Thousands cheer Biden's arrival in Angola for his long-promised sub-Saharan Africa visit

LUANDA, Angola (AP) — President Joe Biden arrived for his long-awaited first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa on Monday to the cheers of thousands in Angola, where he will highlight an ambitious U.S.-backed railway project meant to counter China’s influence on the continent of over 1.4 billion people.

Biden's three-day visit to Angola will focus largely on the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment in Zambia, Congo and Angola. It aims to advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in the critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies.

Biden's trip comes weeks before Republican Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, finally delivering on Biden's pledge to visit sub-Saharan Africa. On his way to Angola, he stopped in the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde for a brief, closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva.

Biden plans to meet with Angolan President João Lourenço in the capital, Luanda, where crowds lined the streets for his arrival, and visit the National Slavery Museum. He also will travel to the Atlantic port city of Lobito for a look at the rail project. He will announce new developments on health, agribusiness and security, White House officials said.

Biden had been expected to visit Africa last year after reviving the U.S.-Africa Summit in December 2022. The trip was pushed back to 2024 and delayed again this October because of Hurricane Milton, reinforcing a sentiment among some Africans that their continent is still low priority for Washington.

The last U.S. president to visit sub-Saharan Africa was Barack Obama in 2015. Biden did attend a United Nations climate summit in Egypt in North Africa in 2022.

“I just kind of push back on the premise that this is some Johnny-come-lately trip at the very end,” national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on board Air Force One on the way to Angola, noting that top administration officials had visited Africa, including Vice President Kamala Harris. “This is something he (Biden) has been focused on since he became president of the United States.”

Critical minerals are a key field for U.S.-China competition, and China has a stranglehold on Africa’s critical minerals.

The U.S. has for years built relations in Africa through trade, security and humanitarian aid. The 800-mile (1,300-kilometer) railway upgrade is a different move and has shades of China’s Belt and Road foreign infrastructure strategy.

The Biden administration has called the corridor one of the president’s signature initiatives, yet Lobito’s future and any change in U.S. engagement with the continent depends on the incoming administration of President-elect Trump.

“President Biden is no longer the story,” said Mvemba Dizolele, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. “Even African leaders are focused on Donald Trump.”

The U.S. has committed $3 billion to the Lobito Corridor and related projects, administration officials said, alongside financing from the European Union, the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, a Western-led private consortium and African banks.

“A lot is riding on this in terms of its success and its replicability,” said Tom Sheehy, a fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, a nonpartisan federal research institution.

He called it a flagship for the G7’s new Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which was driven by Biden and aims to reach other developing nations as a response to China’s Belt and Road.

Many are optimistic that the Lobito project, which won't be complete until well after Biden has left office, will survive a change of administration. Blunting China has bipartisan backing and is high on Trump’s to-do list.

“As long as they keep labeling Lobito one of the main anti-China tools in Africa, there is a certain likelihood that it’s going to keep being funded,” said Christian-Géraud Neema, who analyzes China-Africa relations for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Kirby said the Biden administration hopes Trump and his team see the value in Lobito but “we are still in office. We still have 50 days. This is a key major development not just for the United States and our foreign policy goals in Africa, but for Africans.”

The Lobito Corridor will be an upgrade and extension of a railway line from the copper and cobalt mines of northern Zambia and southern Congo to Angola’s port of Lobito, strengthening a route west for Africa’s critical minerals. It also ultimately aims to extend from Zambia and Congo to Africa’s east coast through Tanzania and be a coast-to-coast rail link.

While Biden’s administration called it a “game-changer” for U.S. investment in Africa, it’s little more than a starting point for the U.S. and its partners, with China dominant in mining in Zambia and Congo. Congo has more than 70% of the world’s cobalt, with most heading to China to reinforce its critical mineral supply chain that the U.S. and Europe rely on.

Michelle Gavin, a former adviser on Africa to Obama, said the U.S. had failed to take Africa seriously over multiple administrations, a bipartisan trend.

The Lobito Corridor was “not just about trying to blunt China, but trying to imagine, OK, what does it look like if we actually were to show up in a more serious way?” she said. “It’s one project. It’s one good idea. And I’m very glad we’re doing it. It’s not enough.”

Lobito was made possible by some American diplomatic success in Angola that led to a Western consortium winning the bid for the project in 2022 ahead of Chinese competition, a surprise given Angola’s long and strong ties with Beijing.

The Biden administration accelerated American outreach to Angola, turning around what was an antagonistic relationship three decades ago when the U.S. armed anti-government rebels in Angola’s civil war. U.S.-Angola trade was $1.77 billion last year.

The visit will also draw attention to a perennial challenge for America’s value-based diplomacy in Africa. International rights groups have used Biden’s trip to criticize the Lourenço government’s authoritarian shift. Political opponents have been imprisoned and allegedly tortured, while laws have been passed that severely restrict freedoms, according to rights groups.

