African leaders use summit to fight negative perceptions

President Barack Obama raises a glass and toasts his guests during a dinner of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, August 5, in Washington. Obama is promoting business relationships between the United States and African countries during the three-day summit, where heads of state are meeting.

An unprecedented summit of African leaders in Washington. An Ebola outbreak in West Africa that sparks global fears.

The two events this week juxtaposed the best and worst of Africa at a time when its leaders want to move, finally, past perceptions of a "dark continent" rife with war, poverty and disease.

Those problems exist, as demonstrated by the Ebola crisis threatening to spread beyond the epicenter of neighbors Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

So does evidence of galloping economies and prolonged political stability in countries across Africa, a point emphasized repeatedly at the Washington gathering hosted by America's first African-American president.

5 reasons Obama's Africa leaders' summit matters

Trade, not just aid

Leaders who once came seeking aid now make deals for trade, citing statistics to boost their case.

Six of the world's fastest developing economies are in Africa. Burgeoning middle classes offer growing markets for foreign goods.

To Senegalese President Macky Sall, the summit "should allow us to confirm the change of perspective towards a vision of Africa" from a continent that "used to need aid."

He cited the evolving perception chronicled by The Economist, which ran a May 2000 cover with a picture of a gun-toting African above the phrase "the hopeless continent." Eleven years later, the same magazine's cover heralded "Africa rising."

President Barack Obama emphasized the same point on Wednesday, declaring that "we are here to take action -- concrete steps to build on Africa's progress and forge the partnerships of equals that we seek."

He announced more money for Africa, both aid and investment: $12 billion more for an existing program to provide electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, and $14 billion from companies including Coca-Cola, Marriott, General Electric and Blackstone.

China ahead

African leaders told Obama that the United States needed to catch up with other foreign investors on their continent -- especially China.

For the past two decades, Beijing has poured billions into Africa for roads, bridges, mines and other development needed to extract natural resources sent back home and elsewhere.

In some African countries, governments and local communities have chafed at resulting environmental harm and the use of imported Chinese labor instead of local workers.

Obama got a dig in at China about that, telling his African visitors that the United States would be a responsible partner.

"We don't look to Africa simply for its natural resources; we recognize Africa for its greatest resource, which is its people and its talents and their potential," he said Tuesday to applause. "We don't simply want to extract minerals from the ground for our growth; we want to build genuine partnerships that create jobs and opportunity for all our peoples and that unleash the next era of African growth."

Overall, international trade and aid to Africa have increased in recent years after slowing due to the global recession.