiming to make child well-being the focus of a five-day, four-country tour that will take her to every corner of the vast and impoverished continent.
Mrs. Trump opens her first visit to Africa on Tuesday in Ghana, followed by stops in Malawi, Kenya and Egypt.
Her first extended turn on the world stage outside the shadow of President Trump could still be complicated by her husband, who has spoken of the continent in impolite and even vulgar terms. And that leaves the first lady with some fencemending duties.
“She’s got some heavy lifting to do on this trip and it’s a little bit unfair because that’s not what a first lady’s trip should be about,” said Judd Devermont, the Africa program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
First ladies typically practice a softer form of diplomacy, showing interest in a host nation’s schools, hospitals and arts programs, and avoiding thornier issues.
Joshua Meservey, a senior Africa policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, countered by noting the “positive engagements” the president has had with some African heads of state, including President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, who met with Trump at the White House in late August. Trump also met last week in New York with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.
“I think the U.S.-Africa relationship is much bigger than the president’s comments, and it’s been going on for decades and decades,” he said.
Child welfare is a top issue for Mrs. Trump, the mother of a 12-year-old son. She focuses on the issue in the United States through an initiative she launched this year named “Be Best.” This week’s trip will mark her first extended period promoting the program and its goals abroad, separate from an event she held during a stop in London with the president in July.
Often seen as a reluctant first lady — Mrs. Trump did not fully move into the White House until nearly six months after Trump took office, due to her son’s schooling in New York — Mrs. Trump has kept a low profile in comparison to her immediate predecessors.