COOPERATION WITH AFRICA: RUSSIA’S PERSPECTIVE
Highly dynamic Africa holds a special place in today’s decreasingly Western-centric world order, which explains the surge of interest in the region among many international partners. Russian leadership regards developing ties with the continent as a strategic foreign policy objective.
In the midst of the Cold War the former Soviet Union was a leading supporter of anti-colonial rebel movements that went on to win their independence from ruling Western powers. Exactly under the USSR initiative, the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was adopted in 1960. Moreover, while many African peoples were just stepping on the path of sovereign development, the Soviet Union provided them with an active political support, large-scale assistance in social and economic sphere, in training civil and military personnel. Then this cooperation has considerably slowed down following the breakup of the USSR.
A new effort has emerged to revitalize these ties, however, in the wake of the first Russia-Africa Forum held in October 2019 in Sochi. This historic event was attended by delegations of all 54 African states, out of them 45 countries were represented by heads of state and government, as well as 7 regional organisations, including the African Union and the African Export-Import Bank, were represented by the heads of their executive bodies. A second summit is planned for the summer 2023 in Saint Petersburg, which is expected to give a fresh impetus to Russian-African political, trading, economic, investment, scientific, technical and humanitarian cooperation, thus making it more diversified and comprehensive.
No doubt, the African states continued to steadily gain political weight and to establish themselves as one of the most important pillars of the world order system that could not be ignored. That is why Africa less and less satisfied with financial handouts as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s stringent lending conditions, which prevent it from embarking on a large-scale industrialization and fully benefitting from its enormous natural resources and human capital.
The continent is being actively exploited by Western transnational corporations, polluted by environmentally hazardous production and stripped of its mineral resources. The U.S. and European states are imposing their military presence on African countries under the pretext of providing protection against international terrorism with campaigns in the Sahel such as the French-led Operation Serval and Operation Barkhane, which were formally ended last month amid political disputes between Paris and regional governments, as well as the 2011 NATO intervention that backed insurgents who ultimately toppled longtime leader of Muammar el-Qaddafi. The fall of the former Libyan state gave rise to a wave of unrest in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Western efforts have since only begotten more conflicts, as well as crises in economies, migration and the trafficking of humans and narcotics.
Against this backdrop, today, we are witnessing the entire model of international relations being reshaped, with the «collective West» losing its position as the world’s only center of power. We see Africa awaking and establishing itself as a separate self-sufficient pole. Many countries pursue independent policy and take a principled stance of non-interference in conflicts outside their region, including the crisis situation in Ukraine. For example, despite high pressure by Western states, many African nations have remained largely neutral on the Ukrainian issue. That has been fully demonstrated during the votes on anti-Russian resolutions at the
United Nations when most of African states abstained. Africa no longer wants externally imposed development models, values or ethical standards. One striking example is the collapse of European neo-colonialism in the Central African Republic followed by those in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, the dissolution of the so-called France-Afrique system.
However, it should be acknowledged that the transformation of Russia-Africa cooperation is not smooth-sailing journey. In addition to a low trade turnover of just $18-20 billion per year, we have been dragged into a heavy confrontation with the West that seeks to strip Russia and other states of their independence and sovereign rights by applying collective punishment, violating fundamental political and economic rights, introducing harsh illegitimate unilateral restrictions. We are speaking about the array of measures targeting not only Russia’s economy, but also its political and cultural influence, as part of the toughest restrictions world history has ever known, which have led to catastrophic consequences for global food and energy markets. Such moves ruin not only ties between Russia and the West but also the entire worldwide economic system, including WTO rules and regulations, built by the West itself.
This counterproductive practice is also used against African partners. Can anyone, including the authors of the sanctions, indeed regard unilateral restrictions imposed on Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe as effective? The answer is clear.
Unlike the United States, which has made it a strategic priority to offset the growing Chinese and Russian influence in Africa, devising unimaginable bills to counter Russia’s malign influence in Africa, Russia is guided by the principle of mutually beneficial cooperation. It implies that each nation has the right to choose its political and economic partners. Russia is ready for fair economic competition. Yet, neither we, nor Africans need foreign command. We stick to the formula «African solutions to African issues» and seek to promote a comprehensive approach to the existing problems, with the African countries relying on their own economic resources to achieve industrialization and technological advancement.
We see that today a number of countries are trying to accuse Russia of instigating the food crisis and to make Russia responsible for all the negative trends in agricultural markets, gloomy prospects in terms of access to food and huge losses of farmers. The cause of this crisis is widely attributed to Russia’s «actions in Ukraine». However, the truth is different.
Western measures of economic coercion against Russia exacerbated already existing negative trends in the global food market, energy, and industry. Payment restrictions and logistical difficulties affected all economic operators, including agricultural companies, who faced difficulties with regard to financial and transport services under contracts of food deliveries. Threats of mass arrests of dry cargo ships and disconnection of Russia from SWIFT system contribute to disruption of the logistic and financial chains with the participation of Russian economic operators. Restrictions in the transportation sector (including prohibited entry of Russian ships into European seaports) breach food supplies and made it impossible to deliver Russian and Belarusian fertilizers to agricultural producers. As a result, the global market is on the brink of an inevitable and significant drop in crops around the world, in many aspects – due to the notorious Western sanctions.
We know that African countries are among the most vulnerable in terms of food security. Some of them are critically dependent on agricultural imports from Russia. We are aware that these supplies are of great importance for maintaining social stability and achieving the benchmarks stipulated by the UN-approved Sustainable Development Goals.
We would like to reassure everyone that Russia is fulfilling and will continue to honestly fulfil its obligations under international contracts in terms of export supplies of food, fertilisers, energy and other commodities that Africa needs. As the Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said, Russia is ready to provide free-of-charge grain supplies (500 thousand tons) to the countries in most dire need, as well as fully replace the Ukrainian grain, which accounts for only 2 percent of global production, at an affordable price to all interested countries.
Speaking about energy security in Africa, Russia has always advocated for the diversification of energy resources, including through construction and modernization of hydroelectric power plants, development of nuclear energy, and use of natural gas as a clean fuel to reduce the environmental impact - instead of letting this valuable resource be drained by the European markets. To address these challenges, the peaceful atom and the hydropower are a brilliant solution for energy transition and that Russia has a lot to offer to its African partners in this regard.
Ensuring Africa’s economic and financial independence is an important component of its security. Taking into account the cost of unlimited international aid to Ukraine (more than $75 billion in 2022), which could instead be channeled to help African countries, the Russian Federation takes a principled position on the need to reform the Bretton Woods system. We would continue to actively support projects by international development institutions in African countries aimed at facilitating economic growth and financial stability of national economies.
Rather than using Africa as a mere source of raw materials to feed their economies, world powers should promote the development of Africa’s internal markets. We think it is right time to stop treating African nations barely as recipients of humanitarian aid, which does not solve the continent’s fundamental problems. What Africa needs is the transfer of technology and expertise, development of its own industry and critical infrastructure.
No doubt, African countries have the right to choose their political and economic partners without fear of reprisal, to uphold their own, rather than imposed, gender and other values, and to follow their own path of development. It is evident that accomplishing these tasks is much more relevant for Africa than allowing itself to be dragged into extra-regional conflicts such as the one happening in Ukraine.