Biden in Africa pledges millions more for a rail project the US hopes will boost its influence there

LUANDA, Angola (AP) — President Joe Biden on his visit to sub-Saharan Africa pledged another $600 million for a cross-continent rail corridor project Wednesday, telling regional leaders that “Africa has been left behind for much too long. But not anymore. Africa is the future.”

Biden used the third and final day of his visit to Angola to showcase the Lobito Corridor railway, where the U.S. and allies are investing heavily to refurbish 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) of train lines in Zambia, Congo and Angola.

The project aims to advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in cobalt, copper and other critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies. By the end of the decade, the rail line could even go a long way toward linking southern Africa's west and east coasts.

“It’s a game changer,” Biden said, and cited the transformational effect of building the transcontinental railroad in the United States. Cargo that once took 45 days to get to the United States — usually involving trucks to South Africa — will now take less than 45 hours, he said. He also predicted the project could transform the region from a food importer to exporter.

Altogether, Biden said the U.S. has invested $4 billion along the Lobito Corridor.

He was joined by the presidents of Angola, Congo and Zambia. Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi said the project could create tens of millions of jobs in his country, saying it will "change the trajectory of our region for good.” Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema called the project “a huge, huge, huge opportunity.”

Biden said the Lobito Corridor constituted the largest U.S. investment in a train project outside the country.

On Wednesday, he flew from the Angolan capital of Luanda to Lobito on Africa's western coast to tour port facilities linked to the corridor and meet with representatives from companies that stand to benefit from the project.

The U.S. is promoting the Lobito Atlantic Railway upgrade as a catalyst that it hopes will spark a new era of Western private sector investment in this part of Africa. The corridor has also drawn financing from the European Union, the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, a Western-led private consortium and African banks.

Biden announced that Congo had also committed a new $553 million direct loan to the railway to upgrade and operate more than 1000 kilometers (621 miles) of line from Lobito to the Congo border.

The Biden administration also hopes to counter China's growing influence in Africa. His long-awaited first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president came in a week where trade tensions between the U.S. and China over rare minerals needed in new technologies went up a notch.

China already has heavy investments in mining and processing African minerals and has used its Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure strategy to promote its economic and political influence.

In September, China said it had signed a deal with Tanzania and Zambia to revamp a separate railway line going east from Zambia to Tanzania’s commercial hub of Dar es Salaam on Africa's east coast.

The countries had previously worked together to build the railway line in the 1970s, but it fell into disrepair. China’s move to renovate it — announced on the sidelines of this year’s China-Africa forum — is seen by some analysts as the Chinese response to the Lobito Corridor.

A senior U.S. administration official called the Lobito Corridor the heart of competing with China, not as a political adversary but from a business standpoint.

The idea is rather than pumping in aid, Washington will attempt to grow U.S. influence by promoting projects that can spark investment and help countries over the long haul. The U.S. is looking to replicate the Lobito Corridor project in other parts of the world, said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to offer details that hadn't yet been made public.

The corridor won't be completed for years, meaning much of the work would come during the administration of Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20. The Biden White House says Republicans in Congress have supported past efforts to promote African business interests through targeted investments and that such initiatives have appealed to Trump and his key advisers in the past.

“I want to come back and ride the whole thing,” Biden told the African leaders, before leaving the continent.

Associated Press writer Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this report.

Angola's President Joao Lourenco participates in the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit at the Carrinho food processing factory near Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema speaks during the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit at the Carrinho food processing factory near Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden participates in the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit at the Carrinho food processing factory near Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

