China and U.S. wooing Africa

Obama is having heads of state from approximately 50 African countries in Washington next week.

Invitations were sent to the following countries.

• Angola
• Algeria
• Benin
• Botswana
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Cabo Verde
• Chad
• Comoros
• Cote d’Ivoire
• Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa)
• Djibouti
• Equatorial Guinea
• Ethiopia
• Egypt
• Gabon
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Kenya
• Lesotho
• Liberia
• Libya
• Madagascar
• Malawi
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Mauritius
• Morocco
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Senegal
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• Somalia
• South Africa
• South Sudan
• Swaziland
• Tanzania
• Togo
• Tunisia
• Uganda
• Zambia

It will be interesting to see how many heads of state actually show up. The presidents of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are not coming because of the Ebola outbreak. The presidents of Algeria and Zambia are not coming for personal health reasons. Leaders from four countries-- Sudan, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, and CAR-- were not invited.

The reason I am interested in who shows up is because the 2006 FOCAC summit in China had 35 African heads of state attend (I am still looking for the comprehensive list). It will be interesting to compare the guest lists.