The Foreign Service Journal, September 2022

38 SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOCUS ON ENGAGEMENT WITH AFRICA HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE NEW SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA Jonathan Ahlstrom, a U.S. Navy commander, is currently commanding officer of the USS Columbus (SSN 762), a nuclear attack submarine based at Newport News, Virginia. He was previously a White House Fellow assigned to the U.S. Agency for International Development. He lives in Yorktown, Virginia. A s the Welsh American explorer Henry Morton Stanley opened the mysteries of central Africa to the world in the late 19th century, European monarchs regarded his trek with interest. As an employed agent of King Leopold II, Stanley was integral in the Belgian monarch’s eventual claim to the Congo Basin, the horrific chronicles of the Congo Free State and the subsequent boom in the East Africa slave trade. Among the most notorious, the Congo takeover marks just one of the many depredations by a European power during the scramble for African territory that began in the 1880s. The wounds of that period of colonial conquest and failed postcolonial rule remain fresh for many African states, even as a new scramble for Africa is occurring in the context of strategic competition. Today, it is time for the United States to set an example to the world on collaborating constructively with African states in their individual journeys as they navigate the complex geo- political landscape of the 21st century. The Biden administra- Investment in higher education is a vital component of effective and constructive U.S. engagement in a dynamic Africa. BY JONATHAN V. AHLSTROM tion’s March 2021 Interim National Security Strategic Guidance acknowledges as much: “[The United States is committed to helping] African nations combat the threats posed by climate change and violent extremism and support their economic and political independence in the face of undue foreign influence.” To achieve these ends, American diplomatic and develop- ment leaders should construct an Africa strategy that bridges a single administration’s partisan divides and cultivates the growth of long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with Afri- can partners. One pillar of this approach should be to employ one of the most potent and effective, but underutilized strategic instruments: investments in higher education. A Record of Success and Promise In 2015, Tambwe Safalani, the daughter of Congolese parents with a large, close-knit family, set out for the United States to start her pedagogic journey at Georgia State University. Her parents imbued her with the importance of acquiring a strong education as the foundation for all future work. Having recently completed her master’s degree in economics, she will soon enter a Ph.D. program during which she will concentrate on public policy. To contribute to the socioeconomic and political advancement of the African continent, Ms. Safalani founded Children Assistance First, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to improving the education, nourishment, protection and development of African children. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Africa at