ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—All is well now between the United States and Africa with the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the chairman of the African Union commission said Thursday as he received the top U.S. diplomat.

Tillerson embarked on a five-nation tour beginning in Ethiopia with a visit to the African Union. It is the highest-level visit to date for the Trump administration and comes after derogatory comments by U.S. President Donald Trump in January outraged leaders around the continent.

“The incident is behind us, the visit by the secretary of state today is proof of the importance of relations between the different parties,” Moussa Faki Mahamet said in a joint news conference with Tillerson. “I want to add I am satisfied with the discussions I had with the secretary of state, notably the engagement of the United States to support Africa in the battle against terrorism.”

For his part, Tillerson ignored two questions about the comments attributed to Trump, only emphasizing the U.S. relationship with Africa, which until now has been largely undefined by the administration.

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Rex Tillerson heads to Africa with starkly different message from Trump’s previous comments

“I think the U.S. commitment to Africa is quite clear in terms of the importance we place on the relationship,” he said. “The president himself wrote a personal letter to chairperson reaffirming importance of the relationship.”

The letter came after Faki himself described the comments to the African Union as “profoundly” shocking and “conveying contempt, hate and desire to marginalize and exclude Africans.”

In the course of the visit, Tillerson will also visit Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria, even as many top posts for the continent in the State Department remain unfilled and little has been said of the administration’s priorities for the continent.

“The purpose of my trip to this continent is to listen,” Tillerson said Thursday. “I think it’s important to listen to what the priorities of the continent are and see where there is good alignment.”

Tillerson added that the continent’s growing population and economies would make it increasingly important to the world.

The sentiments represent a change on the part of the Trump administration, which until now has said very little publicly on African policy. During the transition, mentions of the continent seemed largely in the context of cutting some signature U.S. programs.

In a speech ahead of the trip, Tillerson lauded these same programs, including free-trade initiatives, a program to bring electricity to Africans and one to provide AIDS treatment to millions across the continent.

Ultimately, however, the main theme of the trip may be one of security. Ethiopia is one of the biggest contributors to peacekeeping troops on the continent and, together with Kenya, one of the key allies in the fight against the Islamist militant faction al-Shabab in Somalia. Djibouti is the home of the sole American base in Africa, and Chad is a major ally in the fight against extremism in the Sahel region.

Under Trump, there have been more-aggressive U.S. attacks against extremists in Somalia, and recent deaths in Niger have highlighted the growing role played by U.S. Special Forces in training regional militaries.

Increasingly, the United States has been eclipsed in Africa, at least economically, by China, which has aggressively boosted its activities on the continent — extracting resources, providing loans and building much-needed infrastructure across the continent.

In Ethiopia, Tillerson’s first stop, China has built an electric rail line connecting the capital to the port in neighboring Djibouti and is involved in scores of other projects throughout the country that have made Chinese nationals a ubiquitous sight on the streets.

Tillerson, however, laid out a robust defense for the contrasting style of aid given by the United States on the continent, opting for capacity building and private-sector development rather than loans for projects.

“We think it’s important African countries carefully consider the terms of those investments,” said Tillerson, claiming that Chinese-funded projects do not “bring significant job creation locally” and risks having countries lose control of resources and development projects.

“Our message is for countries to consider what the terms of those agreements are and not forfeit any elements of sovereignty,” he added.

American aid also tends to be accompanied by American views on human rights and governing, and Tillerson will probably have to address the political crises in Kenya and Ethiopia, while Nigeria is facing a key election next year. Djibouti and Chad are also often criticized on human rights issues.

Many African leaders have noted that these concerns rarely come up when dealing with China.

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The United States remains the biggest contributor of humanitarian aid to Africa, and Tillerson announced during his speech Tuesday a new package of $533 million to combat ongoing crises in several parts of the continent.

The aid, which includes tens of thousands of tons of food, is divided among Ethiopia, parts of which are ravaged by a severe drought, Somalia, Nigeria, South Sudan and the countries of the Lake Chad basin, where millions are teetering on the edge of famine.

Since the start of 2017, the United States has provided nearly $3 billion in humanitarian aid, despite earlier threats from the administration to cut funding.

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