Donald Trump has frozen for 90 days the public development assistance that the United States was providing to poor countries. This decision of the new American President will inevitably have consequences in the States concerned, but it would be positive. In particular for the sovereignists like the Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, and the leaders of the countries of the Alliance of the States of the Sahel (AES), Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. “The first good news is that, whatever one may say, President Donald Trump has become an objective and strategic ally for African countries with responsible and… sovereign governments”, said the expert in integrated industrial development in an interview published on Thursday 6 February in Le Soleil. After all, it is a private affair: if it is not a win-win affair, it interests no one. With these two postulates, African governments could be respectable and respected business partners, if they are able to construct economic strategies that offer opportunities for public-private partnerships on national, regional and international value chains”. The second good news? “It is heresy to believe that a government has the responsibility of financing development”, says Papa Demba Thiam.
Suspension of American aid: Sonko and AES could make a profit
