Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov begins his trip to Africa with the aim of strengthening cooperation with the continent amid the war in Ukraine and confrontation with the West. As announced by the ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, Mr. Lavrov’s trip will last from July 24 to 27 and he will visit Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo.
The head of Russian diplomacy is expected today in Cairo, the first stage of his African tour. In the Egyptian capital, he will meet senior officials from the government of Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, a key US ally in the region, particularly on counter-terrorism issues. However, relations between Washington and Cairo have had their ups and downs in recent years, and Russia has played a role. Former US President Donald Trump’s good relationship with Al-Sisi strained after the latter bought Russian fighter jets. In retaliation, the Republican suspended military assistance to Egypt.
This, coupled with current President Joe Biden’s decision to maintain the aid freeze, led Egypt to buy arms from other countries. According to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Cairo has increased its arms trade with other countries such as France, Italy, Germany and, of course, the Russia.
With Moscow, it has developed cooperation in other sectors, such as economy and trade. The land of the pharaohs is also a popular tourist destination for Russian citizens, especially along the Red Sea coast. Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned energy company, began construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant this week. According to Reuters, it is the largest Russian-Egyptian project since the construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1970.
But Mr. Lavrov will not only meet Egyptian officials in Cairo. Taking advantage of the fact that the city is the headquarters of the Arab League, the Russian minister will have talks with members of the pan-Arab organization. This visit raised concerns in the West. Western officials asked the Egyptian government and the Arab League, before Mr. Lavrov’s trip, not to “getting involved in the Russian version of events in Ukraine”diplomats told Reuters.
For now, Egypt is still positioning itself close to the West. According to reports, Cairo has rejected at least one shipment of Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia. However, the government of Al-Sisi perceives that the world is becoming “increasingly multipolar and does not want to limit itself to a relationship that privileges the West above all”told the news agency HA Hellyer, a British analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.
Ethiopia and Uganda, for their part, have recently distanced themselves from the West. After conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region in 2020, the European Union suspended budget support to Addis Ababa and the United States froze a trade deal. The same thing happened with oil-rich Uganda. Its relations with Western countries have cooled due to alleged human rights abuses by security forces and corruption, according to Reuters.
Russia seeks to fill the void left by the West in Africa
For years, Russia is trying to expand its influence in Africa and position itself as a reliable partner for African countries. “Developing a comprehensive partnership with African countries remains one of Russia’s top foreign policy priorities. We are ready to contribute to their future growth,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the agency. Russian press TASS.
Ahead of his trip, the foreign minister stressed in a statement that “political, humanitarian, trade and investment ties between Russia and Africa do not depend on how the world situation develops.” He also assured that Moscow would continue to “faithfully fulfill its obligations to export food, fertilizers, energy and other essential goods to Africa on the basis of its international contracts”.
Russia, like China – which has been accused of “neocolonialism” – takes advantage of the mistrust of African countries towards the West because of their colonial past. In this regard, Mr. Lavrov stressed, before his trip to Africa, that Russia “does not impose anything on anyone and does not tell others how to live”, according to the TASS agency.
“We treat with great respect the sovereignty of African states and their inalienable right to determine their own development path. We are firmly committed to the principle of ‘African solutions to African problems'”, he added. The Russian minister also referred to the “master-slave system imposed by the old metropolitan countries” and the “obsolete colonial model”. This rhetoric has particularly triumphed in the Sahel, where, capitalizing on the growing anti-French sentiment, Moscow appears as a strong and reliable ally in a context of insecurity and the rise of terrorism..
The first Russia-Africa summit was held in Sochi in 2019 under the theme “For peace, security and development”. On the eve of Lavrov’s trip to the mainland, the Foreign Ministry announced that Russia and African countries have started working on the agenda for the second summit to be held in 2023.
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