davidbfpo,

Another group session?

On March 28, Presidents Macky Sall, Joyce Banda, Ernest Bai Koroma & Jos Maria Pereira Neves met President Obama in a group at the White House.



Predictably, Macky Sall, the leader of Senegal (one of Africa's more important nations) got a LOT of flack from Senegalese media for going to the White House as part of a tour group.

There's something that the US doesn't get; that the Chinese seem to get - US might unwittingly be sending out the vibes that it is too busy to visit African officials, so it prefers to seem them in groups.

This is never intentional but, I think diplomats need to be careful about that - Africa is very diverse & it is very difficult to cover the ground in a group.