From the left, Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema, Angola's President Joao Lourenco, President Joe Biden, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Vice President of Tanzania Philip Isdor Mpango pose for a photo during the visit to the Carrinho food processing factory near Lobito, Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden, accompanied by Angola's President Joao Lourenco, center, and President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo visits the Carrinho food processing factory near Lobito, Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A sniper stands on a platform during President Joe Biden's tour of he Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Angolan Minister of Transport Ricardo Daniel speaks to President Joe Biden accompanied by, from his left, President Joao Lourenco of the Republic of Angola, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Hakainde Hichilema of the Republic of Zambia and Vice President Philip Mpango of the United Republic of Tanzania during a tour of the Lobito Port Terminal, in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden and Chief Operating Officer of Lobito Atlantic Railway Nicolas Gregoire meet rail workers during the tour of the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden, center, and Angola's President Joao Lourenco, right, tour the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden watches a traditional dance after arriving at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A poster showing President Joe Biden and Angola's President Joao Lourenco is seen during a welcome ceremony at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A poster showing President Joe Biden and Angola's President Joao Lourenco is seen during a welcome ceremony at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Angolan soldiers escort the motorcade of President Joe Biden in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden and Chief Operating Officer of Lobito Atlantic Railway Nicolas Gregoire tour the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden and Chief Operating Officer of Lobito Atlantic Railway Nicolas Gregoire tour the Lobito Port Terminal in Lobito, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden talks to officials before boarding Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden disembarks Air Force One after arriving at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks to board Air Force One at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in the capital, Luanda, Angola, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden watches a traditional dance after arriving at Catumbela airport in Angola on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden walks with Angola's President Joao Lourenco, at the presidential palace in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden leaves the National Museum of Slavery, in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden faces Angola's President Joao Lourenco during their meeting at the presidential palace in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Museum of Slavery, in the capital Luanda, Angola on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's Pentagon pick, was fighting to hold on to his Cabinet nomination amid growing questions Wednesday about his personal conduct as the president-elect's team considers alternatives, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The Trump transition team was increasingly concerned about Hegseth’s path to Senate confirmation and was actively looking at potential replacements, a person familiar with the matter said. Hegseth is under pressure as senators weigh a series of allegations that have surfaced against him.

DeSantis, who competed against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, is being discussed as a possible replacement if Hegseth’s nomination does not move forward, according to three other people familiar with the matter. They were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hegseth said he spoke to Trump on Wednesday morning and received a fresh message of support. "He said, ‘Keep going, keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way,’” Hegseth told a CBS News reporter as he walked through the Capitol.

The Trump transition team didn’t immediately comment. The Wall Street Journal, on Tuesday night, first reported that Trump was considering DeSantis.

Hegseth shared a series of messages of support from others on social media and a post of his own in which he said he would not “back down.”

“I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers. The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents,” he wrote.

He blamed the pushback on fear of him and Trump and said, “So they smear w/ fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth. Our warriors never back down, & neither will I.”

Earlier, Hegseth's mother appeared on Fox News to address multiple allegations that have emerged in the media about Hegseth's alcohol intoxication at work events, sexual misconduct and potential financial mismanagement.

Penelope Hegseth, on “Fox & Friends,” discussed her son and a 2018 email she wrote him that was obtained by The New York Times, in which she confronted him about mistreating women after he impregnated his current wife while he was married to his second wife.

That letter followed multiple allegations, reported by the New Yorker this week, of questionable conduct around female staffers. Hegseth also was accused of sexual assault in 2017, which Hegseth told California police at the time was a consensual encounter and has denied any wrongdoing.

Hegseth has never held a military or civilian leadership role in the Pentagon, but his mother said his time as a Fox News host and the pressure of that role was a good preparation for leading the Defense Department.

She acknowledged that the allegations against her son have become a distraction and raised concern among some GOP senators.

On Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said some of the reports were “disturbing,” telling CBS News that he wants to “make sure that every young woman that joins the military feels respected and welcomed.”

Penelope Hegseth implored the lawmakers to listen to her son and give him a chance.

“I think it can be overcome,” Penelope Hegseth said.

Hegseth is a former Fox News host and a former Army National Guard major and combat veteran who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. If confirmed by the Senate, he would lead a 2 million member strong military — more than 17% of whom are female. The revelations have concerned some members of Congress.

“I would do anything for my son,” Penelope Hegseth said in the TV interview.

She spoke directly to Trump in the segment, saying her son "is not that man he was seven years ago.” She said she wrote the email because Hegseth and his then-wife were going through a very difficult divorce and “it was a very emotional time.”

She said she retracted the email and apologized to her son about two hours after sending the email.

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.

FILE - President Donald Trump appears on Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth at a Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, April 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign event on May 31, 2023, in Salix, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

FILE - Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of defense, speaks with reporters following a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Nov. 21, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)

FILE - Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Defense Secretary, meets with Sen. Tommy Tuberville R-Ala., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)