The Washington Post published on 17 November 2021 an article titled "Cruz's Blockade of Biden's Foreign Policy Appointees Is Hitting Africa the Hardest" by Tobi Raji, Theodoric Meyer, and Jacqueline Alemany.
The Senate has not yet approved any Biden administration nominee as ambassador to an African country. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is blocking the confirmation of nominees in an effort to force the administration to reimpose sanctions on the company that overseas a gas pipeline project from Russia to Germany. Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri are also involved in the blockage of nominees.