Vice President Looks to Deepen Bond With Africa

ACCRA, Ghana — In the neon lights of a recording studio, with skateboarders doing tricks a few feet away, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared alongside musicians in the West African nation of Ghana and pledged to set the American relationship with Africa on a new path, focused on collaboration rather than crises.

Harris’s weeklong African tour, which got underway Monday in Ghana’s capital, Accra, is part of an effort to flip the script and demonstrate that the United States views African nations not as problems to be solved or pawns in a superpower contest with China and Russia, but as hubs of opportunity and creativity.

“African ingenuity and innovation, I am certain, will shape the future of the world,” she said at a news briefing earlier in the day.

Harris is the highest-ranking in a recent parade of officials from the Biden administration to visit the continent. She met with President Nana Akufo-addo of Ghana, commending him for his “democratic principles.” Harris will later fly to Tanzania and Zambia, which she visited as a child to visit her Indian grandfather, who was stationed there as a public servant.

But her attempt to change the narrative faces challenges. She must present the United States as an ally while fulfilling President Biden’s commitment to take action against foreign governments that violate human rights and pass laws restricting the freedoms of gay and transgender people.

Moves to curtail gay rights have been on the rise in several African nations, including Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia. The White House said last week that it would consider economic penalties against Uganda after lawmakers there passed legislation that calls for life in prison for those who engage in gay sex.

Asked about those restrictions in a news conference with the Ghanaian president, Harris said she had “raised the issue” — although she did not say with whom or in which countries.

“This is an issue that we consider, and I consider, to be a human rights issue, and that will not change,” Harris added.