Biden appears to fall asleep during the Africa summit

President Joe Biden appeared to fall asleep in Africa during a discussion about his favorite topic: trains. Biden announced a US-backed $2.5 billion rail corridor through the continent during his visit to Angola. But twice during a call with African officials and U.S. business leaders investing in the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, the 82-year-old president closed his eyes for at least a minute. At one point his hand shook and he dropped something.

Reporters traveling with him noted that Biden looked tired. The president was on the last day of a three-day trip to sub-Saharan Africa. At some points he took notes while others spoke. And during the hour-long meeting at the end, his voice was foggy and hoarse. The president is a railhead, having commuted daily on Amtrak from his Wilmington, Del., home base to Washington, D.C., when he was a senator.

He made that point when he spoke. ‘Sir. President, I will come back to ride the train all the way from start to finish,” he told Angolan President João Lourenço. He remembered his old daily commute of 210 miles between Wilmington and Washington. ‘I really like trains. So I’ll be back. You’re stuck with me,” he noted.

America and its allies have invested heavily in renovating the 800-mile Lobito Corridor, which consists of rail lines in Zambia, Congo and Angola. ‘Africa has lagged behind for far too long. But not anymore. Africa is the future,” Biden said. The project’s goal is to advance U.S. interests in a region rich in cobalt, copper and other critical minerals used in electric vehicle batteries, electronic devices and clean energy technologies.

By the end of the decade, the railway could even go a long way in connecting the west and east coasts of southern Africa. “It’s a game changer,” Biden said. He pointed to the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the United States. “Like Lincoln, we’re not just laying the tracks, we’re laying the path to a better future,” he said.

Under the new rail line, freight that once took 45 days to reach the United States – usually trucked to South Africa – will now take less than 45 hours. In total, Biden said the US has invested $4 billion in the Lobito Corridor. Biden said the Lobito Corridor marked the largest U.S. investment in a train project outside the country.

The president wants to use the project as part of his effort to counter China’s growing influence in Africa. China has made heavy investments in the mining and processing of African minerals and has used its Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure strategy to increase its economic and political influence.

In September, China said it had signed an agreement with Tanzania and Zambia to renew a separate railway line running from Zambia eastwards to Tanzania’s commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, on Africa’s east coast.

The corridor won’t be completed for years, meaning much of the work would come during Donald Trump’s administration, which takes office on January 20. The Biden White House says Republicans in Congress have supported previous efforts to advance African business interests through targeted investments and that such initiatives have appealed to Trump and his top advisers in the past. “I want to come back and ride the whole thing,” Biden told the African leaders. He then left the continent.

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