Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov whips up African support
Lavrov in four African nations tour this week
Russia and Africa are planning to hold a second Russia- Africa Summit in July 2023, in St Petersburg, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who began his four African nations tour on January 23, 2021, has confirmed.
Lavrov kicked off his visit with a stop in South Africa on Monday then went to the politically- charged Kingdom of Eswatini on Tuesday from where he travelled to Luanda, Angola on Wednesday and his final stop is in Eritrea in East Africa.
“We are preparing a series of events for the summit, including a business forum. We are drafting documents to reset cooperation mechanisms in this environment of sanctions and threats you mentioned in the context of this US bill,” Lavrov said during a recent news conference on the performance of Russian diplomacy in 2022.
“There will be new trade and investment cooperation tools, logistics chains and payment arrangements. The change to transactions in national currencies is underway. This process is not a rapid one, but it is in progress and gaining momentum,” he said.
The questioner had pointed to an interview that South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor had with RIA Novosti, in which she called on the US Congress to drop an anti- Russia bill they were planning to consider. The bill provides for the US punishing African states that continue to cooperate with Russia. Pandor spoke at length about the unacceptability of the West’s colonial policy and the impossibility of unilateral sanctions against Russia. On this background the questioner wanted to know what is Moscow’s view of this US bill to oppose Russia’s activities in Africa and how would it influence Russia’s cooperation with the countries in that region?
In response, Lavrov said that his perspective on the bill is the same as Pandor’s and as to how it would influence Russia’s relations with Africa, he said Pandor’s comments hold the answer.
But for clarity, Lavrov added, “Not every African country will be able to express its position through its official representative as clearly as South Africa did.
“In some cases, subjective factors of a personal nature will have an effect. Some of our African colleagues may come up with a less principled position.
“But I have no doubt whatsoever that in their hearts even those who do not comment on US provocations like this do believe that this bill is harmful, primarily to the Africans.”
First, he said they are not regarded as equal. “This is clearly a colonial mentality in a new dimension”. Secondly, Lavrov said that when Mike Pompeo was Secretary of State in the Trump administration, he travelled to Africa, and addressed public events and news conferences, urging everyone to discontinue trade with Russia and China because allegedly Russia and China were out for gain to the detriment of African interests, while America had commerce with African countries solely in order for them to develop and build democracy. “It’s as simple as that! These claims are accepted everywhere in the world, including in Africa, for what they deservedly are,” Lavrov, said. The tour is intended to extract support from African nations ahead of the July sunmit.