May visits Africa to forge trade ties for post-Brexit Britain

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Theresa May will fly to sub-Saharan Africa late Monday for the first time in order to forge new trade links for post-Brexit Britain.

May becomes the first British leader to visit sub-Saharan Africa in five years, making a three-day trip that includes meetings with the presidents of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

The prime minister will bring a trade delegation with her in an attempt to boost Britain's post-Brexit export prospects, although her visit comes at a time when the British government has been accused of a paying insufficient attention to the region.

The last time a British prime minister visited sub-Saharan Africa was in December 2013 when David Cameron attended Nelson Mandela's funeral.

May has never visited sub-Saharan Africa. Her only previous trip to the continent was a visit to Tunisia in 2015 in the aftermath of the Sousse hotel terror attack.

Speaking ahead of her flight to South Africa on Monday evening, the prime minister said, "Africa stands right on the cusp of playing a transformative role in the global economy" and that "a more prosperous, growing and trading Africa is in all of our interests."