Late to the Party: Russia's Return to Africa
"Late to the Party: Russia's Return to Africa," is the title of the article of Paul Stroski about the Russia-Africa summit published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Paul Stroski, a senior fellow in Carnegie's Russia and Eurasia Program, said:
"After a decades-long absence, Russia is once again appearing on the African continent. The Kremlin's return to Africa, which has generated considerable media, governmental, and civil society attention, draws on a variety of tools and capabilities. Worrying patterns of stepped-up Russian activity are stirring concerns that a new wave of great-power competition in Africa is now upon us.
"U.S. policymakers frequently stress the need to counter Russian malign influence on the continent. On a visit to Angola in early 2019, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan said that 'Russia often utilizes coercive, corrupt, and covert means to attempt to influence sovereign states, including their security and economic partnerships.'
"Advocates for a more forceful Western policy response point to high-visibility Russian military and security cooperation in the Central African Republic and the wide-ranging travels of Russian political consultants and disinformation specialists as confirmation that Russia, like China, represents a major challenge in Africa."
Resurgence of a global power on the continent
Joe Penney of Quartz Africa says Russia's Africa summit is the latest step in its resurgence as a global power on the continent. Since 2015, Russia has signed military agreements with 21 African countries, and in the past decade, it has grown its trade with the continent to $20.4 billion in 2018 from $5.7 billion in 2009."Forced to find new diplomatic partners as well as markets for arms and goods after United States and European Union's sanctions for Russia's annexation of Crimea, the rapid growth of this partnership has set off alarm bells in Washington, D.C. and Paris," Joe Penney said.
He quoted Jakob Hedenskog, researcher at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, as saying that Russia's interest, like those of other major world powers in Africa, "involves arms exports, imports of natural resources, and the projection of power."
It has accelerated its diplomatic, military and economic push by building upon its former Soviet ties, when it armed anti-Apartheid and anti-colonial movements like those in Angola, Mozambique, and Algeria. While Russia is Africa's top arms supplier, its economic plans for Africa include lucrative oil and gas, mining and nuclear-energy deals across the continent.
China-Africa summit
Russia-Africa summit and economic forum follows a similar approach by the Chinese. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has become so influential as a source of economic support for African countries, twice as many African leaders attended the Beijing event in September 2018.
The 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was defined by Beijing as its most important home diplomatic event of the year, with 53 out of 54 African countries represented, leaving out only Swaziland, which still maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Established 18 years ago, FOCAC has achieved fruitful results and has become a significant mark of China-Africa cooperation. China-Africa trade volume amounted to $170 billion in 2017, up from just over $10 billion in 2000, according to data from China's Ministry of Commerce.
the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation-Ministerial Conference (FOCAC) was held in Beijing from 10 to 12 October 2000. This was the first gathering of its kind in the history of China-Africa relations.
The second FOCAC adopted the Beijing Action Plan (2019-2021).
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