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Air Force One touched down in Luanda, Angola’s capital, on Monday evening with a long-overdue passenger. 

US President Joe Biden pledged to visit Africa in 2023, but the trip never  materialized. He then planned to come in October, but postponed as Hurricane Milton bore down on Florida’s coast. Now he’s due to spend about 48 hours on the continent. 

The low priority America has given toward forging closer relationships with a region that’s rich in minerals critical to the shift away from fossil fuels dates back years.

WATCH: Bloomberg’s Jennifer Zabasajja reports on Biden’s trip to Angola.

Biden is the first sitting president to visit sub-Saharan African since Barack Obama went to Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015. President-elect Donald Trump expressed disdain about Africa during his first term. 

In Angola, Biden has identified an opportunity to build ties with a government that’s been closely allied to China for decades.

His visit will focus on a 1,100-mile railway the US is helping finance to the tune of $553 million that’s used to ferry copper and cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo to international markets via the port of Lobito.

Zambia is meanwhile banking on the US to back a new 500-mile connection linking its copper mines to the Atlantic Ocean harbor. The project is one of the most ambitious Washington has backed in Africa in decades.

Both Angola and Zambia have struggled under heavy debt burdens and China is their biggest single creditor. The development avoids piling more loans onto governments, with private companies the main drivers.

Questions remain as to whether Trump’s incoming administration will continue backing the project. Samaila Zubairu, the Africa Finance Corp.’s chief executive officer, is among those who expect Trump to push ahead, given the broad political support it’s enjoyed.

But with the US scrambling to catch up in a region where China dominates infrastructure construction and copper and cobalt production, there are lingering concerns that it may already be too late. — Matthew Hill

Key stories and opinion:
The Billion-Dollar Railways Driving Biden’s Last Overseas Trip 
China to Agree Concession for Mao-Era Africa Railway by Year-End 
Scramble for Critical Minerals Spurs an African Rail Revival 
Lobito Atlantic Railway Exports First Copper to US From DRC 
Africa Can Offer Trump a Deal He Can’t Refuse: Justice Malala

Angola plans to continue restructuring state-owned airline TAAG next year before starting the process to privatize the carrier in 2026. The government aims to sell a direct stake in 86-year-old airline to a partner to help lower costs and bolster its global presence, Transport Minister Ricardo Viegas d’Abreu said in an interview. The planned sale comes as Angola invests billions of dollars in a new airport and rail infrastructure to lure foreign investment and diversify its economy away from oil.

A TAAG plane. Photographer: Mario Proenca/Bloomberg

Nigeria raised $2.2 billion with its first eurobond since February 2022, with the sale attracting bids of more than $9 billion, the government said. Part of the proceeds will be used to fund the budget deficit. African borrowers have returned to international debt markets after a two-year hiatus in which most were locked out by debt distress and punitive borrowing costs. The Nigerian auction follows offerings by countries including South Africa and Kenya.

South Africa’s government insisted there are no plans to create a so-called BRICS currency, after Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on members of the economic bloc that back the creation of an alternative to the dollar. “Recent misreporting has led to the incorrect narrative that BRICS is planning to create a new currency,” South Africa’s foreign affairs department said. “The discussions within BRICS focus on trading among member countries using their own national currencies.”

The flags of South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India and China at the 2023 BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. Photographer: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

A stampede during a football match etween the teams of Labe and Nzerekore in southern Guinea claimed the lives of 56 people. Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah confirmed the toll and said a commission has been set up to investigate the incident. The tragedy occurred on Sunday after police fired tear gas into the crowd to disperse disgruntled supporters, eye witnesses said. 

Colombia’s president urged hundreds of his nationals fighting as mercenaries in Sudan to return home, a sign of how private military contractors have proliferated across Africa. Disillusionment with long-running United Nations missions that have sometimes presided over worsening insecurity has led to tens of thousands of peacekeepers leaving in recent years. At the same time, the preference of newly installed military juntas for security partners that don’t scrutinize their legitimacy or human-rights records has spawned a slew of mercenary contracts.

Smoke billows during air strikes in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, on Oct. 12. Photographer: AFP/Getty Images

Tunisia’s government is looking to the central bank to help repay its external debt for a second straight year as the economy languishes after a potential International Monetary Fund bailout stalled. The state needs to borrow as much as $2.2 billion from the regulator in 2025, according to Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri. The North African nation, mired in economic malaise since its 2010 pro-democracy uprising, has been struggling to boost revenue from key foreign-currency earners such as manufacturing and phosphates. 

Thank you for your responses to our weekly Next Africa Quiz and congratulations to Sayen Gohil who was first to identify Namibia as the African nation that’s poised to get its first female leader if the ruling party extends its 35-year rule.  

South Africa’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter after a record decline in farming output. Gross domestic product contracted 0.3% in the three months through September. The news is a blow for President Cyril Ramaphosa and the nation’s governing coalition, who have declared boosting economic growth a top priority.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back in your inbox with the next edition on Friday. Send any feedback to mcohen21@bloomberg.net