Battle for Africa

The war in Ukraine brings another element to this competition, and the United States and its allies are increasing pressure on African countries to choose sides in this conflict. Diplomatic pressure from top guns continued during recent tours by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Under-Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, and other officials.

Many view these trips as a part of a U.S. plot to undermine growing Russia’s and China’s influence in this region, but Nuland framed them as crucial to African economies, and the need to follow the U.S.-led rules-based international order: “We built this rules-based order together…We all have to stand up for the rules that we built that have made us more secure, more free, and more prosperous over the last 60-70 years. That’s true for us, it’s also true for most of the countries of Africa,” – said Nuland.

Of course, until now neither she nor any other U.S. official clarified what “rules-based order” really means, and how it is different from “international law” but it is obvious that so far the majority of African countries are not persuaded by Washington’s rhetoric.       

Despite gloomy Western predictions of the failure of the July 2023 Russia-Africa summit in St.Petersburg, 49 from a total of 54 African countries did send delegations to this event, including over 20 on presidential or ministerial levels. The list of important achievements of the summit is long and just mentioning their titles would take a few pages.

I’d note, first of all, a friendly atmosphere, Russia’s readiness to listen and take into account African ideas, including on ending the war in Ukraine. Russia announced writing off debts to African countries totaling $23 billion, and providing free deliveries of grain. One could also mention agreements on military-technical cooperation with more than 40 African countries that include training the military and exchanging experience through law enforcement agencies. 

As Zambian Trade Minister Chipoka Mulenga noted: “We can do much better than we can now. My country has received many benefits in terms of education and trade with various enterprises. But now it’s time to push these relations to a new development.”  Many other African countries feel the same. USSR was very active in Africa but after its collapse, Russia almost abandoned this region. Now it is coming back, and more broadly to what is often called The Global South.  

BRICS is the major part of this entity and its next summit will be held from 22 to 24 August 2023 in South Africa. Presently BRICS has 5 members but more than 20 states have officially applied to join the association. This was announced by the representative of South Africa to the BRICS, Anil Suklal. Among those interested are seven Arab countries Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, and Sudan as well as African countries like Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comoros, and Gabon who have officially announced their intention to join the BRICS. It is reported that Iran’s application for membership in the BRICS is under consideration. Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela, Cuba, Kazakhstan, and Indonesia have also shown interest in this block. 

The U.S. doesn’t like it at all, and this is why Nuland is rushing to South Africa in an attempt to derail this process. As European Navigator correctly states “In general, no secret is made of this trip on the eve of the BRICS summit. Washington is looking for the ways to put pressure on South Africa to reconsider its relationship with Russia.” How successfulNuland is we shall see but in the meantime, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa took part in the St.Petersburg summit where in addition to general sessions he had a warm personal meeting with Putin.