The Donald Trump Administration announced a major overhaul at the U.S. State Department that will axe 132 domestic offices, slash around 700 positions in Washington, D.C., and shut offices focused on war crimes and global conflict. A statement issued April 22 by Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the department is “bloated,” “bureaucratic,” and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in a new era of big power competition.
Additionally, Secretary Rubio said the sprawling bureaucracy created a system more “beholden to radical political ideology.” However, days before Secretary Rubio’s statement announced the changes, news outlets reported on a draft order outlining plans to close American embassies across Africa and significantly downsize U.S.-Africa operations. For Africa observers and analysts, the policy coming from President Trump—who is on record using expletives to describe Global South nations, particularly in Africa—the moves are not surprising and could be a blessing in disguise for the continent.
“There’s no surprise that they’re going in this direction,” said Emira Woods, global ambassador for Africans Rising For Justice, Peace, and Dignity, a network of advocacy movements on the continent.
She told The Final Call that she views the reported move as an opportunity for countries in the Global South to look internally, build bridges and expand on African initiatives among themselves. “So in the case of Africa, there is the African Free Trade Agreement that is fostering greater continental unity around our economy, around movement of people and labor, around rights,” Ms. Woods stated as an example.
It becomes an opportunity, she says, when America is moving away from those core building blocks of healthy societies, for African countries to embrace and to double down on issues around human dignity, human rights, economic justice and environmental rights.
The U.S. retreat from the continent is expected to affect aid and diplomacy. But despite scaling back, America still remains a predatory power on the continent. According to reports on the draft order about closing embassies, priorities would continue on counterterrorism, strategic extraction and trade of critical natural resources.
Although Africa watchers agree that this is Africa’s time for the continent of 1.5 billion people, it is still vulnerable to outside interests and interference.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, spoke on the modern power race for African resources.
“Right now we are witnessing a ‘scramble’ for Africa just as it happened almost 130 years ago,” said Minister Farrakhan, in Part 32 of “The Time and What Must be Done,” a yearlong lecture series he delivered in 2013.
“In 1884, when Europe organized ‘The Berlin Conference,’14 nations of Europe got together and planned how they would divide up the African continent to extract its wealth for themselves,” said Minister Farrakhan. “But just like true buzzards, true predators: They began arguing with one another, and fighting each other, which led to World War I, where all of the European nations were involved. And so, once again, there is a new scramble for Africa by Europe and America,” he said.
Like then, these countries, including the U.S., France and others, are after the huge quantity of natural resources that they want—and need—to have under their control. Almost every known natural resource needed to run the Western industrial economy, such as uranium, gold, copper, cobalt, coltan (for cell phones, video games, laptops), platinum, diamonds, bauxite, and especially oil, is under the feet of African people.
Six of the embassies that the draft proposed for closure are in Africa: the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Gambia, Lesotho, the Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The memo recommends transferring their functions to embassies in nearby countries, according to The New York Times. But because of the resources, America is not totally out of the Motherland.
The change comes while some African leaders have pushed for “trade, not aid” in a way to unyoke Africa from a handicapped relationship with the West. Some Africa advocates argue that it is simply time for self-determination, regardless of what America proposes.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad defined the benefit of independence as a nation on pages 223-224 of his pivotal book, “Message to the Blackman In America.” His divine wisdom, insight and guidance are relevant to Black people in America and the diaspora.
“Today, the international conception of honor, pride and dignity is not concerned with individuals within a country but is rather concerned with your work and value as a part of an established nation,” He wrote.
“In order to be recognized today you must represent your nation. We must understand the importance of land to our nation. The first and most important reason that the individual countries of Europe, Africa and Asia are recognized as nations is because they occupy a specific area of the earth. Second, they are recognized because of the effectiveness of their internal unity and policies and then by their enactment of international policies and agreements with other established nations,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad continued.
He also taught on the importance and need for land to establish independence. This is necessary for Black people in Africa and America. His servant, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, explained that his teacher sought land and territory for Black people in America for their independence and self-sufficiency as a “nation within a nation.”
“The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad did not ask for a ‘fifth’ of Black peoples’ earning—he just asked for a fifth of America; “8-10 States.” Do you have a problem with that? Don’t you think you’ve earned it?” Minister Farrakhan stated during “The Time and What Must Be Done,” part 32.
Noted scholar-activist Professor James Small said we can go back to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who said and taught to “do for ourselves” and not to beg for what we need.
“We have our own land now,” said Prof. Small. “We are trying to get those … states … here in this country,” he said. “We got a whole continent,” he added. “We need to act like it’s ours. We’ve got all of the natural resources anyone on the planet needs,” Prof. Small continued.
He reasoned that there are young Black/African people who are some of the best-trained scientists, technicians and professional people scattered across the world who need to start to help in Africa. “This is our time,” said Mr. Small.
He suggested African leaders should take notes from leaders like 37-year-old Capt. Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso, Col. Assimi Goïta of Mali, 41, General Abdourahamane Tchiani of Niger, and President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia, who made history in March by naming another woman as her vice-president.
“Africa belongs to the Africans, like (Marcus Mosiah) Garvey said, and we need to begin to act like it. We’ve got the knowledge, we’ve got the training, we’ve got the natural resources,” reasoned Prof. Small.
“We need to build the places where we live and learn how to protect them, because the enemy will come,” he said. “They (the West) don’t know how to sit down to the table and negotiate fair agreements for our natural resources,” he continued, and added, “Everybody comes to steal them.”
Prof. Small also noted that, percentage-wise, Africa has the largest number of young people below 25 years old. As of 2024, about 60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25. This makes Africa the youngest continent worldwide. The youth demographic is playing a crucial role in the way of innovation, entrepreneurship, replete with an emerging startup culture in agribusiness, e-commerce, and renewable energy solutions.
“So, this is our time to unite,” Prof. Small added. “This is our time to share our technology. It’s our time to take those borders down that they put up after the Berlin Conference,” he said. Some African countries have started getting rid of tariffs and fees for crossing borders. “Now just abolish the borders,” he added.
Prof. Small said short of eradicating the colonial borders, at least end the requirement for visas to cross them. He also said that Africa can strengthen having a common identification like the African Union (AU) passport on its own terms.
Although the U.S. is the strongest economic and military power worldwide, the proposed adjustments come amid a time when White world rule is in decline, and an anti-imperialist sentiment for African self-determination is on the rise.
America had utilized its embassies and institutions like the USAID, which was also shuttered, as a means of “soft power” on the soil of Africa. However, in the uneven playing field controlled by foreign imperialism, “soft power” is often a smokescreen for “foreign power” in Africa.
“So, the ‘America first’ is like ‘America only,’ or like ‘America as an island,’” said Ms. Woods. America’s posture touted American exceptionalism. But “not only American exceptionalism,” she explained, “it was White male supremacy,” she said, that was “exceptional” about America.
Notwithstanding, U.S. embassies are the bases for America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in any given country. The CIA has a sordid record in Africa of orchestrating coups, destabilizing governments, and eliminating leaders.
Ms. Woods believes the world is at an intersection of history where Black, Latino and Indigenous people’s values, vision, and solutions must be prioritized. “I think this is another moment in history where we’re calling on all leaders to be bold” and “prioritize our people, our community, our needs,” she said.
It is imperative that Africa seize the opportunity to advance at a time when the U.S. is trying to turn back the clock to an era when human dignity was compromised and White supremacy reigned. “We are not going back,” she said.
As a collective, 1.5 billion people in Africa must unite with people of African descent and Indigenous people across the planet. “Our entire needs have been marginalized for far too long. It’s time for us to build the world,” said Ms. Woods.
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