AFP
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NOS News•today, 09:58
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Elles van Gelder
correspondent Afrika
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Elles van Gelder
correspondent Afrika
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is on a working trip across the African continent. In the coming days, he will make a lightning visit to Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and Congo (Brazzaville) to strengthen relations there.
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It is a new Russian charm offensive and is seen as a preparatory visit for a Russia-Africa summit, planned later this year. Among other things, Russia is looking for diplomatic support, access to Africa’s natural resources and also wants to show that it is not internationally isolated.
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In an interview Lavrov gave to Russian state media this week, he emphasized that they never lectured Africa, but always helped solve problems. Unlike the West, he meant.
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Relations between Russia and Africa have not been tainted by the “bloody crime of colonialism,” the minister said. Russia wants to show itself as an equal partner.
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Deteriorated relationship with the West
A few countries that Lavrov visits have less and less good relations with the West. Relations between Ethiopia, a large and important country in the Horn of Africa, and the United States and the European Union have deteriorated in recent years due to the war in northern Ethiopia, in the state of Tigray. The EU suspended budget support to Ethiopia and the US cut access to a key trade deal.
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Relations with Uganda, also in Lavrov’s ball book, and the West are also less and less rosy, mainly due to criticism of human rights violations.
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Russia as a problem solver
In the Russian storyline of the country as an equal partner and savior, Russia has several trump cards. Russia is now a major arms supplier to the continent and has in recent years signed more and more military agreements with African partners, including Ethiopia and Nigeria.
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A number of African countries have really embraced Russia as a problem solver, especially in the military field, such as the military junta in Mali, which receives help from Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group, although this is denied. The same applies to the Central African Republic, where Russian mercenaries are also active.
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But most African countries are trying to remain neutral for the time being. For many countries, Russia means weapons, grain and fertilizers. But the West is much higher on the list when it comes to investment, infrastructure development and humanitarian aid. US President Biden also announced a US-Africa summit this week, in December.
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Grain deal
To gain more support, Lavrov will probably also use the grain deal commitments that Ukraine and Russia have just concluded together with the United Nations on the export of grain from Ukraine. More than 20 million tons of grain are waiting for export there. This has led to sharply higher food prices, which is hard to feel in many African countries.
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Although Commissioner Josep Borrell calls the Russian blockade of Ukrainian exports a deliberate Kremlin attempt to create world hunger and speaks of a war crime, the African Union (AU) has heard from Russian President Putin that Western sanctions are the cause. of the food crisis and that Russia wants a solution.
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There are doubts about the viability of the grain deal, especially after a missile attack on the harbor from Odessa yesterday. But the AU spoke in a statement of “a welcome development” for Africa, where famine is looming in the Horn of Africa.
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The main question is whether Russia will show more ambition to become an important partner of the African continent not only in military terms, but also in economic terms. It remains to be seen what promises will be made during this visit, and later during the Russia-Africa summit, in order to further expand the Russian sphere of influence in Africa.
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