The speed with which Africa was eclipsed by Iraq on Washington’s agenda was startling. It happened the moment Barack Obama left the first summit of African leaders convened by a US president and stepped into his limo alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. African delegates who flocked to the US capital last week appeared as if they had stayed beyond last orders. It was a reminder of the need for strong champions if the spirit of engagement between Washington and African capitals is to be kept alive.

The US has been slow to respond to rapidly changing dynamics on the continent where a decade and a half of rapid economic expansion has seen the emergence of more assertive governments, a consumer class and a host of fresh suitors from the developing world in search of commercial opportunity.

The raw pioneering capitalism with which Americans built their nation has been notably absent from the US approach. Instead it is the Chinese who have taken on that role. In pursuit of resources to fuel domestic growth and markets for manufacturers, Beijing has adopted a long-term view of the continent’s potential, marrying its interests to Africa’s need for railways, roads and fast money. The Turks, Indians, Brazilians and others have followed.