United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday met the
leaders of African nations that hold elections in the new year to press for a
free vote.
On the sidelines of a summit that has brought most African
leaders to Washington, Biden and his top aides met separately with a group of
six leaders as part of his democracy push.
The group included Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari ,
who is ineligible to seek a third term in February to lead Africa’s most
populous country, and President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of
Congo who took office in 2019 in the vast country’s first peaceful transfer of
power.
Also participating were Gabon’s Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has
been president since 2009 after succeeding his longtime-ruling father, and the
leaders of Liberia, Madagascar and Sierra Leone, according to the White House.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, said ahead
of the meeting that the president would call for free elections across the
continent.
He said the participation of the leaders did not necessarily
indicate the United States had concerns with each country.
“We would like to do everything we can to support those
elections being free, fair and credible,” Sullivan, who took part in the
meeting, told reporters on Monday.
“And that goes for every election taking place in 2023, not
picking and choosing certain ones and setting other ones aside.”
The United States has hailed Tshisekedi for agreeing to hold
elections as scheduled in DR Congo, where past votes have been marred by
unrest.
In September, the United States boosted by $13 million its
support for the DR Congo’s election including by funding local and
international observers.
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