Leaders from 49 African countries will convene in Washington today for the US-Africa Leaders Summit, as US President Joe Biden attempts to signal his commitment to a region that has been expanding ties with US rivals.

As the summit kicks off, expect three days of group meetings and themed forums and sessions, alongside $55 billion worth of planned initiatives. Not everyone was invited, either: nations that the African Union suspended – Guinea, Sudan, Mali, and Burkina Faso – and Eritrea were all left off the invite list.

Teodoro Obiang, the leader of Equatorial Guinea – and the world’s longest-serving autocrat – will be attending, however. As journalists Robbie Gramer, Amy Mackinnon and Jack Detsch noted yesterday (Monday), Washington is worried about the prospect of a Chinese naval base on Africa’s Atlantic coast and seeking to talk Obiang out of drawing closer to Beijing.

“By courting Obiang … critics say the Biden administration is showing democratic activists in Equatorial Guinea and across other autocratic countries in Africa that its talk on democracy and human rights is just talk,” they wrote.

China has in recent years emerged as the continent’s top trading partner, according to Politico, with trade between the two surging to an all-time high level in 2021. But at this year’s summit, Washington has deliberately avoided referring to Beijing at all, as Gramer reported earlier in December.

The Biden administration is walking a “difficult diplomatic tightrope,” Gramer wrote. “US officials are focused on countering Chinese influence on the continent, but they want to do so without eclipsing their own messaging on US-Africa cooperation and without sparking blowback from African leaders.”

At the summit, Biden is expected to advocate that the African Union permanently join the G-20 and announce an official upcoming trip to the continent, Axios reported.

“It’s past time Africa has permanent seats at the table in international organisations and initiatives,” Judd Devermont, the National Security Council’s senior director for African Affairs, said in a statement. “We need more African voices in international conversations that concern the global economy, democracy and governance, climate change, health and security.”

• A Tell / FP report