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. Fatima Hussein in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden greets well wishers after arriving at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden is greeted by Angolan Foreign Minister Tete Antonio, right, as he arrives at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden is greeted by Angolan Foreign Minister Tete Antonio as he arrives at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden greets well wishers as he arrives at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden is greeted by Angolan Foreign Minister Tete Antonio as he arrives at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks from Air Force One as he arrives at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks with Angolan Foreign Minister Tete Antonio, right, after arriving at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden is greeted by Angolan Foreign Minister Tete Antonio as he arrives at Quatro de Fevereiro international airport in the capital Luanda, Angola on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, on his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden gets ready to depart from Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden is greeted by Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden gets ready to depart from Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden arrives at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden speaks with Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva , right, and Jose Luis Livramento, Cabo Verde Ambassador to the U.S at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

With Jose Luis Livramento, Cabo Verde Ambassador to the U.S looking on, President Joe Biden is greeted by Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks out to speak in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump watches a video screen at a campaign rally at the Salem Civic Center, in Salem, Va, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden is greeted by Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden is greeted by Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks from Air Force One at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks from Air Force One at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks from Air Force One at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden speaks with Cape Verde's Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva, right, and Jose Luis Livramento, Cabo Verde Ambassador to the U.S at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes his long-promised visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two Indianapolis police officers charged in the death of a Black man — who was shocked with a Taser during a mental health crisis — acted “recklessly" by restraining him face down longer than necessary, a prosecutor said during opening statements Monday.

Officers Adam Ahmad and Steven Sanchez were indicted by a grand jury in April 2023 in Herman Whitfield III’s 2022 death. They are being tried together as co-defendants for what's expected to be a five-day trial.

Both men face one felony count each of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and battery resulting in moderate injury, and one misdemeanor battery charge.

Daniel Cicchini, the chief trial deputy for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, said in his opening statement that Ahmad and Sanchez held Whitfield face down on the floor of his parents’ dining room longer than was necessary while he was being handcuffed.

Cicchini said the officers' actions left the man, who was obese, “unable to breathe."

“Essentially his heart and lungs could no longer function properly,” Cicchini told the jury. "When they kept him in that position they did so recklessly.”

He also told the jurors that the two officers' actions were “a substantial deviation from their training.”

But Mason Riley, an attorney for Ahmad and Sanchez, said during his opening statement that Whitfield suffered from an enlarged heart. He said Whitfield, who weighed 389 pounds (176 kilograms) according to his autopsy, had died “before the handcuffing concluded.”

“Neither of them have committed a single criminal act,” Riley said of the co-defendants.

He also said neither officer, nor other officers who responded to the family's home, heard Whitfield say he could not breathe.

Ahmad, 32, and Sanchez, 35, were indicted after Whitfield’s family had spent nearly a year demanding that police release full body camera videos of his encounter with officers and called for the firing of up to six officers. Both officers remain on administrative duty with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Whitfield’s parents had called 911 on April 25, 2022, and reported that their 39-year-old son, a gifted pianist, was in the throes of a mental health crisis at the family’s Indianapolis home.

The videos of the police response to the Whitfield home were released in January 2023 and document Whitfield's final moments alive during a chaotic encounter with police.

Responding officers found Whitfield naked and pacing inside the home. Body camera videos show officers trying to convince Whitfield to put on clothing so he could be taken to a hospital. But Whitfield did not dress, and he avoided contact with the officers, moving from room to room.

Whitfield is eventually seen running past a dining room table before Sanchez shocks him with a Taser and Whitfield falls to the floor, toppling furniture. Sanchez, Ahmad and other officers are seen holding a struggling Whitfield face down on the floor while they work to handcuff him.

Whitfield can be heard saying “can't breathe” a few times and exclaiming before he eventually falls silent. When officers rolled the handcuffed Whitfield over, he was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The first witness called Monday was Dominque Clark, one of the first officers to arrive at the Whitfield home. Jurors were shown her body camera video, starting with her arrival at the scene with Ahmad already inside the home.

Clark testified that after the officers Tasered and handcuffed Whitfield, she did not hear him say he could not breathe and she also did not hear him gasping for breath. Clark also said she felt that the officers were not using “maximal restraint” as they had their hands on Whitfield while he was being handcuffed.

“I would not say ‘holding him down.’ I would say they were making contact,” Whitfield, she said.

The Marion County Coroner’s Office ruled Whitfield’s death a homicide. An autopsy lists his cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest in the setting of law enforcement subdual, prone restraint, and conducted electrical weapon use.”

The coroner's office listed “morbid obesity” and “hypertensive cardiovascular disease” as contributing factors in his death.

The officers’ attorneys had sought to have the charges dismissed against both men, arguing in part that the grand jury proceedings were “defective” and that “the facts stated do not constitute an offense.”

The court dismissed a second count of involuntary manslaughter Sanchez had faced, but it allowed the remaining charges against the officers to proceed to trial, said John Kautzman, one of the officers' attorneys.

He said the involuntary manslaughter charge that was dismissed involved Sanchez's use of a Taser against Whitfield.

A civil lawsuit filed by Whitfield's family against the city of Indianapolis and six police officers, including Ahmad, Sanchez and Clark, states that Whitfield “died because of the force used against him” and calls the force used against him “unreasonable and excessive.”

“Mr. Whitfield needed professional mental health care, not the use of excessive force,” the filing said.

The family is seeking unspecified damages. That civil case is set for trial in July 2025 in federal court in Indianapolis.

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Steven Sanchez. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Adam Ahmad. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Adam Ahmad. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department shows officer Steven Sanchez. (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department via AP)

This undated photo provided by Hilary Close shows Herman Whitfield III, who died in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department custody on April 25, 2022. (Hilary Close via AP)

This undated photo provided by Hilary Close shows Herman Whitfield III, who died in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department custody on April 25, 2022. (Hilary Close via AP)