Africa's fears of Trump presidency unfounded: Experts

By Safwene Grira

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - Any apprehension taking root in African countries after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election is largely unfounded, African political experts told Anadolu Agency.

"Trump’s most radical measures are far from concerning Africans, but the United States’ neighboring countries with which they are bound by a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), not Africa, not Africans, " Bernard Njonga, leader of CRAC (CRoire Au Cameroun/ Believe in Cameroon), a Cameroon opposition party told Anadolu Agency.

"Africans’ apprehensions arose from the fact that Trump does not know Africa well, that he did not talk about it during his campaign, that he can appear to embody the stereotype of the white neocolonialist, with positions hostile to the various populations of the South, be they Muslim, Latino or African," Hubert Mono Ndjana, political science lecturer at the University Yaoundé I in Cameroon told Anadolu Agency.

"In reality, behind the aggressiveness that emerges, paradoxically Trump is far less interventionist than Hillary Clinton. Africans will not perhaps have to particularly suffer," he added.

"Assuming that candidate Trump has made comments and took a stance that have scared many people, especially Africans, it will not necessarily be the same with President Trump, " Noureddine Mezni, former spokesman of the president of the Commission of the African Union told Anadolu Agency.

"In his victory speech delivered on Wednesday morning, we noticed a change in tone. Trump promised to seek common ground with all countries that are willing to live with the United States. He also promised to work with Americans, whatever their community or religion," Mezni recalled.

The president-elect of the United States had made hostile remarks against Muslims, who represent almost half of the population of the African continent. During his campaign he promised to block Muslims from entering U.S. territory.

"What if Trump’s worst statements were for Africa?" French newspaper Le Monde said in a June article.

"The African press is full of sensational statements attributed to him, but which are impossible to verify," according Laureline Savoye from Le Monde.

"We must deport all Kenyans to their home including Obama. Africa should be colonized for 100 years more” are some of these controversial statements, never confirmed nor denied by Trump.

According to Mezni, Africans, as Americans, should expect a change that will affect U.S. policy. But it would be more a change of style of presidency as the billionaire from Queens, New York, boasts an atypical profile.

"The president of the United States does not rule alone. There are a lot of advisers around him, the secretary of state, vice president, departments, and institutions […] The word administration is often used to describe it: The Clinton administration or the Obama administration. If the president's office does not persuade him to give up his most outlandish proposals, this administration will frame them and bring them back on the right track," said Mezni.

Hafedh El Gharbi, professor of American political history at the University of Sousse in Tunisia, said: "The presidential office will impose its diktats to turbulent Donald Trump."

The fact that the new tenant of the White House "will not have a free hand as his party is divided, including in Congress, with religious conservatives, neo-conservatives, supporters of the Tea Party, etc ... Very soon, he will understand that he will have to deal with hostile media, a divided party, a skeptical international opinion, and especially the system of checks and balances," El Gharbi said.

Regarding more specifically the threats against Muslims, whether in Africa or elsewhere, "very quickly, Trump will also understand that he cannot send away Muslims in droves as it is simply unconstitutional. The function will make him tone down his radical remarks and to deal with existing institutions […] which will disappoint his far right electorate," El Gharbi said.

He added that Trump may have change his trajectory similarly to President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989).

"In 1980, [Reagan] presented himself as the superman who would wash away the affront from the hostage crisis at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, that occurred under [his predecessor Jimmy] Carter, but found himself with the 1983 Beirut bombings that killed more than 240 American soldiers," said the professor.