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The United States earlier this month gathered 49 African heads of state and the head of the African Union in Washington for its ambitious US-Africa Leaders Summit after an eight-year hiatus, to demonstrate its “unchanging” commitment to the developing continent.

However, the White House has not been met with the expected response, but with growing scepticism and criticism, as with so much on the international stage so far this year.

US website Politico commented on the summit that African leaders “feel like they’ve already been fooled once – when former President Barack Obama used the first such summit in 2014 to signal growing commitment to the continent. Instead, Obama cut funding to combat AIDs in Africa and reduced foreign aid to the region.”

Such reaction of African leaders is understandable. The overbearing role of the United States backfires – it frequently and unscrupulously bullies other countries, and breaches trust on bilateral and multilateral diplomatic occasions.

The United States, for long, has blatantly invaded many countries under various pretexts, causing lasting disasters to the victims. The country has invaded 84 out of the 194 countries recognised by the United Nations and has been militarily involved with 191 of those, according to “America Invades: How We’ve Invaded or been Militarily Involved with almost Every Country on Earth,” co-authored by Christopher Kelly and Stuart Laycock.

Besides the invasions, Washington, labelling itself a “beacon of democracy,” has also intensified its bullying practices under the guise of “democracy” and “human rights,” including coercing others to take sides, imposing unilateral sanctions on non-compliant countries, provoking conflicts in many regions and profiting from the chaos.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame refused US attempt that would force his country to choose between strengthening economic ties either with the United States or others.

“I don’t think we need to be bullied into making choices” to taking sides, Kagame said on the sidelines of the US-Africa Leaders Summit.

The true colours of the United States that it will do anything to benefit itself at the expense of others have become increasingly clear, and its path to hegemony will eventually lead to a dead end. – Xinhua.