President Joe Biden appeared fell asleep on his Africa tour during a discussion about trains that was screen on television.
Biden, during his visit to Angola, announced a $2.5 billion U.S.-backed railway corridor through the continent.
But, twice during a discussion with African officials and U.S. business leaders who are investing in the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, the 82-year-old president closed his eyes for at least a minute. At one point, his hand twitched and he dropped something.
Reporters traveling with him noted Biden looked tired. The president was on the final day of a three-day trip to sub-Saharan Africa.
At some points he took notes as other spoke. And, at the end hour-long meeting, his voice was foggy and hoarse.
President Joe Biden appeared to doze off in a meeting on his favorite subject: trains
The president is a train fend, having commuted daily on Amtrak from his Wilmington, Del., home to Washington D.C. when he was a senator.
He made that point when he spoke.
'Mr. President I'm coming back to ride on the train all the way from end to end,' he told Angola President João Lourenço.
He recalled his old 212 mile daily commute between Wilmington and Washington.
'I like trains a lot. So I'm coming back. You're stuck with me,' he noted.
America and its allies have heavily invested to refurbish the 800 mile Lobito Corridor, which consists of train lines in Zambia, Congo and Angola.
'Africa has been left behind for much too long. But not anymore. Africa is the future,' Biden said.
The goal of the project is to advance U.S. interests in a region rich in cobalt, copper and other critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles , electronic devices and clean energy technologies.
By the end of the decade, the rail line could even go a long way toward linking southern Africa's west and east coasts.
'It´s a game changer,' Biden said.
He pointed to the building of the transcontinental railroad in the United States. 'Like Lincoln we're not just laying tracks we're laying the path for better futures,' he said.
Under the new rail line, cargo that once took 45 days to get to the United States - usually involving trucks to South Africa - will now take less than 45 hours..
Altogether, Biden said the U.S. has invested $4 billion along the Lobito Corridor.
Biden said the Lobito Corridor constituted the largest U.S. investment in a train project outside the country.
President Joe Biden meets employees of Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) with Director of Operations (COO) at LAR Nicolas Gregoir at the Port in Lobito
President Joe Biden is a train fend
The president wants to use the project as part of his push to counter China's growing influence in Africa.
China has heavy investments in mining and processing African minerals and has used its Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure strategy to promote its economic and political influence.
In September, China said it had signed a deal with Tanzania and Zambia to revamp a separate railway line going east from Zambia to Tanzania´s commercial hub of Dar es Salaam on Africa's east coast.
The corridor won't be completed for years, meaning much of the work would come during the administration of Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20. The Biden White House says Republicans in Congress have supported past efforts to promote African business interests through targeted investments and that such initiatives have appealed to Trump and his key advisers in the past.
'I want to come back and ride the whole thing,' Biden told African leaders.
He then left the continent.
