Melania Trump forges ahead as first lady with Africa trip
Melania Trump is heading for Africa on her first big solo international trip, aiming to make child well-being the focus of a five-day, four-country tour.
The first lady opens her first visit to the continent on Tuesday in Ghana, followed by stops in Malawi, Kenya and Egypt.
She departed Washington on Monday with a rare wave to the press corps and an enthusiastic tweet: “So looking forward to visiting #Ghana #Malawi #Kenya & #Egypt.”
Mrs Trump’s first extended turn on the world stage outside the shadow of President Donald Trump could still be complicated by her husband, who has spoken of the continent in impolite and even vulgar terms.
That leaves the first lady with some fence-mending duties.
“She’s got some heavy lifting to do on this trip and it’s a little bit unfair because that’s not what a first lady’s trip should be about,” said Judd Devermont, the Africa programme director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
First ladies usually practice a softer form of diplomacy, showing interest in a host nation’s schools, hospitals and arts programmes, and avoiding thornier issues.
Joshua Meservey, a senior Africa policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, countered by noting the “positive engagements” the president has had with some African heads of state, including President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, who met Mr Trump at the White House in August.
Mr Trump also met President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt in New York last week.
Mr Meservey also noted that the US spends considerable amounts on public health and development initiatives in Malawi, which is among the world’s least-developed countries.
“I think the US-Africa relationship is much bigger than the president’s comments, and it’s been going on for decades and decades,” he said.
“Frankly, I suspect the vast majority of average Africans have not heard of any of those dust-ups. It’s very much an elite preoccupation.”
“Africans are, generally speaking, very gracious hosts” who will “roll out the red carpet and do their absolute best to be hospitable,” he said.
Days before the first lady set out, Mr Trump declared at the United Nations that he and his wife “love Africa”.
Her five days on the continent will feature a mix of visits to hospitals, schools and shelters as she focuses on the well-being of children.
Child welfare is a top issue for Mrs Trump, the mother of a 12-year-old son.
She focuses on the issue in the US through an initiative she launched this year named Be Best.
This week’s trip will mark her first extended period promoting the programme and its goals abroad, separate from an event she held during a stop in London with the president in July.
A former fashion model born in Slovenia and now a naturalised US citizen, the 48-year-old has travelled extensively with the president, including to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, Brussels, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
She was in Finland for the president’s July summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin but did not go to Singapore for his June meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Her only other international foray was brief: a September 2017 day trip to Toronto to join Britain’s Prince Harry at a military athletic competition.